BCS pecking order thoughts

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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.

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FriendFeed: USC should gain …

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USC should gain ground in polls on unimpressive victors Boise & VaTech (over UC-Davis and Duke) but won’t pass them, so Top 7 the same. #8 OU falls to #21-25 range, only ranked 2-loss team. Houston, Georgia, Michigan, Cal gone. Newly ranked: Missouri, Auburn, South Carolina, South Florida. Top “others”: Wisconsin, Stanford, Mich., ND, Utah, Ga.

The Hughes Push

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Over at the Orange County Register‘s USC football blog, Scott Reid writes that the “Bush Push Era” is officially over, after Notre Dame scored a crucial two-point conversion — ultimately preserving overtime, and allowing them to beat Washington — on a four-yard, uncalled “assisting the runner” penalty:

As you recall (and the Whining Irish certainly won’t let you forget) top-ranked USC escaped South Bend with a 34-31 victory on October 15, 2005 after Trojan tailback Reggie Bush pushed quarterback Matt Leinart into the end zone from a yard-out for the game-winning touchdown.

The Whining Irish immediately screamed foul, claiming that the Bush Push should have resulted in a five-yard penalty.

According to NCAA rules “the runner shall not grasp a teammate; and no other player of his team shall grasp, push, lift or charge into him to assist him in forward progress.” The rule, however, is rarely enforced, a point the Whining Irish forget to mention.

Whether or not God’s Team was robbed officially became a moot point on Saturday when seemingly everybody wearing blue and gold with the possible exception of Charlie Weis (bad knee, remember) pushed, shoved and ultimately rolled Robert Hughes into the end zone for a fourth quarter two-point conversion in the Whining Irish’s 37-30 overtime victory against Washington.

So it’s official: the Whining Irish have lost any right to pout about the Bush Push.

Heh.

Personally, my immediate reaction to the “Hughes Push” was that it was the most impressive thing I’ve seen the Notre Dame offensive line do in several years. The similarity to the Bush Push didn’t occur to me until hours later. But, now that it’s come to my attention, I’m terribly amused. Bwahahahaha.

Anyway, needless to say, the refs did the right thing by not making the call. Just like on October 15, 2005. 🙂

Fight On, Trojans! Beat the Irish!

P.S. Although it’s “Hate Week” — or “Hate Fortnight,” in this case — I, as an Irish alum as well as a Trojan alum, don’t endorse Reid’s use of the phrase “Whining Irish.” (Though there certainly has been a fair bit of whining about this particular issue. But I can’t condone its use as a general descriptor.)

I do, however, condone and endorse this tweet by Michael Walsh: “I now humbly request that all Notre Dame fans forever more kindly please STFU about the ‘Bush Push’. Fair enough?”

P.P.S. You can see the play in the video below. Fast forward to the 7-minute mark.