Oregon Ducks

.500 -- It's not great. It's not bad. It's just sort of there.

1.000 -- Perfect. As good as it gets.

0.00 --- Doesn't get worse than a Blutarsky.

.667 --- Above average.

A 4-4 final record was lower than expected for the Pac-12 this postseason. A perfect record in the two BCS bowl games was outstanding, yet going 0-3 against other BCS conferences (outside of the BCS games) is disappointing. And the 2-1 mark against non-BCS conference teams is just so-so.

Any way you choose to crunch the numbers and winning percentages (or losing percentages, for that matter) from the Pac-12 bowl season, you're bound to reach the same conclusion. Some good, some bad.

Hopes were high when the bowl matchups were announced -- and there was even some talk of the Pac-12 running the table with a perfect 8-0 mark. After all, Pac-12 teams were favorites in seven of the eight games. But Arizona's New Mexico Miracle should have been a harbinger of things to come. We rejoiced at the final-minute heroics. But in that jubilation, one simple fact got lost: It ain't going to be easy.

From Washington's comeback-turned-fourth-quarter-cough-up to the inadequacies of UCLA, Oregon State and USC (of which there are many that can be debated), the Pac-12 didn't always put its best foot forward.

We saw some of Pac-12 teams out-played, out-coached and out-classed.

And yet we also saw the conference at its best. We saw an explosive Arizona State team cruise to victory over Navy; a punishing Stanford defense doing exactly what it does best in the Rose Bowl; and Oregon's speed in the Fiesta Bowl -- so fast that it proceeds itself when it proceeds itself.

December 2012 through January 2013 saw the Pac-12 at its worst. And its best.

Historically speaking, this actually wasn't a bad bowl season for the Pac-12. Sure, it's not the perfect 5-0 mark of the '08 season. But it's better than the 2-5, 2-2 and 2-5 ledgers of '09, '10 and '11, respectively. Worth noting also that an eligible USC probably would have won a bowl game last season because it was the hottest team in football down the stretch. Even still, 3-5 wouldn't have been a whole lot better.

Since the 1999 bowl season, the Pac-12 is 40-41, including this season, so a .500 record seems to fit the turn-of-the-century trend.

The what-ifs are plentiful. What if play had actually stopped and Boise State had received a measurement? What if Oregon State had made adjustments to account for Alex Okafor -- a few plays in max protect, a tight end helping or a running back chipping? What if UCLA and USC hadn't left their abundance of talent back in the City of Angels instead of taking it to San Diego and El Paso, Texas, respectively?

But what-ifs are pointless. All that matters are the final records.

With that said, it's tough to really declare a "winner" from the bowl season. For all the talk about the Pac-12 and Big 12 rivalry for "Who's No. 2," we're still left with inconclusive data. The Big 12 went 4-5, which included a loss to Conference USA's Tulsa. It went 2-1 against the Pac-12 with a blowout victory by Baylor and a late Christmas present from Oregon State to Texas. But the best it had to offer, Kansas State, was smoked by Oregon. We can call this one a wash.

The almighty SEC saw two of its top-10 teams go down -- LSU and Florida -- and South Carolina needed a miracle against a Michigan team perceived to be wildly overrated.

But the SEC has the crystal ball -- again.

Maybe the ACC is the big winner -- scoring victories over LSU and USC, plus a BCS bowl win. Or is it the Big East after Louisville's stomping of Florida?

You can look for meanings in the numbers and rationalize what was and wasn't good for the conference in the 2012 bowl season. But in end, the result is the same.

Some good. Some bad. Trying to make any more -- or less -- is a wasted exercise.

Wide receiver vs. defensive back one-on-one matchups from the Jan. 4 Under Armour Combine held at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. The combine featured many of the nation's top 2014 and 2015 prospects.

There are still seven months before the start of the 2013 season, and the teams and their order figure to change frequently, but it's never too early to take a look at the Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2013.

And with three national championships in the past four years, there's no reason to change the team that's on top. Oregon, which finished the season No. 2 in the polls, starts there in 2013 as well.

