USC is the clear favorite. If I were a dick-wrap fan my biggest concern would be the Norm Chow factor.

As far as the rest of the Pac goes, Arizona State or Cal are the obvious runner-up picks. WSU and OSU are on the way down. UW will be better, but they need a couple of years to right the ship. Stanford will remain at the bottom, and they will be joined by UCLA. Arizona will be better, but they're probably still a mid-pack team.

Oregon is the dark horse in the conference - they've under-performed every year since they were screwed in '01, but they are changing up the offense this year and they're absolutely loaded at the skill positions. Could be really good, could be poor - we'll see. They may have a fighting chance against USC because they get to play them at Autzen, but a win in that one will be tough to come by.

Back to the national picture, I've been hearing a lot about Texas, but the schedule is brutal. Basically if USC can handle the coaching transition, they shouldn't struggle much against any team in the country.