Its official, a spot in the national championship is vacant for a single loss team. This realization presents revived hope for teams like Florida State, Georgia, Virginia Tech, LSU, Ohio State, Southern Cal., and (recently added to the list of single loss teams) Miami. While the season winds down and the bowl games approach the question foremost in the minds of these teams are: “why not me?” The BCS has decided that as of week twelve of the 2003 season, Southern Cal. is that team. But do they deserve it more then, say for the sake of argument… Florida State? Of course they don’t. The premise behind USC and their “deserved” #2 ranking is this; their schedule strength has been challenging, they’ve succeeded remarkably thus far generating huge offensive numbers, and they’ve handily defeated Washington State (43-16). Here is my argument against their unjustified ranking; they lost to Cal. (an unranked team). When trying to separate the best competitors from teams with identical records the most important item to consider is their losses. Who was the loss suffered to? How was it lost? How much was the difference? In the case of USC, we already know who beat them. It was California who currently holds a record of 5-5. While the score of this game was close and even extended into overtime the statistics tell a different story. In this game USC was dominated both in the air and on the ground, and struggled in the remaining 16 seconds of the 4th quarter to get off a 33-yard field goal for the tie. While they were only beaten by a field goal the game may as well have been a blowout. USC lost to an inferior team, and though their effort was valiant the simply were outplayed. Florida State on the other hand lost to Miami who at the time looked down at us from a 2nd ranked position. The game was played in conditions most unsuited for FSU’s brand of football, and despite this as the clock died out the score remained within eight points.
If one team fighting a single loss season is to go to the national championship, why not make it the team losing to the highest-ranking opponent? It makes sense.
USC doesn't deserve it
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