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I'm on the edge of my seat.

Any voters with any brains in their heads (or elsewhere) would vote USC ahead of OU and Texas and actually send the best team to the BCS championship rather than these Big-12 pretenders.

LOL - what a statement ...... I cannot even respond to that.

QUOTE(#1):

Originally posted 02:13 PM ET  11.29 by Sandy Underpants

I'm on the edge of my seat.Any voters with any brains in their heads (or elsewhere) would vote USC ahead of OU and Texas and actually send the best team to the BCS championship rather than these Big-12 pretenders.

Sorry you moron but there has to be an entire team sent to play the game, which includes an offense.

When USC beat Oklahoma 55-19, they sent the entire Oklahoma team to the BCS championship.

you're right, the big 12 is full of pretenders. USC played real schools, like Washington! and Washington State! and congrats, you even pulled away from STANFORD.

Best of luck to your molester quarterback and REAL DEAL team.

Haha, that USC fan is funny. The Pac 10 is a pathetically weak conference. Is there even a team in the league after USC that could finish in the top 5 or 6 in the Big XII or SEC?? I doubt it. Oregon St. (the likely conference champion by the way, NOT USC) got destroyed by Penn St. which seems to tell us a lot about that league. Bottom line is while USC is undeniably a very good team, they are not one of the very best teams on paper, because their competition has been much weaker than Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Florida, Alabama, because they lost to an above average team, not a great team, and because they have not been as impressive in their victories in a weak conference as other top teams in much better conferences.

Heres the brief rationale why other teams SHOULD top USC:
Alabama: Undefeated in the SEC. The end.
Texas: #2 in the nation. Play in the Big XII. Lost on last play of the game to top #5 team. Beat OU
Oklahoma: Lost to #2 team in the nation in close game. Tough non-conference schedule. Big XII.
Florida: Completely dominated the SEC. Lost to a Miss. team who is at least as good as Oregon St.

Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida have all looked more dominant in much better conferences than USC. Alabama is untouchable as long as they are undefeated in the SEC.

QUOTE(#6):

Originally posted 03:28 PM ET  11.29 by madtownmatt

Alabama is untouchable as long as they are undefeated in the SEC.

You really need to introduce your mind to your mouth. Who has Alabama beaten? The best team they beat was 3-loss Georgia who couldn't beat a good team if their university status depended on it. USC's 'pathetic' schedule has more ranked teams, more teams with winning records and more BCS teams on it than Alabama, and when Alabama gets their first loss they will be passed by USC. Keep playing cupcakes Bama, eventually you'll be exposed like the rest of the SEC has been this season.

Not to mention Texas Tech.

Texas Tech: Beat arguably the second best team in the country. Only loss came to arguably the second best team in the country. Play in arguably the toughest division of the toughest conference in the country.

yeah bring USC to the Rose Bowl to be destroyed by Penn State. You losers lost to Oregon State who Penn State demolished.

What's Pete Carroll's bowl record since he has come to USC and who has he beaten in bowls? I'm curious about that information......

Umm, as of now Alabama is undefeated. It's a pretty ridiculous arguing a 1 loss USC team from a weaker conference should be BCS ranked in front of an undefeated Alabama from the SEC. It's not at all clear they will remain undefeated, they face Auburn today, and the SEC title game upcoming, but I'm sorry Sandy, you can't make a realistic argument for USC over Alabama as long as they are undefeated.

Second, you are really going to argue that Alabama is playing cupcakes? They played an SEC schedule. Who exactly has USC played who is of any significance other than Ohio St? They've played weak Pac 10 competition, lost to Oregon St. Alabama is undefeated. If they lose, go ahead and make your case. You may have a good case for USC over Alabama then.

After the season is over I would still rank any one loss Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, or Texas Tech team over USC by virtue of better wins, being more dominant, playing in a better conference against better competition week in and week out, and having to win a title game with everything on the line against yet another decent team in Missouri or a very good team in Alabama.

QUOTE(#11):

Originally posted 04:41 PM ET  11.29 by madtownmatt

Umm, as of now Alabama is undefeated. It's a pretty ridiculous arguing a 1 loss USC team from a weaker conference should be BCS ranked in front of an undefeated Alabama from the SEC.

Maybe it's ridiculous to you, but USC is a better team than Alabama. USC has beaten better teams than Alabama. USC has beaten more BCS teams than Alabama. USC is better than Alabama undefeated with a 10 point halftime lead against pathetic Auburn. USC is better than 1-loss Alabama after playing Florida. USC is better than Alabama. Alabama is undefeated, big deal. So are most teams before USC beats them, but rest assured if/when they play, USC will beat Alabama.

QUOTE(#9):

Originally posted 04:06 PM ET  11.29 by Sean Connery

yeah bring USC to the Rose Bowl to be destroyed by Penn State. You losers lost to Oregon State who Penn State demolished.

