No, it had nothing to do with USC, which was the overwhelming choice to win a seventh straight conference championship. In fact, the Trojans got 38 of the 39 first-place votes from the panel of media members.
The surprise was the one first-place vote USC did not get. That went to Cal.
til they say, 'Go.' Over the last month, it's been a big distraction."

By Jonathan Okanes LOS ANGELES - In recent years, there always seemed to be a team or two capable of making a run at USC for Pac-10 supremacy.
For the sixth consecutive year at Thursday's annual Pac-10 media day, the Trojans were the media's pick to win the conference, but the general feeling is the rest of the conference pecking order is anybody's guess.
in the program have all left us," Carroll said. "I sense a whole new excitement about our program that I've never been more pumped about a year starting. It seems like the first time for us. We have a chance to do something special again with a kind of changing of the guard. I can't wait to see these guys crank it up and go."

By Kevin Carden With the Trojans overwhelming success under Pete Carroll it came as no surprise to see USC atop the preseason list and Arizona State Head

The movement in recent years to make college football games shorter and more television-friendly continues this fall with several changes in the way the

LOS ANGELES, Calif.--Five-time defending Pac-10 champion USC is a near-unanimous choice to win the 2008 Pacific-10 Conference football title in a preseason poll of West Coast media members who regularly cover the league. The Trojans were listed in the top spot by 38 of the 39 voters participating in the poll. It marks the sixth consecutive year the Trojans have been the choice to win the title. USC has won or shared the last five Pac-10 titles and has two National Championships and a national runner-up finish in the last five years. The Trojans fashioned an 11-2 mark last season, capped by a 49-17 rout of Illinois in the Rose Bowl. Defending Pac-10 co-champion ARIZONA STATE

There's really no question as to the best college football program the past six years as Pete Carroll and the USC Trojans have reeled off 11 or more wins each season and once again enter a campaign as the odds-on favorite to win the BCS. The only question seems to be can the Trojans run through the rest of the conference unbeaten, or could an Oregon, Cal or Arizona State upset those plans?
The Pacific-10 Conference has gotten a lot more respect over the past decade. Too bad that respect is concentrated almost entirely in Los Angeles.
road games to worry about, including what should be an improved Notre Dame club. It’ll take more miracles this year for Stanford to achieve even a push against this total.