The Pac-10 certainly found a number of interesting ways to make headlines over the past year. Problem was, most of the stories belonged in the tabloids.

"Price Rolls Tide With Stripper!"

"NCAA Sees Satan in Slick Rick's Picks!"

Outside the state of Washington, at least coaches departed in old-fashioned ways: With a boot to their backsides or with dollar signs in their eyes.

Nothing like an offseason of upheaval and controversy. When the spotlight finally dimmed a bit, Oregon ended up as the only Pac-10 team with the same coach since 2000.

	Around The Pac-10
	Arizona Wildcats
	Arizona State Sun Devils
	California Golden Bears
	Oregon Ducks
	Oregon State Beavers
	Stanford Cardinal
	UCLA Bruins
	USC Trojans
	Washington Huskies
	Washington State Cougars

Mike Bellotti, just starting to show some gray hair (perhaps from watching his pass defense last year?), heads into his ninth year at the Ducks' helm. The combined experience of the conference's other nine coaches at their current posts is eight years, not including Mike Riley's 1997 and 1998 seasons at Oregon State.

Washington State, UCLA, Oregon State and Washington each hired new coaches. UCLA fired Bob Toledo and replaced him with Karl Dorrell, while Riley returned to Oregon State after Dennis Erickson left for the San Francisco 49ers.

Turnover is a fact of life in the win-now, get-your-cash-coach world of college football. But the fates of Washington State's Mike Price and Washington's Rick Neuheisel took more peculiar turns.

Price surprised everyone by becoming Alabama's coach -- only to redouble the shock when salacious stories following a strip club outing led to his ouster before he coached a game for the Crimson Tide.

Washington coach Rick Neuheisel was booted for participating in a high-stakes betting pool on the NCAA basketball tournament, a controversy that didn't resolve itself until late July.

Both Price and Neuheisel are now game planning lawsuits, not passing strategies.

As far as the football side of football, the story was USC's long-awaited return to the nation's elite. The Trojans won their final eight games on their way to a No. 4 national ranking, the program's highest since 1979, and quarterback Carson Palmer became the conference's first Heisman Trophy winner since 1981.

After hauling in perhaps the nation's best recruiting class, USC, the conference's preseason favorite, looks poised to return to its dominant ways of 1962-1989, when it won 15 Pac-10 titles.

"That is what I'm here to do," said Trojans coach Pete Carroll, a hoary veteran with two years of service in L.A.. "I am here to recreate (the past). But one year doesn't mean anything. It takes a lot longer than one year."

The Trojans welcome back six players on both sides of the ball, but lost their entire backfield and three-fourths of their secondary, including All-America strong safety Troy Polamalu. Of course, they may have the best and deepest defensive line in the nation.

If rumors of USC's resurrection have once again been greatly exaggerated, then Washington, Arizona State and Oregon State have the talent to make a move. All three have the ingredient that typically makes for the tastiest Pac-10 campaign: Experience at quarterback.

Cody Pickett, a top Heisman Trophy candidate, already has etched his name into the conference and Washington record book. While he and All-America receiver Reggie Williams are the best pass-catch combination in the country, the Huskies will need to improve their running game and pass defense in order to compete for the title.

Junior quarterback Andrew Walter leads Arizona State's slate of 17 returning starters, most in the Pac-10. But the Sun Devils lost their two best players: defensive end Terrell Suggs and receiver Shaun McDonald.

While Oregon State junior Derek Anderson is not yet the quarterbacking equal of Pickett or Walter, he has one thing they don't: tailback Steven Jackson, the conference's only returning 1,000-yard rusher.

Jackson, a 227-pound bruiser with outstanding speed, averaged 5.3 yards per carry, scored 15 touchdowns and was eighth in the nation with 1,690 yards last season. He, too, could make some Heisman noise.

UCLA, Oregon and Washington State each have the talent to reach a bowl game, while California and its mere eight returning starters, Arizona and embattled coach John Mackovic and woeful Stanford figure to struggle.

Still, the Pac-10 is always a bit nutty. Seven different teams have won the conference crown over the past eight years, and five different teams earned top-10 perches in the past three final AP polls.

But here's the big "But." Of the six Bowl Championship Series conferences, only the Pac-10 hasn't celebrated a national championship over the past six seasons. The Pac-10, in fact, hasn't won a consensus national title since USC did in 1972, though it split crowns three times (USC, 1974, '78; Washington, 1991).

For a breakthrough to happen, teams will have to win tough non-conference games on the road. Mark Aug. 30 on your calendar. On that date, Washington, which doesn't play Arizona State, opens at defending national champion Ohio State, while USC is at SEC favorite Auburn.

A win at either of those venues would grab headlines for the Pac-10 in more constructive ways.

Game of the Year
USC visits Washington on Oct. 25. These are the Pac-10's most talented teams, but much depends on how the Huskies develop under Gilbertson and how the Trojans avoid a post-Palmer hangover. Last year, the Trojans buried the Huskies, 41-21, and weren't challenged the remainder of the season as they charged toward an Orange Bowl berth. For the UW, that was the first defeat in a season-killing three-game losing streak.

Offensive Player of the Year
Pickett, a three-year starter, is the conference's top Heisman Trophy candidate after setting Pac-10 single-season records in both passing (4,458 yards) and total offense (4,273). He'll be throwing to perhaps the nation's best receiver in Williams. But watch out for Jackson and Walter, who could emerge if the Huskies and Pickett falter.

Defensive Player of the Year
Oregon State's Richard Seigler is one of the nation's top inside linebackers and a Butkus Award candidate. A four-year starter who accounted for 99 tackles last year, he is one of only two first-team all-conference defenders returning this season -- the other being USC linebacker Matt Grootegoed, who had 16.5 tackles for a loss last year.

Ted Miller covers the Pac-10 for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.