USC and Washington ruled the Pac-10 in two different six-year periods

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USC and Washington aren't at the height of their powers right now, but there have been periods in college football when these two schools ruled the West and the Pac-10 Conference.

USC and Washington stand out from the crowd among former Pac-10 football schools. USC is first all-time in Rose Bowl appearances and wins. Washington is tied for fourth with Stanford in both appearances and wins. USC and Washington can also say something other former Pac-10 schools can't: They created two different six-year periods in which they alone made the Rose Bowl, no one else, and split those six appearances down the middle, three apiece.

The first of the two periods came from 1977-1982. USC made the 1977, 1979, and 1980 Rose Bowls, Washington the 1978, 1981, and 1982 editions of the Granddaddy. USC went 3-0 in those Rose Bowls, while Washington went 2-1 in the three Rose Bowls it played during that era. John Robinson's Trojans and Don James' Huskies fended off Terry Donahue's UCLA Bruins and became the regular renters of Pasadena on New Year's Day.

The second sequence came from 1988-1993. USC played in three straight Rose Bowls from 1988-1990, winning one. Washington then went to three straight Granddaddies from 1991-1993, winning two, including the 1992 game which earned the Huskies a share of the 1991 national championship with the Miami Hurricanes.

USC and Washington haven't always been great at the same time. Right now, both schools are trying to establish themselves in the Big Ten. In the past, however, the Trojans and Huskies carried West Coast football on their backs and didn't let any other Pacific-10 rival get a sniff of the Rose Bowl.

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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC and Washington ruled the Pac-10 in two different six-year periods

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