Overrated USC not deserving of early No. 1 ranking
Based on their play from last season, it's hard to believe the USC Trojans are deserving of the No. 1 ranking in college football entering the 2007 campaign.
Despite their 11-win season and 32-18 Rose Bowl victory over Michigan, the Trojans looked little more than average for much of 2006.
USC's mediocrity of last year was displayed in its game against Washington State. The very average Cougars were hanging with the Trojans almost every step of the way. The score at halftime was 14-12, Trojans. The Cougs' last score was a 10-yard TD pass from Alex Brink to Dwight Tardy with 4:18 left to go in the game, and USC's defense was on the ropes. The Trojans' offense didn't get far on the next possession and had to punt the ball away with a little over a minute to go. With momentum on their side, the Cougars tragically imploded, with Brink throwing one incompletion after another. But they drove to the SC 39-yard line before the Trojans' Taylor Mays intercepted a Brink pass at the 5, which ended the game.
The mighty Cali-Romans marched on. They struggled against Washington the next week, almost fell to a flat Arizona State team in the L.A. Coliseum the next, then ended up outright losing to unranked Oregon State the next game, which probably caused quite a few national sportswriters and bowl sponsors to hurl themselves off tall buildings.
The utter destruction of Stanford the following week did nothing to prove that the Trojans were "back," because the Cardinal were by far the worst team in the PAC-10, finishing dead last with only one total win.
The Trojans' sound defeat of Oregon was impressive, but the Cal game the next week was much closer than the score indicated. USC didn't so much win that game as much as the Bears lost it. And the destruction of a very overrated Notre Dame club proved nothing either, as was shown the next week.
With a clear and supposedly easy shot at playing Ohio State for the National championship, the Trojans choked, plain and simple. They sauntered into the Rose Bowl, overlooking UCLA toward Glendale, Ariz., and the BCS trophy the whole time, and Karl Dorrell's UCLA defense took full advantage.
The unranked Bruins held the Trojans' supposedly high-octane offense to only one TD the entire game, and that was in the second quarter. The mighty Trojans never scored a single point in the second half. With the score 13-9 in the Bruins' favor, USC on the UCLA 20 and 1:10 remaining, much-hyped Trojan quarterback John David Booty completely crumbled, throwing a pick to UCLA's Eric McNeal, and sealed SC's fate.
In 2006 John David Booty looked about as overrated as you can get, and he appeared confused when things were turning against the Trojans. Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith made people believe John David Booty was a lot better last season than he actually was. They carried the team as far as it got. Now that they're gone, this preseason Heisman candidate will most likely be exposed.
Couple John David Booty's overratedness with the Trojans' harsh '07 schedule, and USC stands a possible chance at not even winning the PAC-10 title. The defense will probably be fine, but USC is an offensive team. Without that, it stands to lose.
Southern Cal is without question the most Hollywood-stylish and marketable team in the NCAA. That's why the national sports media establishment and big-time sponsors are completely star-struck with the Trojans to the point of obsession, and that's the only real reason they're getting handed the No. 1 spot.
They deserve being in the top 10, no doubt -- sixth or seventh. Boise State, LSU, and maybe Louisville and Wisconsin most definitely deserve to be ranked ahead of USC. It'll all play out beginning in September.
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