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15 Marquee Non Conference Games For Pac 12 (2011)
Top 15 Non Conference Games of Pac 12
The Pac 10 finished 23-11 in there non conference games including the bowl game matchups as well. Oregon played for the national title last season losing in the title game to Auburn. The 2005 season was the last time a Pac 10 team played for a bcs title that year USC lost to Texas in Pasadena. In 2010 the Pac 10 had some nice marquee non conference games, Stanford had wins over Notre Dame and beating Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, Washington avenged a regular season loss to Nebraska by beating them in the Holiday Bowl last season, UCLA defeated Texas in Austin last season and Oregon whipped Tennessee in Knoxville. Now the Pac 10 has added two schools this season with the arrival of Colorado and Utah pushing the conference to 12 teams and renaming it the Pac 12. The Pac 12 will play nine conference games unlike the SEC who has 12 teams as well but only play eight conference games and four non conference games. This means that the marquee non conference games are key since the Pac 12 only will play three non conference games making teams non conference schedule are important to a teams success. It is no different coming into the 2011 season for the Pac 12. I chosen the top marquee non conference game of the season for the Pac 12 and they will get there chance right off the bat to prove it is an elite conference in the season opener when Oregon takes on LSU in Cowboy Stadium in Texas. So here are the top 15 non conference games of the Pac 12 conference for the 2011 college football season.
1) 9/3/11 Oregon vs LSU (Arlington) - Oregon gets to avenge its lost to Auburn last season in the bcs title game against LSU. This will be a national title implications game with the winner putting it self in the early conversation for national title consideration.
2) 9/8/11 Arizona at Oklahoma State - These two teams met last year at the end of the season in the Alamo Bowl with Oklahoma State whipping the Wildcats 36-10. The Wildcats will have to beat the Cowboys on the road this time as they travel to Stillwater on a Thursday night in week 2.
3) 9/24/11 Colorado at Ohio State - This game has lost some luster with the resigning of head coach Jim Tressell of Ohio State and five key players suspended for the first five games including quarterback Terrell Pryor. But with all that being said it should still be a big game for Colorado to go to Columbus and try and get a victory will still be impressive.
4) 9/10/11 Oregon State at Wisconsin - Last year Oregon State went 1-2 in its non conference games losing to TCU and Boise State and beating Louisville. Now they will travel to Wisconsin to take on the Badgers who last year beat Arizona State by one point in Madison.
5) 9/17/11 Washington at Nebraska - These two teams met twice last season with Nebraska destroying Washington 56-21 in Seattle. But the Huskies avenged the lost to Nebraska by beating them in the Holiday Bowl 19-7. Washington now will have to travel to Lincoln in week 3.
Here are the other top marquee non conference games for the Pac 12
6) 9/17/11 Utah at BYU
7) 9/17/11 Texas at UCLA
8) 9/9/11 Missouri at Arizona State
9) 9/17/11 Arizona State at Illinois
10) 10/15/11 Utah at Pittsburgh
11) 9/311 California vs Fresno State (Candlesick Park)
12) 10/22/11 USC at Notre Dame
13) 9/3/11 Minnesota at USC
14) 11/26/11 Notre Dame at Stanford
15) 9/3/11 UCLA at Houston