Thoughts on USC/Oregon St.

Wow! What a shocker! Though the Beavers have beat the Trojans in Corvallis two out of the last 3 times they've played, I thought SC would win last night. USC's offensive line was the weakness on offense. The Trojans couldn't get a consistent ground game going and Mark Sanchez had no time to throw. Also, Sanchez kept looking for the big play rather than the short stuff. There were a few times when he had a TE open short, but ignored him in favor of trying to hit a receiver deep. The defense was uncharacteristically bad. They couldn't stop the run to save their lives!

The BCS implications of this loss are huge. Because they are in a weak conference this year, USC had to go undefeated to ensure a spot in the BCS championship game. If a team from the SEC and a team from the Big 12 have 1 loss they will be favored to play in the game rather than USC because of conference strength. USC cannot afford to lose another game this year and hope that everyone from the Big 12 and SEC have 2+ losses to have a chance at this point. This game was a great example of why I love inter-conference play, these teams know each other! Ohio St. may have been intimidated by USC, but Oregon St. knows what there up against and that the Trojans are beatable.