Great Expectations.

How did the man know so much about Pac-10 football?

And UCLA players supposedly know where to park on campus.

USC shared the national title in 1978 with Alabama. Washington shared it with Miami in '91. And so ends Pac-10 bragging rights since Jimmy Carter called the White House home, when a gallon of gas cost 63 cents and America actually watched Laverne & Shirley enough to make it a No. 1 hit.

"I think one reason you don't see more (Pac-10) teams playing for the championship each year is because our league is so difficult," said Arizona State coach Bruce Snyder. "It's almost impossible to go wire-to-wire."

Snyder's team did three years ago, then lost to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. UCLA went undefeated in conference last season, was a defensive stand (or 50) away from a Bowl Championship Series game and saw its title hopes die in a regular season-ending loss to Miami. Arizona went 12-1 and beat Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl, but couldn't handle UCLA.

On and on. A stumble here, there, everywhere. But always, a critical loss.

The torch this season is being handed to Arizona, which returns 16 starters and by far the league's best offense. The Wildcats could remain serious national championship contenders until, oh, Aug. 29. Dick Tomey embraced the idea of opening at Penn State in Pigskin Classic, despite the fact a loss could end his team's Sugar Bowl hopes before most teams break camp.

"We pursued the game," said Tomey. "You don't have many chances to play in games like this. We wanted it."

		The first thing that comes to my mind this year is the quarterback situation. Last year there were three quarterbacks who were high draft picks -- Akili Smith, Cade McNown and Brock Huard. Quarterback is not going to be a strength this year, and the Pac-10 is known for quarterbacks. Instead, this is going to be the year for wide receivers and running backs. Probably no conference has better wide receivers than the Pac-10. Look at UCLA, with Danny Farmer and Brian Poli-Dixon. And Stanford has outstanding receivers with Troy Walters, DeRonnie Pitts and Dave Davis. At running back, this conference is loaded with four guys who could run for 1,000 yards: Trung Canidate of Arizona, DeShaun Foster of UCLA, Reuben Droughns of Oregon, and J.R. Redmond of Arizona State. The big thing this year will be defense -- where is it? UCLA really hurt the conference last year with its poor performance against Miami and then Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. Until that turns around on a national level, people won't think of the Pac-10 as a physical or dominant conference, and that will probably keep a team like Arizona from getting as many votes as it probably should receive in the national title hunt because of the respect factor. Arizona would be ranked higher than third in the ESPN/USA Today poll if UCLA had finished stronger last year. Arizona, however, will get a chance to prove what it can do. Dick Tomey believes in physical football, and this team has all that to go with probably the best offense they've had there.

Truth is, consistency often breeds reliability in the eyes of media and fans. Nebraska, for the most part, is the Big Cheese in the Big 12. The same holds for Florida and Tennessee in the SEC. The Pac-10? Since 1990, six champions have worn different helmets. Since `93, the order has gone like this: UCLA, Oregon, USC, Arizona State, Washington State and UCLA.

The bottom line: This league is full of very capable programs, but none recently has had the ability to seize the conference by its throat and take the next step. Gone are the days of USC winning three straight titles from 1987-89 and Washington following with three straight of its own.

And maybe that isn't such a bad thing.

And maybe it is.

"It's true that no one team has been able to stay on top for a long period of time," said Tomey. "You look at the scores each year and often the first-place team barely beats whoever finishes eighth or ninth. I really think we have the most parity of any conference in the country and because of that, it becomes awfully tough to win each Saturday. And, in turn, it becomes awfully tough to play for a national championship each year."

The road is no less bumpy this year, the pursuit of No. 1 no less difficult. Arizona, as talented a team on paper as the Pac-10 has boasted in some time, opens at Penn State and then travels to TCU. If the Wildcats survive those tests, dates at UCLA and ASU await.

The Bruins of Bob Toledo will suit up just 64 scholarship players for its first two games against visiting Boise State and at Ohio State. This, the result of 11 current players being disciplined for their part in illegally possessing handicapped parking permits. USC has a chance to be very good , but winning in Tucson might be asking too much of such a young team.

And yet if the plot is going to thicken and the tide turn and one Pac-10 team actually has a chance to book reservations for dinner at Commander's Palace in downtown New Orleans come the first week of January, someone, somewhere must make a stand. Can Arizona simply outscore everyone? Can UCLA fix its real handicap, a thing called defense? Is USC quarterback Carson Palmer old enough to shave? Which Arizona State team will show up this year?

You are left, really, knowing only this: There again exists a few teams in this conference capable of running the table.

But it's always that way.

"I will say this," offered first-year Washington coach Rick Neuheisel. "I've coached in the Pac-10 before and I've coached against the Pac-10, and no matter what anyone believes, you better strap it on tight when you have to play someone from this conference. This year is no different. The Pac-10 in terms of talent takes a back seat to no one."

In terms of talent, no. In terms of taking that next step to national prominence ...

The jury remains out.

Ed Graney is a college football writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune and a regular contributor to ESPN.com