(or AP Bias Vs Reality)
-------------------BCS Realities---Pre-Sugar---------------
USC has played only one team that has been in the top 25 BCS ranks, yet LSU played 4 and LSU's only loss was to one of these BCS ranked teams. USC lost to one of the many unranked PAC-10 teams.
SEC had 6 teams in the BCS top 25 when LSU knocked Arkansas out of it, but PAC-10 had only 2 which demonstrates that USC is in a much weaker easier conference than SEC which is a more competitive conference. SEC has more than twice as many teams in top 25 because its twice as competitive as PAC-10.
In common opponent comparisons, both LSU and USC played Arizona and Auburn. Guess who won by a larger margin in each case ? That’s right, LSU won by a larger margin than USC in each case.
In other common opponent comparisons, LSU won its game with Alabama by a greater margin than OU beat Alabama tho OU beat UCLA by a greater margin than USC beat UCLA. Again LSU compares favorable with OU instead of USC.
USC does not have to play the most competitive other PAC-10 team for conference championship like SEC and Big-12, making PAC-10/USC less competitive in yet another way.
Almost any realistic measurement shows LSU is better than USC and should of course be ranked much higher. The only honest way for USC to rank higher is if LSU loses a game and USC does not, especially since LSU plays more ranked teams than USC. As shown below, even more facts besides those above also show LSU is better.
In the tables below Opponent Top Rank is the best AP Poll rank the opponent reached.
The UnR=40 column assigns a rank of 40 to all unranked teams for calculating averages.
W Illinois rank of 15 was used instead of #1 because W. Illinois #1 was a I-AA ranking.
Date
30-Aug
06-Sep
13-Sep
27-Sep
04-Oct
11-Oct
18-Oct
25-Oct
01-Nov
15-Nov
22-Nov
06-Dec
Average
Opponent
@Auburn
Brigham Young
Hawaii
@California
@Arizona State
Stanford
@Notre Dame
@Washington
Washington State
@Arizona
UCLA
Oregon State
Opponent Rank
Result
Won 23-0
Won 35-18
Won 61-32
Lost 31-34
Won 37-17
Won 44-21
Won 45-14
Won 43-23
Won 43-16
Won 45-0
Won 47-22
4:30pm
=======>
Opponent’s Top Rank
17
Unranked
Unranked
Unranked
16
Unranked
Unranked
18
6
Unranked
Unranked
22
15.8
UnR=40
17
40
40
40
16
40
40
18
6
40
40
22
29.9
Date
30-Aug
06-Sep
13-Sep
20-Sep
27-Sep
11-Oct
18-Oct
25-Oct
01-Nov
15-Nov
22-Nov
28-Nov
06-Dec
Average
Opponent
Louisiana-Monroe
@Arizona
W. Illinois
Georgia
@Mississippi State
Florida
@South Carolina
Auburn
Louisiana Tech
@Alabama
@Mississippi
Arkansas
SEC Champ East
Opponent Rank
Result
Won 49-7
Won 52-0
Won 35-7
Won 17-10
Won 41-6
Lost 7-19
Won 33-7
Won 31-7
Won 49-10
Won 27-3
Won 17-14
Won 55-24
8:00pm
=======>
Opponent’s Top Rank
Unranked
Unranked
1
4
Unranked
11
25
17
Unranked
21
15
7
5
11.8
UnR=40
40
40
15
4
40
11
25
17
40
21
15
7
5
21.5
Clearly LSU played more ranked teams than USC by a margin of 9 to 5.
LSU played better ranked opponent, Georgia #4, than USC best ranked opponent, #6 WSU.
The average rank of teams LSU played is better than USC opponents average rank.
LSU strength of schedule is clearly more challenging than USC schedule because LSU played better ranked teams and more of them. With the level of competition of USC opponents, USC should be ranked more like Boise State and similar one loss teams playing weak opponents.
When a team lost they were often sent back to the end of the line in the rankings behind teams with the same number of losses. That would put OU behind USC, but OU played such stronger opponents than USC that it would not be fair. LSU=1, OU=2, USC = 3 or realistically 5 or 6.
The obvious conclusion is that the real reason USC was ahead of LSU in the media polls is its ties to the liberal media crowd and their influence, because the math plainly establishes LSU as a far better team than USC. The numbers don’t lie but the media polls do. To pretend USC is better than LSU is like saying a pair of Queens beats a full house - ridiculous. Clearly, anyone who ranks USC better than LSU does not know what he is doing and does not know basic 2nd grade math, or else he is simply dishonest.
-----------------------After Sugar-------------------------
To be honest, OU and LSU in the BCS National Championship game were the only realistic choices. The case for Boise State was roughly the same as the case for USC.
The set of rules and the system in place which all of the major colleges and conferences agreed to abide by several years ago was the BCS system and this includes USC & the PAC-10. The major colleges signed the BCS contract and legally bound themselves to it. The time to whine about any changes they wanted was before they committed to it. To complain and whine after they fail to get in the BCS championship game is childish at best. Changing the rules during the game is cheating at best.
How did USC ever get ranked in the top 3 anyway ? Did the media really think anyone was buying that junk ? The Media is burning mad that the BCS didn’t choose their baby - USC - the liberal left coast college where all the journalists, broadcast majors, reporters, and liberal left coast Hollyweird Media people are the in-crowd. The Media might have expected that trying to say USC was so much better than what they actually were would end this way. The BCS system worked perfectly. It eliminated the obvious impostor, USC, even though it wasn’t what the USC biased liberal Media wanted. Now the Media is pitching a fit because the BCS said their USC baby was too ugly. USC ranks with teams with similar records and levels of competition like Boise State who had only one loss but played too many weak teams like USC did. Boise State belongs in the top 3 about as much as USC belongs there. BCS = "Brilliant Choice System" because it worked so well. The media arguing against it just proves the Media is run by liars, cheats, and prejudiced bigots.
The AP/media attempt at stealing the BCS national championship away from the officially appointed BCS play-off winner of the sugar bowl, just shows how prejudiced, biased, and corrupt the media is. The media certainly knows that all the major college teams are bound, committed, and signed off to the BCS championship system, which had previously been agreed to by all major colleges and conferences involved, legally and contractually, yet the prejudiced media tried its best to usurp the official process to steal the crown for the liberal left coast college. The media claims to report the news instead of create the news, but that’s just another liberal media lie. LSU beat BCS #1 OU in the 2004 national championship designated sugar bowl. The rules that were in force ever since the BCS took effect cannot be disregarded and the rules changed in the middle of the games at the whim of the Media. Obviously LSU is the undisputed champion. The Liberal Media moguls know LSU won the national championship. What they prove by insisting otherwise is that people cannot believe biased media bigots.
If there was a different play-off system the Liberal Media would whine when USC or other liberal colleges didn't make it into the play-offs just like they are whining now. The AP & USAtoday rankings for USC was clearly a theft attempt by the liberal media to steal the Sugar bowl for the liberal college - USC. The more the Media rants and raves the dumber and more dishonest they look. Its about being the best team with the most wins against the most top ranked teams, not about being the most liberal college with wins against average and weak teams and losses to unranked teams. USC ranks with Boise State and similar one loss teams who won against weak opponents. The Media sports people live in limbo and have no common sense or else no honesty; okay - just no honesty. Without Media prejudice, dishonesty, or bias USC could not be in the Top 3 this season any more than Boise State. The idea of USC in the top 3 is so funny it makes me laugh, so please keep telling us about it; its hilarious.