🏈 Question: What is happening with USCw and the NCAA?

[alagator]

Oregon will fill that void.....starting this year.

This may the the year of the Duck!!

Perhaps, and maybe even probably, on-the-field, but it will take more than one or two years for someone other than USC to garner national attention and interest and respect before anyone outside Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona pay too much attention to Pac 10 football.

Do you really think the average college football fan in Virginia or Kentucky or Florida will look at their TV schedule and see Oregon v. (name your Pac 10 opponent that is not USC) and say to themselves "I have to see that game"? Especially if said fan knows USC is ineligible for the title (despite probably being the best team in the league) or a diminished program due to probation signaling the league is even less relevant than when USC was the only national capable team.

Heck, Oregon lost the Rose Bowl to THE Ohio State University in convincing fashion last year. And the Big Teneleven champion has been the beeotch of Florida and LSU and Texas in BCS games the prior three years.

Over time Oregon or UCLA (who probably has the second best national reputation in that league despite never winning a national title) or someone else may step forward and make their mark nationally. But, in my opinion, it will take a decade or more of sustained championship level play and with USC not being viewed as a lame duck program. Perception is a very powerful obstacle, as I tell many clients trying to reposition their brand.

 

[planomateo]

Oregon needs to be able to put all the issues that occurred last season and after the season behind them. Lots of drama going on up there...where there is smoke there's fire.

 

[mhardiman]

I think Oregon, Washington, Cal, UCLA or Arizona State could fill the void; two to three could rise to power with USC out of there way, because look at what happened to the SEC West when we went on probation. Before or first probation the SEC was "will Alabama be playing Florida or Tennessee in the SEC championship" (yes; it was Florida all those years), but after probation LSU and Auburn rose up and Arkansas and Ole Miss had some good years in there. I don't think the Pac-10 or their teams will be sitting in Neutral wait for USC to return from probation; Pac-10 teams will be using the opportunity while they can.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o></o>

 

[alagator]

I think Oregon, Washington, Cal, UCLA or Arizona State could fill the void; two to three could rise to power with USC out of there way, because look at what happened to the SEC West when we went on probation. Before or first probation the SEC was "will Alabama be playing Florida or Tennessee in the SEC championship" (yes; it was Florida all those years), but after probation LSU and Auburn rose up and Arkansas and Ole Miss had some good years in there. I don't think the Pac-10 or their teams will be sitting in Neutral wait for USC to return from probation; Pac-10 teams will be using the opportunity while they can.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o></o>

But, when we first began our self-induced downfall, we were still only one of many teams in the SEC with a strong national reputation. Auburn was fresh off a pretty strong six or seven YEAR run, Tennessee was nationally respected. Georgia likewise (although there reputation far exceeds their level of performance - but that speaks to the power of perception again). Florida was emerging as the bell-cow of our league - and building on some initial inroads into prominence begun by Charlie Pell in the mid-1980s. There really was not any ONE dominant team in the league that left the SEC viewed as "Team A and everyone else," and when Team A falters the league is viewed as nothing more than a WAC with more famous names.

The point is when we began our turmoil there were already several conference teams with a national reputation of excellence to stand in our stead. The Pac 10 does NOT enjoy that same opportunity. The teams you mentioned MAY get there, but they are hamstrung in the near term by the fact none of them have been a real threat to USC for the better part of the 21st Century. And if the national perception is the only reason these teams are now in contention in the Pac 10 is because USC has been taken down a notch via sanctions then any gains by individual teams will be met with a yawn in most places east of the Rocky Mtns.

This perception issue is why I state it will be difficult for the other Pac 10 teams to rebrand themselves as "great" or "powerful" if USC is viewed as less than they have been for almost the last ten years.

 

[planomateo]

The NCAA committee on infractions will release its findings regarding the USC football and basketball programs on Friday, a source with knowledge of the situation told ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil on Sunday.

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/ncf/news/story?id=5234097