Upset Special

[bigsixfive 327]

Here's a (possiblility) hypothetical...

Cal beats USC, and/or Texas beats OU. Why wouldn't they immediately jump to the top of the polls? Neither of them have a competitive schedule (relative to an SEC schedule), with the possible exception of UT in the Big12 Chamionship and Cal against ASU.

Would this slight a deserving SEC team (I've got UGA or AU in mind here)?

The current facts are already showing favor to those 2 teams. Texas has beaten North Texas, Rice, Baylor, and got lucky against Arkansas. Cal has knocked the snot out of 2 bottom 10 teams, including Army, NM State, and then Oregon State. UT is 4-0 and ranked 5th. Cal is 3-0 and ranked 7th. AU is 5-0, beaten 2 top 10s, and is 6th. Providing one of us doesn't screw the other one in the SEC championship, UGA or AU should be 12-0 come December. Is this enough to displace a 12-0 UT or OU, or an 11-0 Cal or USC? (Boy, wouldn't I like to thump USC in Miami this year.....) Which reminds me, I left Miami out of this mix. Crap.

I'm also disappointed in the number of #1 votes USC is getting. I think UGA deserves a lot of those votes after beating LSU like they stole something. USC has narrowly avoided several defeats, but still captured 46,48 #1 votes. I really expected the #1 votes to be more spread out after all of the top teams have shown some flaws this year.

I'm not overlooking Arkansas, they are in the forefront right now. I think this could be an easy win for us however. UA has shown a tendancy to come back big late in the game. Tubs needs to not let off like he did against UT, but to keep driving. He does that, and we got a win.

Oh well... back to hoping Florida or Tenn somehow wins the east...

[tombigbeetiger 223]

plenty of football left to play.....why don't we just wait and see how it plays out and not jinx ourselves by playing what if?......one game at a time.....the biggest scramble in the polls usually takes place in the last 3 weeks of the season,anyway

[SouthLink02 8]

USC is going to kill California, IMO.

People want this upset to happen too much

[tombigbeetiger 223]

mn

[WarTim 3,456]

I also think Cal is in for a "ga over lsWHO" version of a beatdown.

[bigsixfive 327]

USC is going to kill California, IMO.

People want this upset to happen too much

108505[/snapback]

Thats my feeling too, but I'm one of 'those' people.... I see Cal as USC's speeding ticket on their way to the Orange Bowl. I don't think the cop is out this year though. They have an unjustified push in the polls because they got "screwed out of it" last year and people are upset.

I know there's much football to be played, but dangit, I've been given a taste of AU greatness, we all have, and I wanna see them pull it off so bad I can't stand it. Right now, the thought of having to play UGA once, much less twice, is what's keeping me grounded.

[Aufan59 59]

Its the same story every year. People look at the schedules, decide the teams can't lose the games, and put them as undefeated in the end of the year. WVU can't lose any of their games, and will be in the Orange Bowl undefeated. Oops?

Upsets happen almost every week, especially during conference play, just ask OSU. I love college football because its so unpredictable, which is why its pointless to try to predict weeks in the future.

[swensks 0]

I realize your hypothetical situation is exactly that - hypothetical - but do you really think that USC will overlook the one team that beat them (in overtime, mind you) last year and spoiled their chance to play in New Orleans? Cal doesn't get stomped, but they'll get beat. I think USC already had their scare this year with that Stanford game. Maybe if they played some real teams and were forced to play in a conference championship game they would have a chance to lose a game.

Texas will not beat OU. If they do, they'll lose a game to some nit-wit team before the Big 12 championship (which if they make it to, they will also lose). Mack Brown is a great coach, but he's not going undefeated with Bob Stoops hanging around. Doesn't Texas have to play Texas Tech still this year? TT can put up 50 real quick if you don't watch it...

As far as rankings go, there is something to be said for the guy from the Sporting News that came up with his own power rankings after week #3 (the one that had Auburn as #3). In his article, he said something about the fact that teams are placed in the top ten in the preseason and can't really move down without losing a game or two. So for teams that "should" be good and start out with a weak schedule, they sneak past bad teams and retain their high ranking. Before Saturday, I would have labeled UGA as one of those teams. And who knows...maybe they are. I'm not entirely convinced that their game with LSU wasn't more of a matter of LSU's complete lack of execution. Only time will tell...

WDE

[ECEstudentUA 9]

You can almost count on USC being in the NC once agian this year. I dont see them losing to anyone in the Pac-10. UGA, AU, OU, and Miami all seem to have good shots at the other spot though.

UGA still has to play 3 top 20 teams.

AU beat two teams in the top ten and still has UGA (also in the SEC Champ)

OU plays only 2 ranked teams all year

Miami plays one top ten team and two other teams that are ranked

If I has to guess, I would say AU or UGA if one goes 12-0.

