FanHouse Pac Ten

Since joining the Bowl Championship Series system, the Pac Ten has been the perennial odd-man out, and history repeated itself again as the Kansas Jayhawks were selected to play in the Orange Bowl, leaving Arizona State as the off-man out.

Pac Ten Commissioner Tom Hansen is likely not amused--but nor should be be surprised. The BCS has a history of giving the conference the short end of the stick.

In 2001, the Oregon Ducks were jumped over by a Nebraska team that lost its final game and left out of the Rose Bowl. Two years later, USC was ranked #1 in both human polls, but left out of the Title Game. A year later, Mack Brown lobbied enough pollsters to jump Cal for the final automatic qualifying spot and a Rose Bowl berth, and in 2005, Oregon missed an automatic BCS berth by one slot.

After taking a beating this season for the sub-par performance of officials in Pac Ten games, Verle Sorgen, the conference's coordinator of referees, has announced his retirement.

Sorgen held the position for 21 years, after serving as a referee himself for as many--but none was as turbulent as 2006.

Who can forget the Oregon-Oklahoma game where the officials not only botched the replay but then gave the ball to the wrong team? The 15-minute review-and-re-review of a touchdown in the USC-Oregon game later that year likely led to the institution of a new time-limit by the NCAA.

And although Sorgen is said to be, " recognized nationally as one of the experts on the rules of college football and on officiating mechanics," his officiating crews were recognized blogophere-wide for their incompetence in 2006.

The Pac Ten conference must be feeling like Rodney Dangerfield these days. In its latest issue, Sports Illustrated puts four teams in its Top 25, yet ranks the conference fifth of the six Bowl Championship Series leagues. Only the Big East is worse, so don't damn us with feigned praise.

The Arizona Republic's Doug Haller thinks he's got it figured out: "No Bush. No Leinart. No Respect."

It's funny but sadly true that the national media is judging an entire conference on two players...or in this case the lack of them. Whereas the Big XII, for example, has maybe one or two teams that could compete for a slot in a BCS game (Texas, ...?), the Pac Ten has three or four that could theoretically be playing in January (Cal, Oregon, USC and Arizona State).

While the conference doesn't boast the star power of years past, even the weakest programs are becoming competitive. In any event, the debate should be settled after what amounts to a preseason Pac Ten - SEC challenge, as Cal, Washington State and USC all travel to the Deep South to fight for some respect.