Also see:

• RecruitingNation's Too Early Top 25 recruiting update
• Early 2013 power rankings for the Pac-12 and all the conferences

These are the final 2012 power rankings.

If you don't like where you finished in the power rankings, you should have played better.

See the pre-bowl-season power rankings here.

1. Stanford: Oregon received a higher final national ranking, and you could make a decent challenge in favor of the Ducks. They didn't get upset by Washington, didn't play a lot of close games and beat a top-five team in the Fiesta Bowl. But, on Nov. 17, the Cardinal went to Eugene and took care of business. Stanford is the Pac-12 champion, and Oregon is not. Ergo, Stanford sits atop the power rankings. And 2013 looks pretty darn good, too.

2. Oregon: The cherry on the top of another special season for Oregon is the return of coach Chip Kelly. And we're of the mind that, if not for the slip against Stanford, Oregon would be sitting atop college football this morning after a fine evening of frolic in South Florida. The Ducks and Stanford will be national title contenders again in 2013. And guess which two teams are going to top the first 2013 power rankings?

3. Oregon State: The loss to Texas in the Valero Alamo Bowl was baffling. The Beavers were a superior team that seemed to be looking for ways to lose in the fourth quarter. The quarterback carousel needs to be resolved. But the Beavers still won nine games, and their 6-3 conference record overcomes UCLA because of a head-to-head win on the road. Nice bounce back after consecutive losing seasons.

4. UCLA: Yes, the Bruins flopped in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl against Baylor, but it's impossible not to see Year 1 under Jim Mora as a success, made even more notable by USC's flop. Like last season, the Bruins won the South Division, but this time they earned it.

5. Arizona State: The Sun Devils won their final three games for the first time since 1978. That's how you go into an offseason with optimism. We hear a lot about "culture change" from programs with new coaches. The Sun Devils' culture change under Todd Graham was made manifest by what happened on the field.

6. Arizona: The Wildcats did better than expected in Year 1 under Rich Rodriguez, and the season would have been a complete success if not for what happened against that team from up north. That loss hurts, but quality wins over Oklahoma State, USC and Washington, as well as an overtime game with Stanford, show this team competed better than in recent years.

7. Washington: The Huskies finishing 7-6 against a brutal schedule probably was close to preseason expectations. But the two-game losing streak to end the season, which included a dreadful meltdown in the Apple Cup to Washington State, quashed the momentum a four-game winning steak from Oct. 27 to Nov. 17 had built. Perhaps that will make the Huskies hungrier in 2013, when they have a nice array of talent returning.

8. USC: The Trojans' season was a complete disaster. USC started out at No. 1 but turned in a white flag performance while losing a sixth game in the Hyundai Sun Bowl to a middling Georgia Tech team. The Trojans were eclipsed by rivals UCLA and Notre Dame while wasting the much-ballyhooed return of QB Matt Barkley. Coach Lane Kiffin will be sitting on one of the nation's hottest seats in 2013. We've been over this a few times.

9. Utah: The Utes' move up in class from the Mountain West Conference is proving tougher than some imagined. Utah missed out on playing in a bowl game for the first time since 2002, and there were issues on both sides of the ball. The Utes need an upgrade in talent and overall depth, sure, but consistent quarterback play would be a good place to start. Therein lies hope with promising freshman Travis Wilson.

10. California: A dreadful 3-9 finish ended Jeff Tedford's tenure in Berkeley after 11 seasons. In early October, after consecutive wins over UCLA and Washington State, it seemed as though the Bears might be poised for a rally. Alas, they lost their final five games, including a horrid performance in a 62-14 drubbing at Oregon State. Sonny Dykes has enough returning talent to produce significant improvement in the fall.

11. Washington State: New coach Mike Leach's season was bad on the field and off, but it ended on a notable uptick with an Apple Cup win over Washington that included a comeback from an 18-point fourth-quarter deficit. Still, 3-9 took a bite out of the enthusiasm Leach's hiring initially generated.

