Oregon, one of the three or four teams who are expected to give USC a decent game this year, is an 8 and 1/2 point underdog to Michigan on Saturday. Michigan just lost at home to App. State. Side note: One of USC's supposedly tough non-conference games is their traditional meeting with Notre Dame, who is a 17 and 1/2 point underdog to Penn St on Saturday. Keep playing the pansies, USC. When you meet the battle-tested Tigers in the Superdome in January, you won't know what hit you! :crystal:
I would say Cal and USC are the 2 good teams in the Pac 10. USC shouldn't have any trouble with anybody else in that conference, even though UCLA pulled off the miracle last season. I do believe that the mid pack teams are capable of giving USC a decent game until the 4th qtr, much like the lesser teams in the SEC could give the better teams in the SEC a decent game. But as far as the number good teams in the PAC 10 compared to the number of good teams in the SEC West or East doesn't compare. Not to mention we play East teams each year also, plus have a championship game. ASU gave us a game and Oregon gave OU a game, but we just had Katrina and OU had lost their QB. I respect Cal and USC but that is all they have.
USC is a phenomenal team, perhaps the best in all of college football and after watching Cal last Saturday, they could be one of the top 5-7 teams in the country this year. Of course it was just one game.
It's tough to judge after just one game but it appears that USC, UCLA and Cal are the only Pac 10 teams with top 10-15 potential. USC "phenomenal"? I'm not down with that. They are good and have an abundance of talent, but so do a lot of other national contenders. JD Booty hasn't shown me that he's the QB the media thinks he is and a lot of their talent is young and haven't been through the wars. Cal will give them all they want and UCLA will be a tough game for them. Nebraska on the road will be a test for the Trojans, but ND will have their hands full just trying not to be embarrassed.
Michigan would be favored over the Colts this weekend. After a loss like that, no way in heck are they gonna come out and get beat again.
Oregon is a good team also, I'd say USC,Cal,UCLA,Oregon,ASU,W,WSU in that order. although, it's still early. After the big conference games, we'll see who's still standing.
I don't think there defense is even close to being sound. They may win, after last weekend...But Carr is on the way out. I know if students are calling for his job, you know backers, and Alum's are to.
I saw Michigan -8.5 and the computer actually -0.33. Notre Dame, to USC, is like that 4-8 Ole Miss team that we only beat by 3 last year, in our stadium. It's a VERY heated rivalry. I agree, it looks like now........it's Pac 3. :grin: BTW, I think your analysis of USC is spot on- abundance of talent but didn't play up to expectations last weekend. Many of their fans have come out and said LSU's defense was scary. USC did have several starters out with injury but, though is was a pretty large margin of victory, not the field wiping their fans were expecting to see. I see their games with Cal, UCLA, and ND exactly the way you described.
I think Oregon St is likely better than WSU, but OK. I was thinking about this very thing the other day...and I came up with a "formula", but no real answers...which is par for the course for me. I tried to take who I thought was #1 from each conference, and then #2 from each conference, and so on...and compare them. I came up with this...which is incomplete. Without Purple and Gold glasses on, but just based on rankings--- SEC LSU UF Jawga Auburn Arkansas Tennessee PAC 10 USC Cal UCLA You see now why it's hard to come up with a definitive answer! I don't know who's the best out of USC/LSU, but I think either UF or LSU could handle Cal. People are making a big deal over the fact that Cal beat UT, (with it's "vaunted" SEC defense and speed ), but Cal is ranked ahead of UT, and was favored in the game. It wasn't a blowout, and I think UT would've handled them at home...probably would've been even on a neutral field. Yet Cal is the #2 Pac 10 team by all accounts, and Tennessee is #6 in the SEC. So the argument a lot of media hacks are using...that Cal beat Tennessee...is a bogus one. Let Cal beat LSU or UF, or even Jawga...before you start crowing that the Pac 10 is as good as or better than the SEC. Problem is this...there haven't been a lot of even matchups when it comes to SEC vs Pac 10. USC beat the crap out of Arky and Auburn, I know...but neither SEC team was the best in the conference when those games were played. Cal beat UT, but UT beat Cal the year before...home team won both contests...and as stated, UT ain't all that this year...or ANY year lately for that matter. LSU has had a couple of "closer than they shoulda been" games against lesser PAC 10 opponents...on the road, though...and LSU DID win. Bottom line, the PAC 10 seems to match up pretty well with the SEC about 2-3 deep, then it falls off QUICKLY after that. LSU was technically the 4th place SEC team last season, and I don't think the 4th place, or 2nd or 3rd place Pac 10 team wanted ANY of them last season. USC could change conferences to the SEC and do very well. I think they would be just as good as LSU, UF, AU, TN, GA, etc...but they would be no better. They would win an SECC every now and then, and contend for NC's, just like they do now. But the rest of their conference would likely hate life in the SEC, IMHO. Cal could hang...(have winning seasons), but that's about it.
There's something amiss with Michigan's D... and has been for some time. They'll be all "attituded up" for Oregon and that may get them through, but HappyState exposed the M defense once again... and some things don't get fixed in a week. Plus, they've been interviewing Lloyd on the new Big Ten Channel. You have to turn up the volume just to hear his answers... and it doesn't help that they have him sitting in a big 'ol oversized chair. He looks like Lily Tomlin doing her SNL "little girl" routine. Some things you just can't make pretty.
