Thursday, December 30, 2004

So far, My Football Instincts are Right

The PAC-10 is beginning to look like the over rated conference I've been suspecting they are. UCLA lost to Wyoming in the Las Vegas Bowl last week. I won't say that this game alone says much about either conference on whole, but it's worth mentioning.

It gets interesting after seeing California getting spanked by Texas Tech 45-31 in the Holiday Bowl tonight. Texas Tech was ranked 21st going into this game. Cal was ranked 4th and they were whining about how they didn't get into the Rose Bowl (Texas is in the Rose Bowl, they beat Texas Tech 51-21 in the regular season). After their performance in this game, I'd say they're lucky they made the Holiday Bowl. Going into this game, Cal's defense was giving up an average of 292 yards per game. Texas Tech put up over 300 passing yards in the first half. By the end of the game, Tech had laid the wood to Cal with 594 yards of total offense.

Compare the Holiday Bowl stats to the stats from the only other game Cal lost this year (at USC). Cal statistically dominated every measurable aspect of the USC game except the one that counted (the scoreboard, my favorite). Now, consider for a moment, the fact that Texas Tech is in the same conference as Oklahoma (Big 12) and Cal is in the same conference as USC (PAC-10).

Memo to USC: be afraid, be very afraid.

Personally, I think Auburn could beat USC and Oklahoma.

3 comments:

RPM said...

So what *are* your instincts? That Pac-10 is not a good conference? And that Big-12 is?

Its a good thing you are keeping these 'instincts' limited to your blogs because if you say it with some intelligent people around, you will be laughed at.

Bowls are known for upsets. That ucla lost to Wyoming and Cal lost to TT does not imply Pac-10 is weak. The conference strength comes from the 11-12 games that are played through the season. Just one last game does not determine the strength or lack thereof of a conference.

The fools in the SEC are living in a dream world where the SEC is the mightiest of all conferences. Its not, and deal with it. SEC has 7 out of 12 teams bowl-eligible? Big-12 has 4 out of 12? Pac-10 has 5 out of 10...

And as for whether Auburn can or cannot beat USC and Oklahoma, no one can tell. The fact is that Auburn is not in the National Championship and by the fact that USC and OU are #1 and #2, the winner of this game will be the BCS National Champion as well as AP National Champion. Auburn should just hope that they win their bowl so they have something to talk about next year.

For now, I am going to sit back, relax and enjoy the game that USC should have played last year. The BCS National Championship.

RPM said...

I did not comment about 'be afraid, USC' till the game was over because I wanted the result to speak for itself.

No denying, right? Let's see what happens next year now.

Ragin-Cajun said...

Memo to USC: Please disregard my first memo. In hindsight it should have read, "Please don't hurt yourselves dancing in the end zone."