updated 11:10 p.m. ET July 27, 2006

LOS ANGELES - Three-time Pac-10 champion Southern California was picked Thursday to win the conference title again, but unlike the previous two years, the Trojans were not a unanimous choice.

USC garnered 18 of 29 first-place votes in a preseason poll of West Coast media who regularly cover the conference. Overall, the Trojans totaled 276 points — 29 more than second-place California.

The Golden Bears, picked to finish second, received seven first-place votes, while third-place Oregon had three and fourth-place Arizona State one.

UCLA was picked to finish fifth, followed by Arizona, Oregon State, Washington State, Stanford, and Washington.

The media poll has correctly selected the conference champion for six consecutive years.

The Trojans are coming off a 12-1 record last season, with their only loss to Texas in the Rose Bowl national title game.

USC averaged a school-record 49 points and led the nation in total offense last season, but Dwayne Jarrett, Sam Baker, Ryan Kalil and Steve Smith are the only offensive starters returning.

The Trojans lost four offensive players in the first two rounds of the NFL draft: quarterback Matt Leinart and tailback Reggie Bush, both Heisman Trophy winners, along with tailback LenDale White and right tackle Winston Justice.

“Each year has an issue,” USC coach Pete Carroll said. “This year, we’ve got the big change in the offensive spots. It’s an exciting challenge. Maybe I’m refreshed a little bit at the fact that there’s so many things still to be determined by this football team.”

Carroll was accompanied Thursday by Kalil, who said he hadn’t wanted to come.

“They had a team vote to send the best-looking guy, and I won by a landslide,” Kalil said, breaking up the room.

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Coach Mike Stoops’ rebuilding efforts at Arizona landed the Wildcats sixth in the preseason poll, despite them finishing no higher than eighth in the league the last five years.

“I don’t see anybody conceding anything in this conference,” Stoops said. “There’s a lot of teams making improvement. It sets up to be one of the best years in recent times.”

With the NCAA increasing the number of regular-season games to 12, the conference will play a nine-game schedule this season, meaning every school will face each other for the first time since 1978.

Each school will play one home game and one road game against a team from the other four geographical areas of the Pac-10. The traditional rivalry games will alternate each year to decide which teams play four and which teams play five conference home games each season.

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