Why USC isn't No. 1, and why it shouldn't matter -- yet

USC is almost the unanimous pick as the best team in America.

Almost.

As Chris Dufresne pointed out this week, four out of 61 coaches didn't vote for the Trojans as the best team in the USA Today Poll. Those ballots are secret, but he's got some pretty good guesses as to who they are.

The AP Poll is different. Conducted among members of the media, all 64 ballots are made public. Sixty-one of those had USC on top. So who disagrees? We decided to find out ...

Bill Cole from the Winston-Salem Journal:

I voted Florida No. 1 again. Florida was my preseason No. 1. It hasn't lost so I see no need to change my vote. If Florida loses I'll consider a new No. 1. Florida has the best player in college football and one of the top coaches.

USC is an outstanding team and could prove over the course of the season to be the best in college football by far. I don't consider beating Ohio State without its best running back a major achievement, however. I am not impressed with Ohio State and believe it a good team in a bad conference. The last two national championship games have persuaded me that Ohio State is vastly overrated.

And thank you, USC, for sparing us the horrific sight of Ohio State being outplayed in the title game once again ...

Ray Fittipaldo from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who placed Georgia above USC, was also able to lend some healthy perspective:

In a nutshell, I am hesitant to jump teams that do not lose, especially a No. 1 team from a conference like the SEC. I just think it's way too early to pass judgment on all teams, not just USC and Georgia. I just want to wait a few weeks before making any rash decisions. If Georgia gets through its meat grinder of a schedule I'm sure everyone would feel the Bulldogs deserve to be in the BCS title game. So why penalize them for winning a close conference game on the road?

Also, there has to be some question at this point about Ohio State. Everyone sort of passed over the close win over Ohio because they said the Buckeyes were looking ahead to USC. Well, maybe the Buckeyes aren't a top 10 team after all. Maybe not a top 20 team. We'll see. But I want to see them play Penn State and Illinois ... In other words, let's let this thing play out.

I'd love to see Georgia, USC and Oklahoma stayed undefeated, so we have another mess at the end of the season. I doubt that will happen because of the strength of the SEC and Big 12, but it would only point out how absurd the system is for determining a national champion.

Imagine having this conversation in November after Duke lost in the Maui Invitational to Kansas or another top program. It only goes to show how much we need a playoff in college football.

The third dissenter is a local USC beat writer, Scott Wolf from the L.A. Daily News. His ballot's been getting a little heat on Los Angeles talk radio -- not just because he has Georgia at No. 1. He has Florida at No. 2. That's right, USC is third. His ballot over the first couple of weeks has been consistent, but why put the Trojans so low? He explained his reasoning in a column.

Notice that none of these voters think USC is bad, and none of them would be surprised to see USC play for the BCS national championship. But they've got reasons not to put the Trojans on top -- and that's what makes this stuff fun to talk about.

Realistically, it's difficult to rank teams at this stage of the season. There's a feeling in some circles that official voting should be held off until October. Here's why:

• With only a few football games completed, most of the tell-tell games are weeks, if not months, away. None of the voters realistically can know much about 25 (heck, 119) teams from around the nation. At least in October they'll have seen some highlights on "SportsCenter."
• Teams that start off ranked low in the September polls and then go undefeated can be shut out of the national championship game. Auburn ran the table in 2004 but watched from home while USC obliterated Oklahoma for the BCS title. Just think, it might have been more entertaining to watch USC obliterate Auburn.
• With votes being made public, there's a lot of public pressure for voters to conform (ahem, like this week) even though dissension may be healthy. Disagreements, especially regional ones, tend to cancel each other out and provide for a balanced national picture.
• It's not like fans and writers have nothing to talk about, as many media outlets produce Top 25 and Power Ranking lists of their own.

In the meantime, voters do have some alternatives. If they want to conform, they should make PollSpeak.com their homepage. If they want to take a page from Switzerland's playbook, they should work for the L.A. Times (the policy in these parts is "write news, don't make it" -- so no voting allowed).

The coolest alternative for voters is a merit-based system. A lot of people could learn from Matt Hinton of Yahoo Sports (formerly of Sunday Morning QB). Early in the year, his methodology can lead to unexpected results. After week one he had Louisiana Tech over LSU. But he remains true to the actual accomplishments on the field, and by the end of the year his ballot will look a lot more like the mainstream polls. One of these days they should make him a voting member.

-- Adam Rose
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Comments

[Bill Baldwin, Jr.]

It's too early to be concerned about polls. I do wonder, however, how Ohio State manages to finish ahead of Penn State and a few others at 3-0 after getting stomped 35-3?

I did want to comment on USCrunning back STAFON JOHNSON. Remember back two years ago when Johnson wasn't getting much playing time, and I think it was his grandfather, who urged him to stay and told all the home folks down in the neighborhood that young Stafon would make his mark at USC? Well, the grandfather unexpectedly died later in the season, but his grandson stayed at USC. Last year he was great and I believe he will be even better this year and next.

