BCS: Pirates of the Pacific edition

We interrupt the annual coaching carrousel to bring you ongoing coverage of the annual headache that is the BCS. With USC’s shellacking of previously once-shellacked Notre Dame, the BCS picture has now come into focus.

At first glance it would appear that USC has smooth sailing ahead, but beware – there be Pirates ahead, Pirates most foul in the form of Bear-like creatures. 6-5 UCLA stands in the path of USC and the national championship game and more then a simple win may be needed to navigate the course.

Bruins!!!

USC has a slim 46 point advantage over Michigan in the Coaches poll and Michigan has an even slimmer 40 point advantage over Florida. If USC squeaks by the Bruins on Saturday it’s not out of the realm of possibility for the coaches to drop the Men of Troy below Michigan. Add in a less likely, but still possible Florida rout of Arkansas and you have the makings for a lot of chaos. The question is, how much of a change in BCS rankings can a change in the Coaches poll cause?

Assuming chaos prevails – and God I’m hoping it does – let’s look at the résumé’s of the three remaining contenders.

USC
-Why: USC has beaten (current BCS rank): (#9)Arkansas, (#20) Nebraska, (#18) Cal, and (#10) Notre Dame.
Out of all the contenders, none can boast this number of ranked opponents and the two top 10 teams USC beat they beat by a combined score of 94 – 38.

-Why not: Their lone loss came to Oregon State – by far the lowest ranked opponent loss by any of the contenders

Michigan
-Why: Michigan’s only loss came to #1 Ohio State and it was by three points. The Wolverines also handed BCS #7 Wisconsin their only loss of the season.

-Why not: Other then Wisconsin, the only other ranked opponent Michigan has beaten is Notre Dame – the same team USC beat by pretty much the same lopsided score. The Ohio State loss wasn’t as close as the score let on. The Buckeyes were ahead by two touchdowns at the half and two scores at the start of the 4th. Michigan scored 10 points in the second half off of 3 Ohio State turnovers. Ohio State was in complete control of the game and hung over 500 yards on the much ballyhooed Wolverine defense.

Florida
-Why: Assuming a Florida victory over Arkansas Saturday, Florida will have beaten (current BCS rank): (#16) Tennessee, (#5) LSU, and (#9) Arkansas, with their only loss coming at the hands of #11 Auburn.

-Why not: Florida’s non-conference slate is a laugher and they haven’t beat anybody soundly, for those that believe in “style points”- a term that causes my sphincter muscle to constrict every time I type it.

To me a win is a win and Florida and USC have beaten better competition then Michigan. USC’s loss to Oregon State is their only black eye and it’s difficult to ignore the pounding they have put on some good competition. As much as it pains me to say, I believe USC deserves the shot at Ohio State as long as they win Saturday (by any score). Whether the pollsters/computers agree, is anybody’s guess. I must say though, this is much better then say… oh an eight team playoff that decides the winner on the field. MUCH better.