12. Colorado: A horrid 1-11 finish that was capped by a controversial firing of Jon Embree after just two seasons. The Buffaloes are probably the worst AQ conference team over the past two seasons, and that is the considerable mess new coach Mike MacIntyre was hired to clean up. Of course, MacIntyre put together an impressive turnaround at San Jose State, so he looks like a good choice to bring the Buffs back to respectability.

Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo discuss Chip Kelly's decision to stay at Oregon and ask each other rapid-fire questions in another edition of 'Seven Seconds.'

Listen to the podcast here.

Chip Kelly was gone, off to the NFL. It was Cleveland. Then Philly. And then he wasn't.

Kelly's second deep NFL flirtation -- recall last winter's "did-he-or-didn't-he?" with Tampa Bay -- ended with him back at Oregon, back atop the Pac-12's present superpower.

Why did Kelly stay? He has yet to comment, which is telling. He feels no need to announce no change, though he is completely aware it's major news. The Pac-12 blog believes, according to no sources whatsoever, that Kelly returned to his cavernous Eugene home Sunday and cranked up the Sinatra and sang along: "I did it myyyyyy waaaaaayyyy!"

Kelly is 46-7 overall at Oregon. He's led his team to four consecutive BCS bowl games, winning the last two. He won 12 games this year by at least 11 points. It's fair to say he's pretty good at leading a football team.

The immediate reaction in some quarters to Kelly's return -- other than surprise from just about everyone -- is that Kelly can't keep doing it like this, both with NFL folks and with Oregon.

Both sides, it is reasoned, will get tired of the fickleness. Does Kelly want to be Oregon's coach? Or does he want to be something else? He must decide!

No, he doesn't. Kelly can do what he wants as long as he keeps winning with panache. When everyone knows you are one of the best living football coaches, you can write your own ticket. Kelly could announce tomorrow that all Oregon fans will be required to change their underwear every half-hour and all underwear will be worn on the outside so Ducks officials can check, and everyone would go, "OK!"

Oregon fans might wish he'd just tell the NFL folks he's not interested, but they get over their frustration when they see he and his staff outcoach a Kansas State team that is as well coached as any in the nation.

NFL teams might get tired of being led on, but they get over that when they see the discipline, focus and offensive magic Kelly produces.

Let me make something clear: Kelly would be successful in the NFL. Of that I have almost no doubt. The analysis you keep hearing about his present systems not working in the NFL is superficial bunk. Kelly's "systems" are all about winning games. Give him Tom Brady, and Kelly would no longer call designed runs for his QB. He'd line up with three fullbacks tomorrow if that helped him win the day.

So know this, too: The NFL will be back. And Kelly is likely to talk to them. At some point, a team might foster an interview that wins Kelly over. But that hasn't happened yet and he, again, remains the Ducks coach.

As a result, Oregon's quiet recruiting season might get a bit louder. Expect some major prospects who were awaiting Kelly's plans to come a-calling.

The other layer to this is the NCAA. One of the potential harrumphs over Kelly leaving would have been expected NCAA sanctions over L'Affair de Willie Lyles. He would have looked like the second-coming of Pete Carroll, who bolted USC ahead of severe penalties.

Some might read into this Kelly's confidence that the sanctions won't be severe, and that's not unreasonable. But it also shows Kelly isn't one to run away from a potential problem. At least, not yet.

Oregon will be ranked in the preseason top five next year. It welcomes back eight starters on offense, including QB Marcus Mariota, a budding Heisman Trophy candidate, and seven on defense. The biggest questions are at linebacker, running back and offensive guard. If the Ducks avoid a postseason ban, they will be national title contenders. Again.

The allure of coaching that team kept Kelly in Eugene. That means nothing for 2014 and beyond. Yes, this could become an annual dance between Kelly and various suitors, one that fans breathlessly follow on Twitter -- "He's gone!" "He's staying!" -- as they learn to mock the term "sources."

It might be emotionally exhausting and generally frustrating for Ducks fans, but this is the annual tax a team pays for having a coach whom everyone else want to lead their team.