The USC and Oregon football teams could have developed something special in the Pac-12 had the NCAA not come down on the Trojans in 2009 and 2010. If the NCAA had minded its own business, maybe Pete Carroll never leaves. Maybe Pete and Oregon’s Chip Kelly create another magical series of Pac-12 clashes. Maybe the 2011 game would have involved a USC team which would have been eligible for the postseason. Maybe USC and Oregon would have met in the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game in 2011. We know how it played out. Oregon faced UCLA in the title game only because USC was ineligible. The Trojans, coached by Lane Kiffin, went into Autzen Stadium and shocked the Ducks behind a great game from quarterback Matt Barkley.
We asked our friends at Ducks Wire if USC being ineligible for the postseason enabled the Trojans to play more freely. The fact that USC was playing with house money in that 2011 game is certainly a unique dimension of that particular Trojan-Duck encounter and that 2011 Pac-12 season.
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