OPINION

By Steve Greenberg

updated 1:53 a.m. ET July 25, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Big news, people.

Southern California is really stinkin' good.

Who knows? Maybe even good enough to win the Pac-10 for the hundredth year in a row.

A four-hour gathering on Thursday of coaches, top players and media who cover the league revolved around an all-too-predictable theme: The Trojans rule.

Not that they haven't earned it. Of course they've earned it. All those conference titles (OK, it's only six straight), the run of six consecutive BCS games. Southern California is -- undeniably -- the nation's No. 1 superpower.

"They're that elephant in the living room," said first-year UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, who lives in closer quarters with that elephant than anybody. "You can't be the head football coach at UCLA and not find a way to compete successfully with USC.

"But the good news is when we catch them, and I say when ..."

Whoa, Nelly. So there it is: The Pac-10's other storyline of the preseason. The one that is only half about Southern California.

Out west, or certainly in Los Angeles, anyway, this preseason and ones to follow will be about the Bruins' efforts, led by a coach who can stand nose-to-nose with Pete Carroll in terms of personality, to climb the same mountain USC scaled long ago.

And, of course, stay there.

"I told Pete," Neuheisel said, "that I hope one day we're not just playing for first place in Los Angeles, we're playing for first place in the country."

Anybody else home?

The UCLA-USC supremacy battle, assuming it ever materializes, might even tantalize the East Coast-biased masses that Oregon coach Mike Bellotti referred to — yet again — on Thursday.

To be sure, there is an L.A. bias in Pac-10 country. But the funny thing about that is the Bruins aren't any closer to catching Southern California than Oregon, Arizona State and maybe even a couple of others are.

The Trojans are by far the biggest favorite in any of the BCS leagues, but fall camps are right around the corner so it must be asked: Who, aside from the Trojans, has the best chance to win the Pac-10?

"We have a chance," Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter said. "The best chance."

And there's what just might wind up being the biggest Pac-10 story, after all things Trojans, this season. The Sun Devils, winners of 10 games in 2007, have crept a long way up that mountain.

Neuheisel comes naturally by some of the same rock-star qualities that Carroll has, but ask yourself this: What has Neuheisel done in his coaching career that Dennis Erickson hasn't outdone?

You could take that a few different ways, but we're talking about the good stuff. Namely, we're talking about winning big.

Erickson, no rock star, believes his Arizona State program can meet Southern California on its high ground faster than the rest.

"Without question. There's no question in my mind," he said. "That's what we're going to do. USC, what they are right now, that doesn't mean others, and not just the Sun Devils, aren't going to get there. Oregon beat them last year. Stanford beat them last year."

No one on the Sun Devils has beaten the Trojans yet. But that's what they're gunning for. That's the kind of noise that would echo around L.A. awhile.

"We definitely have that itch," Carpenter said.

"Besides, I'm kind of tired of hearing about them."

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