All Things Longhorn

We’re all well aware that October BCS rankings are about as meaningful as Major League Soccer. Nonetheless, I’m just astounded by all the carping I’m hearing around the country. Most of it is from dinosaur journalists like Tony Kornheiser (who unbelievably manages to be wrong no matter what issue he’s blathering about) and petulant USC fans.

For the record, I have absolutely no problem if you think USC should be ranked #1. They’re a great, great football team, and if you think they’re better than Texas, by all means, you can rank them #1 and be justified. But with that said, I’ve had it with some of the asinine arguments people are pothering. Let’s put some of those to rest.

USC should be #1 because every team brings their A-game trying to gun them down.

This is a partial truth. I have absolutely no doubt that every single team that faces USC has that game circled on their calendar. But for the argument to hold water, it would have to be true that teams get less jacked up to play Texas. How is Texas not the biggest game on every single team’s schedule this year, too? Do you think Missouri, Baylor, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M will be any less motivated to knock off a giant than the USC gunners are? And what about Ohio State? They spent their entire offseason preparing for the Week 2 showdown with the Horns. It’s a silly argument. Texas is the biggest game on all their opponent’s schedule this year, too. That somehow teams get extra psyched up for USC, as opposed to Texas, is just wrong.

USC should be #1 because they haven’t lost in 29 games.

Huh? Following that logic, Oklahoma should still be in the Top 25, as we’d need to take into account what they’d done the past two years. This is the worst of the USC #1 arguments. What happened last year is irrelevant.

The computers are stupid—they can’t see what I see with my own eyes on the field

No, they can’t see what you see—four, maybe five, games a week. They see them all. Computers are not perfect, but the criticisms I hear of them are American anti-intellectualism at its finest. Or worst.

Texas has a patsy schedule and hasn’t beaten anyone good

I’ve seen two of the highest-caliber college football games I’ve seen in quite some time this year. The first was USC-Notre Dame, and the second was Texas-Ohio State. The latter was a match up of two of the nastiest defenses in the country, playing at a level USC and Notre Dame haven’t even sniffed this year. The former was a match up of two of the most prolific offenses I’ve seen in the college game in a long time (which Ohio State certainly hasn’t sniffed this year). The Big 12 may be down, but Texas is pounding their inferior competition like no other. USC stumbled through Oregon and Arizona State, let Arizona hang in the game, and managed to allow 24 points to… Washington? You can’t punish Texas for their schedule if you aren’t also going to acknowledge that USC isn’t pounding their lesser opponents the way a #1 team should. It’s a draw, at worst.

I could probably go on for a while on this topic, but I’ll let it go for now. There is a justified case for voting USC #1 in the country. Too often, though, you just don’t hear it. What you hear is a bunch of garbage, and today, I’m taking out the trash.

--PB--

# posted by --TR-- @ 11:35 AM