Oklahoma’s loss to Miami is big for USC, because it means the Sooners are no longer a threat to the Trojans’ championship hopes. Texas is now the only Big 12 South team ahead of ‘SC in the BCS pecking order, assuming the Trojans finish with one loss. I could be wrong, but I don’t foresee Okie State or anyone else from the South leapfrogging USC if they win out. So the Trojans just need to root for somebody, anybody, to beat Texas. If that happens, it won’t matter how the SEC shakes out: we can just assume that one spot in the BCS title game will be taken by the SEC champ, and we can claim the other.
Well… maybe.
There are some other potential threats to consider. For instance, you’ll notice I said “Big 12 South,” not “Big 12.” That’s because, technically, Kansas and Missouri are still ahead of USC in the “pecking order” — meaning the projected order of finish if they win out — simply by virtue of being undefeated. So, for that matter, are Wisconsin and Iowa from the Big Ten. Of course, it’s extremely unlikely any of those teams will finish undefeated. But if they did, their “zero” in the loss column would allow them to leapfrog the one-loss Trojans. So USC needs them to lose at some point, too.
USC might also need Cincinnati and South Florida to lose, though the “pecking order” is less clear in that case; an undefeated Big East champ vs. a 1-loss USC could be quite a debate. In a related vein, Boise State and TCU are probably not ahead of USC in the BCS pecking order, though whether they should be is another matter. It would be cleaner for the Trojans if they would both lose, but probably not necessary.
Last but not least, one-loss Virginia Tech and Miami could pose problems if either wins out. I think one-loss USC probably beats out a one-loss ACC champ, but it’s not guaranteed, so it would be ideal if the ACC produced a multiple-loss champ. Or a one-loss champ named Georgia Tech or Boston College, since I really can’t see either of those teams passing the Trojans in the polls.
P.S. I suppose one-loss Texas could be a threat, too, if they lose early enough. Ideally the Longhorns would lose twice. But I suspect once is probably enough.
Would an undefeated Cincinnati be Rio to USC’s Chicago?
Also, I was surprised that there was no official review of ND’s two-point conversion run. At least one of the replays seemed to clearly show the knee down before the goal line so one would have thought they would have taken the time to check out where the ball was at that point. (I won’t even go into how bad I thought the call was when the replay official overturned the Wash touchdown on similar grounds.)
maineiac13, presuming you aren’t a Husky fan like I am, its nice that someone outside the game felt the same was as Husky nation did.