Pac-12 Presidents send out a letter with suggested changes to the NCAA

The NCAA has been a laughable debacle over the last decade and that situation has become worse under the organization’s President Mark Emmert. In fact, the way the NCAA has governed college athletics has been so controversial, that a couple of members of the United States House of Representatives talked about passing legislation to force the NCAA to change. In fact, the Pac-12 athletic conference has sent out a letter to the presidents of the universities in the other power conferences (ACC, SEC, Big-12, and the Big Ten) with 10-points that they would like to see changed.

These 10-points that were made by the Pac-12 presidents made include giving the student athletes a greater voice in the decision-making process, providing medical assistance or insurance to athletes injury while participating in their scholarship sport, decrease demands on the athletes during the athletic season, giving the athletes a bigger say in the decision-making process, give the major conferences more autonomy, etc. Continue Reading->

Comparing the Offensive Production Between the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Teams

One of the complaints about women’s basketball in general is that there isn’t enough offense involved in games to capture the public’s interest, and keep it. After the offensive slow down in men’s basketball after the last couple of seasons, I thought it would be interesting to compare the offensive outputs of the Pac-12′s basketball teams after conference play started. And the statistics are surprising to even me, a big fan of women’s basketball.

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In Honor of Steve Sarkisian’s Hiring at USC, It’s Time To Raid The Dubsism Archives

If you aren’t familiar with the 1954 film classic “A Star Is Born” starring Judy Garland and James Mason, then the jokes here are going to be completely lost on you. But rather than telling you to move along, you may want to consider giving the following movie parody a read, because it was written four years ago and essentially predicts Sarkisian’s rise to the top.  It stars all the same characters; Sarkisian as Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester, former USC head coach Pete Carroll as Norman Maine, and who could forget the recently departed Ed Orgeron as Matt Libby?

Having said that, here’s the Dubsism version of “A Star Is Born.”

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Pac-12 Power Rankings for Week 12

Was there ever that on thing you always you always wanted as a child — whether that be a particular toy set or a certain girl in your grade school class to notice you? No matter how hard you tried, you never could get that one thing…it is enough to drive any human being insane.

One thing I’ve noticed as an adult is that that desire never goes away, it just manifolds itself in different ways. For me, one of those things that I’ve wanted is for Oregon to capture a national championship game to shut up those obnoxious Husky fans that troll Oregon because they haven’t captured a national title yet. After all, it’s not like Oregon has a most recent Rose Bowl victory AND ten straight wins over UW…that’s sarcsasm by the way.

Unfortunately, that won’t be happening this upcoming January; in fact, one Duck fan feels like their window for a national championship has closed. I completely disagree with his argument, but that is not what this post is about…this post is about ranking the Pac-12 and we shall do that.

Like right now:

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Pac-12 Power Rankings for Week 11

It was a rather empty slate for the Pac-12 conference this past weekend. There was a grand total of four games — eight teams — that happened this past weekend. There were no real upsets, but there were some surprising results that left a fan base up in arms about something that doesn’t really mean anything. Anyway’s, this weekend was rather lame and the power rankings should reflect that.

1. Oregon Ducks: The Ducks and Cardinal got the entire week to prepare for their match-up on Thursday Nov. 7th.
2. Stanford Cardinal: See above team.

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Pac-12 Power Rankings for Week 10

The landscape of college football went relatively unchanged  after week ten. For the Pac-12, the week was full of predictability, as there weren’t any upsets; there also weren’t too many close games to speak of. In other words it was a pretty boring weekend for those — meaning me — who liked the chaos of the previous week. Now, let’s get to the power rankings for the Pac-12.

1. Oregon Ducks: Oregon regained its title of the great spread coverers; the Duck’s 28 point victory over the Bruins was impressive.

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Pac-12 Power Rankings for Week 9

I know that you guys were extremely concerned, but be concerned no more as the Pac-12 Power Rankings are back. It has been an interesting hiatus that has cost me some excellent humor opportunities at the expense of some Pac-12 teams, but its ya know….whatever.

For those of you who missed the pre-season power rankings, you can find them here. For those of you who don’t care and just want to see how I have the conference stacking up right now, keep on reading.

1. Oregon Ducks: For the first time in 2013, the Ducks failed to cover the spread. I think it means that it is time for those folks in Eugene to start panicking. I know I would if I was them.

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Sport’s with Neil’s Overall Pac-12 Power Rankings for Week One

Since we have examined the Pac-12 Northern and Southern Divisions, I feel like it is time for us to take a look at how the entire conference stacks up going into the 2013 season.

1) Stanford Cardinals: The Cardinal won the conference last season, and with their star QB and MLB returning Cardinal fans have every reason to expect them to repeat.

2) Oregon Ducks: While the Ducks may have lost Chip Kelly, they are still extremely talented. It is also a good idea to point out that Mark Helfrich became the Ducks OC in 2009, and probably knows the team pretty well (although not all coordinators successfully transition to being a head coach).

3) UCLA Bruins: The Bruins are the best team in the South, and gave Stanford a run for their money in the Pac-12 Title Game in 2012. Don’t be surprised to see them in contention for the Pac-12 Crown this year.

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Sports with Neil’s Pac-12 South Power Rankings

After taking a look at the Northern Division of the Pacific 12 Conference, it is time for us to take a look at the Southern one. UCLA has won this division the past two seasons, with last year actually being a legit divisional win.  Now, don’t get me wrong…Jim Mora Jr. looks like he currently has UCLA poised to be the team to dominate the division for a while to come; that being said, this division is currently weak when compared to its peer, the Pac-12 North.

Anyways, on to the South!

1) UCLA: In Jim Mora’s first season last year, the Bruins surprised the Pac-12-and really the college football world-with their upset win over Nebraska. They suffered an embarrassing loss to Cal last year,..

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Sports with Neil’s Pac-12 North Pre-Season Power Rankings

Last year the Pac-12 was extremely exciting to watch, as the North continued its string of winning the Pac-12 title. There is going to be a lot of interesting story lines as we move through the season; does the hot seat talk for Steve Sarkisian end, or does it boil over? Are the Cougs able to [actually] turn things around in Mike Leach’s second year at the helm? Is Jim Mora Jr. the solution for the UCLA Bruins?..and many, many more.

That being said, the story lines are only part of what this post is about. This post is taking a look at how I think the Pac-12 teams rank going into the season.

That’s right folks, Pac-12 Power Rankings have returned; and we will start with the Northern Division.

1) Stanford: The Cardinal posted an impressive 12-2 record last season, as the won the conference and the Rose Bowl. Last season started off good for the Cards with an impressive upset win over the Trojans of Southern California in conference play. There success continued throughout the season (minus a couple of hick-ups against he Huskies and Notre Dame); and ended with a 20-14 win in the Rose Bowl over Wisconsin.

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