USC has a tough road schedule: @ND @Cal @Oregon @Washington @OSU. If they go 4-1 in those games and defend their home turf that isn't bad at all.

Edited October 26, 200916 yr by Trojans
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Plus, they are fun to watch. Pro formations, vertical passing, stretch running plays, get-pressure-rushing-four, big hit secondary, exciting return men, mano-y-mano, coach jumping up and down on the sidelines, fun to watch. People WANT to see them in the title game. How can you turn down Barkley's smile?

 

What other team can you watch with the possibility of seeing your future franchise QB holding a clipboard for 4 years? :lol:

What other team can you watch with the possibility of seeing your future franchise QB holding a clipboard for 4 years? :lol:

 

Easy....:lol:

Notre Dame beat Michigan State. Notre Dame is not a bad team at all. They have one of the best offenses in the country, so they are going to play with just about everyone. It just comes down to if the defense can stop the other team enough, which has been the problem in the two losses.

 

My bad, I noticed that. I meant USC and Michigan. I was watching the highlights of the Iowa/Michigan State game as I typed that. :ohbrother:

How is USC ranked #4 is beyoned me. I can tell you how the media. Everyone just talks about how good this USC team is. There not that good, so what they went to Colombus and beat a not so good OSU team which by the way lost to a terrible Purdue team. And ND they are not very good either. Another thing is they play in the weakest conference in D1 football that recives an automatic berth. And oh yea i almost forgot they lost to Washington which has a losing record at 3-5.

How is USC ranked #4 is beyoned me. I can tell you how the media. Everyone just talks about how good this USC team is. There not that good, so what they went to Colombus and beat a not so good OSU team which by the way lost to a terrible Purdue team. And ND they are not very good either. Another thing is they play in the weakest conference in D1 football that recives an automatic berth. And oh yea i almost forgot they lost to Washington which has a losing record at 3-5.

 

I take it back. Here is someone whom, if his team beat USC, would really not think it was a very big deal.

 

The Pac-10 was 6-0 in bowl games last year, so I guess all the other conferences just flat sucked during bowl season.

Perhaps it is too obvious of me to defend them, but, here it goes . . .

 

First, NO team has looked really all that great this year. Florida has struggled, Bama has struggled for 3 weeks, Texas struggled until this past week. THERE IS A LOT OF PARITY IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL THIS YEAR.

 

USC is a team with a huge target on their back. I know that a lot of teams are targeted, but USC is really targeted, it is the big game on everyone's schedule, the one they practice for all offseason, it draws the biggest crowds, and the most emotion.

 

I will note, with some sarcasm, that none of you idiots who like to run the Trojans down would claim, if your team beat them, "well, USC wasn't really all that good, so I don't think we really deserve much of a bump from it." Heck no, if your team beat USC, you'd be out in the streets causing vandalism and on this board using the party smiley like crazy.

 

From the voters perspective, USC's loss to Washington is a lot of same 'ol same 'ol. For three or four years now, they lose an early season contest to a weaker conference opponent, and then they start rolling, finish the season like a steam engine going downhill, crush whoever they play in a bowl game, and end of being discussed as the best team at the end of the year.

 

So I don't think the loss to Washington really echoes much with voters, particularly when Washington can be a pretty rough place to play (LSU almost didn't make it out, either), and USC was without their starting quarterback.

 

USC has gone into the Horshoe and beaten Ohio State. They went into South Bend and beat Notre Dame when everybody, including God Himself, was pulling for the Irish to win. They beat Cal at Cal.

 

The Pac-10 is strong this year. Maybe not as strong as the SEC, but I believe better than any other conference (the Big 12 has totally fallen off the map). 9 teams may make bowl games. The conference was undefeated in bowl play last season. It is an evening up year in the Pac-10.

 

The Trojans, up until Saturday, have been very strong defensively. They lead the nation in sacks. And this is off of a defense that lost 9 starters and 8 players to the National Football League. Eight. That just floors me. They have a weakness in drop pass coverage by their middle linebackers, and I'm pretty certain Pete Carroll will get that covered.

 

Offensively, one Trojan after another keeps stepping up. They lost Ronald Johnson, the deep threat, before the season, and he is now back and it showed Saturday. They lost their leading rusher, Stafon Johnson, and began using Joe McKnight more. McKnight got hurt in the first half Saturday, so they put in Allan Bradford, and he went for 147 yards and a couple TD's. How about that for depth. Last year's All-American center, Kris O'Dowd, didn't even start Saturday and played only sparingly, because they've moved Byers to center and plugged Butch Lewis in at guard. All of this and they scored in the 40's. I think we have just seen the tip of what they will start doing offensively.

 

Did I mention they are starting a true freshmen at quarterback?

 

This all resonates with voters. This was supposed to be a down year for USC with all the graduations, and yet, here they are again. You all on here seem to place a lot of stock in who played who way back when and how that compares with what USC did against them, etc. etc. This is not a game of Scrabble. I've watched Cincinatti, and I think USC would run the ball down their throats, because frankly UC is not all that stout against the run. They rely a lot on their wideouts and USC stuffs wideouts, its backs and TE's they struggle more with. I've watched Florida and Texas and Alabama and Iowa and all those teams up near the top, and I think USC matches up well with all of them.

 

In the end game, and the voters know this, USC is one of two or three teams that are measuring sticks. Do you really feel like you've earned yourself the title if you don't take your shot with USC?

 

That is my defense of them, I realize not popular with all the west coast naysayers on here.

 

Hard to argue those points Hearsay.

People keep saying the Oregon State game was close.

USC was up 20 I believe in the 4th quarter and OSU never had the ball to go for the lead.

I would add one more thing: USC has been SO dominant, in year's past, that there seems to be some feeling that if they haven't beaten every opponent by 3 TD's or more, that they somehow aren't as good. In that case, you need to knock Florida down about 5 or 6 notches too, because they look like dryer lint, right now.

 

Florida's offense was not exactly clicking before Tebow got knocked out versus UK. I dont think he has been the same QB since that injury.

Rich Brooks said tonight on his radio show that Tebow looks like a different QB right now.

Notre Dame beat Michigan State. Notre Dame is not a bad team at all. They have one of the best offenses in the country, so they are going to play with just about everyone. It just comes down to if the defense can stop the other team enough, which has been the problem in the two losses.

 

They can play with anyone, but anyone can play with them. They are just an above average team.

I don't hate USC, its O$U that I hate.......

 

My problem is there is still a lot of undefeated teams, and UC(who has played without their QB) is undefeated.

 

The BCS also has them at 5, which includes the human vote........they would be about 10th without the human vote.......

Easy....:lol:

 

Kansas City Chiefs...

 

It happened once.

Florida's offense was not exactly clicking before Tebow got knocked out versus UK. I dont think he has been the same QB since that injury.

Rich Brooks said tonight on his radio show that Tebow looks like a different QB right now.

 

:thumb:

 

I agree with Brooks. Tebow looks more tentative. It seems like he's not running with that same reckless abandon.

 

But, I also agree that Florida wasn't dominant before that. I just think college football is in a down year...the top three are all undefeated, yet none of them look like #1 teams to me. In the past few years, it seems like there has been a handful of teams in every season better than the top teams of 2009.

 

I believe the Gators miss Percy Harvin more than people expected. He was a special player...just having speed doesn't make you Percy Harvin. Florida has speed. But, they don't have that elite playmaker to lean on. Harvin just had a knack for big plays. Sometimes that's what a team like Florida needs to get kick started.