Pac-10, SEC often flash unique styles

It’s a long way from Pullman to Auburn, and not just in terms of mileage.

Within the scope of major-conference college football, it’s tough to get much different than the Pac-10 and the SEC, the two conferences that Washington State University and Auburn will represent on the field Saturday night.

“The Pac-10 boasts about their offenses a lot and the SEC boasts about their defenses a lot,” said Mississippi head coach Ed Orgeron, a former assistant at USC. “So when they get together there are usually some great matchups.”

The SEC is usually recognized as one of the nation’s deepest conferences, with hard-nosed teams ready to outmuscle opponents up and down the standings. But against this uncompromising brand of football, the Pac-10 has actually fared surprisingly well.

Teams from the West Coast’s top conference have taken seven out of 10 contests against the South’s top league in this decade, and all three losses have been at the hands of LSU.

One thing has been consistent, with the exception of the occasional USC blowout: These games have been both interesting and entertaining.

“I love it,” Oregon State head coach Mike Riley said. “I think those kinds of games, they’re different. From somebody who’s far away, you don’t get to play them very much. And I just think those make for a lot of excitement because I think there is a different mentality, a little different style of play.”

As Orgeron and Riley suggested, there is an easy explanation for why this particular intersectional match has yielded intriguing results.

The Pac-10 is renowned for its pro-style passing games, gobbling up the best talent from California high schools and cranking out high-octane offenses every year. The SEC, meanwhile, has rarely been dominated by offense, and even when it has it’s been on the backs of running backs like Georgia’s Herschel Walker and Auburn’s Bo Jackson.

“It may be a bit of that,” agreed Arkansas coach Houston Nutt. “The West Coast, you think of West Coast offenses and maybe being a little more wide open. Whereas the Southeastern Conference, we have more of a reputation for the physical part of it, we run the ball a little bit more.”

What makes these games intriguing, though, is the matchup problems each conference tends to pose. Pac-10 defenses are largely geared towards limiting the passing game, which can be problematic going up against a smash-mouth running game between the tackles. Similarly, SEC defenses locked in on stopping the ground game aren’t used to seeing passing schemes as well-rehearsed and route combinations as intricate as what goes as the norm in the Pac-10.

“I think those two leagues have the best players, especially the best speed players,” Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter said. “I’m sure there are other teams that would argue with you. But I just think from a speed factor the Pac-10 and the SEC have both been the deepest.”

Even games that haven’t been tabbed beforehand as games to watch have turned out to be just that.

Most notably, Riley’s Oregon State team went to LSU two years ago and went to overtime where, if not for a dose of misfortune in the kicking game, the Beavers might have walked away with an upset over the No. 3 Tigers.

WSU enters its game this weekend in a similar position, going up against a top-five team with few giving it a chance to pull off the upset.

Which leads head coach Bill Doba to a slightly different take on the competitiveness of the Pac-10 versus the SEC.

“I don’t know (why),” he said. “I just hope it continues.”