Tony's Pac 10 picks

1 UCLA The title is the Bruins' to lose. They have the talent, and this year, they have what it takes to play a home game on January 3rd.





2 STANFORD The Trees are a wily bunch. They lost a lot to graduation, but they have a lot waiting in the wings, too -- not the least of which is probably the most experienced offensive line in the conference to plow in front of Kerry Carter. And watch out for Teyo Johnson.





3 OREGON Last year was a good year for the Quacks, and this year it's gone straight to their heads, what with the Joey Heisman campaign for QB Joey Harrington. Oregon has good experience coming back on the offensive side of the ball, but an inexperienced "D" will hold them back.





4 USC The Trojans have a new coach, much to the dismay of the rest of the league. The new coach, Pete Carroll, has hired ex-BYU offensive coordinator Norm Chow to run his trickery with USC's talent. That would be a scary prospect if USC's talent had BYU's brains -- which they don't.





5 WSU There appears to be a trend here. This will be my third consecutive year of picking the Cougs smack dab in the middle, and they're getting closer every year, so maybe the third time's a charm. Unfortunately, since the Apple Cup is in Seattle this year, a fifth-place finish would mean a return trip to Seattle for the new Seattle Bowl.





6 OSU Honestly, I don't know why everybody is so hot and heavy for the Cleavers. They do have a strong backfield -- but only half their O-line is back and there are some big holes on their D-line. And their home crowd won't help them on the road, where six of their games are this year.





7 CAL QB Kyle Boller hasn't produced to expectations in his first two years, but he has shown some improvement. And running back Joe Igber is as squirrelly as ever.





8 UW Despite losing virtually its entire offensive line as well as its offensive catalyst QB, the Huskies still have some gullible people convinced that a brand new line, QB and some freshmen WRs are gonna be all they need to get into the upper half of the Pac-10. No Dawg bites here.





9 ASU A new coach, a new system -- on both sides of the ball -- and the loss of many key players adds up to many weeks of frustration for the Sun Devils.





10 ARIZONA Welcome to the Pac-10 John Mackovic -- you're not in Texas any more. No experienced quarterback and a new system should spell doom for the Wildcats.