Jeff Lund

I know it's early in the season, but check this out.

The SEC and Big 12 öö two of the most respected and best football conferences in the country ÷ are 0-10 against Top 25 teams this season.

You might also find it interesting that the ACC has won just one game against the Top 25 out of eight games thus far.

Conference Records ACC 16-12 (1-7 vs. Top 25) Big Ten 23-10 (3-2 vs. Top 25) Big 12 24-12 (0-5 vs. Top 25) Big East 15-8 (3-3 vs. Top 25) SEC 22-10 (0-5 vs. Top 25) Pac 10 22-4 (3-3 vs. Top 25)

Again, it is early in the season and when it comes down to it the SEC is arguably the best top-to-bottom conference in the country, but something should be said about the Pac-10 and its six öö count Îem six öö teams in the Top 25, (No. 9 Oregon, No. 11 USC, No. 13 Washington, No. 16 Washington State, No. 20 UCLA and No. 23 California) with Oregon State knocking on the door in 28th position.

The Pac-10 has often been described as one of the, if not the, softest conferences in the nation ÷ even though the "conference of champions" has numerous schools in the Top 10 for the Sears Trophy each year.

Following California's 46-22 drubbing of Big Ten team Michigan State öö one of the favorites to win their conference öö I felt a little something should be said about football on the west coast.

The Miamiesqe win Cal had against MSU, in conjunction with a 70-22 killing of Baylor öö a team not exactly the class of the Big 12 but that has been known to pull out a few huge wins nonetheless öö has turned a few heads.

UCLA has also done its fair share of work against non-conference foes. Following Colorado State's win against rival Colorado, the Rams were on the verge of bursting on to the national scene until losing 30-19 to UCLA.

The Bruins backed up that victory with a 38-24 win at Oklahoma State.

Even if CSU and OSU are not the best their conferences have to offer, given the fact the Rams were coming off such a huge win, and the Cowboys were up 10 on the Bruins at home makes the Bruins' wins impressive.

As much as I hate to admit it, possibly the most impressive feat the Pac-10 has tallied thus far was USC's 40-3 whipping of Colorado.

The win, diluted by the fact that the Buffs have now lost two games and are sorely missing the offensive line that provided such an explosive running game last season, was again a road win in an extremely hostile environment.

Once again, this win came on the heels of a USC win over Auburn, a perennial contender in the SEC.

It's not just the top Pac-10 schools making noise.

The Pac-10 is out to a 22-4 start to the season.

That's right, four losses in 26 games. Those four losses came against Michigan (Washington 31-29 in Ann Arbor), Nebraska (Arizona State, 48-10 in Lincoln), Ohio State (Washington State 25-7 in Columbus), and Boston College (Stanford 34-27 at Boston College).

Yeah, you read right, all of those four losses were on the road to teams that were in bowl games last year, leaving the Pac-10 with a perfect home record.

You also notice that Washington's loss was a last-second heartbreaker to No. 10 Michigan, and Stanford's defeat back east was by just six points.

Of course ASU was going to lose at Nebraska, so I won't hold that against them öö though they did manage to hang in the game until the second half.

As the college football schedule now heads toward conference play, the Pac 10 has defiantly made its mark as a national player. Though only one team is in the Top 10, there could be some west coast representation in major bowls, unless the conference season prevents the top two or three teams in the conference from going bowling unscathed.