Making The Case For USC

Penn State looked bad because of SC. I will give you that Florida or Oklahoma or Texas has a better offense than Penn State. But Penn State's defense is better than all those teams. When SC's offense plays like it did today none of those teams could beat them.

Also, what will happen if Ohio State does better against Texas than Penn State did against SC? I think the Fiesta Bowl will determine alot about where SC should be ranked.

You're not voting for USC. Why even pretend? I fully expect to see LSU back in your top 15.

there is no way, at the end of the bowl season, that you can say USC is the number 1 team in all the land.

Scott,
here are some points for you to ponder for your vote:

1. If Ohio State beats Texas (Big if), and Oklahoma beats Florida, Then It's between USC and Oklahoma. If that is the case SC Beat Ohio State. Ohio State Beat Texas. Texas beat Oklahoma
2. USC opponents went Undefeated in Bowls (with Oregon beating a Big 12 team)
3. Are you voting for who had the Better Season or Who is the best team in the land at this moment.
4. However, if this all plays out like I said above and Alabama loses to Utah, then Utah deserves to be #1

Two points here, Scott.

First, I think it is a bit unfair to both Penn State and USC to say Penn State was another Big-10 opponent that looked bad. Isn't it possible that the Penn State offense "looked bad" (at least through 3 quarters) because USC's defense was stellar? Isn't it possible that the Penn State defense "looked bad" because it was playing an offense littered with 5-star recruits that played lights out? If USC and Penn State had played a closer game (i.e. if Penn State didn't "look bad"), would that warrant a #1 ranking for USC? USC teams this decade have had a weird problem of being victims of their own blowouts. The thinking seems to go that, if USC beat the crap out of a highly-ranked team (e.g Oklahoma, Michigan(s), Ohio State, Penn State) the opponent must not have been that good.

Second, your rankings really depend what you think the rankings mean. Do you rank a team based on its talent and coaching or its merit? Is it some combination? If you think team B would blow out team A, but team A has a cleaner resume, who gets ranked higher? Do you think USC would beat those teams above them in the polls? Do those teams have better resumes?

None of that means USC should be number one in your poll, but don't discount the win over Penn State because it was a blowout, and don't kid yourself that you are ranking the "best" team if you are not ranking the team you believe is the best in the country.

Simply, USC blew out PSU, who had the 4th best nationally rated defense.. and then just shut down at Halftime. Coasted to a convincing slaughter. The PSU garbage time gravy was insignificent.

The odds makers would make USC the favorite at a neutral site over any team in the nation.

All of their conference competitiors won their bowl games and no team ranked ahead of USC will have a better record.
however...

If oklahoma beats Fla and Texas beats OSU..I vote Texas as NC

Your vote should be based upon your own assessment of the top teams in the country and not based upon what others think. This is just another example of Scotty trying to grab attention. Pathetic!

Sanchez and the receiving core were just amazing today. No Stan Havili. 4 outlet passes all game, 1 to Gable clearly designed. 11+ yards/attempt. It wasn't like he had all day to pass either. He stepped up in the pocket and scrambled several times. He pump faked and scrambled on the RoJo TD.

Given that Oklahoma doesn't play much defense, Tebow needs to match what Sanchez did to earn a #1 vote. Florida had its collective jock strap handed to it at home by Ole Miss. Texas beat Oklahoma. USC was a lucky tipped pass away from a trip to the NC game. And Texas was within inches.

Penn State should have been ranked higher in the polls, they lost one game by one point. USC beat a great defense and exposed them. Also, they shut down a great offense that destoryed many teams. USC this season has beat five teams that will be in the top 25, Penn State, Ohio State, Oregon, California, and Arizona. There only lost was againsta team that will be against a top 25 team Oregon State. Also, do you think any team can match USC in defense. Penn State only scored when USC played less focused.

