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USC Trojans win without always winning

Greg Shelley Written by Greg Shelley, Friday November 20 2009
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One big part of a winning BCS team is a strong public relations team, something which USC masterfully boasts.

 

This is not another argument against the BCS system, but rather a note in praise of the terrific public relations machine that Southern Cal continuously runs at full steam.   It is that same machine that had the three-loss Trojans ranked #3 in every major poll to start the season. That same machine had them falling only to #12 after losing to the then 1-1 Washington Huskies, who are now all of 3-7. Of course, the Trojans had worked their way back to #9 by week 10 despite losing their second game to Oregon. Then, last week USC was crushed at home during their Homecoming by then non-top-25 Stanford, and despite the Trojans third loss, they only fell back to #18.
 
This is where the Pac-10 fans will come in and argue that their conference is particularly tough, perhaps even the toughest. After the laughter from the SEC dies down, one might be able to listen to that argument, but even the rankings of the Pac-10 teams will work against such logic. Stanford crushes USC and has a better conference record and only lands one spot in front of USC. Oregon State also has more conference wins than the Trojans but is ranked one behind them. Sure they lost to USC, but one of USC’s losses is to the 3-7 Huskies, who in turn lost to a Notre Dame team that lost to the likes of Michigan and Navy among others.
 
Not only did the Trojans get an obviously over-rated #3 to start the year, but they also manage to remain ranked in front of teams with fewer losses on a consistent basis. That was true when they were 2-1, and again when they were 6-2, and yet again now that they are 7-3. Perhaps, their PR greatness is even responsible for why the Pac-10 has four of the six teams still in the top 25 with three losses.
 
Anyone and everyone should be, and probably is, jealous of the sort of clout USC carries, the sort of clout that allows them to climb back up the polls, despite three losses and despite having been demolished by two other conference foes. Truthfully, while I am not a routine fan of the Trojans in most years, I do respect their power and effectiveness in the scheme of things, but not this year—this is not and has never been a #3 team, but somehow the powers that be keep finding ways to pull them back toward that mark.
 
We could get into some arguments about which conference is the toughest and most deserving of having sub-.700 teams in the top 20, but that is not likely to be settled either. On the one hand, the SEC’s championship structure has their game looking like a should-be national championship game. On the other hand, the Big-12’s scenario is likely to pit an undefeated Texas Longhorns team against a five-loss team from the north for their championship, but meanwhile two-loss Oklahoma State will not have a say. And, then there is no championship game in the PAC-10, but all the teams play each other during the season, which seems like a good idea to me, particularly when the Big-12 so often has its top three or four teams all stacked in the south, so half the conference has it fairly easy and the other half has it very tough.
 
Regardless of what you believe about which system is best, it is difficult to argue about which Pac-10 team has the most clout in the BCS. After all, two Pac-10 teams have better conference records and the same or fewer losses than USC, but they are still ranked behind the Trojans. I mentioned Oregon State earlier. The other team is Arizona. With only two conference losses, Arizona is not even in the top 25, while USC shows three conference losses and enjoys a #18 ranking.
 

The Trojans only have UCLA and Arizona left, while the Wildcats have Oregon, Arizona State, and USC to finish the year. At least, we will get to see who is better between the Trojans and the Wildcats, and even if Arizona loses to Oregon and beats ASU and USC, I am guessing Southern Cal will come out with the higher ranking despite having the same number of losses. In the end, I guess I am just stating the obvious—USC is over-hyped (admittedly effectively though). Perhaps, that hype is responsible for the fact that it seems the BCS doesn’t realize they have lost three games already; perhaps that same hype is the reason why the Trojans are still yet to update their schedule on their official athletic site with their crushing loss to Stanford last week—perhaps, if they don’t write it, everyone can still pretend like it didn’t happen.


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