Just as soon as the USC Trojans left the field after Tuesday’s crushing Rose Bowl win over Illinois, every talking head, sports writer and analyst was honking about how USC was good enough to deserve a piece of the National championship. You’re kidding me right?

For USC, playing in the Rose Bowl is the closest thing they could have gotten to a home bowl game. They took care of business against an inferior team, but the win was not worthy of a piece of the championship pie. USC simply showed up and did what they were supposed to do over an overmatched Illini team. Northing more, nothing less.

 

It all goes back to that fateful October Saturday where USC lost to Pac-10 bottom-dweller Stanford. I mean Stanford? A team that should have been wiped off the field by USC and dominated in every facet of the game ends up getting the one-point win. Not in OT but in regulation. That loss was inexcusable and should have ended the talk of National Championship right then and there.

Like Illinois, Hawaii and June Jones’ pro-style offense didn’t belong in BCS company and Georgia exposed them. Again, the Bulldogs did exactly what they were supposed to do – took care of business against an overmatched team in a home game. Now, very few are barking as loud for the Bulldogs to share the national crown as they are for the Trojans.

Of the two-loss teams still in the BCS hunt, the most compelling performance and therefore the biggest claim to a share of the title has got to be West Virginia.

By all accounts, WVU was going to get blown-out by an Oklahoma team that was supposed to playing with a chip on their shoulder. The case for Oklahoma to play for the National Championship was a strong one yet the Mountaineers stomped them. WVU was without their head coach Rich Rodriguez and so far this bowl season, teams with an interim head coach were 0-6.

Because of that small statistic, WVU came into the game against Oklahoma as a 7.5-point underdog. Those that make expert college football picks knew that this was a mistake as the Mountaineer’s tools were in fact greater than those of Oklahoma, and were wise to back them as an “overmatched” WVU team pulled the “upset” and accidentally walloped the Sooners.

Conversely, USC went into the Rose Bowl as a 14-point favorite. That 14-point cushion tells me their opponent was expected to lose and lose big - and that they did.

What we have here is a case of the media jumping all over the flavor of the day and are attempting to cover their asses. as most of the media honks had instilled the Trojans as the preseason National Champ.

Bottom line - falling to Stanford should have eliminated USC from contention and their Rose Bowl win was a Trojan Horse of a performance – ornate, compelling and awe-inspiring on the outside, yet completely hollow.