Foxsports.com: LSU still the best, despite BCS

[TyBull]

LSU still the best, despite BCS

Randy Hill / FOXSports.com

Posted: 12 hours ago

With the off-the-board exception of Kevin Federline's courthouse victory, nobody has been credited with a significant win in several weeks.

(We thought Appalachian State had grabbed a noteworthy win in Ann Arbor, but that victory was tainted when Oregon made Michigan look like a frat-house team one week later.)

This lack of impressive triumph is even more acute in college football, an entity that's having a trickier time choosing its top dog than the GOP's 2008 presidential-candidate auditions.

The official approach to weeding out BCS contenders began Sunday, when Ohio State was saddled with the No. 1 ranking. In case you're a newcomer to this national grinding of teeth, please note that establishing the BCS hierarchy is a painstaking, three-pronged process.

One prong is wielded by members of the Harris Poll, who are alleged to be dedicated football observers with a working knowledge of where to find the Versus network. Another prong is maintained by college coaches, many of whom freely admit to ignoring teams that aren't on their schedules. Based on certain game-planning glitches, we're not sure if these coaches are paying much attention to the teams they're actually going to play.

The third prong is attached to computers, which sift through certain variables and spit out an objective rendering that typically initiates riots on sports-talk radio. For the record, a Netherlands-based genius who studies artificial intelligence recently predicted that humans and robots will become disturbingly intimate by 2050. If this genius had studied past BCS computer results, he'd probably conclude that this has been going on for years.

Anyway, before examining the "We're No. 1!" cases of our first debate-worthy BCS top 10 of 2007, it should be pointed out that the prevailing dilemma could have been avoided if LSU and USC had behaved as anticipated.

The Tigers, who'd seized top billing during the recent and astonishing stagger of USC, lost at Kentucky when coach Les Miles decided that traveling the treacherous Southeastern Conference road requires four consecutive running plays into the beating heart of a defense.

USC, which began the season as our betting favorite, has been beset by an uncanny run of injury, unsatisfactory player development and, perhaps, failure to subscribe to the notion that standing strategically pat is no match for tactical progression.

The Trojans, whose grotesque home loss to Stanford has been bracketed by an ugly performance at Washington and a survival home victory against Arizona, check in at No. 14. Beyond their unexpected failure to pass the eyeball test, the Trojans are hamstrung by the lousy efforts of their first six opponents. With Nebraska turning out to be far worse than anticipated, USC's foes have a combined record of 13-27, a number that generated a computer rank of 23 (they're ninth in both the Harris and coaches' poll).

That schedule component  and USC's BCS standing  could change dramatically with victories at Oregon (10), Cal (12) and Arizona State (8), although recent play suggests quite an upgrade is needed to make that happen. But please note that the Trojans currently are working without (among others) All-America tackle Sam Baker, top running back Stafon Johnson, playmaking linebacker Brian Cushing, true freshman center Kristofer O'Dowd, veteran guard Chilo Rachal, athletic tackle Charles Brown and crazed middle linebacker Rey Maualuga.

If USC has most of these guys back for the stretch run  combined with hinted maturity from freshmen Joe McKnight (RB), Ronald Johnson (WR) and Everson Griffen (DE)  the corresponding weaknesses of their highly ranked foes can be exploited.

Or they can acquiesce to the prevailing, nationwide malaise and continue to fall apart.

1. Ohio State: The Buckeyes' non-conference gauntlet offered Youngstown State, Akron, 2-4 Washington and Kent State. Their Big Ten conquests are Minnesota, Northwestern and Purdue. So, how does Ohio State slip into No. 1? Zero losses and that name, baby.

Their regular-season benediction features Penn State (road), Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan (road). The Buckeyes may be capable of losing one of these games, but there's not a convincing obstacle in that quartet.

If the Buckeyes remain unconquered, we'll get to spend another five weeks wondering if they have the team speed to knock off their BCS title-game opponent.

