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USC football is No. 1

By Mike Hiserman
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Yes, you read that headline correctly.

Less than two weeks after losing to 25 1/2-point underdog Oregon State, The Times’ Chris Dufresne reports today that the USC football team is No. 1 ... in one of the ratings offered by one of the men who runs one of the computers calculated into the Bowl Championship Series standings.

OK, that’s a little bit of a stretch -- but still bizarre.

In Jeff Sagarin’s USA Today rankings, the Trojans are No. 1 ... and No. 16. They’re No. 1 when margin of victory is figured into the calculation, but drop 15 spots when MOV is removed from the equation.

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Trojans mashers can relax, though. The Sagarin rating without the margin is the one calculated into the BCS figures.

-- Mike Hiserman

Sports Now
Mike Hiserman

Mike Hiserman is former Sports editor of the Los Angeles Times. He wrote for the Long Beach Press Telegram and Orange County Register before joining The Times in 1982 and won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for investigative reporting on betting scams. Hiserman has been Sports editor of The Times’ San Fernando Valley and Orange County editions. He retired in November 2020.

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