Week 3 in college football had some major bowl implications. USC lost to unranked Washington, BYU’s BCS-bursting bubble burst. Utah faltered losing the nation’s longest winning streak. The updated AP and Coaches Top 25 were released this afternoon and I’m going to take a minute to get on my soapbox.
USC was ranked #3 and lost to an unranked opponent. After Oklahoma State’s week 1 win over Georgia they jumped to 5 (AP) and 6 (Coaches). Then in week 2 they lost to unranked Houston and fell to 16 and 17 respectively. So what happens to the lovable Trojans of USC? A day after losing to a team they beat 56-0 last year they fall from #3 to 12 (AP) and 10 (Coaches). I understand that USC beat Ohio State (and consequently are still ranked ahead of Ohio State in both polls) but the difference is simple. OSU’s loss came to a team ranked #3 at the time of the game. USC’s loss came to a team that was NOT ranked. I’m normally not a conspiracy theorist, but in my opinion it breaks down like this because: a) USC brings in a lot of $$ to whatever bowl they are chosen for, and b) they need to be ranked decently to get a better bowl. Since the human polls factor into the BCS computations this is ridiculous. Hopefully they lose 1 or 2 more so there is no way the NCAA can tamper.
On to the outstanding performances of Week 3.
