And then UCLA gave the Trojans an early Christmas present, a 16-0 shocker over the Oregon Ducks, putting the Trojans in the driver's seat for the Pac-10 championship and a Rose Bowl berth. To think, after losing to Stanford in October, the Rose Bowl never crossed my mind. Vegas would be fun I said, San Diego is still close to home. But a crazy series of results has left the Trojans one Bruin slaughter away from returning to the Rose Bowl for the 4th time in 5 years. I can't imagine how Pete could let the boys lose focus on this game. This is what they play for all year. After the Oregon loss, we needed the Ducks to lose twice and for Arizona State to lose a game not to us. Well, after Dennis Dixon went down with a gruesome knee injury, Arizona took down Oregon last week, then after Brady Leaf was injured today, UCLA (!) shut out (!) Oregon (!) to open the door for us. And before Dixon's injury, the Ducks beat Arizona State a couple of weeks back. It helps to have Cal lose 5 of their last 6 to fall out of the Pac-10 race.
As for the game itself, we haven't seen the passing game that fluent and successful since the Washington State and Notre Dame games. Of course, our running game suffered, but the way UCLA's offense is playing, all we need is to tack on 14 points and Pasadena here we come! John David Booty hasn't looked this sharp since dissecting the Cougars in September, and the defense showed up as well, knocking Sun Devils' QB Rudy Carpenter around. Special teams remains a problem, but when hasn't it been a problem at USC? Didn't get to watch the entire game, it was during Thanksgiving dinner, but will try to watch the complete game later. Great win, and one more to go to get to the Rose Bowl.
Missouri looked impressive against Kansas. That said, I still think that Oklahoma will beat the Tigers next week in the Big 12 Championship. A lot of talk up of Missouri, but Kansas really hadn't played anyone all year, and Oklahoma is still a tough team. And LSU dropping a second triple overtime game, knocking them out of the national championship picture. It was a great game, but Big Ball Les and the Tigers have finally run out of lives after winning so many close games. They will still be playing in New Orleans, though, just in the Sugar Bowl, unless Tennessee beats them in the SEC Championship, which I don't see happening with a pissed off Tigers squad. And with the crazy college football season, look who stands alone in the ranks of the undefeated: Hawaii, though a tough test stands in front of them, Jake Locker. I talked him up before the USC-UW game, and the Warriors should be ready for a hell of a game. Great win over Boise State, but it will be all for naught if they can't beat the Huskies next week.
Here's my top 25:
- West Virginia (10-1)
- Missouri (11-1)
- Ohio State (11-1)
- Louisiana State (10-2)
- Georgia (10-2)
- Virginia Tech (10-2)
- Oklahoma (10-2)
- Southern California (9-2)
- Hawaii (11-0)
- Kansas (11-1)
- Florida (9-3)
- Boston College (10-2)
- Tennessee (9-3)
- Arizona State (9-2)
- Illinois (9-3)
- Wisconsin (9-3)
- Oregon (8-3)
- Texas (9-3)
- Clemson (9-3)
- Brigham Young (9-3)
- South Florida (9-3)
- Boise State (10-2)
- Cincinnati (9-3)
- Auburn (8-4)
- Arkansas (8-4)
BCS Championship; New Orleans, Louisiana - BCS #1 vs. BCS #2
#1 Missouri vs. #2 West Virginia
Orange Bowl; Miami, Florida - ACC #1 vs. BCS at large
#6 Virginia Tech vs. #4 Georgia
Fiesta Bowl; Tempe, Arizona - Big 12 #1 vs. BCS at large
#5 Kansas vs. #11 Boston College
Sugar Bowl; New Orleans, Louisiana - SEC #1 vs. BCS at large
#7 Louisiana State vs. #12 Hawaii
Rose Bowl; Pasadena, California - Big 10 #1 vs. Pac-10 #1
#3 Ohio State vs. #8 Southern California
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