roarlionsroar

Well it's taken a few days for the disappointment to settle a little bit. I'm not sure it will ever completely go away because I think this was one of the best PSU teams ever. Well some will say this team over-achieved I think they under-achieved. There is noone on this board or anywhere else in the world that can convince me that PSU got "blown out" in the Rose Bowl. Yes they got beat, and no it wasn't a fingernail chewing last second game deciding feild goal. However, this game was closer than most are giving it credit for.

1) Penn State only lost one quarter. The second. USC outscored PSU 24-0. The first quarter scoring was 7-7. The third quarter was 10-7 PSU and the fourth quarter was 7-0 PSU. Asside from about an 12 minute stretch of this game, PSU would have won. Now I realize the game is 60 minutes and you can't say that we would have won if not for those 12 minutes, I think the score by quarters shows this wasn't a blowout. Just because a couple announcers and some fans would love to anoint the Trojans the next coming of a legend does not make them superior. They won the game, but it was ridiculous for Brent Mussberger to proclaming the game " OVER" when there was several minutes before halftime. That was a slap in the face for all that is good about college football. Has there never been a game when someone came from behind a 24 point deficate? I mean we are talking about 2 premier football programs, not a division 2 school against a jugernaut. If this would have been Prarie View A&M against USC maybe that would have been warranted, but not against Penn State and Joe Paterno. Brent Mussberger you are a Douche! And for as much as I think Kirk Herbstreit has reformed, he isn't much better for calling the game before halftime.

2) USC fans are obnxoious for saying that they called off the dogs in the second half. NO THEY DIDN"T! I will give you that they may not have been running 45 yards pass patterns but don't let anyone kid you that slimy Pete Carrol was doing it out of respect for Joe Paterno. He was merely trying to protect a lead against a good football team who was more than capable of beating them giving some stupid turnovers. He also was not going to let Dirty Sanchez take a beating for no reason. If he was going to call off the dogs he would have substituted some players and let them play thier game, not vanillaed the offense down. His motivation had nothing  to do with respect. He is a classless weisel as is the entire team for thier actions during the game on the sideline and the field. If I was a booster for that program I would be calling for the entire coaching staff to be fired for allowing such disrespect during a game. Postgame celebrating is one thing. Lockerroom talk is one thing. Even a touchdown dance is one thing. But when the entire team does an orchestrated team line dance and is celebrating like they just won olympic gold or something during the second quarter it is inexcusable. Pete Carrol should have sent all of those goons to the lockerroom as soon as he saw that. Anything less is unsportsmanlike. Does anyone think that would have happened on the PSU sideline?

Regardless, at least Utah won so USC should see no share of any title. Let those two teams play 10 times and I think PSU wins 3 maybe 4.

At this point in time I don't think many people can argue that Alabama deserves to be ranked #1. I personally don't think they are the best team in the country, but right now they deserve the right to show the world otherwise. That being said there comes a great debate with who the second best team in the country is? The way I see it there are 7 teams in the country that all have some arguement that they deserve to be playing in the BCS championship game.

First off is UTAH.- I'm not a big fan of Mid-Majors. The best of the best mid-majors have proven time and again that they can compete with major programs. However, they have also proven that they cannot compete with the elite programs of the given year. Utah's win against Michigan early in the year is not nearlly as impressive as it would have been a couple years ago. In essence they beat a historically dominant program that has a below average team this year. I think Utah could beat alot of teams in the bottom 2/3 of the big conferences, maybe a couple teams in the top 2 or 3 of those conferences but they could never hang week in and week out against top programs. Even in the BIG-10 or PAC-10 they would 2 or 3 games.

FLORIDA- They look unbelievable right now. Almost video-game good. My problem with them is that while they look dominant now, they still lost to Ole Miss IN THE SWAMP. Ole Miss is not a good team. They had a good game but they are a bottom-dweller in the SEC. This loss is almost inexcusable. It's only 1 loss, so lets see how the other 1 loss teams have fared.

USC- Very similar to Florida. When they beat Ohio State they looked like the best team in the country. Then they got there teeth kicked in by Oregon State who now looks alot better than we thought they were. Fact is, Oregon st. is still a 3 loss team who got absolutely dismantled by PSU. USC didn't just lose that game because of stupid reasons, they got beat down the entire game. outplayed, outcoached! This loss is worse than Floridas although at least it was on the road.

PSU- Lost by 1 point on the road to a 4 loss Iowa team who's losses came by a combined 12 points. This game was played in 30 degree temps. with gusting winds. Miserable conditions, but par for the course in Big-10 football. Hard to imagine any offense in the country would be able to score 50 plus in those conditions. Regardless, PSU owns the game for 3 1/2 quarters, then gives it away. In my mind Iowa is a better team than both Oregon St. and Ole Miss hands down. PSU losses to a decent team on the road. This loss is better than Florida and USC's losses.

OKLAHOMA- Lost last quarter of the game to a very good texas team in a game they lead most of the way. No shame in this road loss at all.

TEXAS TECH- Gets absolutely destroyed and exposed on the road against Oklahoma. Of the big 3 in the BIG-12, this loss is the worst and thus they are behind the other two.

TEXAS- Losses in Lubbock on a last second play that never should have happened. I put Texas ahead of Oklahoma because they won the head to head.

If you look at the games the teams have played and take no reputation into account or percieved greatness my top 8 looks like this:

1) Alabama

2)Texas

3)Oklahoma

4)PSU

5)Florida

6)USC

7)Texas Tech

8)Utah

now we all know this is not what the ranking will look like come Sunday night, let alone January, but this is how the teams should be ranked based on thier performance this year. All apoligies go out to Utah because they have done everything they can, but I'm sorry they should be happy with a top 10 ranking because that's what they deserve. They are not a Top 5 team, let alone a BCS Champ. team.