RONick

October 21st, 2010 at 3:14 PM ^

I like the idea of the overall champion getting to play the conference championship at home.  Just imagine the atmosphere of a conference championship game in November at The Big House...

MrWoodson

October 21st, 2010 at 3:25 PM ^

Pros and cons to both. It definitely provides a reward to the team that has the better record, but given that schedules are not identical and one team might have had an easier path (a la the B12 every year) it seems fairer to have a neutral site with 50% of the seats allocated to each team. It also offers a neutral venue in the event two teams meet twice, eliminating the home field advantage in the rematch.

RONick

October 21st, 2010 at 3:57 PM ^

Oh, I definitely agree with all of that.  I just meant to say that the atmosphere wouldn't feel so... forced for these kinds of events.  Conference championship games always feel anti-climatic to me when they are played in a neutral site/NFL stadium...

preed1

October 21st, 2010 at 3:14 PM ^

California, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State will comprise the North division. New members Utah and Colorado will join Arizona, Arizona State, Southern California and UCLA in the South division.

jmblue

October 21st, 2010 at 5:50 PM ^

Let's not forget that before Pete Carroll arrived, USC was basically another ND - an average-to-decent team seemingly unable to recapture its old glory.  Carroll's gone now, and they've got scholarship reductions for the next couple of years.  They aren't guaranteed to be a powerhouse.

CountryBlue

October 21st, 2010 at 4:21 PM ^

i think the south is the better conference! even the lower teams now, have their gimpses of great play. The north doesn't have the 6 quality like the south does, having UCLA, ARZ ST, and Colorado as your weakest 3 doesn't make it a push over. 

WolvinLA2

October 21st, 2010 at 5:37 PM ^

I think UCLA, Arizona St. and Colorado are easier than Washington State, Cal, and (UW or Oregon St.).  Arizona is only recently good, and who knows how Utah will be in a major conference.  USC is the only proven entity in the South, whereas Wazzu is the only below average team in the North.

EGD

October 22nd, 2010 at 2:02 AM ^

If you just take a snapshot of the divisions now, the North looks stronger with Oregon, Stanford, and Oregon State.  But forgetting how the teams are right now and looking over the long-term, I think the divisions are very well-balanced, with the South maybe a little better. 

Probably the only team in the north that has historically been a constent power is Washington, though I think Oregon--while a more recent arrival--is here to stay.  Cal and Stanford have traditonally been meh, and Oregon State and Wazzou have had their years but no sustained success.  In the south, the only historically weak team in the south is Arizona, and for an established power you have USC.  The middle four teams should be very competitive with each other (Utah, Colorado, Arizona St., UCLA).  

In other words, the north seems to have 2 traditional powers, 2 traditionally average programs, and 2 traditional doormats.  The south has has the Pac-10's overall most accomplished program (USC), then 4 very good but second-tier programs, and 1 doormat (who, ironically, would probably win the south division if it existed this year).

funkywolve

October 21st, 2010 at 7:16 PM ^

Agree about the south being weaker. 

To me Utah is kind of an unknown quantitiy.  They're a good program but it'll be interesting to see how they do in the Pac-10.  It'll be interesting to see how they do 'stepping up' to a BCS conference.  I don't think they fall flat on their face, but I think in conference play depending on their schedule they go 6-3/5-4ish.

Sambojangles

October 22nd, 2010 at 12:15 AM ^

I'm most interested to see how the new teams do in their first year in the Pac-12. I think it's pretty safe to say that CU will probably be close to the bottom, but I'm rooting for Utah to be about as successful as the California teams have been on average in recent years. I think they run a good program that will get better now that they are in a major conference.

Dan TrueBlue

October 21st, 2010 at 7:47 PM ^

I asked Rittenberg about it during one of the lunch-time chats, and he said that they weren't planning on even thinking about division or trophy names until December.