New BCS standings have been released...

[fleaflicker]

I wouldn't mind seeing Boise State and Utah joining the Pac 10. Another option open to Boise State perhaps would be the Big 10, though that's probably a little too far out of the way. Boise State joining the Big 10 would give it 12 teams, enough for a conference championship. And USC is never going to get screwed by the BCS by not having a conference championship now that the media polls are two thirds of the equation. Everybody in the media loves USC.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Maybe not this year, but sooner or later a Pac 10 team is going to get screwed, and I can't wait. There's no reason why every conference doesn't get 12 members and play a title game. That's another win over a quality opponent that everyone has to play. Hopefully the Pac 10 or Big Ten will get screwed in the near future.

[fleaflicker]

Out of the two, the Big Ten is the most likely to get cheated by the BCS. USC and California, when playing well, are the media favorites. Wisconsin was undefeated until last weekend, and they were still ranked behind California, a one loss team. I think the media likes USC and Cal so much because they put up so many points.

[The Ancient Enemy]

From what I am putting together, the Big Ten is quickly becoming the new Pac 10. The Pac 10, in recent history, always has an Oregon or an Oregon State or a Wash. State or Washington who is always ranked pretty high, and all those teams fall on their faces every football season. It's nothing more than an attempt to create interest in a market that doesn't really care all that much. Those programs I just listed are always very over-rated, and when you are that hyped and fall on your face, it doesn't take long for you to get a reputation. Before USC landed Pete Carroll, that whole conference was a joke. Now you have USC being one of the best programs in the country, and on the verge of their second straight national championship. That is partly due to what one of you guys just said, about the media loving USC. Pete Carroll is in an excellent situation now, because all those teams out there are generally terrible, and he can sit in California and very quickly build a dynasty because of the level of competition and the quality of California recruits. I said all along that it was only going to take ONE guy in the state of California to have his 'crap' together, and they'd build a dynasty. Well, it happened. They already have numerous verbals, one of which is that Sanchez kid, a QB who is arguably the best QB in the country.

But on to the comparison, the level of play in the Big Ten is down as of late, and that leads to people having to hype teams that you know aren't going to do anything. Michigan loses 1-2 games a season, regardless of the fact that they get such great players. They can't get the job done. Ohio State has been under-achieving for 2 seasons. Iowa has 2 losses this year, and might be the best team in the conference, but even they are worse than last season. NW is their usual inconsistent self, Penn State's offense refuses to score a point, Illinois has talent and flushes it down the toilet, Indiana got lucky and got the ball 15 times inside the Oregon 30 and knocked off the Ducks, generating a lot very undeserved hype. Wisconsin is never going to win a national championship under Barry Alvarez, they are always a 2 or 3 team in the Big Ten. Michigan State now has an excellent coach, and might be the jewel of the north in about 2 seasons. Purdue has way too much hype before they played anyone, and lost 4 straight. Joe Tiller will never win the Big Ten, and Kyle Orton is the most over-rated quarterback in the country, because he throws 5 yard passes and Standeford and Stubblefield ran all over the field for 8 million yards. Everybody in the Big Ten is over-rated this season. Michigan will maybe win their bowl game, but that's because the level of football over-all isn't as high this year as it should be. The only tight team is Auburn. Miami looked like they were, but you saw what they did. I wouldn't be surprised if Michigan lost to OSU this weekend.

[fleaflicker]

I would be surprised by a Michigan loss, but only slightly. I think Wisconsin was underrated before they lost to Michigan State last weekend. They were getting it done on defense, and I love defensive teams that play hard nosed football. Before giving up 49 to a sub par Michigan State, Wisconsin had not given up more than 17 points in a game for that entire 9 win streak they had. Of course, teams that get it done on defense, but fail to put up the offensive fireworks display are always underrated. USC might be overrated, but for the reasons I explained, not as much as I think Boise State is. It's hard to argue with a team that puts up a lot of points on the board, and can shut down opponents when they need to. I think putting Auburn on top though, would fix the top three rather nicely for me though.

[count2infinity]

i think that usc is very overrated...i think that the only reason they are doing well in the polls is because of last year, everyone thought they should have been in the championship game and that they were the best team in the nation, which they were...last year. this year i don't see anyone better than auburn. that's my story and i'm sticking to it

[HOLLYWOOD]

As of now I would like to see Auburn vs USC!!

[Former Wildcat]

Let's forget about Boise for a second. I love the blue turf, but they are not a BCS team.

However, Utah is a different story. If two of the top three lose in the coming weeks (unlikely, but stay with me), shouldn't an undefeated Utah get a shot at a national championship. They have dominated every team they have played and their three non-conference games were all against BCS conference schools, including a ranked Texas A&M team that they spanked. This is not unprecedented as BYU was the national champ in 1984. What do you think? Should Utah be given that chance?

[fleaflicker]

Well, supposing that two of the big three in college football right now (USC, Oklahoma, and Auburn) lost, then I would say that Utah should get a crack at the national title. They are a good enough team to give anybody a good run for the money. I don't know if they could beat any of those three teams, but at the same time, I wouldn't be too surprised if they pulled it off. Utah is a team that would need an A game from even the best of the best in college football to lose to them. And supposing that happened, then yes, they should play for the national title. But unfortunately, if that did happen, it's most likely that we'd see a USC-Cal rematch, because Utah would be cheated out of that shot for not being in one of those six conferences. So it wouldn't happen, but it should supposing the above scenario.

Count2infinity, I would agree with you that they have been rated number 1 throughout since they were the AP champions last year. But I would beg to differ as far as them really being national champions. That was LSU last year, and at that time I believe that LSU was the best team in the nation. I don't think USC could have beaten LSU, and I was actually hoping USC would lose to Michigan. I don't believe that USC could have played with LSU or Oklahoma (providing Oklahoma brought its A game, as opposed to its Big 12 championship game). But that was last year too.
This year, USC is overrated, yes, but only slightly. I think they are the number 2 team in the nation to Auburn, but better than Oklahoma. The reason they are only slightly overrated is because, as I said, it's hard to argue with an undefeated record against some quality opponents, and their defense has been keeping the other teams off the scoreboard. I mean, Stanford scored 28 points against them at Stanford, but other than that, no team has scored more than 20 points against the Trojans. And Stanford was likely just a bad day more than anything else. They held California's potent offense (their QB's a Heisman candidate) to 17 points, and totally shut down the other Top 25 team in the Pac 10, ASU, to the tune of 45-7. So really, it's hard to argue against USC being number one even. Auburn has played some tough teams this year, and beat them, but it'd be very hard to argue that they should jump USC for the top spot until they play and beat USC.

[The Ancient Enemy]

There is absolutely no way Utah is going to play in that title game. Everybody ahead of them could lose, and they'd still be left out. What's weird though, is didn't Louisville win a national title in the 80's? That's weird.