From Yahoo Sports
Cal’s David Seawright should have been studying for finals Thursday night, but I suspect the sophomore kicker was spying glances at the thrilling Oregon-Oregon State game that determined the champion of the best football conference in the country this season. Yeah, I said it – and I’m proud that the 19th-ranked Golden Bears are right in the mix. Next year, they’ll win the thing; Pasadena, 1-1-11. In the meantime, they travel to Seattle to face the Washington Huskies before learning which low-profile bowl (have I mentioned the Pac-10 has the worst bowl tie-ins on earth?) they’ll win to complete their season. Here’s Seawright’s perspective on life in the Pacific 10.
If you haven’t watched much Pac-10 football this year, I suggest you start paying attention. Now.
Every game in the nation’s strongest top-to-bottom conference this weekend has postseason implications. All six Pac-10 affiliated bowls are waiting to see which top-25 team will fall into its lap.
The conference is so log-jammed that its Rose Bowl berth wasn’t decided until the final weekend of the season, with Oregon beating OSU 37-33 Thursday night.
For those of you who weren’t lulled asleep by Big Ten football by Week 4, you might have noticed that Ohio State booked a flight to Pasadena weeks ago. (Don’t mind that a USC team with three losses – all to conference foes – beat them at the Horseshoe.)
The only things putting Pac-10 fans asleep are its poor television deal and late-night East Coast airtimes.
The thrills don’t stop at the top. Currently, five teams are tied for second place in the conference, with three of those playing on Saturday. Seven conference teams are bowl-eligible, exceeding the conference’s allotment for guaranteed bowl invitations.
A stacked conference ensures solid matchups on a weekly basis. Combine that with our round-robin scheduling, and every game is a battle.
Which makes this weekend’s trip to Washington that much more important. Plenty is on the line – momentum, bowl placement, conference finish – and even more remains within our grasp. A 10-win season in this conference is no feat to shy away from. We just need our ninth win first.
Sure, the weather in Seattle will be colder than Tiger Woods’ attitude toward prying paparazzi. The Huskies have already knocked off Arizona and USC at home – the two teams most likely to play in the conference’s consolation prize, the Holiday Bowl.
But we’re ready for a dogfight (pardon the pun). With the nation’s best college football on the West Coast, it’s time for other time zones to catch on.
After all, it’s better late than never.
The Kicking System 