The most hyped college game since....the last time they decided to hype a college game.

Any thoughts on this one? USC is a 6.5 point favorite.

Texas and the under, but I know really nothing about College Football. I'm just playing it because I feel USC is incredibly overrated because they played a fairly weak schedule (barely beat ND? come on...) and play in a weak as fuck conference

I hope it's a blow out early so everyone can just STFU.

I also hope Texas blows out USC early, so I don't need to head down to the bars for the 2nd half.
I'm really sick of hearing USC being proclaimed the greatest team ever. They barely got past Fresno State and Notre Dame, two teams that looked pretty crappy in their bowls game and didn't have any defense.
The blowout wins against Oregon and UCLA aren't impressive any more either after both struggled in their bowl games, and the ducks lost

1995 Nebraska should still be viewed as the greatest, they beat four top ten teams in one year and no score being closer than 14 points the whole year. I'd give 2001 Miami more support for being the best team ever than this USC team. I'd even say last year's Trojan team was better.

I am not a Horns fan by any means, I'm just supporting the Big 12.

Yeah, BUT USC has this tendacy to play up/down to the level of their competition to the point where Pete Carroll had some quote about "not even caring if we get down in the first half of games" earlier this season.

As much as the evidence suggests Texas in the game, its just so damn hard to pick against USC----they seem to have this thibg for pulling it out in big games. Bastards.



I'm with you here. That '95 Huskers team is definitely one of the three or four best college teams ever and maybe the best. They RAPED the best Florida team Ive ever seen that year. Ugly.

2001 Miami, 1992 Alabama, and a few others come to mind as well.[/quote]

USC has reached the Patriots/Duke Basketball/Yankees level, where I don't count them out for anything until they have been eliminated.

That being said, I just have this feeling that Texas can beat them. I haven't watched either that much, but watching USC give up 87 points to Fresno was pretty bad.

Call me crazy, but I'm also not entirely sold on Reggie Bush as an automatic surefire NFL Hall of Famer right out of the gate. He's got some gifts, but the pro game moves a couple steps faster than Arizona.

I got my first speeding ticket (88 in a 55) listening to that game on the radio.

Although I really hate USC (the University of Second Choice... all the kids from Pasadena and San Marino who couldn't get into Stanford). UCLA sports was a religion in our house. But I think it's true that USC plays to the level of its competition (except in the UCLA game, in which the Bruins totally fell apart)... and will win this game by more than ten points. If anything, Texas is overrated.... my guess is Penn State might beat them. And Bush overrated? Are you high? He that hath eyes, let him see.

We'll see in a couple of hours.

You also have to take into account that the Ducks lost their starting QB for the season a few games after the USC game - while the 2 backups are decent QBs they weren't up to Clemens level. Also, the Ducks were only a slightly higher pass away from beating a decent Oklahoma team in that Holiday Bowl matchup.(Of course Texas KILLED Oklahoma earlier in the year)

This should definitely be a good game - I think that overall USC is more powerful Offensively, but that may be countered well by an OUTSTANDING Texas Defense.

I'm still praying from some way for both teams to lose.

Of course you can't annoint the guy as a surefire HOF'er without him playing a single game in the pros - but what you need to realize is that Bush is MORE than just a "couple steps faster than Arizona" as you put it....the guy had 513 total yards in ONE GAME this season.....when was the last time you remember somebody else getting that sort of production. People talk about special players having an "extra gear" that they shift into when the going gets tough or they need to break away - I think this guy has another set of gears entirely. Barring injury, he'll be VERY special in the years to come.

this crap needs to end so i can get some goddamn basketball on my tv set.

i dunno, Mike Vick, Barry Sanders, Hershel? Its college football, dude. Players can dominate and then not even sniff the NFL. Not that I think that that is the case with Reggie Bush, but keep your pants on.

and you, pipe down!

