July 30, 2003

Los Angeles, CA - Washington has been picked to finish third in the 2003 Pacific-10 Conference in a pre-season poll of West Coast media members who regularly cover the league. The Huskies recived four first-place votes. USC was picked to win this year's championship.

It marks the first time since 1996 that the Trojans have been selected to win the league title in the pre-season poll. USC narrowly edged out ARIZONA STATE in the media voting. The Trojans garnered 10 of 25 first-place votes, with the Sun Devils getting nine. WASHINGTON (4) and OREGON STATE (2) also picked up first-place support. USC tied for the league title last year with a 7-1 Conference record and finished 11-2 overall, capping the year with a 38-17 win over Iowa in the FedEx Orange Bowl. WASHINGTON STATE won the Pac-10 berth in the Rose Bowl last season, but is picked to finish seventh in the media poll this season. The media poll has correctly selected the Conference Champion in 20 of 42 previous polls, including the last three and four of the last five years. Following are the results of the pre-season media poll (points 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, first-place votes in parentheses):

1. USC (10) 227 2. Arizona State (9) 224 3. Washington (4) 198 4. Oregon State (2) 172 5. Oregon 139 6. UCLA 138 7. Washington State 107 8. California 68 9. Stanford 5710. Arizona 46

POLL NOTES: Pre-season media poll has correctly picked the Conference champion 20 of 42 times and has been very accurate of late in correctly identifying the Conference champ the last three years in a row and four of the last five. . . . The last time the poll selected USC to win the league title was 1996. The Trojans finished fifth that season. . . . It is the highest predicted finish for ARIZONA STATE since 1998, when the Sun Devils were picked to finish second behind UCLA. . . . Of all the teams, the pollsters seemed to have the most difficulty predicting how OREGON STATE will fare this season. The Beavers were picked to finish as high as first and as low as ninth. . . . Hope for ARIZONA. The last two years the team picked to finish 10th in the Conference--WASHINGTON STATE (2001) and CALIFORNIA (2002)--has posted a winning record. . . . Six different teams have been the pre-season favorite the last six years. And why not? Five different teams have won the Pac-10 title in the last five years years, and seven different teams have won the title over the last eight years.

PRE-SEASON PAC-10 FOOTBALL MEDIA POLL
Media Actual Actual Predicted
Year Poll Pick Finish Champion Finish

1961   UCLA             1st   UCLA           1st1962   Washington       2nd   USC            2nd1963   USC              2nd   Washington     2nd1964   Washington       3rd   Oregon State   6th1965   USC              2nd   UCLA           7th1966   USC              1st   USC            1st1967   USC              1st   USC            1st1968   USC              1st   USC            1st1969   USC              1st   USC            1st1970   USC              6th   Stanford       2nd1971   USC              2nd   Stanford       2nd1972   USC              1st   USC            1st1973   USC              1st   USC            1st1974   USC              1st   USC            1st1975   USC              5th   UCLA           3rd1976   USC              1st   USC            1st1977   USC              2nd   Washington     3rd1978   USC              1st   USC            1st1979   USC              1st   USC            1st1980   USC              3rd   Washington     3rd1981   USC              2nd   Washington     4th1982   USC              3rd   UCLA           3rd1983   Arizona          5th   UCLA           5th1984   UCLA             3rd   USC            3rd1985   USC              4th   UCLA           5th1986   UCLA             2nd   Arizona State  4th1987   UCLA             2nd   USC            4th1988   UCLA             2nd   USC            2nd1989   USC              1st   USC            1st1990   Washington       1st   Washington     1st1991   Washington       1st   Washington     1st1992   Washington       1st   Washington     1st1993   Washington       4th   UCLA           6th1994   Arizona          2nd   Oregon         8th1995   USC              1st   USC            1st1996   USC              5th   Arizona State  2nd1997   Washington       4th   Washington St. 7th1998   UCLA             1st   UCLA           1st1999   Arizona          6th   Stanford       8th2000   Washington       1st   Washington     1st2001   Oregon           1st   Oregon         1st2002   Washington St.   1st   Washington St. 1st

Media Poll has correctly selected the Conference Champion 20 of 42 times, including the last three