Paul Sakuma / AP

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck and coach Jim Harbaugh give the Cardinal a chance to reach the Rose Bowl for the first time since 2000.

Perception-wise, one of the factors that may be hurting the Pac-10 nationally is the hammer dropped on USC by the NCAA. Two-year bowl ban. Thirty scholarships over three years. Four years’ probation. Whenever the flagship program in a conference takes a public-relations hit like that, the fallout impacts the other teams in the league by association.

But despite the penalties, USC remains near the top of the Pac-10. Although Oregon is the new appointed king, the Trojans are still loaded with quality players, and they’re being run by an experienced coaching staff. It isn’t like they’ve plummeted to the cellar.

USC has a favorable schedule this season, with most of its important games — Washington, Cal, Oregon, Notre Dame — at the Coliseum. If the Trojans have a season that exceeds expectations, and if the Ducks continue to soar, it will raise the Pac-10 in the estimation of the nation’s pundits.

And let’s face it, that’s what we’re really talking about here: perception.

Alabama is the No. 1 team in the land, and it has an excellent shot at repeating as national champions. But Florida likely will be down. Who knows — especially considering recent past disappointments — if Georgia, Arkansas and Auburn are for real? LSU almost blew a game against a North Carolina team weakened by suspensions. That conference could easily implode as the campaign wears on.

The bet here is that ‘Bama will thrive, but the rest of the SEC won’t do enough as a whole to distinguish itself nationally.

Same for the Big Ten. Ohio State should have a season of national championship caliber, and Penn State — with a freshman quarterback — will be solid. But the rest of that conference won’t scare anybody.

Once again, Texas and Oklahoma will excel in the Big 12. Nebraska is back in the picture also. Yet as usual, the remainder of the league is inert and unexciting.

It’s early. The landscape is still being formed. But by early November, it will become apparent that the Pacific 10 will be the consensus No. 1.

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