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Money and fan base.

QUOTE(#1):

Originally posted 11:46 AM ET  11.03 by Stand UP

Money and fan base.

Sadly thats true. I agree with you, they should not be in the top 15.

Not sure what to think. I was thinking about it now for a couple of days and they are still ahead of Ohio State who they beat and has 2 losses, Wisconsin is at 19 and they lost to Ohio State so the Big Ten side of things look right I am just not sure that USC ever deserved to be ranked that high and yes they played a higher ranked team and lost so you dont lose alot of spots for that. Not sure where else you put them this weekend will sort a few things out and we will see from there. 1 thing for sure no roses for USC rankings are a mess right now give it 2 weeks and see where everythign is

USC is ranked #11 by the computers.
All six computers agree on the ranking; none of them have USC ranked worse than #12

USC gets less love from the humans: #12 in the harris poll, #13 by the coaches.

As of this week, I would say that USC is as fairly ranked as any team in the BCS. (All three components are in close agreement.)

USC has wins on the road against BCS #16, #20 and #22. They also have a win at home against #34 Oregon State (sagarin ranking)

Utah's best win is a loss to Oregon.

#14 Utah has beaten teams with a combined 21-37 record.

Utah State (2-6)
SJ State (1-6)
Louisville (3-5)
Co state (3-6)
UNLV (3-6)
Air force (5-4)
Wyoming (4-4)

You seem to think we are still playing the 2008 season, when Utah was great and Udub was not.

The horrible Washington Husky team you mention in your blog put up 480 yards of offense on #10 LSU. That's more yards than anyone else has put up on LSU's D this year, including Florida. The Huskies were still in the game in the 4th quarter.

Udub has beaten ranked Arizona and took ranked ND to overtime on the road.

They have played the third toughest schedule in the nation according to Sagarin. Had they played Utah's schedule this year, it is a pretty good guess they would also be sitting at a 7-1 record.

USC Opponents are 36-28 with slugs coming up UCLA and Arizona I am not picking on them but they are lucky they are where they are they lost to an unranked team UW and Oregon I give them that but are they really that good ???

The UW Badgers lost to 2 ranked teams and opponents records are 39-29 but and are 4 spots behind them just saying they are up there because no sportswriter wants to say they messed up that bad

USC is above the law in every aspect.....I mean the Reggie Bush incident, anywhere else that program would be dead meat but at USC it just gets swept under the door because "we didn't know."

QUOTE(#8):

Originally posted 04:57 PM ET  11.03 by pederson69

USC Opponents are 36-28 with slugs coming up UCLA and Arizona

Arizona is ranked in the BCS. hardly a slug.

QUOTE(#9):

Originally posted 05:02 PM ET  11.03 by pederson69

just saying they are up there because no sportswriter wants to say they messed up that bad

Then how do you explain the BCS computers also ranking USC at #11?

The computers take in the rankings as well into their formula like I said earlier I dont think they ever deserved to be ranked as high as they were to start with. This is the issue with preseason rankings. I thnk 14-16 is a good spot for them but they are not BCS material this year. Oregon to the Rose, against Iowa or Penn State. I am just saying that alot of that ranking was hype and that loss to UW really hurt and is even more magnified by the thumping in Eugene

QUOTE(#13):

Originally posted 08:29 AM ET  11.04 by pederson69

The computers take in the rankings as well into their formula like I said earlier I dont think they ever deserved to be ranked as high as they were to start with. This is the issue with preseason rankings. I thnk 14-16 is a good spot for them but they are not BCS material this year. Oregon to the Rose, against Iowa or Penn State. I am just saying that alot of that ranking was hype and that loss to UW really hurt and is even more magnified by the thumping in Eugene

I understand your point. I'm not advocating USC for a BCS slot, and whether they are 12th or 15th doesn't matter much. However, the blog poster is much more emphatic:

"Personally I think USC lost their chance and shouldn't be ranked in the top 20"

That is what I am responding to.

