Name: Pacific 10 Conference

Teams: 10 (what a novel concept)

Motto: "It's more than USC, we swear!"

2008 Bowl Record: 5-0

Some might say: "Any team could win the conference this season."

We say: "Start engraving USC on the trophy."

Burning Questions for '09: ?

• Does the '08 bowl record prove the strength of the conference?
• Will the teams in Washington combine for more than 3 wins this year?
• Can one of the Oregon teams challenge for the conference title?

Year to year, it's hard for anyone to tell what's going to happen with the Pac-10. Well, actually, we have a pretty good idea. It goes something like this:

1. USC dominates their first couple games.

2. 2 or 3 teams are one game back.

3. USC loses to a team they shouldn't, then dominates the rest of the schedule.

4. Everyone else fades away.

Now, it's not going to go to script like that every year, but it's usually something close. USC has always killed teams in the early going -- like Ohio State -- then managed to lose to a team somewhere along the road -- like Oregon State or *gasp* Stanford.  Then, true to form, the 1-loss Pac-10 team gets forgotten and some 2 loss SEC team makes their way to the BCS Title game.

In a lot of ways, us Big11Ten folk can empathize with the people in the Pac-10.  It's usually just one or two teams running things and the rest along for the ride, yet for some reason the good teams get devalued just because of where they play. Of course, the big difference is those Pac-10 teams win their big bowl games while teams like Ohio State, Ohio State again and then most recently Penn State have lost on some of the biggest stages.

But back to what's going to happen in 09. Lets run down the few teams we think have a chance.

First up, California.

Why do they have a chance?

They have a legit Heisman quality running back in Jahvid Best, and 15 starters returning that put forth a 9-4 season last year. When you have a solid running game and an experienced team, you can win. Cal opens with Maryland, Eastern Washington and Minnesota before taking on conference giants Oregon and SC.  Not the way anyone wants to start the conference schedule but if they manage to steal an early game against one of those two teams, they could easily be in the running for winning the conference.

Why won't they win?

A young quarterback.  Not to say Kevin Riley can't get the job done, but everyone knows how these things work. When you have a young QB, it's likely your team will go through some growing pains with them.

Next we have Oregon State

Why do they have a chance?

They almost won last year and they return their two best players: The Rodgers brothers. We in Happy Valley saw Jacquizz Rodgers' coming out party during the second half of the PSU /OSU game last year and should know first hand what he can do.  After being injured at the tail end of last season, both Rodgers' brothers will be back and essential to getting their team back to contending for the conference.

Why won't they win?

There is a chance the Sun Bowl team will come back to play. Remember that 3-0 beatdown they put on Pitt? Okay we really don't think that's why they won't win, we just wanted to mention Pitt losing 3-0 in a bowl game.

Next is Oregon.

Why do they have a chance?

Oregon always has a chance. They have solid teams year in and year out, they get great recruits and they play in an incredible atmosphere at home.  They have options at quarterback this year -- including Jeremiah Masoli -- who played well last year, closing out the season with 4 wins and a 7-1 TD-INT ratio.  When you have a quarterback that can play the system like Masoli does, you can win.

Why do they not?

Apparently, their lines graduated. Four offensive linemen are gone as well as three from the d-line.  It's never good when you lose half as many linemen as Oregon did this past off-season. Patching up those lines will be essential. Oregon has also a tricky schedule. They play the usual Pac-10 schedule which is never easy but they also play two non-conference teams that could possibly pose a threat. After almost losing to Purdue early last year, Oregon will now travel to Boise State, a team that can never be taken lightly, and two weeks later will host Utah -- defending co-national champion (in our eyes, anyway).  We're curious as to how long ago this schedule was made, and if Oregon had any idea what Utah and Boise State would turn into.

and finally, USC.

Why do they have a chance?

The same reasons they had a chance the last 6 years they won the conference. Is it 6? We've lost count.  Pete Carroll walks into high school across the country and recruits hop on the chartered flight back to LA the next morning. USC has consistently had some of the best recruiting classes in the nation and will be able to field one of the most talented teams every year. They also have Pete Carroll and all he does is win. Simply put, USC has a chance to win because they are USC.

Why do they not?

They lost their QB, Mark Sanchez, to the NFL. Pete Carroll made a real play to get him to stick around another year, which might lead some people to think he's not exactly comfortable with whoever ends up under center for them next year.  People also wondered about Booty and Sanchez but hey, they turned out all right.

Okay, so now it's time to prepare for a real shocker as we pick our winner:

*sigh*

We hate to see teams win every year, but you can't deny USC. They win, it's just what they do. Until someone beats them, we'll probably pick them every year.

Tailgating items and more conference previews are next.

Name: Atlantic Coast Conference

Teams: 12

Motto: "Who will win?  Your guess is as good as ours."

2008 Bowl Record: 4-6

Some might say: "The mediocre records can be explained by the high degree of competition within the conference."

We say: "All of these teams suck equally."

Burning Questions for '09:

• Will Virginia Tech be anywhere near as good as the pundits think they will?
• Will anyone finish with a conference record better than 5-3?
• Will fans attend any games?

