Well what I think is a playoff is necessary and yes everyone else does also. Thats what I am really getting at. Well except the University Presidents. Thing is I am hearing from lots of folks over here in Houston that a 2 loss LSU is quite possibly as good or better than any of the teams in the top 10. Most don't think Florida was a true test for us. Although we lost it seems that it wasn't due to superior football but more sloppy play and poor preperation. As for the strength of schedule USC has played I wouldn't really give them anything based on this. After reading in above post whom they played as ranked teams I think this could be looked at another way. Most of those teams were not really that good but due to such early high ranking and the fact that East Coast/West Coast teams seem to get extra boost in rankings from the git go it just takes some time for them to get whacked down once they themselves start playing some decent football teams. So I don't think you can or should really go by USC beating such highly ranked teams. Maybe the thing to do is what has been said in the past. Don't start ranking teams until well into the season in some sort of fashion. I think it was the Arkansas coach the other night on Fox when asked what he thought about teams being ranked so high at the start of the season and the probability of over taking them. He thought the same thing that teams shouldn't be ranked so early in the season and because of this its almost impossible to overtake a USC or other teams even if they lose because they drop so very little. He also said that he thought if USC played Ark. again later in the season the game would have been a lot different because they had so many unanswered questions as to whom should be starter and also injuries.
That's way off base....... At season's end, they may have beat 3 conference champions (Arkansas, Nebraska, and Notre Dame) and be the Pac 10 Champion. It's far from a given but those three teams are definitely in postion to do so and have a legitimate shot at being Conference champions, so that means just the opposite. Arkansas wasn't even ranked at the beginning of the season. In fairness to USC, they have been plagued with the injury bug and had a new (not freshmen) quarterback. Dwayne Jarrett missed games, and they were way down in the depth chart with RB. They are playing much better now than against Ark too- the 2nd half of their loss to Oregon St. and their last game, they've really turned it up. Understand the feelings for USC but let's call it the way it is.
That's the point though is IF they beat all the teams on their schedule. I don't think they can win the next two games (Cal and Notre Dame), in fact I could see it working to everyone else's advantage hopefully they will lose to Cal and then turn around and beat Notre Dame. That being said I did think it was kind of rediculous how fast they rebounded in the polls from losing to unranked Oregon St. and barely beating Arizona, Washington St. and Arizona State. They were so close to losing on last minute drives in these games and got a bunch of calls, which is what really infuriates me about the whole thing. The bottom line though is it too early to get mad yet, lets wait and see how the next two weeks go, some reason I got a good feeling bout it.:helmet: :crystal:
Woulda, coulda, shoulda. If it comes down to Ark and USC, you can only make one decision, USC. They simply destroyed Ark at home. It's a no-brainer...
LSU really needs to stop scheduling so many of these paycheck teams to pad the stats. Lets start playing some good teams and if we win it will show much better for us in our strength of schedule. Yes we know the SEC can be tough week in and week out but playing better matchups outside of the SEC would be a real boost. As for USC running the table and being given the NC game I just don't agree if you have multiple teams in the same situation. Thing is the machine is already working to sway the voters in the polls to go with USC should the scenerio unfold with multiple teams with one loss looking for a shot at the NC game. Even with LSU having 2 loses do you think that all these teams above them are that far superior to them. I really hope Rutgers runs the table to be honest. That way they deserve the shot at NC game and ends this USC/ND crap. B
I don't know why this has to be brought up again but if you insist. Arizona and Arizona State were good when we scheduled them 50 years ago. So was Fresno State. We have Virginia Tech next year. Sometimes these turn out to be good games and sometimes they don't. If anybody thinks it's a good idea to schedule a USC, Michigan or Ohio State every year you have lost it. It would be a great game but it isn't necessary with our already brutal schedule. Everybody has cupcakes. The reason USC and the others schedule hard OC games is because their conferences suck.
