USC

Never seen any Asians on a Big 10

You have never been to Columbus, OH have you?

Trojan wrote:

Look at Texas, Oklahoma and LSU. All teams down this season.

I generally dislike all things about the Oklahoma Sooners. However, they have put together a solid season after losing their starting backfield, with the distinct possibility of getting shafted by the BCS and NCAA. If they lose the Big 12 championship game, they will be left out of a BCS payday, which they might have had regardless of the outcome this weekend without the Oregon loss. I have no delusions that they are on the same level as the top 6-10 teams, but they could be a huge wild card going into a bowl game with Peterson returning. For all of the fervor raised over the game they had stolen at Oregon, I have yet to see any national columnist mention that they should be 11-1 right now.

If there was ever a case for a playoff, this season could be the whole case. There could easily be 7 one-loss teams remaining in the BCS conferences after the regular season.

If I'm looking for soul I put on a little James Brown.USC wins football games, that is the bottom line.

Or Ann Arbor, or Madison, or any other Big-10 school. Do not knock the Big-10 for academics or diversity.

Cracks me up... you can rip on the Pac-10 all you want, but USC has CRUSHED the winner of the SEC West, the winner of the Big 12 North, and the winner of the Independents. They seem to play well when it actually MATTERS. Oregon State at 8-4 is showing that they are getting better as the season wears on, just outside of the top 25.

WHO in the SEC has beaten anybody significant outside of their PURPORTEDLY difficult conference? Oh yeah, Florida barely beat a 6-6 Florida State team. Ooh, wow! That's impressive. USC may have done just enough to skate through their conference, but just look at Ohio State. They barely survived against Illinois. Why? Because you can't get up for every conference game week after week, no matter who you are. It's WINS outside of conference that matter, and they are sorely lacking in the SEC.

The speed of USC against the speed of Ohio State. It is the best possible matchup and the one desired by the majority of fans, bar none.

Runningart2004 wrote:

UofL will win the Big East!!!! and then stomp some SEC fool in a BCS bowl. SEC is overrated.

Alan

you were dead-on w/ lance not breaking 3 hrs, so ill back you on this one too.

SEC football is not as compelling when you take away the rabid fans that have been tailgaiting since the Tuesday before the game. Yes, I love the tradition and the passion of SEC football. Nothing beats LSU/Alambama on a hot Saturday night (except SC beating ND in the Coliseum-again)

But--it is overated-take away CBS every weekend going on about the SEC (much the way NBC goes on about ND) and it is a good, but not great conference. SC atomized Arkansas and Auburn both home and away twice. The SEC should saddle up and schedule good non conference games like SC (ND, Nebraska and Arkansas) and quit whining about how tough the in conference schedule is. For example-Sc has Nebraska (away) and Ohio State (home and away) lined up in non confernce games in the next few years.

You can't tell me Vandy, Miss St, Alabama (of late) and Kentucky strike cause any sleepless nights.

The point is, you just can not possibly know which is the strongest conference year after year. All of the major conferences are fairly strong in any given year. I have often thought that the SEC is a solid conference, and I like the fact that they play a conference championship game. However, having a winning record by virtue of playing an incestuous schedule is not really a reflection of anything. I remember people on this board making the very same argument last year, only to see the conference champion in Georgia lose to what many considered a mediocre and overrated West Virginia team in a BCS bowl in the state of GEORGIA!

The fact of the matter is that you must prove you can win playing a diversified schedule to gain credibility. Another fact is that, despite the SEC having however many ranked teams in the BCS, not ONE SEC team has beaten as many RANKED opponents as USC this year. And yes, USC has definitely OWNED the SEC over the last few years, which suggests rather loudly that the first game of this season against Arkansas was no fluke.

Too much speculation and guessing has gone on for ages. We need an NCAA playoffs. Round 1 can be after the regular season before the start of the bowl season. Round 2 can be after the bowl games are over. Only conference champions would play, one team per conference, no exceptions. The final NCAA Championship game would be at the end of February, just when March madness begins.

Sagarin wrote:

Cracks me up... you can rip on the Pac-10 all you want, but USC has CRUSHED the winner of the SEC West, the winner of the Big 12 North, and the winner of the Independents. They seem to play well when it actually MATTERS. Oregon State at 8-4 is showing that they are getting better as the season wears on, just outside of the top 25.

My bad. Oregon State is in the top 25 now.

Here is what I think a 16-team playoff could look like:

Week 1: Seed teams 1-16 with highest-seeded teams playing at home at or around Christmas

Week 2: Quarterfinal round at four BCS sites on New Year's.

Week 3: Final Four -- day night "doubleheader" at neutral warm-weather or domed site, or a home game (again) for higher-seeded team

Week 4: Championship at designated BCS site

This is just an idea, but it would keep the bowl system around as non-playoff teams would still be able to go to bowl games. And if there is an issue with the second-tier New Year's bowl games (like the Florida Citrus, Outback, Cotton) then matchup and send the first-round losers to those games.

The question becomes, how many fans would follow their team around for a playoff, and how many tickets would they buy? So it comes back to the same thing it always does: money.