Quote:
|
--How much of the USC hype has to do with them being left out of the BCS last season? In my opinion, they are not as good as last years team. Last year they were really dominant in there offense, and while their D was good, it was far from the best in the country. Unfortunately, last year doesn't count anymore. If you look at the 3 teams fighting it out, they are all of the same calibur and deserving of a title shot. Each of the teams did what it took to win in the big games this year: OU-pulled it out against Tx A&M, OkState, and UT; USC got outgunned by Cal and Stanford and got the "W", but they did dominate ASU; and Auburn squeezed by LSU and dominated Georgia and Tenn.
|
I don't think being left out of last year's BCS is the reason for the USC hype. Before last year, experts/analysts were saying that USC was one year away from competing for the national championship. Basically, they were looking at 2004 (this year) as the year that USC would be at its best. Accordingly, when the preseason polls came out, they had USC at #1. I agree that this year's USC is not as potent offensively. Yet, I think the defense is just as good if not better than last year's.
Quote:
|
--If the preseason polls had started with OU #10, AU #11, and USC #12, would all these folks in the media be clamoring for a USC team to be in the championship? If so, why? If not, is it fair for a team to get an automatic slide into the national championship cuz people felt they were going to have a good year? After viewing the first game of the season against Virginia Tech, you could see USC was not the same dominant team as last year. Wouldn't it be a little more fair to throw out the preseason rankings cuz they don't mean anything? Look at LSU, Miami, Georgia, etc for examples (all teams that started the year ranked very high, but lost games early on and are out of the championship picture).
|
I think the "clamoring" would the about the same that is going on for Auburn now, only that the arguments might vary a bit. However, in no way is USC getting "an automatic slide into the national championship." Last I checked, USC still had to play the games, and so far, they have won them all. USC has done nothing to show that they do not deserve the #1 ranking. Only three preseason #1 teams have gone on to win the national championship that same year since the early 90's, so if a team is not deserving things will sort themselves out. If anything, USC (and OU for that matter) was put in a better position to contend for the national championship, but in no way was it given to them. On the same note, OU started the season at #2, so you could make the same argument against OU that you make against USC of "sliding" into the championship, afterall, its the top two teams that get into the BCS championship game, not just #1.
Quote:
|
--I hear all this talk about non-conference schedules and Auburn did have a very, very easy non-conference schedule (which is what is hurting them), but why doesn't an easy conference schedule hurt a team like USC since that is what hurts UTAH? I know that is not a very good comparison between the two conferences, but come on the PAC 10 has three good teams: USC, CAL, & ASU then a huge drop off; both the Big12 and SEC are having mediocre years, but they still have these teams in the top 25: OU, Texas, TAMU, OkState---AU, Georgia, LSU, Tenn, Florida (AP #25,most others about #26)---unfortunately a tougher conference with a conference championship game has become a hinderance in the title quest.
|
Last year, it was strength of schedule that ultimately left USC out of the National Championship game. Nonetheless, while strength of schedule is not explicitly part of the BCS anymore, it still has its effect in the human polls. Also, if you look at each computer rankings' strenght of schedule ranking (though not included in the BCS equation) you'll see that even they disagree as to which team has a stronger schedule. I agree that the SEC is a stronger conference overall than the Pac-10, but I'm not so sure I'd say the same thing about the Big 12. As far as a conference championship game becoming a "hinderance," I will say that that is a decision that each conference decided to make. You can't force the Pac-10 to have a championship game, not to mention that most of these conference championship games are money driven.