Seattle Post Intelligencer: Bold schedule bolsters Pac-10

By TED MILLER
Oski, California's dementedly grinning, beer-bellied bear mascot, holds the Pac-10's national reputation in his paws. That's one way of considering -- hyping -- the most important Pac-10 regular-season game in recent memory: California's visit to Tennessee on Sept. 2. The Bears square off with an SEC power in front of 106,000 orange-clad loons hailing from the reddest of red states who might spontaneously combust if their beloved Volunteers lose to a bunch of lefty, artist-types from Berkeley.
Here's what would happen if Cal wins:
The Pac-10 would announce to the nation that it is not merely USC and nine empty uniforms, an inaccurate but persistent perception during the Trojans' reign atop college football. Cal would justify a preseason ranking in the top half of the national polls and establish itself as a budding national power under Jeff Tedford. A platter would be prepared for already embattled Vols coach Phillip Fulmer's round and meaty noggin.
That's pretty heady stuff for a victory over a team that posted a losing record a year ago, but such is the semiannual battle for the Pac-10 to prove itself to a skeptical nation. And a loss? It would reinforce the foundation of the hoary East Coast bias, which includes the codicil that the SEC invented college football, a perception that infiltrates even the minds of Pac-10 players.
"I think everybody is going to be a little (wide-eyed) at first, including me," Bears cornerback Daymeion Hughes said. "We've got to remember it's just another football game." Cal's showdown in Dixie is merely the most important of an eyebrow-raising schedule of intersectional Pac-10 games this year. While the Bears are enduring the 756th performance of "Rocky Top," Washington State will be at Auburn and USC at Arkansas. The non-conference slate also features Oklahoma (Washington, Oregon), Nebraska (USC), LSU (Arizona), Minnesota (Cal), Colorado (Arizona State) and Notre Dame (USC, UCLA, Stanford).
While coaches will always claim conference games hold the most meaning, it's the matchups between elite BCS teams that establish a national pecking order, and the Pac-10 needs these games more than the ACC and SEC and even the top-heavy Big 12. "It's a big factor in how we are regarded," Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said. "That's one reason why it's more important for us to play those games than the Eastern schools -- because they are running around telling each other how good they are. We have to go out and find some way to prove how good we are. "If we just sit back and play San Jose State and Idaho, we're not proving anything to anybody. We have to be more aggressive than some of the other conferences." The ACC, SEC and Big 12 have separated themselves from the Pac-10, Big Ten and sagging Big East. They added teams, split into two divisions and play revenue-generating conference championship games.
The ACC operated on a peer-level or even slightly below the Pac-10 in football until it added Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College over the past two years. Now it's eye-to-eye with the SEC as the nation's best conference. Hansen said Pac-10 presidents and athletic directors continue to have no interest in expansion, and new television contracts make that a moot point until 2011. That means no significant revenue -- or attention -- boost for the Pac-10. Therefore, winning, often in hostile environments, is the only way to create buzz and maintain elite status.
"You have to be willing to play at your level or up in order to be a player in the BCS," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. "I don't think people are going to respect you otherwise. ... Those are the marquee games that make or break your reputation." Oregon has fought hard to earn legitimacy, and the program's ambitions under Bellotti and athletic director Bill Moos have paid off with the ultimate sign of respect: home-and-home game contracts with big-time foes.
The Ducks are putting the finishing touches on a contract with Georgia, a program notorious for refusing to travel outside the Southeast. The Bulldogs will join a list of past and future Autzen Stadium visitors that includes Michigan, Oklahoma and Tennessee. The idea of consistently luring those types of teams to Eugene would have seemed ludicrous 15 years ago.
Of course, Oregon went 10-1 last regular season and got screwed by the BCS, just like California did in 2004. Common denominator? No marquee non-conference games. The BCS has left other teams griping, too, most notably Auburn in 2004. That outrage was based on the notion that an undefeated SEC team should always play for the national championship.
Poppycock. Auburn was justifiably waylaid because it played a wimpy non-conference schedule: Louisiana-Monroe, The Citadel and Louisiana Tech. Many national poll voters, including me, severely penalize teams that play three patsies in order to create an illusion of formidability.
Conversely, voters rewarded Texas for its thrilling win at Ohio State last year, and in many cases protected the Buckeyes in the polls thereafter, refusing to hit them with a precipitous drop. Call it a tip of the cap for showing guts and creating excitement for fans. That was the most anticipated game of 2005. And it will be again on Sept. 9 in Austin.
UCLA coach Karl Dorrell called the Bruins' 41-24 bludgeoning of Oklahoma last year "a statement game." That's what it is every time the Pac-10 squares off with a marquee BCS foe.
So Oski needs to roar when he ambles across the checkerboard end zone of Neyland Stadium.