I think most of us are very happy to be in the P12 but I'm curious to know if any of you would prefer that we were in the North division instead of the South. From a football perspective, this is what the 2 divisions looked like last year:
SOUTH CONF OVERALL
Arizona 7-2 10-4
UCLA 6-3 10-3
ASU 6-3 10-3
USC 6-3 9-4
Utah 5-4 9-4
CU 0-9 2-10
NORTH CONF OVERALL
Oregon 8-1 13-2
Stanford 5-4 8-5
UW 4-5 8-6
Cal 3-6 5-7
WSU 2-7 3-9
OSU 2-7 5-7
I know things are cyclical but with the South division teams playing so well and recruiting so close to home in Southern California and Arizona, it makes me wonder if we'd have a better chance of moving up in the standings had we ended up in the North division. Only 2 North teams had winning conference records vs 5 teams doing it from the South. Add to that, USC is about to go from good to great coming off sanctions and I could easily see them overtaking Oregon as the P12's strongest program.
UCLA, ASU, and Arizona look to be very good as long as they can keep their current coaches. Utah might be the one program we can look at as not being that much better than us but they went 9-4 last year while we were 2-10.
If we were in the North, you'd have to think a 3rd place finish behind Oregon and Stanford would be very doable. I don't know that it would happen this year but finishing ahead of UW, Cal, WSU, and OSU sometime in the near future seems realistic as long as we keep improving.
Can we move up to 3rd place in the South? Absolutely, but it will be a tougher task. As for winning a division title in the next 10 years, ask yourself if it would be easier to overtake Oregon and Stanford OR USC and UCLA. The talent pouring into the LA schools is scary and just a reminder, we're 0-9 lifetime vs USC. Even in 2002 when we had good talent and coaching we lost to them 40-3 at home.
Just find myself wondering if the road back to prominence would be easier as a North division team. Your thoughts?
SOUTH CONF OVERALL
Arizona 7-2 10-4
UCLA 6-3 10-3
ASU 6-3 10-3
USC 6-3 9-4
Utah 5-4 9-4
CU 0-9 2-10
NORTH CONF OVERALL
Oregon 8-1 13-2
Stanford 5-4 8-5
UW 4-5 8-6
Cal 3-6 5-7
WSU 2-7 3-9
OSU 2-7 5-7
I know things are cyclical but with the South division teams playing so well and recruiting so close to home in Southern California and Arizona, it makes me wonder if we'd have a better chance of moving up in the standings had we ended up in the North division. Only 2 North teams had winning conference records vs 5 teams doing it from the South. Add to that, USC is about to go from good to great coming off sanctions and I could easily see them overtaking Oregon as the P12's strongest program.
UCLA, ASU, and Arizona look to be very good as long as they can keep their current coaches. Utah might be the one program we can look at as not being that much better than us but they went 9-4 last year while we were 2-10.
If we were in the North, you'd have to think a 3rd place finish behind Oregon and Stanford would be very doable. I don't know that it would happen this year but finishing ahead of UW, Cal, WSU, and OSU sometime in the near future seems realistic as long as we keep improving.
Can we move up to 3rd place in the South? Absolutely, but it will be a tougher task. As for winning a division title in the next 10 years, ask yourself if it would be easier to overtake Oregon and Stanford OR USC and UCLA. The talent pouring into the LA schools is scary and just a reminder, we're 0-9 lifetime vs USC. Even in 2002 when we had good talent and coaching we lost to them 40-3 at home.
Just find myself wondering if the road back to prominence would be easier as a North division team. Your thoughts?
