Apparently USC didn’t bother to watch the game tapes from the Penn State versus Oregon State game.  Or if they did they must not have taken notes on how to attack the Beavers.  Or perhaps they watched that 45-14 drubbing and felt like all they had to do was show up in Corvalis on Thursday night and leave with the easy win.  Either way, USC could not have scripted a worst way to start this season and will be fighting an uphill battle the rest of the way.

First off you can officially cross Mark Sanchez from the Heisman Watch list.  No matter what he does this game will be forever stamped on his resume.  He was getting a lot of attention from who he played for as much as his stats.  But that is a double edged sword when you not only have an off game but your juggernaut team LOSES to an inferior opponent.  Mark takes a big, if perhaps unfair, hit for that.

Next this is really a game and a half (1.5) loss for USC.  Why you might ask?  Well if an 11-1 USC is fighting for a shot at the BCS Title game against a 12-1 SEC or Big 12 team you can only guess who will get the nod.  Even with Mark May telling us all at the end of the year that USC is the greatest team in the history of the world despte this slipup . . . that might not even gain it enough traction against a 1 loss Big 10 team.

Who does this help the most?  The SEC.  It was very unlikely that any SEC team would finish the year undefeated so this means they will no longer be competing against a mythical Southern Cal team that never seems to live up to expectations.  A one loss Big 12 or SEC team would have a very strong argument against an undefeated ACC or Big East team.  Not that I expect any team from those conferences to go undefeated mind you.

The deck was really stacked against USC.  As the “dominant” power in college football they were destined to be big favorites in all their games and even “close” games would hurt their reputation.  This loss is horrific as they have no marquee matchups left to try and impress poll voters later in the year.  This is where a weak Pac-10 (or maybe strong Mountain West???) really hurts them in the national title hunt.

P.S.  Did anyone else kind of like the Orange home jerseys of Oregon State?  I have to say at least in HD with the night game they were very vibrant and colorful.

In an attempt to drum up support for Pacific Ten (Pac 10) Conference football, the conference has decided to institute a new marketing blitz.  So far the league is choosing between several different slogans to describe the conference.  Here are the top 10 mottos so far!

10) Pac 10 football - It’s just like real football!

9)  Pac 10 football - Because playing defense is for LOSERS!!!

8)  Pac 10 football - The best football west of the Mountain West Conference!!!

7)  Pac 10 football - Our mediocre play and lethargic fan base ensure plenty of tickets to just about every game.  Order yours today!!!

6)  Pac 10 football - Bridging the timespan between our conference’s elite golf and gymnastics programs’ seasons!!!

5)  Pac 10 football - A softer, kindler and gentler form of football.  Fun for everyone (even hippies)!!!

4)  Pac 10 football - Because winning isn’t everything!

3)  Pac 10 football - Bringing shame and disgrace to the Western US for over 3 decades!!!

2)  Pac 10 football - Flag football played with pads!!!

1)  Pac 10 football - Hey, how about USC.  They’re pretty good right!!!

With the biggest portion of the Out-Of-Conference (OOC) season slipping away before league games begin, several conferences made some significant “last stands” to try and regain some respectability.  Let’s look at last weekend’s action.

ACC
One of the doormats of the FBS had been the ACC which got off to a terrible start in the first 2-3 weeks.  This week the ACC put forth a quite respectible showing.  North Carolina State managed to win its first FBS game by upsetting East Carolina in overtime.  Miami went on the road and blew out Big 12 team Texas A&M while Georgia Tech dismantled Mississippi State at home.  Despite forcing overtime against South Florida, UCF didn’t put up much of a fight against Boston College.  Inside the league Virginia Tech looks to be winning ugly (or typical Beamer style) after beating Georgia Tech and North Carolina in back-to-back weeks.  Wake Forest solidified its hold as conference favorite by travelling to Tallahassee and extending its winning streak against FSU to 3 games in a matchup mired by offensive ineptitude, turnovers and mistakes.

BIG EAST
Another joke of a conference that has edged its way into respectability is the Big East.  Largely thanks to a number of intersectional matchups against the Big 12, the Big East is on a bit of a run in OOC games.  Going back to South Florida’s upset of Kansas last Friday, the Big East has gone 3-1 against the Big 12 in nationally televised ESPN night games.  Connecticut held off Baylor and Louisville tripped up Kansas State while only West Virginia failed to uphold the conference honor losing at Colorado in OT 17-14.  Rutgers continued its unexpected slide losing to Navy but Pittsburgh managed to outlast Iowa 21-20 and even Syracuse managed to win its first game this season against Northeastern.  The league is down to only one ranked team, South Florida, but at least isn’t the laughing stock it was two weeks ago.

