Ode to the Pac-10

USC made the closing arguments for their case to be in the BCS National Championship game new years day in vain. For the third year in a row they steamrolled the Big Ten team that was tossed to them in the Rose Bowl, excuse me, the Trojan bowl. USC was so dominant in this game that the biggest accomplishment for Penn State was the excellent playing of Bohemian Rhapsody by the band during halftime. Everyone who knows anything about college football knows USC is good, everyone who is a part of the college football nation knows USC is just plain scary. Everyone who likes Queen enjoyed the Penn State band. Earlier this season the loss to Oreron State was the reason for a nationwide exhale. Under thursday night lights fans of Alabama, Florida, Penn State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Texas all toasted each other because perhaps, if they made the National Championship game, they wouldn't be looking at Trojans on the other sideline.

The case presented by USC was good, but it should not change as many minds as the what the rest of the Pac-10 did. An undefeated bowl season is a hell of an accomplishment for any conference, something the west coast can hang a hat on for a long time. But the fashion in which the Pac-10 competed this bowl season was more impressive than just going 5-0. It starts with the blowout in the Trojan Bowl. Next most impressive is the Oregon upset win against a very, very good Oklahoma State team. Oregon State upset Pittsburgh in a 3-0 barnburner that still baffles me. Arizona upset BYU and looked every bit the better team the entire time they were doing it. California also won a close game against Miami. The Pac-10 can close a game out, they can pull the upset, they can bowl an underdog opponent over, they can win a game when they score only three points, they can show everyone in the nation that "weak conference" belongs to someone else.

So now what? What happens after USC was kept from National Title game chatter because of the "weak conference schedule." That conference schedule doesn't look so bad anymore does it. The loss to Oregon State, now a top 15 team, looks better than a Florida loss to Ole' Miss to me. Not to mention an extremely tough non-conference schedule. Don't get me wrong when reading this, I am not a USC fan, I am a Longhorn fan. A bowl season like this from the Pac-10 and USC takes away from the already slim chances of a AP National Championship for Texas. But it has to be said. The BCS beat USC. (I stole that from a newspaper I cannot recall).

Earlier in the season Pete Carroll said he did not understand the BCS, the truth is he understood it completely, and simply disagreed with it. The system will not allow USC or Texas Tech, Texas, Alabama, Utah and Boise State to have a fair chance. The Pac-10 made a bigger case for playoffs in one bowl season than any press conference complaining. I cannot change the current system, but there is something small that I can do.

Dear Pac-10, I am sorry.