First off I never belittled USC and I don't want to take anything away from them. They won a half title and then kept going. The Pac 10 however is another story. They are a 2-4 team conference this year and in most years. If you want to compare conference stats we could argue all day and you might have the edge the last two years but I don't think you'd find many who expect that to continue. As for the Oregon line in the Oklahoma game you are talking about the number 6 team in the country with one loss against a team with 4 losses including two in a 'weak' conference. I don't know about you but I would expect a bigger line if you chose two other like situated teams...e.g. 7 1/2. Look at who Oklahoma beat in that stretch of wins and their best game was the loss you mentioned to T Tech. USC is the only real team in the conference much like Texas is the only true contender in the Big 12. I guess my gripe is the belittlement of the Big 12 this year and I chose to compare them to another conference I follow.
"I guess my gripe is the belittlement of the Big 12 this year and I chose to compare them to another conference I follow."
Fair enough, and I agree with you that the conference denigrations get way out of hand each year. I think the Big 12 was primed to get bad-mouthed by everybody this year, just because of the last couple BCS title games, so everybody jumps on them. The reality is, there is tremendous balance across college football, even when you include the so-called 'mid-majors' who can be pretty good too. Heck, you look at what Georgia Tech did against Auburn, Miami, and Georgia, and then you see Utah wax their ass the other night. It's not that big of a fluke for those teams to win games against BCS teams. Thus far, the Big 12 has proved themselves impressively, as their teams have stepped up and done well in their bowl games. The Big 10 will probably end up with a lousy bowl record this year, but they aren't really that bad, it just happens. Michigan lost close, Minnesota lost close, Northwestern was in their game for most of it.
On another note, good luck to the Buffs with their new coach. One of my good friends went to Colorado, so we always talk about the program. Coaching makes ALL the difference in college football, so if this is good, Colorado will be back to prominence in short order.