BTW, none of the BCS computer polls take the human (Coaches and Harris) polls into account. Except for the bizarre Billingsley poll, none of them have presesaon rankings. Essentially, the computer polls look at the won-loss records of all the Div 1 teams and try to sort out who is "best."
Computer polls:
Sagarin
Colley Matrix
Wolfe
Billingsley
Massey
Anderson Hester

Human polls:
Harris Poll
[url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm]coaches[ /url]

So that is the point I am trying to make about the computer polls. They don't know anything about the logos on the uniforms or the fact that ESPN is in love with Matt Barkley. All they do is compare won-loss records, and they all came to the same conclusion this week about where USC belongs in the rankings.

Finally, you do realize that the two teams that play in the Rose Bowl are the pac10 and big10 conference champs, right? The BCS polls have nothing to do with it, so USC has no chance of playing there this year regardless of where they are ranked.

Not true about the Rose bowl, actually if the BCS takes Oregon to a BCS Bowl the second place team will go to the Rose Bowl and right now that would be USC. If the Oregon ducks go soemwhere else like PEnn State or Iowa then a second palce team goes in their stead

QUOTE(#15):

Originally posted 10:23 AM ET  11.05 by pederson69

Not true about the Rose bowl, actually if the BCS takes Oregon to a BCS Bowl the second place team will go to the Rose Bowl and right now that would be USC. If the Oregon ducks go soemwhere else like PEnn State or Iowa then a second palce team goes in their stead

pederson69, the Rose Bowl is a BCS bowl. It is committed to taking the PAC10 champ and the Big10 champ.

The BCS Bowls are:
the National Championship (BCS #1 vs. BCS #2)
Rose (Pac10 champ + big10 champ)
Sugar (SEC champ + at large bid)
Fiesta (Big10 champ + at large bid)
Orange (ACC champ + at large bid)

Oregon is not going to the National Championship game, so they will be in the Rose Bowl as the Pac10 champion (unless they lose 3 of their next four games.)

I understand your thoughts, I was under the impression and forgive me if I am wrong that if I BCS Bowl lost its competitor to the champ game they could choose another school to fill its slot not necessarily from that conference to fill that spot So if the Sugar and Say Fiesta lose their participants do they get 1st selection at other schools ??

You are correct. This year, it looks like the Championship Game will be Florida (or Bama) vs. Texas.

So assuming the NCG is Florida/Bama vs. Texas, then yes both the Sugar and the Fiesta would be able to fill their slots with other teams.

There are some other BCS rules that come in to play also
* The big East champ gets one of the at-large bids automatically
* The highest ranking mid-major gets an automatic at-large bid if it ranked in the top 8
* Notre Dame gets an automatic at-large bid if it ranked in the top 8
* Only two teams from any BCS conference are allowed--so if Florida and Bama play in BCS games, then LSU can not.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/bowls/predictions gives a good explanation of how the BCS at large bids are distributed and makes predictions about what teams are likely to get selected.

You should also know that the dirty secret of the BCS is that the Rose, Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls are in business to make money. Given a choice among several qualified teams to issue an at-large bid, the bowl organizers will chose the team that is most likely to attract a large TV audience and travel to see the game.

For example, in 2007, when Ohio State went to the National Championship game, the Rose Bowl committee selected #13 Illinois (3 losses) over #7 Missouri (2 losses), even though Mizzou had beaten Illinois during the season. The Orange bowl got the next choice, and they also passed Mizzou over in favor of #8 Kansas, even though Mizzou had beaten Kansas too.

The thing to remember about the BCS rankings is this: the #1 and #2 BCS teams play in the national championship game. All the other BCS bowls are decided by conference affiliations and popularity. I'm not saying it is fair, I'm just saying that's how it is.

The good news for you as a big10 fan is that big10 teams are by far the best television draws (even better than the SEC), so the big10 will almost always have two BCS invites. I think the Big10 has sent two teams to BCS bowls in ten of the last 12 years, more than any other conference.