#pac 10

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The USC Trojans (PAC-10/12)

Alright so Alabama has the hardware (especially since SC vacated their BCS title), but USC was just simply the most dominant team in the whole 16 years of the BCS. 

They didn’t start that way. The one proud Trojans hadn’t won a national championship since the 70′s. Paul Hackett was their coach when the BCS began, and he was continuing the trend of mediocrity. In 1998 they went 8-5 and saw archrival UCLA win the conference. They managed to upset then #9 Notre Dame to end the year, but this is not what makes champions. In 1999 they slumped to 6-6, and after a 5-7 campaign in the next season Hackett was canned.

USC hired Pete Carroll as their next head coach, and it was with him that they rose to glory. His first season was a lackluster 6-6, but he was already laying the foundation for the Trojans’ ascent. In only his second season, SC went 10-2 and tied Washington State for the PAC-10 title. The Cougars as head to head champs were sent to the Rose Bowl, and USC went back east to face #3 Iowa in the Orange Bowl in what was called the Rose Bowl East. The Trojans won handily 38-17 and finished 4th in the nation, but they were still rising. 2003 is a complicated season, and USC was in the very middle of the action. To put it simply they were utterly dominant. But a triple overtime loss at Cal put their hopes in the hands of the BCS rankings, they didn’t lose another game until 2006. Despite being ranked first in the AP poll at the end of the season, they were placed in the third spot in the BCS rankings behind LSU and Oklahoma and therefore could not play for the national title. Instead, they played #4 Michigan in a classic Rose Bowl matchup. USC won 28-14. After the dust cleared, the AP still ranked USC first and despite coaches being contractually obliged to put the BCS champion first in their poll, three chose USC. Even though the BCS was supposed to end all the dual titles, there was one after only 6 years of the system. There were calls for them to play LSU to decide the true champion, but of course that didn’t happen. Nevertheless, USC was in the midst of a legendary hot streak. 2004 was the season where it all fell into place. The Trojans annihilated almost every team they played. They were ranked first the entire season and were pitted up against #2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl for the National Title. It wasn’t even close. The Sooners got taken to the shed in a 55-19 blitzkrieg. 2005 featured more of the same, with SC going undefeated in the regular season. They met #2 Texas in the Rose Bowl for the title game. The game was a back and forth slug fest and considered one of the greatest of the BCS Championship Games, but unfortunately for the Trojans they couldn’t stretch their win streak to that magical 35 that would have won them a second (or third) straight title. They fell 38-41 on a last second Longhorn touchdown. USC would never get the honor of playing in another BCS Championship Game, but their golden age of dominance was not over. In 2006 they finished 4th with an 11-2 record and a 32-18 win over #3 Michigan in the Rose Bowl. Their rivals UCLA might play in the regular season in Pasadena, but USC was in the middle of a glorious postseason residency. In 2007 they were once again 11-2 and played hapless #13 Illinois in yet another Rose Bowl, they humiliated the Illini 49-17 and finished the season 3rd in the nation. In 2008 they blew through the regular season yet again and faced off against #6 Penn State in the Grandaddy of ‘Em All. They fought off the Nittany Lions 38-24 and finished 3rd yet again. After SEVEN CONSECUTIVE YEARS IN THE TOP 5 the Trojans finally fell down to earth in 2009. They only went 9-4 and had an upsetting final AP ranking of 22. Pete Carroll moved on, likely knowing NCAA sanctions were coming to drain his program of talent. They did indeed, and his 2004 title and 2005 season were wiped from the books. The sanctions moving forward would significantly hamper his successor.

Lane Kiffin was brought in to USC with a big task, to guide the Trojans successfully through their sanctions and bring them back to prominence. In his first season they went 8-5 without a bowl game due to the sanctions. In 2011 they had their best year under Kiffin, going an impressive 10-2 including a win over conference champions Oregon. They were ranked 6th in the country despite not playing in a bowl game yet again. 2012 was supposed to be the season that SC made the jump back to title contention. What nobody noticed was that they were depleted beyond relief and face-planted in the second half of the season, they are the only preseason #1 to finish outside of the top 25 in the BCS era and the first since 1964. After that 7-6 season the pressure really dialed up on Kiffin, who was dismissed 5 games into the 2013 season. Ed Orgeron was the interim coach for the rest of the year. The Trojans finished the BCS era with a respectable 10-4 record, mostly attributed to Orgeron.

Before you read this, understand that this praise is coming from a Stanford fan, so if anything I’m normally biased against the men of Troy. USC was consistently the highest achieving team in the BCS era. With 2-ish national championships I think that qualifies them as the best of the era. In that span, they owned a 152-53 record, which was 7th amongst teams in that span. They won the PAC-10 title 7 times, which translated directly into 7 BCS berths. They won 6 of those 7 games, easily one of the best winning percentages of teams with more than a couple bids. If you go by the AP poll like I do, they won 2 national championships. The incredible stat to me is their 7 consecutive seasons finishing in the top 5. The Trojans truly were the best team for the longest time in the BCS era. If the playoff had been around back then, who knows how SC would have fared. Most of the close calls were due to the PAC-10′s 9 game conference schedule, which no other team adopted until 2011. USC had to deal with it from 2006 onwards. But hey, we’re talking about the BCS era, which has now become part of college football’s storied past. Thanks for reading this with me, this is my 601st post on this site and it’s these fun thought exercises that make me enjoy blogging.

Derek Hagan Making Up for Lost Time

A year off from football taught new Tennessee Titans wide receiver Derek Hagan that many things existed outside football. Yet the veteran wide receiver wasn’t ready to walk away just yet. He knew he had to do what he had to do and wait for his next opportunity.

An eight year veteranof the game, Hagan was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the 3rd round (82nd overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft. Hagan…

2004 USC Trojans (Pete Carroll)

13-0 (8-0 PAC-10)

2004 PAC-10 Champions

2005 Orange Bowl Champions

2004 BCS National Champions

2005 USC Trojans (Pete Carroll)

12-1 (8-0 PAC-10)

2010 PAC-10 Champions

One of the most talented teams in BCS history, they only lost to one of the other most talented BCS era teams of all time. They were #1 in the nation for the entire season following up their championship season in 2004. They played a super deep schedule and massacred most of their opponents. Once or twice they may have squeezed by, dare I say pushed. But they were stronger than all but one other PAC 10/12 squad in the BCS era. Half of their opponents were ranked when they played them or ranked at the end of their season. The Trojans marched into Eugene and beat the #24 Ducks 45-13, then turned around to Tempe and beat on #14 ASU 38-28. The next ranked team they faced were the #9 Fighting Irish in South Bend. I can't properly put into words what happened, so go look it up. What you need to know is that SC escaped with a 34-31 win and retained their #1 ranking. Their last three games were at Cal, who finished #25 in the nation, hosting #16 Fresno State in a late season out of conference game, then the finale against #11 UCLA. Cal was stuffed 35-10. Fresno State actually came pretty close, but fell 50-42 after leading at the half. UCLA didn't come anywhere close, getting hammered 66-19.

2010 Oregon Ducks (Chip Kelly)

12-1 (9-0 PAC-10)

2010 PAC-10 Champions