USC plays itself out of title hunt

You can hope against hope.

You can beg and plead for a playoff.

But you can't watch USC play for the BCS National Championship this season.

Sure, it's still technically possible. It's also technically possible for Pac-10 officials to call a perfect game. Despite the Trojans' explosive second half in a 45-23 victory over Stanford, it was too little, too late. USC walked onto the Farm with a sliver of a chance of landing a BCS bid. Mizzou wins the Big 12, the SEC swamps itself and a backdoor opens up. With enough style points, USC walks through.

But it took only 30 minutes for the Trojans to lock themselves out. By halftime Stanford had proved that Oregon State was no fluke. Teams can run against USC. For a while. And a while is a little too long. Defense is all that sets USC apart, and suddenly the defense wasn't as impressive.

Maybe all those East Coast voters will just glance at the final score, figuring the 45-23 victory wasn't as close as they think -- heck, six of those points came in garbage time. Unfortunately for the Trojans, this game wasn't past anybody's bedtime. And USC failed to pile on the style points. How many do you really think they can earn against their final two opponents, Notre Dame and UCLA?

"Style points" is an ugly phrase around USC right now. The BCS era rewards teams that play pretty seasons with sexy offenses. The Trojans have had neither. What they do have is a bone-crushing defense that appeases purists and MMA fans. Heck, even the offense likes to punch people in the mouth (figuratively speaking). When defenders try to tackle Mark Sanchez, it's never clear who's going to walk away with the bigger hit.

Defense used to win championships. Then came the BCS. In any other sport, you wouldn't want to bet against USC taking home the title. On a neutral field, with time to prepare, the Trojans are the favorite. Don't believe it? Ask a sports book in Vegas. ESPN's Chris Fowler did earlier this week, and found that USC would be picked by 1.5 over Florida, 2.5 over Oklahoma, 4 over Texas Tech, 5.5 over Texas, and a whopping 11 over current BCS No. 1 Alabama.

Whoever does lift the crystal ball will be elated and justly feel that they have nothing to prove. But if they had their druthers, you know a real competitor always wants to play against the best so they can beat the best. This year, some may question who really was the "best" at the end of the season.

USC could face one of those teams in the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, or -- gulp -- Holiday Bowl. Yes, the lovely Holiday Bowl in San Diego, which welcomes the Pac-10's second place team every December. By winning out the Trojans guarantee a tie for the conference title (potentially their seventh straight), but if Oregon State wins out they go to the Rose Bowl thanks to its upset over USC in Corvallis.

Don't think that could happen? At halftime, the O.C. Register's Michael Lev went to the Holiday Bowl website to see if it would interfere with his family's own holiday plans. It's on Dec. 29. The good news is that at this rate, it could be better than any BCS game.

The whole situation is a shame, because otherwise this has been another spectacular year for the Trojans and a lot of fun to watch. Expectations were astronomical, as usual, and one major slip up left them with nobody to blame but themselves. And maybe the lack of a playoff.

There's always the Rose Bowl, where the Penn State is the likely Big 10 representative. Whoopie. If the Beavers tank (after this weekend's victory over Cal, only Arizona and Oregon stand in the way), that's where the Trojans will likely play on Jan. 1. It's familiar territory. Another appearance would make it five of the last six years.

Playing in their fourth straight Rose Bowl would also tie a record already shared by Ohio State and ... USC. There's a scary though. Let's hope that's not the pairing.

-- Adam Rose

Comments

[gerrrg]

Cutback and delay handoffs. The Trojans like to over-pursue and were missing tackles in the first half. Some of those personal fouls ended up hurting USC, and the mediocre officiating is always invigoratingly....annoying. And Sanchez likes to hold onto the ball just a weeeeeeee bit too long, sometimes. I know he doesn't want to toss an interception, but it's 3-step drop and throw, not 3-step drop and wait around for someone to come open.

And we have a winner for the Pac-10 jerk coach of the year: Harbaugh. Sorry, but he's easily going to become the guy that everyone hates...so sorry Neuheisel, but you're genuinely a nice guy.

[almaden]

Whoever is coaching tackling at USC needs corrective instruction. This season must have set a record for the most missed SC tackles. Some are spectacular. busts as if the Trojan tacklers have had their eyes closed. They go hurtling through the air set for a dynamic impact and miss completely as the running back speeds past down the field for big gains.

Whoever the quarterback coach is has managed to make a promising star Sanchez into a joke. If he isn't waiting around to be sacked or losing ball being sacked or stripped, it's missing wide-open receivers downfield, it's manic skittishness and hurry-up interceptions. He hasn't hit a decent slant for many quarters.

SC's offensive game used to be fun to watch. Now, as in the first half at Stanford, it is a horror show, always showing brilliant flashes only to be followed by some dumb motion or line-up penalty, some fumble or mix-up, or some bad choice by Sanchez.

How it's possible NOT to consistently move the ball with that outstanding bunch of receivers is beyond belief. SC's offense was once powerful and feared. Now it is a stuttering farce, and would be doubly so if SC ever got into a BCS game with a worthy opponent..

[magsea]

I do believe the Holiday Bowl is on Dec. 30th this year.

But I don't think USC will be going there - it'll be roses or oranges I think...

[Nancy]

The Holiday Bowl? Really? Even if Oregon State wins out (and USC does too), it's almost a guarantee that USC will be an at-large berth.

We're lucky that the top 5 teams ahead of us are either in the SEC or Big 12. Two are going to the NC, and two others are going to be at-large bids. Sadly, one of the three Big 12 teams is going to be left out (my guess is Okla), leaving USC one of the top 3 teams in the at-large pool.

It may be a blessing in disguise to have Oregon State win out, as USC will get to face a tough Big 12 or SEC team instead of Penn State. I'm still rooting for Arizona next week though.

[SC Alum]

Eight team playoff. The first 4 games the weekend before Christmas. The next 2 the weekend before New Year's. The championship the weekend after New Year's.

[J Reece]

Now it's time for this Cal fan to reveal the Pac-9's secret plan for ruining USC's BCS hopes. Instead of beating USC, we decided to throw most of our non-conference games, resulting in lower BCS-computer-ranking cred and making the inevitable SC game-day thrashing an exercise in futility.
Bwwah-ah-ah-ah!