USD Football 1997

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THE PAC-10 IS STILL THE CRADLE OF GREAT QUARTERBACKS, BUT PARITY HAS MADE THE CONFERENCE A NON-FACTOR IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE.

By Jack Magruder

No. 4 in both polls last year, was the first Pac– IO school to finish in the top eight of either national ranking since 1991, when Cal (No. 7) joined Washington. The conference has become a text– book study in parity. Five teams - ASU, USC, Oregon, UCLA and Washington -

hen Arizona State's Jake Plummer was the first quarterback chosen in the 1997 NFL Draft, the Pacif– ic-IO's reputation as the preeminent producer of

college passers was once again rein– forced. Pac-IO alums John Elway, Troy Aikman and Drew Bledsoe were among the conference's seven NFL starters last season. Yet when Plummer brought ASU with– in 19 seconds of an undefeated season and what might have been a national championship in the Rose Bowl last season, the Pac-ID was on foreign turf, at least lately. While the conference continues to develop stellar players, its teams have not been as prevalent on the national scene as in the days of the USC-UCLA-Washington axis. "We had one formation that we used maybe 10 percent of the time each game," ASU coach and former Southern California assistant Bruce Snyder said last spring, remembering his time at USC in 1974-75. "One day I'm standing next to [leg– endary USC coach John] McKay and we are practicing that formation. McKay said, 'We could stay in that formation all season long and go undefeated.' At USC, it was almost arrogance." No Pac-IO school can afford such cheek these days. When ASU ran the con– ference table at 8-0 last season, it was the first unbeaten league champion since Washington went 12-0 and was voted half of the national title in 1991. ASU, 11-1 and

Last season, Arizona State, the fifth Pac-1 O team to play in the Rose Bowl in five years, was the first to make a serious run at the national championship since 1991.

have represented the Pac-ID in the Rose Bowl the past five years. Only three teams have won 10 games in that span, and two did not even win the league. Meanwhile, every team but Oregon State has won nine games or more at least once since 1991, but only three have done it twice. In the same period, every team except Washing– ton has suffered at least one sub-.500 league record. "It really makes it fun . You have a chance every year. So much of the time, it has not been predictable," said Ari– zona coach Dick Tomey. But one man's fun is another's fumble. "The thing I fear is that we are not producing many great teams, but that the conference is shrinking toward the middle," said USC coach John Robinson, who won three Rose Bowls from 1977 to '80, and turned the trick again in 1996 after returning from a stint with the NFL's Los Angeles Rams (1983-91). A lot of things changed while he was gone. "The normal cycles are involved, but other things have enhanced that process," Robinson said. "Certainly

the amount of recruiting that is done on the We_st Coast has accelerated every year from teams outside the state. "I think the general emphasis on high school sports has dropped in Cal– ifornia. So there is more invasion of the talent pool, and maybe the talent pool is not quite as good as it was. There seem to be more players from the West Coast interested in getting away." But Washington head coach Jim Lambright, whose Huskies have been the league's most successful team in recent years, knows that in order to 6 keep up with the elite teams of Division ~ ::, I, the bottom line is being able to pro- ~ duce a consistent winner. ~ "When recruiting is your lifeline, ~ [l_ certainly the program's stability has ~ to be the most impressive," he said "It ~ allows you to sell history. It allows you ! to use success as a tool for building more ~

JACK MAGRUDER is asportswriter for the Arizona Daily Star