I have a hard time seeing Texas as overrated this year, except for the Oklahoma State game and their rivalry game against A&M, they came out and annihilated everyone. While Oklahoma was far from the dominant team they have had the last few years, the Longhorns did not struggle against their nemesis that has beaten them many a time recently.
The only way I can knock the Longhorns, is a knock at USC as well. The Sooners who beat the Ducks barely beat a Nebraska team that struggled mightily during the year to put points on the board in the first half. Nebraska came back and nearly beat the Sooners, without the bad call that led Callihan to use a throat slashing gesture, Nebraska would have won.
As a Husker fan I can say we would have never competed with Texas this year, and as I doubt we could hang with the Trojans, I think Nebraska could have played a closer game against USC in Lincoln than we would have against Texas in Lincoln.
I think Texas being able to beat Ohio State on the road says alot about the Longhorns this year. Texas would usually choke against a Big time opponent like that, sort of like they did against UCLA in the late 90's.

Dominant? Besides the team that beat FSU, those OU teams got the crap kicked out of them in championship games. The Big 12 is as much a paper tiger as the PAC10 and you know it.

This is the way I see the match up.
1. Coaching - Mack Brown is a used car salesman as a head coach. Pete Carroll's staff will outcoach everyone not named Gene Chisk(sp) on the Texas team
2. Offense - I actually think that these teams are pretty equal on offense with a slight edge to USC.
3. Defense - Texas is very superior on the defensive side of the ball.
4. Special teams - USC easily.
5. Intangibles - Hard to tell. I can see this one both ways. USC should have a homefield advantage, but I think this one is up for grabs.

I don't know how this one is gonna go, but I predict USC 28-24.

So, I put the mortgage payment on Texas +6.5 despite disagreeing with about half of your premises?

Fuck, I gotta lay off this one.

I'll agree OU was owned by USC last year, but LSU beat OU by a touchdown in Louisiana, that doesn't say a whole lot. Jason White was a gimpy QB and the Tigers had a great Defense.
The Big 12 has clearly looked awful in title games, 2001 Nebraska and 2004 Oklahoma, but Texas in the Rose Bowl last year, OU in the Rose Bowl in 2002 and Nebraska in the Orange Bowl in 1999 all looked pretty good in BCS games.
I don't think the SEC can say a whole lot either except for the fact they sort of got screwed out of a BCS title appearance last year. My Huskers have always looked pretty good against the SEC in major bowls, with the exception of the Tide coached by Bear Bryant.

If this game was played anywhere but LA, I'd say Texas would win it by ten.

Troy Edwards (La Tech) put up 424 all-purpose yards against Nebraska, which even in an off year is better than Fresno State, in 1998. Reggie Cambpell (Navy) just put up 5 TD in a bowl game. Barry Sanders is the only other player to do that. Most rushing touchdowns in game? Remember Howard Griffith (Illinois)?

So Bush had 513 yards in ONE GAME. College football is susceptible to huge games like that. My point isn't that Bush doesn't have talent, but moreso how well will that talent translate into the bigger and faster NFL. I don't know. But I'm tired of everyone tonguing his chode as if he's the love child of Jim Brown and Barry Sanders. In the Pac-10, Bush can get with away with those moves that normally only happen in video games. I'm not so sure how well a switching the ball behind your back and reversing field is going to work in the pros.

His speed is 4.25 in the 40... and that doesn't begin to describe his quickness. The Pac10 may justifiably be criticized because it isn't tough, or play strong defenses, but its speed, in skills positions, isn't its weakness.

"Guess which college conferences have produced the most Super Bowl MVPs? It's a tie between the Pac-10 and the SEC. Each have six Super Bowl MVPs come from their conference."

I don't think that LSU game was a close as the score or the way you make it seem. But I'm a homer.

Don't lay off, dude. Do it! If I was single and could afford it, I'd slap a Benjamin on Texas (+6.5) in a second. Last line I saw was 7. That's be even better.

meh. i'm over gambling on bowl games.

the pac-10 may not be the toughest league but they hang pretty well in bowl games. plus it is some entertaining football. i love some 42-35 games.

i am gettin drunk over at a friend's house - party time.