Pac-10 Media Day Coverage Roundup

On Pac-10 media day, all the Pac-10 coaches and football writers go to the same hotel. The football writers tell the coaches how they think their teams will do. The coaches of the teams projected to do well say things like "we've still got a lot of work to do this fall" and the coaches of the teams projected to do poorly say, "we're gonna go out and compete." It's like a ritualistic dance in its predictability.

Still, for you, the reader, I searched the internet for anything slightly interesting that happened on media day.

Ty Willingham threw the Huskies' projected ninth-place finish back in reporters' faces. "Some years, the projections have been slightly, um, off." [video on Ted Miller's Sports Rant]

Dennis Erickson tested out his stand-up routine: "I was looking at the press guide reading my biography and it started to look like an obituary."

Erickson also had some bold praise for Jake Locker: "Locker, to me, coming out of high school was the best I've seen."

Everyone went out of their way to explain why USC doesn't need to bother practicing or even maybe bringing their first string to games? Please?

Jim Harbaugh: "USC is not only the best team in the country, but maybe the best team in the history of college football." [TNT]

Bill Doba: "“I think SC has to beat themselves. … I think (coach Pete Carroll) just has to guard against overconfidence or just having really really, really bad luck. They’re something, defensively and offensively" [TNT]

Milton Berle Dennis Erickson: "They should be in that league I was really successful in," referring to his mediocre NFL coaching days. [Times]

Assorted other news: Oregon's Dennis Dixon is back from hitting .164 in the Braves minor league system and he's the QB, though Brady Leaf is in the mix, Arizona State is going to the shotgun, Arizona hopes it's spread offense will keep Willie Tuitama from getting hit so much, Stanford's putting its best talent on defense, Karl Dorrell will be UCLA's WR coach since the guy he hired got arrested.

Erickson later, off the record, told the reporters his version of The Aristocrats.

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