Thankfully for OSU fans, Dennis Erickson has. Stranded in the media black hole of Corvallis, Ore., OSU has been overlooked, under appreciated and down right ignored by its Pac 10 brethren in the past. Well, I m telling you now USC, Washington and UCLA-OSU is for real. Of course declaring this is going to get a strong round of disagreement from the rest of the Pac 10, I even suspect a couple members of the peanut gallery will toss out a few beaver jokes for all of us to enjoy. But my response is simple defense.
Defense wins road games.
And it better for the Beavers, who face a treacherous road of at Washington, at UCLA and at Arizona. Defense is what has kept the Pac 10 from emerging as a power conference come bowl time. In a league of offense, defense will reign supreme. So I chose Oregon State. OSU will be the best defensive team in the Pac 10 this season.