Stanford beats USC, why doesn't ESPN.com or ABC care?

I will murder someone tomorrow if USC is STILL in the top 20. THREE LOSSES! 2/3 to mediocre teams as well! Props to Stanford for exposing the second coming of Tebow, Barkley for a spoiled little overhyped baby. The voters kept Oklahoma in the top 25 for a few weeks with three losses, and I see NO justification for USC being ranked any higher than 20. They don’t deserve it. This Zug damn system is getting ridiculous if USC still isn’t going to be punished for their 2 mediocre losses (one being a complete blowout, thanks Stanford!).

… to #10.

That USC getting spanked isn’t a top story?

And I’ll make some points that I made in my rankings comment from last night. First, there are only 21 teams with 2 for fewer losses, so there will have to be some 3-loss teams that make their way into the top 25. Basically, USC will get some benefit from college football being much more “even” this year, I guess. I’ll focus on the USA Today poll, since that’s the one that matters.

USC was ranked #10 last week. All 9 teams ahead won this week. Behind them, #12, 13, 14, 15, and 19 all lost. (2 of those losses were against top 10 teams.) In my view, LSU, Penn State, Oregon, and Okie State all easily jump ahead of USC, putting USC at 14 right now. In my view, I think Wisconsin and V-Tech both deserve the jump, and I think the voters will agree too – dropping USC now to 16.

Here’s where things get cloudy. In my estimation, Stanford makes the jump ahead – beating two top 25 teams in back-to-back weeks, and now having the head-to-head advantage over USC. Drops to 17th. But that’s probably the last team I can reasonably predict the voters moving ahead of USC – right or wrong, everyone is going to come up with their own “reasoning” for this crap.

For me, I think the losses by Iowa and Utah are better, so I keep them ahead of USC; I believe Oregon State has the better resume, so they’re ahead of USC; and Arizona, BYU, and Clemson all have similar wins/losses to be about even with USC. I have USC around 23, but I can see the voters keeping them anywhere from 15-25 at this point. Again, this 3rd tier of teams is so tight that the voters can come up with radically different ballots and have decent reasoning to back it up. And this is why I’m thankful for the statistical rankings.

A college team full of second string NFL players has a lot more clout than a team with a better record against cupcakes.

And ask yourself this: Can Penn State beat USC this year? A lot, if not all, sports experts will say no.

AP
1 Florida (36) 10-0 1463
2 Alabama (14) 10-0 1429
3 Texas (10) 10-0 1424
4 TCU 10-0 1307
5 Cincinnati 10-0 1247
6 Boise State 10-0 1213
7 Georgia Tech 10-1 1139
8 Pittsburgh 9-1 1030
9 Ohio State 9-2 990
10 LSU 8-2 968
11 Oregon 8-2 918
12 Oklahoma State 8-2 754
13 Penn State 9-2 689
14 Stanford 7-3 652
15 Iowa 9-2 633
16 Virginia Tech 7-3 559
17 Wisconsin 8-2 547
18 Clemson 7-3 442
19 Brigham Young 8-2 344
20 Oregon State 7-3 338
21 Miami (FL) 7-3 255
22 USC 7-3 223
23 Utah 8-2 183
24 Houston 8-2 149
25 Rutgers 7-2 145

USA Today
1 Florida (48) 10-0 1460
2 Texas (4) 10-0 1397
3 Alabama (7) 10-0 1388
4 TCU 10-0 1277
5 Cincinnati 10-0 1219
6 Boise State 10-0 1183
7 Georgia Tech 10-1 1127
8 Ohio State 9-2 1019
9 Pittsburgh 9-1 997
10 LSU 8-2 956
11 Oregon 8-2 875
12 Penn State 9-2 772
13 Oklahoma State 8-2 750
14 Wisconsin 8-2 630
15 Iowa 9-2 584
16 Virginia Tech 7-3 558
17 Stanford 7-3 516
18 Brigham Young 8-2 404
19 Clemson 7-3 274
20 Oregon State 7-3 256
21 USC 7-3 239
22 Houston 8-2 229
23 Utah 8-2 212
24 Miami (FL) 7-3 156
25 Nebraska 7-3 107
25 North Carolina 7-3 107