I'm tired of hearing why USC deserves to be in the national title game, specifically from one of my friends who went to USC. If you can think of any reasons why USC needs to shut up, please add them here. 1. Margin of victory: OU has outscored its opponents 587 to 193. That means OU's average score was 45-14.8. Translation: OU has averaged outscoring its opponents by 30.2 points this season. LSU has outscored its opponents 454 to 140. That means LSU's average score was 35 to 10.8. Translation: LSU has averaged outscoring its opponents by 24.2 points this season. USC has outscored its opponents 506 to 225. That means USC's average score was 42 to 18.8. Translation: USC has averaged outscoring its opponents by 23.2 points this season. 2. Strength of Schedule: OU has the hardest strength of schedule of all the teams in the national championship picture according to almost every computer rating. In the BCS, OU's sos is 11th toughest in the nation. LSU has the 29th toughest schedule according to the BCS. That is despite playing three of the worst teams in the nation in ULM, Arizona, Mississippi State, and Western Illinois. Replace these teams with teams ranked around #60-80, which are equally easy wins for a top five team, and LSU's rating goes into the top 10. USC has the 37th toughest schedule according to the BCS. That is despite playing only ONE TEAM IN THE TOP 40. USC's schedule is helped tremendously by playing most opponents that are ranked between 40-80. These type of games should be just as easy for a top 5 team as is a game against #100. For more on this, see the top 6 games of each opponent at the end of this post. 3. Record: All three teams have one loss. LSU and OU each have one extra win, however. 4. Top 6 of each: Listed below are the top 6 games each team has played. USC: 1. Washington State (9-3) 2. Cal (7-6) 3. Auburn (7-5) 4. Oregon State (7-5) 5. Notre Dame (5-7) 6. UCLA (6-6) LSU: 1. UGA (10-3) 2. UGA (10-3) 3. Ole Miss (9-3) 4. Arkansas (8-4) 5. Florida (8-4) 6. Auburn (7-5) OU: 1. Kansas State (10-3) 2. Texas (10-2) 3. Oklahoma State (9-3) 4. Missouri (8-4) 5. Texas Tech (7-5) 6. UCLA (6-6) If you crunch those numbers you see that USC's top 6 opponents had a combined record of 36-32. LSU's top 6 were 52-22. OU's top 6 were 49-23.
I've seen many different viewpoints on the three teams, but I like these simple FACTS the best. Good job.
Definitive Title Game Justification Post I almost decided not to read this post because I have grown weary of hearing the same arguments/statistics over and over and over. But, after seeing the 2 complimenting responses, I decided to read. Surprisingly painless, and in my opinion we now have the one and only.....the new, the official: Definitive Title Game Justification Post Congratulations, LSU, you've earned our respect and now sit tall as the author of this most important and long overdue post.
Really good post, the top 6 thing hadn't been put in front of my eyes until now and if you added a top 7 it wouldn't change an awful lot. And if you cannot beat the bottom teams on your schedule no matter who they are then you don't derve to be ranked period.
Excellent post, I especially love your point about SOS and if we had put #60-80 teams in our schedule that our SOS would be in the top 10.
Well, don't let it get to you too much. USC fans are not upset that we got in--in fact, there's never been a discussion about us not being worthy. USC's "beef" is with Oklahoma getting the nod over the Trojans. When there is debate, it's NOT about why LSU is in the NCG, it's "Why is Oklahoma in?!"
