The Pac-10 is pretty weak this season. It’s highly likely the conference will only be able to send five schools to bowl games, even though they have seven commitments to fill. Schools from other conferences will benefit from this, but it makes the better teams in the Pac-10 (USC, Oregon State and Oregon) rank lower in the polls. I expect the following 1-5 list of teams to go bowling, and 6-10 to sit out.

1. USC: The Trojans (9-1, 7-1 Pac-10) can only win the conference title if the Beavers lose another conference game. Even if the they come in second place in the conference, they could be going to a better bowl game than the Beavers. Although the Trojans upcoming games (Notre Dame and UCLA) seem like sure victories, they must remain focused and continue to dominate on the defensive front or things could slip out of their hands (Oregone State this year, Stanford last year).
2. Oregon State: Having beat the Trojans earlier in the season, the Beavers (7-3, 6-2) hold the upper-hand having beat the Trojans. Two of the three losses for the Beavers are excuseable (Penn State and Utah), but their opening game loss to Stanford was ugly. The Beavers should have no problem getting passed Arizona, but interstate rival No. 24 Oregon isn’t going to simply laydown for the Beavers to win the conference title.
3. Oregon: The Ducks (8-3, 6-2) round the best the Pac-10 has to over. Everything below is either mediocore at best or just plain pathetic (the Washington schools). With an upcoming bye, the Ducks will have a solid chance of beating the Beavers.
4. Arizona: The Wildcats (6-4, 4-3) has had the advantage of playing Idaho, Toledo, UCLA, Washington and Washington State, five VERY easy wins. The only solid team the Wildcats have beat are the Bears. The Wildcats should go to a bowl game at 7-5 (lose to the Beavers, beat the Sundevils), however, they will make a bowl game due to the weakness of their conference, not the strength of their team.
5. California: The Bears (6-4, 4-3) have a good realistic chance to win out (Stanford and Washington) to finish with a 8-4 record. It would be nice to see the team stick to one quarterback (Longshore or Reily), but thats not likely to happen.
6. Stanford: The Cardinal (6-5, 4-4) has a chance to go bowling for the first time since 2001, but it must win a big game, in fact, it must win the Big Game. It’s hard to see the Cardinal beating the Bears are a rough loss to the Trojans last week.
7. UCLA: The Bruins (4-6, 3-4) have played awful most of the season, but they have shown up in big games (Tennessee, Fresno State and Stanford), so I’m expecting them to show up in the final game of the season against USC. The Bruins may not pull the upset, but they will make it a game.
8. Arizona State: The Sundevils (4-6, 3-4) had three freebies on their bingo board (Northern Arizona, Washington, Washington State) and somehow beat the Cardinal. Two weeks ago, the Sun Devils were 2-6 (thank you Washington schools).
9. Washington State: The Cougars (1-10, 0-8) may only have one win, but at least they got one (I’m talking about you Washington).
10. Washington: The Huskies (0-10, 0-7) only chance of winning for the entire season comes this week when they face noneother than the almighty Cougars.

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