The Pac Ten undressing continues
In two earlier posts (We were had and Another day, another bowl), I examined the false perception generated by the media this year that the Pac Ten was a tough conference.
Even with those previous analyses, I was in no way prepared for what FSU did to UCLA last night.
With the assistance of some special team play, Florida State scored 44 points on UCLA in the Emerald Bowl to beat them 44-27. In doing so, they gained a total of 430 yards on offense, 101 more yards than vaunted USC could manage against the Bruins (as well as 35 more points).
This is 430 yards from Florida State, one of the worst offenses in Division I-A college football this year. Against Florida, FSU had 235 yards total offense (maybe our “style points were on defense, eh ESPN?). And in the game before FSU played Florida, the ‘Noles managed a meager 248 yards total offense against Western Michigan, but managed to win 28-20.
With the exceptions of lowly Duke and Rice, FSU scored more points against UCLA than any team they played this year. UCLA is/was supposedly the second best defense in the Pac Ten.
44 points was also the most points UCLA had given up to any opponent this year.
Everything in this game seemed to favor UCLA – the time zone, the “momentum” from the USC win, the offense and coaching problems at FSU. Yet, this 6-6, second-from-the-bottom ACC Atlantic Division team scored 19 points more than their season average, and gained a 108 more than their average, against the fourth best team in the Pac Ten.
In three bowl games so far this year, the Pac Ten has surrendered 123 points, and 1658 yards total offense, to two mid-major teams and a .500 ACC team.
Bet the house on Michigan over USC.
Mentioned in Austin Murphy's book 
3 comments:
After all their whining over not being picked for the BCS Championship game, it's impossible for me to root for Michigan to beat USC in the Rose Bowl. I'm hoping the Men from Troy win and knock them down a peg to two.
I agree jj that Michigan is very, very annoying.
But when it comes to betting, use your head, not your heart.
USC's supposed "showcase" win was over ND, but Michigan beat ND worse, at South Bend.
I think Michigan's D will put a hurtin' on USC. I really can't see USC winning this game.
To be fair, 14 of those points were from a punt block and interception returned for TDs when the defense was nowhere on the field.
I was going to post on the Pac 10's struggles but decided to wait for the Cal and Oregon State games first. The three games so far were the worst half of their bowl teams IMO.
Since my parents are Michigan alum I've seen plenty of Wolverine teams crumble in bowl games. They have lost 11 of their last 15 Rose Bowls, it's a difficult trip for them. USC is just as talented as Michigan. The Wolverines have experience but USC has a better head coach and is playing at home. I expect USC to win that game. Hopefully that will be their only win although Cal has a big speed advantage versus A&M.
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