BIG 12
As discussed, the Big 12 almost singlehandedly brought the Big East back to a legitimate FBS conference.  Having a traditional power like A&M getting blown out by Miami at home doesn’t help the conference pride either.  UNLV kept Iowa State winless in a matchup of a good Mountain West team against a bad Big 12 team.  Colorado provided the only significant win when they upset a talented, yet spiraling, WVU team. (more…)

Week three of the young college football season brings us to our third installment looking at conference strengths.  Since it is virtually impossible to identify how a region of football compares to another when conference teams are playing internally, the beginning of the football season is our best, yet far from perfect, indicator of overall conference trends and relative strengths.  So with that lets look at this past weekend.

ACC
For the first time this season, the ACC avoided the image of one of the worst conferences in the country.  North Carolina absolutely thumped Rutgers, in what should have been a matchup of roughly equivalent teams, 44 to 12.  Does this signify that UNC is ready to begin it’s turnaround under Butch Davis or that Rutgers is going to step back from it’s gradual improvement under Greg Schiano.  In a game of two of the best young coaches in the game, Davis seems to have put together a better team in Chapel Hill in his second year than Schiano has in his 8th year.

In another ACC suprise, struggling mid level team Maryland upset Pac 10 upper tier Cal 35 to 27 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score.   The same Maryland team that was unable to beat Middle Tennessee the week before took a huge 28-3 lead against Pac 10 power Cal and cruised to an eventual 8 point win.  In other games Virginia continued it’s losing ways by getting clobbered by UConn 45-10 while FSU continued feasting on Division AA programs by routing Chattanooga 46 to 7.  Duke has a winning record after 3 games after beating Navy 41-31 under new head coach David Cutcliffe.

Inside the conference Virginia Tech held off Paul Johnson’s up and coming Georgia Tech team 20-17 while Clemson continued it’s bounce back from their opening day fiasco by beating NCSU 27-9.  Two of the conferences better teams, Wake Forest and Miami, had open dates.

BIG 12
The lone conference losses this weekend were Kansas losing a nail biter to USF in Tampa 34-37 in what was perhaps the best game of the entire weekend and Iowa State losing to in-state rival Iowa 5 to 17.  Big 12 powers Oklahoma and Missouri pounded Washington and Nevada respectively.  Baylor also layed the wood this week to Pac 10 BCS team Washington State 45-17.  Nebraska, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State each won big against lesser opponents.  Texas’s game versus Arkansas (SEC) was postponed due to Hurricane Gustav. (more…)

Not too many legitimate college football pundits waste time arguing against the SEC being the best conference in the land.  Personally, I think the Big 12 is the only other conference that should be in the discussion when it is based on quality and depth.  The first weekend of college football led to some interesting inter-conference results.  In total the SEC beat 2 ACC, 1 WAC, 1 MAC, 1 Conference USA and 5 patsies who really need not be mentioned.  The league’s losers were Mississippi State to Louisiana Tech (WAC) and Tennessee to UCLA (Pac-10).

Overall the SEC has often been held as the leading football conference but never before has the league seen the kind of depth of talent as we are witnessing now.  There will be 8-4 teams coming out of the conference this year which would could easily be BCS bound if they played in another league.  It really is becoming a nightmare of brutal competition on a weekly basis these days.  I see three teams - South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee, that I honestly believe would strongly challenge if not win outright conferences such as the Big East, ACC or Big 10.

Upsets abounded across the country and the SEC was no exception.  The MSU loss to La Tech suggests that last year might have been simply a blip on the Sylvester Croom tenure radar and the Bulldogs are headed back to mediocrity.  Despite a defense that plays as hard for it’s coach as any in the SEC you will be hard pressed to win games without any offense for opponents to respect.  The other dissapointment was, of course, the mighty (I jest) Vols.  (more…)

With two years like these, it’s bound to happen.

After Florida fans (and LSU, Georgia et al.) watched the pastings that the Gators and Tigers gave Ohio State, they saw the reputation of the Southeastern Conference validated on the BCS stage.

However, I want to look at some basic assumptions that fans of SEC schools have as a whole. Mark my words, this probably isn’t going to be the last post that I do on the subject.

(more…)

Wish the hoops team luck, men. They’re going to need it.

Arizona State has a slight edge over Florida on paper. But Donovan has proven himself the master of the postseason over the last 4 years, earmarked by 3 SEC championships, 2 national titles, and now an NIT quarterfinals berth (Mind you, with a completely different team.)

So how can Florida get the W and the trip to NY?

(more…)

Yeah, the game’s tomorrow, not today. But I need to scratch my itch to write.

Fourteen months after the football team won the national championship in Tempe, another UF team travels to Arizona with its own ambitions. Granted, the young Gators will not hoist a crystal trophy if they win. But they could go from being banned from their practice facility to playing in Madison Square Garden. They’re also fighting for respect, and beating a solid Pac-10 team on the road is a good first step.

