USC drops to #13, UConn ranked #16

While Ohio State and Michigan continue to tediously steamroll toward their 836th consecutive Big Ten-deciding showdown (if the Wolverines win, can we please declare Appalachian State the Big Ten champ instead, and let them play in the Rose Bowl?), the rest of the nation's conferences are in total disarray. For instance, raise your hand if you thought any of the following games would potentially have massive BCS implications for both teams:

• Arizona State at Oregon, next Saturday
• Kansas at Missouri, November 24
• UConn at West Virginia, November 24

Seriously, WTF? Meanwhile, USC-Cal has been reduced to a battle to stay out of the Las Vegas Bowl. Oh, and defending champ Florida? At 5-3, they're not even bowl-eligible yet.

Good lord. It's a brave new world out there.

That said, the new AP poll is out, and for the first time in forever, there are no major changes at the top. Ohio State is #1, Boston College #2, LSU #3, Oregon #4 and Oklahoma #5. The latter two switched places from last week (OU was idle, Oregon beat USC), but otherwise the Top 5 is unchanged.

Arizona State moves up from #7 to #6 (leapfrogging West Virginia), and is now getting two first-place votes. Too bad for the Sun Devils that Cal lost two straight before last night, otherwise ASU would probably have jumped to #3 or #4 by beating the Bears. Now the question is, if the Sun Devils can beat Oregon in Eugune next Saturday, how high do they rise? If there's any justice in the world, they should certainly jump the one-loss teams and move up to no lower than #3. (That said, I think Oregon will win. Oregon is good.)

Meanwhile, whereas losing games unexpectedly in the Pac-10 means you're overrated, losing games unexpectedly in the SEC means the conference is "deep" and "competitive" and "a war." At least, that's how I interpret the fact that all four of the ranked three-loss teams are from the SEC (#18 Florida, #19 Auburn, #23 South Carolina, #24 Tennessee), while three-loss Cal -- which, um, beat Tennessee -- is unranked. (The Bears lost to UCLA, Oregon State and ASU, which I'd say is certainly no worse than losing to Cal and getting absolutely destroyed by Florida and Alabama.)

Oh, and USC fell from #9 to #13. They're just behind #12 Hawaii (!).

Elsewhere in the rankings, Kansas and Missouri are now both in the Top 10 (at #8 and #9, respectively). Michigan -- which, as you may or may not recall, lost to Appalachian State earlier this year -- is #15. They're one spot ahead of UConn... yes, UConn... which is now #16. In football. (More on the Huskies in a separate post later.) Also, Boise State has rejoined the Top 25, at #21.

Comments

Michigan is a joke, and they will be exposed, either against OSU (who is only slightly less suspect, having played nobody this year)
or in the Rose Bowl against either ASU or Oregon (again).

[kcatnd]

Bold! I'm not making any claims like that, about any team, game, or conference - not this season.

[ScottF]

"If there's any justice in the world"

Oh but there is... just not in the NCAA.

[Not that good...]

I was surprised to see how weak USC's schedule has been:

* beat 0-7 Idaho
* beat 4-4 Nebraska
* beat 2-5 Wash St
* beat 2-5 Washington
* lost to 3-4 Stanford
* beat 2-6 Arizona
* beat 1-7 Notre Dame
* lost to 7-1 Oregon

[Sandy Underpants]

USC's schedule is awful and so is their offense. If they had a good offensive coordinator (not Lame Kiffin) They would be undefeated right now. Their offense should be able to score more than 24 a game, but they haven't, and that's why they're ranked in the teens and not #1. Sanchez-McKnight will become great... WILL be.

[David K.]

Combined record of the three teams that beat Cal? 18-6
Combined record of the three teams that beat Tennessee? 16-8
Combined total of points Cal lost by? 23
Combined total of points Tennessee lost by? 77

Voters need to start being honest and admit that when they rank SEC teams they automatically subtract a loss from their record.