The Donkey says "scott, you are such an attention wh0re"

Scott, stop patting yourself on the back for voting SC number #1 in 2003. Most AP voters did that because they were #1 before the Rose Bowl and then beat #4 ranked Michigan handily. It was a no-brainer. But kudos for voting for Georgia last season. And now do the right thing and vote for SC this season.

Mr. Wolf there is no winning with you USC plays in the pac 10 and gets no credit for winning cuz the pac 10 is having a down year. The teams they played which have proven to be among the top in the country have won all of their bowl games, but that doesn't prove anything? what is with the media's blind faith in their opinions? except for florida and bama the sec is no good granted big ten is down but the big twelve isnt that special either apparently. Also how can we really tell how good these other guys are when they only play in confrence against teams who have also played podunk tech and north boonie state? here's an idea look at interconference recordlike what happens in bowl games and you'll find that the pac 10 stacks up just fine.

Secondly, USC plays a close game and you say well they should have blown them out and then sc blows them out and you say well they obviously weren't that good, you sound like a sore loser. But what are you fighting against exactly?

Scott - there's an easy explanation:

GREAT teams can make REALLY GOOD teams look bad. Penn State was No. 1 for a bit. So was USC. The Pac-10 was better than the rest of the nation wanted to give them credit for as evidenced by the 5-0 bowl record.

Pete out-coached JoePa. USC outplayed Penn State to the end. A USC game next week against either Florida or Oklahoma would be awesome.

I'm not sure USC should be voted No. 1 in the poll. But it's time to recognize this was a pretty darn good team that stubbed its toe (unfortunately) against the Beavers. Play that Oregon State game tomorrow, and USC is 13-0 this season.

Read BP's column in the LA Times...

I'm sure Wolf will rank Texas Tech over SC.

you do realize that you had penn state ranked number 7 in you last poll right? So you must've done a bad job ranking because it's not possible for USC to make a good team look bad right?

Who really cares what Scott Wolf thinks?

Everyone around the country is once again either saying that USC is the best college football team, or is playing the best football right now, or could beat Florida, OU, Texas, etc. This all just confirms what 99% of us have known. It was great to see the Trojans confirm this and remove all doubt from most people's minds.

Corso and Herbstreit were spot-on with their views on east coast bias, and that USC would take a back seat to no one.

Yesterday's slaughter of an extremely good Penn State team was beautiful, and knowing that Wolf, RRB, USC'89 and ucla were moping and proving themselves as total jokers made the win that much better.

Fight On!

How do you judge the best team in the country among the one loss teams?

Based on wins?
None of the one-loss teams has beaten more than one BCS opponent entering the bowl season. USC has now beaten two (Penn State and Ohio State). Penn State was one point away from being in the National Championship game itself. And of the five USC opponents who were bowl eligible, four of them won their bowl games.

Based on losses?
At the time of USC's loss to Oregon State it was an embarrassing loss to a poor team. But without the injuries to the Rogers brothers that Beaver team would be in the same debate over the top teams in the country at the end of the season. As it was, the main knock on Oregon State was its first two losses, including the blowout loss to the Nittany Lions. Clearly OSU showed that the USC game was a turning point for their season and that they were not the same team that lost to PSU and Stanford. Meanwhile, Penn State showed that they were that good, coming a point from being the #1 team in the nation heading into bowl season.

While teams like Oregon and Oregon State don't have the publicity or tradition of Alabama and Florida, are the wins and losses against them really that much different?

When teams have equal records but one had a more justifiable loss and equally or more impressive wins, that team should be #1 in the polls.

That reasoning aside, Pulitzer described a journalist's role as comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. USC as the AP National Champion will afflict those that are too comfortable with the BCS system today.

In a stunning battle of behemoths...unranked LSU stormed Atlanta and throttled those juggernauts from the Varsity Drive-in .....thus, leaving them clear AP National Champions. Hail those Bayou Bengals!

I guess Wolf will now rank Mississippi over SC now?