Although there weren't many carries for Stafon Johnson against Ohio State, did you see the block he made to allow Sanchez time to find Williams on one of his TD's. ? It was one of the classic bone-crunching blocks that I know will get cheers from his teammates in film sessions this week. Reminded me of the way Marcus Allen blocked when he was here, among others.

The guys doing the game on ABC sure saw the block and I wanted to add my acknowledgment as well. And I gotta think Stafon Johnson with that one play was showing us the player his granddad knew he could be if Stafon stuck it out at SC. And considering I think Stafon Johnson is a great back and the fastest of all our outstanding tailbacks, let's see about getting him the ball more up at Oregon State, OK?

[Nick G]

Bill Baldwin, Jr.:

While I agree with your sentiments about Stafon, I don't believe he is the fastest back at USC. I love his story, it is inspirational and makes me root for him all the more, but I cannot believe he's faster than McKnight.
But I do acknowledge that he needs more touches. He is a tough runner that rarely goes down on the first hit and an amazing blocker. I was at the game, and could hear that block from the second to top row. IT WAS HUGE!

[PNW Trojan]

SOLID points for the 4 of you; OSU IS grossly overrated, as is OKLAHOMA...they choke in all their Big Games. The others, like GA, FL, LSU, TX etc, ALL appear to have what it takes. USC has a coach who instills very little TEAM spirit. Many of these guys are committing STUPID penalties, which may not, (I said, MAY not) matter against most teams, but in a HOT game like the GREAT one with Texas, these spoiled clowns can cost the TEAM, the Students and Alums, and the Pac 10, THE game, and more. Do we need anymore OJs, Coach? (given that a possible QB from last year, has some, ah...difficulties, then another player assaulting a cop, THIS year....seems like you don't understand TEAM work and instilling SELF-discipline...wining or NOT)

[Trojan in Seattle]

A great article and well considered points of view from the dissenting voters. But I'm left with just one question. Does Fittipaldo realize that the AP Poll doesn't factor into the BCS equation?

He says, "If Georgia gets through its meat grinder of a schedule I'm sure everyone would feel the Bulldogs deserve to be in the BCS title game. So why penalize them for winning a close conference game on the road?"

Fittipaldo's vote has no bearing on whether the Bulldogs get into the BCS title game or not!

[Adam Rose]

Trojan in Seattle -- I think he was just saying that the same logic that applies to arguments over who deserves to be in the BCS Championship would also apply to his ballot. He definitely knows the system, which is why he wants to see it changed!

[Steve Q]

I love Stafon Johnson because of his heart. work ethnic, natural inside running ability, and willingness to block. I went to his same alma mater, Dorsey, nearly 50 years ago, and I am proud of him just like his high school.

My 7 yr old grandson was watching SC blow by Ohio State. He didn't know was the letters USC meant, but he did watch alot of the summer Olympics. On noticing the big difference in score he said, "I'm glad to see America's winning again!"

[#1 Trojan Fan]

After watching the games over the weekend, I am convinced that Oklahoma is by far the best team in the Nation with the best Quarterback in the Nation. After seeing what they did to a strong defensive Cincinatti team last week and demolishing the Pac 10 Washington Huskies in Washington this past weekend it's obvious that they are not over-rated. However, I do believe that USC is over-rated but we will never know because they play in a Conference that is one of the weakest conferences in the Nation, all of the USC games are cupcake games with only one other Pac 10 teams in the conference rated in the Top 25 and Oregon just barely holding on to get a win this past weekend to stay in the Top 25 but they won't be in there much longer.

The one thing that I admire about the Oklahoma program is that their coach Bob Stoops has made the Big 12 a stronger conference. The coach of Texas Tech was one of Bob Stoops coaches before he went to Texas Tech and they are currently rated in the Top 15. The coach at Kansas was one of Bob Stoops coaches and his team is also ranked in the Top 25.

As far as Oklahoma choking in all of their BIG GAMES, they sure haven't choked the last two years in the Big 12 Championship game, which is the most meaniingful game to their program. They are the only team to ever win the Big 12 Championship in consecutive years. They killed Missouri last year not once but twice, they are the only team in the Nation capable of saying that they defeated Missouri in the 2007 season and to think that they did it twice with a Freshman Quarterback and mostly Freshman and Soph. players.

Oklahoma may not play very well at Bowl games because maybe they use them as team reward and vacation for the coaches and players, The school still gets the same amount of money from the Bowl games win or lose. It hasn't seemed to affect their ability to recruit a lot of 5 star high school players. I think that Adrian Peterson, Rookie of the Year last year in the NFL and is currently leading all NFL running backs this year came from Oklahoma University.

[E.S.]

"However, I do believe that USC is over-rated but we will never know because they play in a Conference that is one of the weakest conferences in the Nation"

#1 Trojan Fan, or Mr. Sooner, all I can say is 55-19. I was there. Adrian Peterson didnt even get over 75 yards against SC that year.

[Rick]

The AP Poll is BS - USC became #1 this year because they are USC, not because they were actually the #1 team. Very highly biased.