That's about the only claim to fame Penn St. has, beating Oregon St. USC handled your 3-time Big-10 champion 35-3, and it wasn't that close. Pete Carroll is 5-0 vs. the Big-10 and the average margin of victory is 30 points per game. So pray to god that Penn St. doesn't end up playing USC in the Rose Bowl. It's just business as usual for the best program in college football.

Just for fun, I looked at the Sagarin "Strength of Schedule" website (www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt08.htm)

I'ts an interesting read of the computer rated top 10. It's interesting to see a few additional columns that are listed in this ranking - and an explaination of how things are factored and what the BCS folks use, and how.

Regardless of the passion of whether you are a USC, Bama, Texas, TTech, Florida, et.al., i tis fun to see these programs all sitting up in the top of the pile year in and year out.....all good football programs and all worthy of the passionate support that I see. It goes in cycles too. Having that 'west coast' fan approach, I like west coast football and will always cheer for them because I get to know them better through regular exposure on tv. I don't get to know east coast football or the south, except for the periodic games on tv that I see in the mornings. Thus, a built in bias in that sense. And I like the every once in a while run by a team like an Oregon State just because they only have national relevance every once in a while.

I think USC's bowl record under Pete Carroll has been pretty good against other conferences, and the one loss he had was at the hands of a pretty talented Texas team, on the last play of the game....and what a game it was. And my other hopeful (though they face a huge uphill and daunting Penn State team IF they win today) is Oregon State. What I continue to like abou this team is Coach Riley plays at least one Penn State level team in his pre-season and has ended up in a pretty good bowl record as well, at a level below the USC's, Bama's, Florida's, Texas's.......yet he is the bane of Pete Carroll in regular season.

Anyway, the computer rankings of schedules, etc. is always interesting to look at.

USC is clearly a very good team. Could they beat anyone on a neutral field? Possibly. In my mind I would have them losing to Florida and Oklahoma. In tight games that could either way with Texas and Texas Tech. Beating Alabama. But, it's difficult to say, in one game anything could happen with these teams.

USC clearly has talent, but speculation about who is the most talented team hasn't been the sole determiner (although it clearly plays a part) in who plays for the title in college football, like it or not, there has always been an element of ''earning' your way there through the whole season.

I'm not aware of any time where an undefeated team from a major conference was denied the opportunity to play for the title in the BCS era unless it was because they were left out due to another undefeated team. Bottom line, an undefeated Alabama from the SEC will get a title shot every single time. Now if they lose there is open debate for both teams who will play for the title.

The problem is if it is a USC, Florida, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Alabama, one loss conversation for two slots in a title game, there is just no way USC can be one of those two teams. In fact, in that conversation, the only teams USC is likely to surpass is Alabama, and possibly Texas Tech.

The Bottom line is USC was certainly less dominant, in a weaker league with no title game, than Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida. AND if Oregon St. wins tonight, are not even champions of that said weak league.

And comparing conferences, I would think that at least the top 5 teams in the Big XII would finish at least 2nd in the PAC 10 if there were in the conference: Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma St, Missouri. And possibly six with Nebraska. Missouri and Nebraska's defenses are suspect, but on a neutral field could you really say that either of them would be underdogs against any PAC 10 team other than USC???? Probably not.

QUOTE(#7):

Originally posted 03:40 PM ET  11.29 by Sandy Underpants

You really need to introduce your mind to your mouth. Who has Alabama beaten? The best team they beat was 3-loss Georgia who couldn't beat a good team if their university status depended on it. USC's 'pathetic' schedule has more ranked teams, more teams with winning records and more BCS teams on it than Alabama, and when Alabama gets their first loss they will be passed by USC. Keep playing cupcakes Bama, eventually you'll be exposed like the rest of the SEC has been this season.

Keep hoping. It won't be this weekend. USC may or may not be better but they still lost to another team. SEC: 7-1 in bowls last year, 11-4 in BCS bowls overall, last 2 national champions. The SEC has proven on the field whatever needs to be proven.

ENJOY THE ROSE BOWL USC DORKS WE'RE ALL VERY IMPRESSED

QUOTE(#4):

Originally posted 03:00 PM ET  11.29 by Sandy Underpants

When USC beat Oklahoma 55-19, they sent the entire Oklahoma team to the BCS championship.

That was IN the BCS championship game. Go back to your bong and leave the debate up to people who know what they're talking about.

Although the Pac-10 is undeniably weaker than either the SEC or Big 12, the SEC has shown to be overrated this year and a lot of the BCS is just based on the computer bias/strength of schedule bias. Alabama really hasnt beat anyone good. Clemson turned out to be horrible, as did Georgia and LSU. Is is arguable that Ole Miss was the best team they have played so far this year. I think that just like Florida had one let down game, so did USC and that both of those teams would beat Alabama.