On December 3, 2009, 18 days ago as I write this, the Oregon Ducks capped one of the greatest regular seasons in team history by coming from behind in dramatic fashion against archrival Oregon State in the annual "Civil War" to earn the Pac-10 Conference championship.
I could go on and on about the joy I've experienced since the moment the clock hit zero at Autzen Stadium: how I screamed "WE DID IT!" so loudly Valarie was plugging her ears, how I ran into the street yelling "ROSE BOWL! ROSE BOWL!", or broke down in tears watching the celebration. Or how ecstatic I am to actually be going to the Rose Bowl itself on New Year's Day.
But the reason I decided to write this post was that tonight, Ducks fanatic and statistics lover that I am, decided to look and see how Oregon's run of three Pac-10 Conference championships shakes down in terms of rankings for conference titles won in the last decade and the few decades before that.
I already knew that Oregon is second for the 2000s decade behind USC in terms of overall wins (Oregon State is third). But if you go by Pac-10 conference championships for this decade, it brakes down thusly, with schools ranked by overall titles and then the number of outright titles in parenthesis:
1. USC: 7 (4 outright)2. Oregon: 3 (2)
3. Washington: 1 (0)
3. California: 1 (0)
3. Arizona State: 1 (0)
3. Oregon State: 1 (0)
3. Washington State: 1 (0)
8. UCLA: 0
8. Stanford: 0
8. Arizona: 0
If we pull back further to look at Pac-10 titles won since 1990 and continue looking further back by the decade (I went back to 1960, but the Pac-10 dates back in various forms to 1915), Oregon has less of an edge each time.
Pac-10 titles won since 1990:
1. USC: 9 (4 outright)2. Washington: 5 (2)
3. Oregon: 4 (3)
4. UCLA: 3 (1)
5. Arizona State: 2 (1)
6. Oregon State: 2 (0)
6. Washington State: 2 (0)
8. Stanford: 2 (1)
9. California: 1 (0)
9. Arizona: 1 (0)
Titles won since 1980:
1. USC 13 (7 outright)
2. Washington 7 (4)
2. UCLA 7 (4)
4. Oregon: 4 (3)
5. Arizona State: 3 (2)
6. Stanford: 2 (1)
7. Oregon State: 2 (0)
8. Washington State: 2 (0)
9. California: 1 (0)
10. Arizona: 1 (0)
1. USC: 25 (18 outright)
2. Washington: 10 (7)
3. UCLA: 10 (6)
4. Oregon: 4 (3)
4. Stanford: 4 (3)
6. Arizona State: 3 (2)
7. Oregon State: 2 (0)
7. California: 2 (0)
7. Washington State: 2 (0)
10. Arizona: 1 (0)
Obviously the constant is that USC has been dominant both recently and throughout history (although particularly in the 1960s, 70s and 2000s). But as the decades have gone by, the race for second best has seen different leaders at different times. If you look at the conference between 1960 and 1990, Washington and UCLA are clearly the two winningest programs besides the Trojans. But in the last twenty years, that has changed as Oregon has ascended to be the number one contender against mighty Troy.
What does the next decade hold for the Ducks football program? It's of course impossible to tell. The last 20 years indicate an almost continuous forward trajectory for Oregon, but the Ducks are still looking to win their first Rose Bowl since 1916. (The 2001 Ducks did defeat Colorado in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl; that year the Rose Bowl acted as the national championship game instead of the traditional Pac-10/Big-10 clash.) What's more, conference competitors like the Huskies and Bruins also provide lessons in how even the mighty can fall. And then there are threats like the Beavers, who will finish the decade with their three-way-shared Pac-10 title in 2000 as their only one for a 50-year period, but who have been within one win of clinching the Rose Bowl and the conference title for two straight years. As long as Mike Riley stays in Corvallis, the Beavers figure to keep knocking on the door.
Even so, during this golden period between clinching this year's conference title and playing the Rose Bowl itself, it's worth a moment to savor what a Pac-10 championship means all by itself. WIth the exception of perhaps the Southeastern Conference (SEC), there is no greater conference in college football than the Pac-10, and if Oregon can win against these nine foes, the Ducks can compete with anyone.
Comments