Dudes Oregon State beat "the greatest team Pete Carroll has ever assembled" the "all century team" and the "NFL Jr. Squad" tonight 27-21.

I can't wait to listen to ESPN radio in the am. They have been fawning over this USC team as the best college football team in history. When are these guys going to take off the rose colored glasses? OH so they beat Ohio State (without their best player and also overranked as usual)...........

Quite a game!

This gonna be a bad day to go into work with a hangover...

What is it with USC and conference play? They annihilate every non-conference opponent and then have these random horrible performances against weak teams.

I turned over to this game in the 3rd quarter, expecting to see a USC blowout (but hoping to see a close game in progress), and I see USC down by a touchdown, having just scored. Woo-hoo! Needless to say, I watched the rest of the game instead of more MSNBC!

I really expected that IF USC lost a conference game, it would be later in the season, with a bigger sense of invincibility and inevitability setting in about being in the national championship game. I didn't think they would lose focus so early.

This is why they play the games. Sure, USC and Ohio State have stockpiles of talent. And I'd rather coach talent than no talent. But, talent alone does not win games. It's coaching, execution, matchups, game plan, attitude, focus, etc. Sometimes talent will get you through certain games where you are "off," but you can't rely on it as much as you could in the past. With the scholarship limits, the gap between top teams and average teams is not as far as it used to be.

I think the other thing you have to watch when you get a team full of "All-Stars" is that egos sometimes get in the way. If you get a bunch of humble but confident, hardworking team players with loads of talent, you are in good shape. But if you get too many prima donnas who think they are so good they just have to show up... well, that's a recipe for disaster. I don't follow USC close enough to know if that's the case here, but it can happen.

Now, we just need a couple more Top Ten teams to lose this weekend, so we can keep moving on up! Assuming we don't pull a USC against Illinois.

You're welcome!

Thank you. I'm liking this "Ask and you shall receive" thing... just trying not to jinx it!

I got to watch him in high school and despite only standing a bit over 5 foot 5, Jacquizz Rogers is one of the toughest runners I've ever seen.

USC found that out the hard way.

Come on everyone. Some of the greatest college football teams in history were in the 60's and 70's when teams had very little restrictions regarding scholarships and recruiting rules. It was pretty much Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, USC, etc. We've had LSU winning the national championship last year with 2 losses.
What I want to get to is the fact that USC is a very talented program that has a target on their back for the last 5 years. They will lose some games just like every other team.
Undefeated is extremely difficult today...especially in the BCS conferences.
And, by the way, the PAC-10 is down because of USC's dominance of recruiting. Look at Athlon's preseason top ten PAC-10 recruits. Nine went to USC.
Yeah, I'm a Trojan alum, however USC's record over the last six years speaks for itself.

No different than any other good team during the same period. I am not sure if you watched the commentators have orgasms on screen after USC beat Ohio State or listened to talk radio or watched Around the Horn on ESPN, but the level of ass kissing and hyperbole was unbearable. If you accept the praise of being the "greatest ever", "better than most NFL squads", etc. then be willing to accept the chants of overrated when you choke to a has-been for the second season in a row. Like I used to tell people I met online, if you say you have a ten inch cock, by golly you better be willing to show it and know how to use it. USC = BOOO!

I know it sounds strange now but I have a feeling USC will be playing in the national championship.

It wouldn't surprise me that much. It's not that uncommon for one loss teams to get in and their (as usual) very strong OOC schedule always helps them. Despite their six straight Pac-10 titles, they have a history of inexplicable losses during their conference season. Following their curious loss, they've gone back to looking dominant again, a lot like Florida in the SEC--and I wouldn't count Florida out of the national championship race yet, either.

I think they have about an equal chance of either playing for the MNC, or losing another game they shouldn't.

USC is gonna benefit from the completely screwed up BCS rankings as usual. Never gonna be a true National Champion until someone finds a way to get a playoff. Unfortunately, I dont' see that happening anytime soon.