latest news: Will this be the year of the asterisk in Pac-12?

Youngman column: NCAA sanctions could prevent inaugural division winners from playing for title.

Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa50% off! $60 for a $120 credit valid towards any 60-minute massage!

By RANDY YOUNGMAN
COLUMNIST
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Notes, quotes, observations and opinions on Pac-12 football, awaiting the start of fall practice:

? Oregon is a prohibitive favorite to play in and win the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game, as well as capture its third consecutive conference title and BCS bowl berth.

Oregon coach Chip Kelly and tight end David Paulson at the Pac-12 Football Media Day on Tuesday.

MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

With USC banned again from postseason play and Stanford losing Coach Jim Harbaugh to the NFL, I think the only built-in suspense in the conference race is whether the NCAA investigation into Oregon's use of scouting and recruiting services leads to any immediate sanctions against the Ducks.

It could turn out to be "The Year of the Asterisk" if first-year member Utah or Arizona State in the South, or perhaps Washington in the North, winds up playing in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day as a non-division winner.

? Commissioner Larry Scott is pumped up about the new Pac-12, but adding Utah and Colorado doesn't do much for me.

It definitely would have been exciting if Texas had committed to joining the conference last summer, because after all of the dominoes had fallen, the Pac-10 would have become the Pac-16, a super-conference also including Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas A&M.

Nobody knows if Texas was serious during its Pac-10 expansion talks, or merely bluffing to get its own TV network by remaining in the Big 12, but the Pac-10's two-team expansion seemed anticlimactic after Texas stayed put.

? Even in a potential asterisk-riddled season, UCLA doesn't have much of a chance at a major bowl, unless you believe in miracles.

But fourth-year coach Rick Neuheisel has to be thankful the Pac-12 has been split into two six-team divisions, because it disguises how low the Bruins are picked in preseason polls.

Conference media picked UCLA to finish fifth in the South, but only two teams ? Washington State and Colorado ? received fewer votes overall.

Being picked 10th out of 12 would have sounded a lot worse, wouldn't it?

? Neuheisel's future looks anything but promising after compiling a 15-22 record in his first three seasons, and even he concedes he hasn't been able to use USC's sanctions to his advantage in recruiting the past two years.

"I haven't noticed anything with respect to that," Neuheisel said on Pac-12 media day this past week.

"I mean, obviously, the numbers will be small. Remember, those sanctions (against USC) didn't play into it at all this year because they had the appeal. But their (scholarship) numbers will be down. So we'll wait and see."

Wait? UCLA fans don't like hearing that word.

? When USC coach Lane Kiffin concluded his remarks on media day, he introduced junior QB Matt Barkley by joking, "And Matt's going to announce that he's coming back for his senior year."

To which Barkley retorted, "Every time he says that."

? USC begins practice drills Thursday, and UCLA four days later on Aug. 8.

But the dates circled on my calendar are Sept 10, when Utah (and new offensive coordinator Norm Chow) comes to the Coliseum to play the Trojans, and Nov. 12, when UCLA renews acquaintances with Chow at Utah.

How many axes does Chow have to grind?

Contact the writer: ryoungman@ocregister.com