USC Ranked Ahead Of Oregon: Hope For Chaos

Another week, another whole new set of complaints about the BCS Rankings. The most recent cries of injustice are being heard coming from the Pacific Northwest, where Oregon is now ranked behind USC, despite the fact that, ya know, the Ducks beat the Trojans.

USC is ranked ahead of Oregon. I repeat: USC is ranked ahead of Oregon. In the human polls, anyway, and it’s not even close: The Harris poll ranks USC (No. 10) four spots ahead of the Ducks (14), and the coaches have the Trojans a full six spots ahead, dropping the Ducks all the way to No. 16 following their loss at Stanford. This despite Oregon’s a) Possessing an identical overall record (7-2) and a better Pac-10 record (5-1 to 4-2) than the Trojans, and still controlling their own destiny in the conference; b) Having not lost to a team with only two other wins on the season, as USC did in its still-inexplicable flop at Washington; and c) Having utterly humiliated the Trojans as no other team has in more than a decade just last week. Apparently voters were so impressed by USC’s worst offensive output in more than five years in its narrow, 14-9 escape at Arizona State Saturday while remaining so utterly horrified at Oregon’s lopsided loss to the Cardinal that everything preceding those results was discarded entirely. Maybe it has something to do with last week’s time change.

Sigh. At this point, the BCS is like a weekly meeting or conference call you have at work: you know it’s coming, you don’t like it, it doesn’t make sense, and really, there’s not much you can do about it. Except root for chaos, of course.

There is still one very, very long shot for drama and catastrophe even if all of the “Big Three” run the table, and it lies with the computers. As it stands, Cincinnati is ranked ahead of Texas in four of the six computer polls, and the Bearcats’ slate only gets tougher down the stretch, while Texas’ remains relatively light, even including the Big 12 Championship game; Cincy should only consolidate its lead over UT in that regard the rest of the way. It’s conceivable -- not likely, but conceivable -- that Cincy’s lead in the computers will be enough to jump the Bearcats over Texas in the final standings on Dec. 6 if they’re sitting just behind the ‘Horns at No. 3 in the human polls, which would lead to riots in the streets of Austin and in every sports column outside of the greater Cincinnati metro area. That probably requires a couple big, pundit-impressing wins by Cincinnati over West Virginia and Pitt, a loss by TCU to clear the way and a close call or two by Texas to even be mathematically possible. But it’s there.

A good indication that your system may not be working: college football fans are suggesting riot scenarios in hopes that it will finally result in a change to the status quo. NCAA, you’re doing it wrong.