Comments on: Pac-10 football decade standings aren’t kind to Arizona

By: KPR

KPR — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:14:13 +0000

UCLA most overachieving team?? Based upon what?
Consider: Oregon State had a grand total of 3 more players drafted in that 10 year stretch. And 1 fewer first rounder. That’s a wash, or darn near a wash, when comparing talent. BUT, OSU earned 10 more conference victories and 14 more total victories. And played a Fiesta Bowl game (in a season where they were as good as any team in the nation).
Now think of this. You’re a good high school player being recruited by both OSU and UCLA. Now, you can choose sun, chicks, beach and Hollywood. OR you can choose…. Corvallis, 1 hour drive to Portland, same distance as UCLA to skiing, and … what? The average kid is going to UCLA, all things being equal.
But… OSU has had the benefit of phenomenal coaching over this 10 year stretch. Not only was the program able to overcome a tradition of failure (by the mid-eighties there was serious talk of taking OSU OUT of the Pac10 because, after decades of failure, many people thought there was No Way the Beavs could EVER compete with the ‘big boys’. Only a tradition of winning in basketball (thanks, Ralph Miller) kept the threatened move at bay.
But Riley, Erickson, and Riley part 2 were able to get into OSU athletes that other Pac 10 teams did not covet. Then they coached those players up. And even today it’s still that way. Seldom does a freshman or sophomore play at OSU (stunning exceptions like the Rogers Brothers aside) because they don’t yet have the skills to compete. But by the time they are upperclassmen, they are ready to share the field with any team.
The OSU Beavers are a shining light for Washington State. Today there are whispers that maybe it is time to replace WSU with Boise St or Utah. Yet no matter how dark it gets for the Cougs, there is always hope. It just takes getting the right coach in place, the right assistants in place, and an administration that values winning.
No Pac 10 team has done more with less than Oregon State. And with no sniffing around by the NCAA rules committee, either.

By: GetRidOfBCS

GetRidOfBCS — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:15:46 +0000

Thanks for the numbers. The seven game difference between SC and Oregon is surprisingly small, considering the difference in national reputation and the whole PAC 1 knock. I think if you were to go back a few more years, from Bellotti’s tenure forward, Oregon might actually have more conference wins.

By: Reporters Notebooks | Football Picks

Reporters Notebooks | Football Picks — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:15:25 +0000

[...] Anthony Gimino, Tucson Citizen: A breakdown of how Pacific 10 teams fared this decade. [...]

By: Anthony Gimino

Anthony Gimino — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:14:24 +0000

Marc Dellins from UCLA calls to correct a couple of UCLA numbers. The Bruins have had 25 draft picks and three first-rounders this decade. Thanks to Marc for setting the record straight.

By: Tweets that mention Pac-10 football decade standings aren’t kind to Arizona - AG's Wildcat Report -- Topsy.com

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:05:57 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bryan Fischer, The Orange One. The Orange One said: Pac-10 football decade standings aren’t kind to Arizona http://tinyurl.com/ybwkwmc [...]

By: Anthony Gimino

Anthony Gimino — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:04:57 +0000

Stanford rarely lacks elite talent, able to target the players who best combine athletics and academics. Stanford’s problem is that there aren’t enough of those guys to go around. The Cardinal, usually, hasn’t had enough of the second-tier recruits needed to capably fill multiple holes on the depth chart (especially when it comes to overall team speed).

By: Mark B. Evans

Mark B. Evans — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:53:31 +0000

And UCLA the team that most overachieved.

By: Jay

Jay — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:33:14 +0000

Also somewhat interesting is that, based on NFL talent, Stanford looks to be the program that most underacheived this decade.

By: Carolyn Classen

Carolyn Classen — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:53:04 +0000

Anthony, I was (unfortunately) at that UA Welcoming Reception for this coach, when he promised to take the team to the Rose Bowl. That’s funny now considering how disliked he was by the players, and had to be fired.

By: Anthony Gimino

Anthony Gimino — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:39:11 +0000

Fair enough. What is (somewhat) interesting is that seven Pac-10 teams had winning conference records in the 1990s — a result of everybody beating Oregon State and then just needing, essentially, to go .500 against everybody else. That flipped around this decade. USC beat almost everybody, so the other teams had to really make hay against the rest of the league to get past .500.