Sorry for another extended delay, but summer's a slow time for in the world of CFB.  We've been discussing some ideas and we'll start writing more often now that we're getting into July.  In addition to the links and tailgating posts we've been doing, starting this Friday we're going to do a preview of one of the BCS conferences each week.  First up is the ACC, our favorite whipping boy.  As for the Big11Ten, we'll be going through that in a team-by-team fashion in August.  We'll have some other goodies to throw in along the way, including a big-time review of NCAA Football '10.  Now onto the links.

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You're not going to believe this, but we actually dug up enough Penn State stories this week to keep the weekly links all PSU-related.  Given that, we hope you don't mind if we expound on the stories a bit more than usual.  Hell, we're happy if you've even made it here in the first place.  Click the link below to check it out.

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Building the Tailgate, Part II

(Tailgating is a big part of our football lives, we do it every game every year. We're going to make this tailgating themed article a regular thing where we pick up items we would want for our tailgate.  We're going to to be going out of our price range, obviously, but we plan on staying within reason... somewhat.  And please, point us in the right direction if you see something that should be part of any dream trailgate scenario.)

Read more to get to the meat of this thing.

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Forgive us for the little hiatus, but May is just not an inspiring month for college football fans.  But we're back today with some links, and we'll be giving you another item in our "Dream Tailgate" series on Friday.  Check out the links after the jump.

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In this week's version of the links, we talk Tamba Hali, Penn State-Pitt, and Lane Kiffin. Check them out after the jump.

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One of us here at We Want The Lion is a huuuuuuge fan of Bruce Springsteen, and is attending his concert at the BJC tonight. So, in honor of one of the greatest musicians, dare we say, one of the greatest Americans of all time, we're taking a timeout from football and giving you a Top 5 list of The Boss's greatest songs.

Before we begin, let me go through my criteria and process for selecting these songs. Is it really possible to come up with criteria for one man to judge another man's greatest work? No. But what I tried to do in formulating this list was take three major questions and apply them to each song:

1. Is this song generally considered to be a Bruce classic?
2. How much do I like this song? (Hey, it's my list, after all.)
3. How well does this song sum up The Boss's overall body of work?

I tried to stick to numbers 1 and 3 the most, but obviously number 2 comes into play as well. As far as picking the songs, I started out with an initial list of 25 from the master song list as brucespringsteen.net, and chopped five off each round until I was down to only five. Then I ranked them, again using the criteria from above. Without further ado, here's the list:

5. Glory Days

Is "Glory Days" the cheesiest song of all time? Quite possibly. But I still love it. I would think that a lot of Bruce haters would point to this song as being full of stupid cliches and being too simple, too literal and just junk overall. Those people need to remove the bug that crawled up their collective ass and died. This song is pure fun, and it describes something to which pretty much everyone can relate: getting old sucks. But when The Boss laments it, it sucks just a little bit less.

4. Badlands

Let me just say this: if you like Springsteen, and you have some friends that also like Springsteen, and you've never driven down the highway with those friends while you all belt out the chorus to "Badlands", then get off your ass! You're going to want to do that at some point. This is one of the many classics where Springsteen deals with escape, redemption and the American Dream. If that's not your cup of tea, it also flat-out rocks.

3. Rosalita

Well my tires were slashed and I almost crashed but the Lord have mercy
And my machine she's a dud I'm stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey

What a line. Out of the entire Springsteen catalog, this tune might be the most fun. I don't want to judge, but if you hear this song and you don't smile either during or after it, then you may not have a soul.

2. Darkness On The Edge Of Town

This is the cinderella of the Top 5, and it's really because it's my personal favorite. This song is classic Springsteen, full of imagery about being dealing with the past, moving on and ultimately being comfortable with yourself. In contrast to the carefully-crafted, heavily-produced selections on Born To Run, this song (and the entire album that bears its name) is The Boss at his most raw and emotional. This song is an amazing ride every time, and its themes sum up Springsteen better than maybe any other song except...

1. Thunder Road

Just an all-time classic, not just in Springsteen's history, but in rock history as well. This is like an epic poem set to music. The lyrics are The Boss's finest work- the "Roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair" line sums up his body of work- and the music- from the piano intro to the full band middle to the saxophone outro- builds and flows to make the perfect compliment the lyrics. The images this song conjures up are so vivid that you almost think you lived them once. Just an amazing piece of work. If I had to pick only one Springsteen song, this would be it.

And as a bonus, here are the tunes that came in at numbers 6 through 10:

Building the Tailgate

(Tailgating is a big part of our football lives, we do it every game every year. We're going to make this tailgating themed article a regular thing where we pick up items we would want for our tailgate.  We're going to to be going out of our price range, obviously, but we plan on staying within reason... somewhat.  And please, point us in the right direction if you see something that should be part of any dream trailgate scenario.)

Read more to get to the meat of this thing.

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Now that the spring football season is over, we're going to be looking at more stories in the Big11Ten as a whole, and also then national college football scene.  We'll still bring you Penn State news as it happens, but hey, the summer is a slow time for CFB news, so let's see what's happening around the country.  Click the link to read on.

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