2. South Florida: Yeah, this is not Bill Russell's USF. The Bulls, who have a blisteringly fast defense and a tough, versatile QB named Matt Grothe, are No. 1 with the computers.

Despite playing Florida Atlantic and Central Florida, this microchip love was made possible by victories over Auburn (there) and West Virginia. To keep evolving, the Bulls must knock off Rutgers (road), Cincinnati, Louisville and Pittsburgh (road).

Don't bet against it.

3. Boston College: The roll call of the vanquished features Notre Dame (1-6), Bowling Green, Division II UMass, N.C. State (1-5) and Army. The combined record of the Eagles' foes, however, is a relatively solid 21-24. Yeah, that's how bad things are around the country.

A lot of doubt about this team that can be erased by winning at Virginia Tech and Clemson, in addition to knocking off Florida State and Miami at home. Then again, beating those teams wouldn't exactly prove that much.

4. LSU: The Tigers have had a couple of cream puffs on the schedule, but an impressive 29-18 mark from the opposition includes three ranked once-beatens (Virginia Tech, South Carolina and Kentucky) and twice-beaten Florida.

LSU still deserves to be considered the best team, but stepping in ahead of a one-loss team that just knocked off the Tigers (Kentucky) defines the crazed nature of this BCS party.

5. Oklahoma: Right, losing to Colorado is nothing to brag about, but at least the Sooners have two legitimate wins (Texas and Missouri) and one that seemed decent (Miami) at the time. Let's see if they'll be man enough to take out Mike Gundy's Oklahoma State Cowboys. Remember, the Pokes have a QB "that does everything right," and he's not even starting.

In my opinion, they have the second-best, seven-week resume in the nation.

6. South Carolina: The Gamecocks' opponents have a fine combined record of 27-21. Coach Steve Spurrier's only loss was at LSU, while the victory list includes Georgia and Kentucky. I also believe his USC team could whup Stanford.

7. Kentucky: A signature win over LSU vaults the Wildcats into the top 10, although their 30-17 opponents' mark includes five wins from Division II Eastern Kentucky and four from defenseless Louisville.

8. Arizona State: Coach Dennis Erickson's first Sun Devils team has advanced by going unbeaten against teams that are 19-27. Don't worry, there will be plenty of ranked playmates to use as evidence of (Cal, Oregon and USC) greatness; just make sure the home games sell out more than a week before kick-off.

9. West Virginia: The loss at USF doesn't seem all that tragic now, but the Mountaineers may need a passing game to survive a three-game run against Rutgers (road), Louisville (well, maybe not) and Cincinnati (road).

West Virginia still lacks a signature win, unless Mississippi State and Maryland can be considered above print level.

10. Oregon: The Ducks lost at home to Cal, but somehow managed to come in ranked ahead of the Bears.

The unexpected stumbles from Cal and USC will challenge Oregon to perform its customary level of underachievement later than usual.

With more rankings fires to acknowledge and extinguish before all of the smoke can even begin to clear, my 1 and 1A choices, respectively, are LSU and Oklahoma.

But, thanks to total college-football anarchy, we're really not able to believe our eyeballs.

[Velcro]

LSU has a good resume, except for the big 1 in the loss column.

And it won't be their last. 

[Sunil]

I've got no beef with LSU..obviously they've had some impressive wins. But if one-loss teams are going to start leap frogging other BCS schools, then why even bother playing the games? Just take the pre-season favorites and let them play in January.... You can only beat who is in front of you..and if you are in one of the BCS conferences and go undefeated...obviously you've had a high level of competition so their is no reason a team should be kept out of the "party".

And as for all the SEC apologists who trumpet the difficult schedule..."nobody else plays such a tough in conference slate...waah waah". I don't see any of those teams complain when the TV checks come in the mail. You are being more than compensated for your "tough life".

[Velcro]

simple solution... DON'T LOSE!  LSU can't have a beef if they don't get in as they didn't take care of business.

[bulls96go]

just win jim