Both teams are the top two seeds in the same bracket, and somebody’s going to walk away disappointed. On a slightly different vein, let’s look at both teams from various dimensions.

(more…)

While I was ready to pronounce the Pac 10 dead and buried its amazing what a couple days can do.  Arizona State and barely edged themselves into a bowl after a season filled with blowout losses while Oregon collapsed in the late season but won enough games (including a referee aided theft of Oklahoma University) to make a bowl game.  Thursday night we witnessed the Pac 10 co-champion, California, completely dominate an upper level Big 12 team.  Despite a 9-3 record and win over Texas, the Aggies did not look to be in the same class of the much quicker and explosive Cal team.  Kudos to Coach Tedford for what he has accomplished in turning the Golden Bears from a perennial loser into a perennial Top 25 team.

Today another Big 12 - Pac 10 matchup took place.  Missouri who I feel is a quality team lost a big lead late against Oregon State.  After scoring a TD with 22 seconds left in the game making the score 37-38, the Beavers decided to go for the 2 point conversion.  In an exciting end to an amazing game Oregon State came up with the 39-38 win giving the Pac 10 a 2-3 bowl record with one game remaining (USC versus Michigan).  Considering Missouri also came back against being down big in their prior bowl game against South Carolina perhaps it was poetic justice that they should lose this year the same way.  This was a hard fought contest and unlike Thursday night’s game the teams looked evenly matched with the bounce of the ball going Oregon State’s way today.

In other games Kentucky used Clemson mistakes and an overall lack of focus and intensity to build a big lead and then hang on against the Tigers for a 28-20 win.  Clemson ends the year losing 4 of 5 games and one has to wonder how much hatred for Bowden Junior exists in the Palmetto State.  Tommy seems to have reversed his usual trend of starting poorly and finishing strong (at least strong enough to keep his job) and started 7-1 before collapsing late.  This is a huge win for Rich Brooks and Kentucky who will finally play with a full complement of scholarships in 2007.  Where the program goes from here is anyone’s guess but its been a big year for Wildcat football.

To take a quote from Dennis Green, South Carolina is “who WE THOUGHT THEY WERE!!!”  They are a team with a very good offense and a very BAD defense.  When matched against a top flight offense like Houston they don’t have the enough playmakers to stop the Cougars.  What we didn’t expect was for an All-SEC kicker like Succup to waste two turnovers by costing his team 4 points in the first half.  Apparently Ryan was of the mistaken belief that playing in the first half meant performing like the first half of his last name.  The second half had a little more defense in it and I’m fairly certain that’s the first 4th and goal from the 50 yard line I’ve seen.  South Carolina is building for next year and most importantly Spurrier finally seems to have himself a Spurrier type QB in Blake Mitchell to work with.

I didn’t expect Alabama to beat Oklahoma State despite the fact they were both 6-6 teams.  The intangibles fell against the Tide and an interim or lame duck coach rarely fare’s well in bowl games.  To Bama’s credit they kept the game close with a furious comeback but as they have done all year long, they haven’t played well enough to win close games (other than Duke where they had a HUGE talent advantage).

Late night update:  Instead of bashing the PAC 10, which has been the favorite pastime on message boards these days, what about the BIG 10???  I’m not sure which is more shocking, that an overrated Maryland team who completely dominated a lame Purdue squad or a Minnesota team relinquishing a 38-7 lead to lose 44-41 in OT to Texas Tech.  I will admit I gave up on the game when it was 35-7 at the half and just managed to catch it at the end of regulation.  All I can say is . . . WOW . . . the Big 10 is hurtin today.  How BAD is the Big 10?  Lets just say that an 8-5 Purdue team was only team that Maryland gained more yardage than all YEAR LONG!!!  If this carries out . . . bet on USC, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas and Florida.  OUCH!!! 

P.S.  Our friends at Sagarian Saugacity are keeping track of our favorite computer guru Jeff Sagarin’s system of predicting bowl winners from his teams rankings.  They are going to determine what would happen if someone were to bet at Vegas using the Sagarin system.  I for one will be keeping track at the results (while they do all the work!). 

A popular topic these days is the PAC-10 being ranked as having the toughest SOS in several of the computer rankings (Sagarin, Massey, Cooley).  Looking ahead, Blutarsky of “Get the Picture” has taken a look at next years out of conference schedules for 2007.  For SEC fans it doesn’t look good.  After seeing this I clearly expect the PAC-10 to once again have the strongest SOS next year.  The extra conference game the PAC-10 teams play not only ensures that losses and wins are kept within the conference but also keeps them from scheduling extra weaker games.  It makes perfect sense to me.

PAC-10/SEC showdown, 2007 strength of schedule style