Pac-12 | How dominant was the Pac-12 in nonconference play?

Washington's Amanda Gil
-Volleyblog Seattle photo
by Leslie Hamann

Pac-12 teams go 30-1 in final nonconference week; overall record is best of any in nation

The Pac-12 was dominant.

During the past four weeks, its teams won 5 out of every 6 matches against opponents from other conferences … a .833 winning percentage (110-22). Three teams—USC, Washington and Oregon—went undefeated.

Big preseason wins included Oregon State over Penn State, UCLA and California each with wins over Hawai’i, Washington over Purdue, and Oregon over Ohio State.

The first week of the season, Pac-12 schools lost 7 matches; the second week it lost 9. But the third week brought just 5 losses (2 each by Utah and Arizona State), and in the incredible final week, the record was 30-1, with California’s 0-3 loss to San Francisco the only blemish.

Pac-12 2012 Nonconference Results
	8/20-8/26	8/27-9/02	9/03-9/09	9/10-9/16
USC	3-0	3-0	3-0	3-0	12-0
Washington	3-0	3-0	2-0	1-0	9-0
Oregon	3-0	3-0	1-0	2-0	9-0
UCLA	1-1	2-0	3-0	2-0	8-1
Arizona St	3-0	3-0	1-2	4-0	11-2
Washington St	1-2	3-0	3-0	3-0	10-2
Oregon St	2-1	2-1	3-0	3-0	10-2
Stanford	2-1	1-1	3-0	2-0	8-2
Colorado	3-0	1-2	3-0	3-0	10-2
Arizona	2-1	1-1	2-1	3-0	8-3
Utah	4-0	1-2	1-2	2-0	9-4
California	1-1	1-2	3-0	2-1	6-4
	28-7	24-9	28-5	30-1	110-22
	.800	.727	.848	.968	.833

On the flip side, there were defeats: UCLA lost 2-3 at (current #3) Nebraska, Stanford lost 2-3 at (#4) Penn State and 1-3 at (#7) Hawai’i, Oregon State lost 2-3 at (#11) Kansas State, Utah lost 0-3 at (#16) BYU and Arizona lost 2-3 at (#14) Pepperdine. [notice, however, that all these losses were on the road, and 4 of the matches went to five sets].

Washington fans (and USC fans) hear grumblings about their teams playing easy nonconference schedules. The Huskies scheduled a trip to Penn State, but it was cancelled when the Pac-12 moved Washington’s match against Washington State up to tomorrow. Two of the Huskies’ 2012 opponents—Long Beach State and LSU—figured to be better this year than they’ve demonstrated so far. And when USC booked Northern Iowa, who knew that opponent would simply melt in 2012?

Here’s the real eye-opener, however. As good as Pac-12 teams were, their nonconference record is not all that much more impressive than several other conferences. Check out this sampling of the best conferences, and notice that all have inflated W/L percentages. Note, too, how few teams in any of the conferences had losing nonconference records:

2012 Nonconference Records
Big 10			Big 12
Michigan St	12-0		Kansas St	12-0
Northwestern	11-0		Baylor	13-1
Wisconsin	12-1		Kansas	11-2
Penn St	10-1		TCU	11-2
Nebraska	8-1		Oklahoma	11-3
Michigan	12-2		Texas Tech	11-3
Minnesota	9-2		Texas	8-3
Purdue	9-2		Iowa St	6-4
Ohio St	9-3		West Virginia	8-6
Indiana	8-4
Illinois	6-4
Iowa	8-5
	114-25			91-24
	.820			.791
SEC			ACC
South Carolina	11-0		No Carolina St	10-1
Alabama	11-1		No Carolina	9-1
Auburn	9-1		Florida St	8-1
Texas A&M	8-1		Clemson	9-2
Arkansas	9-2		Miami, FL	8-2
Missouri	8-2		Georgia Tech	8-2
Tennessee	7-2		Duke	9-3
Florida	6-2		Maryland	8-3
Georgia	6-3		Virginia Tech	7-3
Ole Miss	6-3		Wake Forest	6-5
Kentucky	6-4		Boston College	6-6
LSU	4-5		Virginia	5-5
Mississippi St	4-5
	95-31			93-34
	.754			.732
West Coast			Big East
BYU	12-0		Rutgers	14-1
San Diego	8-2		Louisville	11-1
Pepperdine	9-3		Seton Hall	11-1
Santa Clara	10-4		St. John's	12-3
San Francisco	9-4		Marquette	9-3
Loyola	8-4		Pittsburgh	9-4
Gonzaga	8-5		Notre Dame	7-5
St Mary’s	5-6		USF	7-5
Portland	6-8		Connecticut	8-6
			Syracuse	7-6
			Georgetown	6-6
			DePaul	5-7
			Villanova	5-8
			Cincinnati	2-10
	75-36			113-66
	.676			.631

See also:

Washington stays at #5 in Week 5 coaches' poll

How the Top 20 fared

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WRITTEN BY Jack Hamann | PHOTOS BY Leslie Hamann

www.nolittlethings.com

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