DG on PX: Pac-10 Media Day Wrap Up

Quips and production values on display at Pac-10 Media Day.

Home is where the upset is
Looking for a way to beat USC? Listening to players and coaches from Oregon and Oregon State, it might just be as simple as making the Trojans get on a plane.

“We had the home-field advantage (in 2007),” Ducks corner Walter Thurmond said. “It gives you more confidence as opposed to going to their place. Players get more intimidated (of USC) in the Coliseum and you can’t play scared.”

“That is real,” Beavers coach Mike Riley said. “The records bear that out.”

Quote of the Day
Oregon coach Chip Kelly: "Both Walter and myself voted for Tim Tebow as first-team quarterback."

Travel Agent
Though Cal coach Jeff Tedford downplayed what was essentially a 9 a.m. Pacific start time in the 35-27 loss at Maryland last season, he admitted looking into leaving a day earlier for the trip to Minnesota in week two.

“I know a lot was made of the Maryland trip,” Tedford said. “I don’t want to stick my head in the sand or be stubborn.”

The Bears will also forgo chartered aircraft for their conference game at UCLA, instead taking busses from Berkeley to Pasadena to save money.

“If we flew, we might only get to Los Angeles an hour earlier,” Tedford said.

Pete Carroll would surely agree
“It’s a formula for trouble,” UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said when asked about recruits making early verbal commitments.

The Bruins lured two players from the Class of 2009 away from the cross-town Trojans late in the recruiting process in wide receiver Randall Carroll and tight end Morrell Presley. Presley and Carroll had been committed to USC since their junior years of high school.

Signs of the Times
For the first time, Media Day began with a slick, ESPN-produced highlight video of the previous season narrated by the network’s two Los Angeles-based SportsCenter anchors.

Attendance was roughly the same as last year, though a noticeable downturn in print media was offset by websites and blogs.

Only seven schools – Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC and Washington – printed media guides in 2009, though Oregon and Washington State provided paper copies of their online publications.

The Rose Bowl had a heavy presence with multiple staff members in attendance and its trophy onsite for the first time.