Oregon is predicted to finish third in the Pacific-10 Conference by the league’s annual football preseason media poll.
The poll predicted that USC will win next year’s Pac-10 Conference championship with a total of 240 points — claiming all 24 first place votes. California was second with 210 points and Oregon took third
with 192.
Last season, USC captured its 10th national championship after going 12-1 and winning their
last nine games. It is the second year in a row that the Trojans were picked in the media poll to win the conference title.
Oregon finished third last season with an overall record of 8-5.
The Pac-10 media have correctly selected the past four Pac-10 champions, including Oregon in 2001.
They have also correctly picked five of the past six champions. In 1999, the media members wrongly predicted Arizona to win the conference title, but the Wildcats
ended up finishing sixth. Stanford won the Pac-10 crown that year after being predicted eighth.
In the rest of the media poll, Oregon State was picked fourth (138), followed by Washington State (133), Arizona State (131), Washington (100), UCLA (98), Stanford (40) and Arizona (38).
In the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Preseason Top 25 Poll released Saturday, Oregon slipped in at No. 25.

— Alex Tam