Huskies Picked Third in Pac-10 Pre-Season Media Poll
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