[BostonCard]

1999 had the weakest Pac-10 conference in a generation.  Stanford went to the Rose Bowl as the #22 team in the country.  Oregon was the only team that ended the season ranked.  No team mustered 10 wins or fewer than 3 losses.  In a 10 team conference, 6 teams had a .500 record or lower.

2001 was a much better Pac-10 conference season; it featured four teams ranked at the end of the year, including #2 Oregon, #10 WSU, #16 Stanford, and #19 UW (interestingly, all from the future Pac-12 North).  On the other hand, the rest of the teams were pretty mediocre that year (USC, for example ended the year at 6-6, in Pete Carroll's first year as head coach).

2011 was a top-heavy year in the Pac-12; it featured 3 teams ranked in the top 10 (#4 Oregon, #6 but ineligible for post-season USC , and 7 Stanford).  However, there was a pretty big gap between those top teams (who had 4 conference losses between them) and the next group of teams who were all mediocre (7-6 Cal and UW, 6-8 Pac-12 South champion UCLA, 8-5 Utah, and 6-7 ASU).

2015 was a bit more meh at the top; 3 Pac-12 teams were ranked (#3 Stanford, #19 Oregon, and #17 Utah), but it was an incredibly deep conference.  10/12 teams were bowl eligible (only OSU and Colorado missed out on bowls).  In its 14 game slate that year, Stanford played 11 games against bowl teams (including USC twice), including Northwestern, who ended the season ranked 23, Notre Dame (#4 at the time, but ended the season #11), and Iowa (#5, ended the season #9) . 

It's subjective, but if I were to rank our schedules, 2015 would have been the toughest, 2001 would be second, 2011 would be third, and 1999 would have been a distant fourth.

BC

[BostonCard]

1999 had the weakest Pac-10 conference in a generation.  Stanford went to the Rose Bowl as the #22 team in the country.  Oregon was the only team that ended the season ranked.  No team mustered 10 wins or fewer than 3 losses.  In a 10 team conference, 6 teams had a .500 record or lower.

2001 was a much better Pac-10 conference season; it featured four teams ranked at the end of the year, including #2 Oregon, #10 WSU, #16 Stanford, and #19 UW (interestingly, all from the future Pac-12 North).  On the other hand, the rest of the teams were pretty mediocre that year (USC, for example ended the year at 6-6, in Pete Carroll's first year as head coach).

2011 was a top-heavy year in the Pac-12; it featured 3 teams ranked in the top 10 (#4 Oregon, #6 but ineligible for post-season USC , and 7 Stanford).  However, there was a pretty big gap between those top teams (who had 4 conference losses between them) and the next group of teams who were all mediocre (7-6 Cal and UW, 6-8 Pac-12 South champion UCLA, 8-5 Utah, and 6-7 ASU).

2015 was a bit more meh at the top; 3 Pac-12 teams were ranked (#3 Stanford, #19 Oregon, and #17 Utah), but it was an incredibly deep conference.  10/12 teams were bowl eligible (only OSU and Colorado missed out on bowls).  In its 14 game slate that year, Stanford played 11 games against bowl teams (including USC twice), including Northwestern, who ended the season ranked 23, Notre Dame (#4 at the time, but ended the season #11), and Iowa (#5, ended the season #9) . 

It's subjective, but if I were to rank our schedules, 2015 would have been the toughest, 2001 would be second, 2011 would be third, and 1999 would have been a distant fourth.

BC