First, there’s the recruiting style.  Kiffin is a guy that is willing to go straight to the gray areas of the recruiting rules to get players.  The David Sills offer is one example: it’s technically within the rules since the NCAA only prohibits schools from formallyoffering any recruit a scholarship until they register with the NCAA Clearinghouse, but nothing technically prevents coaches from making informal scholarship offers.   But seriously, does college football need to go after kids that are just beginning puberty?  Can a kid that age really make a decision when a college football coach comes to them and offers them a scholarship?  No!  While the kid’s commitment isn’t binding, it’s a way to manipulate kids at a young age to make them think about going to your program.  Kiffin is willing to pull out all the stops, no matter how questionable, to get USC out there.

Plus, this isn’t Kiffin’s first incident of staying near the line when it comes to recruiting rules.  Kiffin had 3 secondary violations at Tennessee, including naming a recruit on the radio and calling him a “great player,” holding a mock news conference with 9 recruits during their visit to Tennessee, and using a fog machine when a recruit entered the field there.  Kiffin is willing to bend the rules just enough to prevent sanctions, but enough that it may also sway a kid to go to his school.  These sorts of tactics undermine the fairness of college football, and make a sport that already seems imbalanced toward powerhouse schools appear even more rigged toward those programs.  Kiffin not only skirts the rules, but also hypocritically calls out others for allegedly doing the same– like when he called out Urban Meyer for alleged recruting violations at Florida and was reprimanded by the SEC because there was no basis for the charge.  Of course, why did Kiffin do that?  Well, 1) to get attention on Tennessee and 2) to explain away potential failure.  Kiffin loves to bring a media circus along with him to “gain attention” for a program.  These types of antics move the focus of football away from the players and onto the coaches, which is not the point of the game.

Finally, Kiffin’s movement from Tennessee to USC after just one season is illustrative of another major problem in college football: the willingness of coaches to abandon programs at the drop of the hat for more money or fame.  Kiffin’s move was particularly egregious, since it was only after one year.  But what people like Kiffin, who recruits so aggressively, don’t seem to care about is the kids they actually recruited.  Kiffin will pull out all the stops, bordering on illegal, to get a kid, but also isn’t ashamed to leave at the drop of the hat for his own self-interest.  Who would believe in a coach like that?  Well, impressionable 17-18 year old kids, that’s who.  I understand coaches have the right to go to a better job for their family–but the combination of questionable recruiting tactics along with an obvious willingness to instantly leave a program, even a major one, regardless of the state it’s been left in, shows Kiffin’s true colors.  He’s only interested in making the most money and getting the most attention for himself.  In my mind, that’s not the role of a college football coach, but one which many guys in the college ranks are more than willing to assume.  So Lane, congratulations, you represent the dark side college football all too well.

Washington also has the potential to be respectable and make it in. Washington started out strong at 10-2, but has lost 3 games in Pac 10 play. Washington has a good core who plays fast, and just needs to right the ship. Pondexter and Isaiah Thomas could easily get things together and put a run together at seasons end.

USC has been playing well, including beating recent- number 1 topping Tennesee , but will be unable to enter the tournament due to self imposed sanctions by the University for recruiting violations realted to OJ Mayo. While that may deflate the number of teams that can make the tournament in the Pac 10, it means the conference isn’t as bad as the voters think.

However, all that being said, the rest of the conference is pretty damn lackluster. The nonconference schedule was brutual for the Pac 10. The conference’s best win outside of USC’s beatdown of Tennessee is Washington’s victory over Texas A&M, ranked 35 in the current RPI. That’s not pretty compared to years past. While the Pac 10 undoubtably looks way worse than usual, I’ll guarantee that at least 2 teams end up in the dance, with at least 1 in the sweet 16.