Los Angeles – You don’t need the Bowl Championship Series to tell you what the best one-loss team in the country is, although Sunday’s latest BCS rankings prove it.
Southern California’s 44-24 whipping of explosive Notre Dame on Saturday night pretty much shut up everybody outside the hamlets of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Gainesville, Fla. That result earned enough points in the BCS computers to jump the cardinal-hot 10-1 Trojans over Michigan (11-1) into the required No. 2 spot with one game left.
Only a win at UCLA (6-5) on Saturday is needed to pit USC against top-ranked Ohio State (12-0) in the BCS title game Jan. 8. Who can deny this would be a classic matchup? Who can deny it would be better than a Michigan-Ohio State rematch? Who can deny it would be closer than Ohio State playing a Florida team that, in its past six games, lost to its only ranked opponent and couldn’t beat any of the others by more than a touchdown, except I-AA Western Carolina?
In a four-game gauntlet, including California, Oregon and Notre Dame, all ranked at the time, USC has rolled, 144-43. John David Booty has nine touchdown passes against three interceptions, and Dwayne Jarrett on Saturday looked like the best receiver in the country.
If they played today on a neutral field, I would take USC by double figures over Florida and by a chin strap over Michigan. And Michigan already blew its chance against Ohio State. It’s USC’s turn.
“We’re great and good enough to compete with anybody,” USC linebacker Oscar Lua said after the Notre Dame game. “This proves we’re more than capable of competing in Arizona. Do I think we can be as good as last year? No, we can be better.”
Playoff push
It’s a little late to help his Gators this season, but Florida president Bernie Machen is brainstorming a proposed eight-team playoff with Florida State president T.K. Wetherell and will present it to the NCAA. Fourth-ranked Florida squeaked by unranked FSU 21-14, and must beat Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Championship game and hope UCLA upsets USC for a chance at the title game.
Wetherell, a Florida State player from 1963-67, said he wants to eliminate the 12th game and use the bowls in an eight-team playoff with a possibility of expanding it to 16 games.
“You can do things like use the Rose, Orange, Cotton, Gator … whatever bowls you want and rotate them into different rounds each year,” Wetherell told The Gainesville Sun. “And we have to get rid of the 12th game. That’s just a way for the NCAA to pay off smaller schools in games that aren’t just bad, a lot of times they’re so bad they should have never been considered in the first place.”
However, the BCS has a deal with Fox Sports to use the present format through the 2010 season.
UCLA’s chances
The Bruins were a disappointment by midseason but have whipped Oregon State 25-7 and Arizona State 24-12 in their past two games. Their defense no longer gets run over. It leads the Pacific 10 in rush defense (93.1 yards per game) and sacks (3.4 per game) and is second in scoring defense (18.7 per game).
But the Bruins also have lost seven straight to USC, including 66-19 last year.
Coker downfall
The bottom line with Larry Coker’s downfall at Miami is his career there looks like one of my old tech stocks. His records: 12-0, 12-1, 11-2, 9-3, 9-3, 6-6. This despite top-15 recruiting classes after the national title-game years.
“What’s hurt them is Florida, where Urban Meyer has done such a tremendous job and whittled away at some of the South Florida classes,” said recruiting analyst Jeremy Crabtree of Rivals.com. “(Coker) has recruited well, but maybe not in certain positions such as the offensive line. And at quarterback, recruiting has been a big headache.”
The question is, who would ever take the job? Rutgers’ Gary Schiano, Georgia’s Mark Richt, Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville and Steve Spurrier at South Carolina, all with Miami or Florida connections, said no. Why wouldn’t they? Even Rutgers is a better job, particularly with Schiano dominating the rich New Jersey recruiting market.
Footnotes
As expected, it appears Iowa State is leaning toward hiring Central Michigan coach Brian Kelly, while Michigan State is leaning toward Cincinnati’s Mark Dantonio. … With North Carolina State firing Chuck Amato, expect the Wolfpack to go after Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow, Amato’s offensive coordinator in 2000, when he coached San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers.
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
