Huh?

I’m watching Skip Bayless and Steven A Smith on ESPN right now discussing where USC should “drop to” based on their loss last night.

Bayless says, “Ahhh, 8th”, while Smith comes in with “Hmmm, 7th”.

One can imagine AP and Coaches Poll voters use about the same level of deliberation in making their votes.

USC didn’t just lose to Oregon State – they had their asses kicked. This by a team that lost to Stanford, surrendering 36 points, and Penn State, giving up 45. The Trojans could manage only 21 against the Beavers, with 7 of the points coming in a late desperation drive in which the Beavers played prevent.

USC had 313 total yards to Oregon State’s 343. The Beavers outrushed the Trojans 176 to 86.

If you take out USC’s last drive, the Trojans had 273 yards.

So we have the 2-1 Trojans, winners over miserable Virginia (possibly the worst BCS team right now – Duke is favored over them this weekend), and a home win against increasingly punchless appearing Ohio State. Consider also that other 2-1 BCS conference teams at this point include –

Duke
Florida State
Boston College
Miami
Kansas State
Louisville
Pittsburgh
Indiana
Purdue
Illinois
Arkansas
Notre Dame

Who, in turn (and order), have lost to –

4-0 Northwestern
3-0 Wake Forest
3-1 Georgia Tech
3-0 Florida
2-1 Kansas State
3-0 Kentucky
1-2 Bowling Green
4-0 Ball State
3-1 Oregon (in OT)
4-0 Missouri
4-0 Alabama
3-1 Michigan State

With the exception of Pittsburgh and their loss to BGSU, every single other 2-1 loss BCS team has lost to a better opponent – by record – than USC.

I would rank every single one of them ahead of the Trojans, and in fact will do so in my BlogPoll (pending, of course, this weekend's results).

When a team’s ranking appears to be based entirely on reputation (there is no other reason to place USC in the top 20), the whole system is a farce. It's as if it is intentionally rigged to favor the Trojans.