LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Defending National Champion USC is the unanimous choice to win the 2005 Pacific-10 Conference football title in a pre-season poll of West Coast media members who regularly cover the league. It marks the second consecutive year the Trojans have been a unanimous pick to win the title. USC garnered all 41 first-place votes in the annual poll. USC is the two-time defending Pac- 10 champion as well as two-time defending National Champion. The Trojans fashioned a 13-0 mark last season, capped by a 55-19 romp against Oklahoma in the BCS National Championship Game at the FedEx Orange Bowl. After USC, opinions were mixed as CALIFORNIA, ARIZONA STATE, OREGON and UCLA all received multiple second-place votes and were tightly bunched in the upper half of the poll. The media poll has correctly selected the Conference Champion in 22 of 44 previous polls, including the last five years in a row. Following are the results of the pre-season media poll (points 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, first-place votes in parentheses):
1. USC (41) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
2. California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
3. Arizona State . . . . . . . . . . . 296
4. Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
5. UCLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
6. Washington State . . . . . . . 189
7. Oregon State . . . . . . . . . . . 159
8. Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
9. Stanford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
10. Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
POLL NOTES: Pre-season media poll has correctly picked the Conference champion 22 of 44 times and has been very accurate of late in correctly identifying the Conference champ the last five years in a row and six of the last seven. . . . Since the Pac-10 era began in 1978, no team had ever before received every first-place vote until USC turned the trick the last two years.
1. USC (41) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
2. California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
3. Arizona State . . . . . . . . . . . 296
4. Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
5. UCLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
6. Washington State . . . . . . . 189
7. Oregon State . . . . . . . . . . . 159
8. Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
9. Stanford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
10. Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
POLL NOTES: Pre-season media poll has correctly picked the Conference champion 22 of 44 times and has been very accurate of late in correctly identifying the Conference champ the last five years in a row and six of the last seven. . . . Since the Pac-10 era began in 1978, no team had ever before received every first-place vote until USC turned the trick the last two years.