[SouthLink02 8]

I'm not entirely convinced that their game with LSU wasn't more of a matter of LSU's complete lack of execution. 

You could use that excuse if we squeeked by LSU but not after we beat them by almost 30 points.

We won because we were the better team, period.

[88Tiger 0]

You've got to remember that Cal gave USC their only "l" last year and USC will come into that game focused and looking for payback. The only way Cal wins is if USC turns the ball over too many times and helps out Cal.

Until Texas can prove it can win the big one, I still think OU rolls over them in this one. However maybe UT will finally be focused enough for the payback they owe OU...we'll see. I thing the coaching edge and player confidence will be the difference. OU players expect to win and Texas players HOPE to win...big difference.

I think UT might have a shot in this one...call me crazy (but I said a SHOT not a sure thing)...UT can win IF Greene isn't nearly as pinpoint perfect as he was in the LSU game...UT was embarassed by AU and still has a shot at the east with a win...so they'll be hungry, mad and hopefullt focused. If UGA develops a case of the BIG HEAD with their payback win over LSU they could be primed for a letdown...Still not sure which is the real UGA team...the one that was awful in the first few games (offense under wraps maybe?) or the one that totally got their revenge over LSU? We may know more Staurday.

I'm not overlooking La Tech...good team and we're riding high...so hopefully the coaches will keep the players focused and hungry, which they have done thus far. But my worry is an Arkansas team with nothing to lose and will pull out all the stops and probably not play tight. That said a few good things happen for them early and this could be a very tough game. The key here is to get out early and keep it pouring on...the ARK/UF game proves they have the abitility to come back.

If we do get up early and ARK makes a run, Borges will unwrap the O again real quick if the lead is threatened.

Bottom line the players need to focus one game at a time (yeah I know it's a cliche', but it fits here perfectly). The coaches to date have done an excellent job of it and the players seemed focused, hungry and ready to take'em one at a time. They continue that and we can go to the SECCG...and that should be ALL we are focused on right now...let the rest take care of itself.

[AUinVA 0]

Arizona State has a much better chance of beating USC than CAL does. With their QB they can hang with SC as long as their D can hang. Does anyone know if this is in tempe or LA?

[AUesquire 1]

The game is in LA and not so fast my friends. There's been a lot of posts questioning why USC keeps getting the love when they haven't exactly looked like world beaters this year. Va. Tech had them on the ropes and a bad call changed the whole momentum of that game. I watched Stanford have their way for one half with USC only to have them make adjustments and pull it out at the end.

The one and only thing that has impressed me about USC this year is coaching. They have made some incredible adjustments on both offense and defense that allowed them to win these games. They certainly have not looked like the best team in the country. Actually, I don't know if any team really has established itself this year as the dominant team.

I know you can point to their schedule and say AirForce, NMST and OSU are not exaxctly SEC caliber opponents, but look at what Cal has done with them. They've scored like 44, 56 and 49 points against them and held each opponent to little or nothing. They had a great season last year, beat USC, they have a good coach and have played lights out so far. This may turn out to be a UGA/LSU blowout but there's nothing that suggests it will be.

[Duder 236]

Well, I've actually picked against everyone in this thread. I've picked Texas and Cal to pull the upset this week. USC is NOT the same team they were last year. Leinart is good and Bush is a hell of a back. Not having a go-to guy (Mike Williams) is hurting them I think. VA Tech should've won that game. Cal is playing good football this year. I think USC is primed for another upset. I don't see them running the table this year. Unfortunately, I think Miami will end the year undefeated based only on their defense. Their offense is weak. UGA and Auburn are obviously the only two SEC schools with a shot. However, to pull it off they'll have to beat the other school twice. I think this will be the SEC championship game this year.

Back to the original question, will it bolt the other schools up? Texas is already ahead of us. Obviously they'd move up. Cal will most likely jump over us for the time being. We'll go back up if we can run the table and beat UGA.

[Raven_tiger 5]

Cal should beat SC again this year. Why?

1. Aaron Rodgers

2. J.J. Arrington

SC has trouble playing against teams that are balanced. Rodgers threw enough last year to open up the running game. Echemandu ran for 147 yds. Arrington replaces Echemandu this year and has rushed for 466yds this season. If they can pass to set up the run, they win. Cal is also averaging 48 points per game.

[AUesquire 1]

One thing to keep in mind for EVERY TEAM. The season isn't even half way over. Projections are fun but rarely come true. It seems every year there's always 4-5 teams close to the end of the season with the same records and a lot of what-if's. Last year was one of the few years we were left with some true controversy. Attrition usually winds up separating the contenders from the pretenders.