Forgettable bowl season for Pac-10

By Fred Guzman

MauiNow.com

You can argue whether the results of bowl games accurately reflect the relative strength of the various football conferences.

But you can’t argue that the Pac-10, after going 5-0 last season, absolutely stunk up the joint this bowl campaign, going a dismal 2-5 despite being favored in six of those seven games.

Only USC and UCLA managed victories, the No. 24 Trojans defeating Boston College 24-13 in the Emerald and the Bruins beating Temple 30-21 in the EagleBank in frigid Washington D.C.

But the rest of the news was awful for the Pac-10, whose supporters – me among them – bristle at the notion that it’s a soft conference.

Oregon was taken to school by Ohio State and quarterback Terrelle Pryor, 26-17, in the Rose Bowl.

No. 14 BYU dominated No. 18 Oregon State 44-20 in the Las Vegas Bowl, with the Beavers showing little of the fire they exhibited in their exciting loss to Oregon for the Pac-10 title.

No. 22 Nebraska humbled No. 20 Arizona 33-0 in the Holiday. Cal was defeated 37-27 No. 23 by Utah in the Poinsettia.

Although beaten 31-27 by Oklahoma in the Sun Bowl, No. 21 Stanford at least was competitive despite playing without starting QB Andrew Luck.

On the other side of the bowl ledger, the Mountain West went 4-0 – including 2-0 versus the Pac-10 – before suffering its first post-season loss last night. And that came in a BCS-buster battle, with No. 6 Boise State of the WAC defeated No. 4 TCU 17-10 in a showdown between unbeaten teams in the Fiesta Bowl.

Two other major bowl games remain on tap. Tonight, Georgia Tech faces Iowa in the Orange. And, on Thursday, it’s top-ranked Alabama vs. No. 2 Texas in the BCS championship game in Pasadena.