Attention Nitpickers: USC Only Fell Behind, Not Apart

Is USC really in trouble?

C’mon now, let’s hold those Trojan horses.

The nitpicking over USC’s apparently too-close-to-call 45-13 victory at Oregon Saturday is akin to five guys in a pool hall arguing over whether Tyra Banks wears too much makeup.

One Internet columnist opined Sunday that the Trojans’ 32-point road victory against a ranked team at an outrageously imposing venue was proof their chances of a three-Pete could be in jeopardy.

Actually, USC’s hopes of winning three straight national titles are going to be difficult only because it hasn’t been done before.

The time to start worrying whether USC is vulnerable is:

A. When the Trojans lose a game (and even that didn’t stop them from winning a share of the title two years ago).

B. When the Trojans almost lose a game.

C. Not when USC trails in a game.

Can the Trojans lose this year?

You bet your Jon Arnett, but, just to be clear, they did not almost lose Saturday.

The real scuttlebutt emerging from this weekend concerns other unbeaten schools and what they’re trying to pull over our eyes -- sort of like Louisville after Oregon State but before it met South Florida.

There are outfits, frankly, that are contenders and others that, by law, should be kept 100 yards from all polling stations.

Here is a by-conference assessment of the unbeaten schools.

Pacific 10:

Buying it -- USC, UCLA.

Not buying it -- California, Washington State. Based on the schedule, Cal is the weakest 4-0 this side of State College, Pa. Roughing up Sacramento State by roughly the same score by which UC Davis defeated Sacramento State (41-3 versus 37-7) is not a good enough reason to be No. 11 in this week’s first Harris poll.

Washington State recently defeated Grambling, true, but it wasn’t 1955 and Eddie Robinson wasn’t coaching.

Big Ten:

Buying it -- Michigan State, Wisconsin.

Almost buying it -- Minnesota (Warning: the Gophers started 5-0 last year and lost five of their last seven).

Not buying it -- Penn State (be sure to catch the season opener Saturday, at home, against Minnesota) and Indiana (the Hoosiers are Illinois waiting to happen -- without the offensive mascot issue).

Southeastern:

Buying it -- Florida, Georgia, Louisiana State (as much as you can buy something that plays its second game tonight).

Not buying it -- Alabama, Vanderbilt. Grantland Rice is one of Vandy’s most famous alums, but there’s nothing about this 4-0 that makes you think of the four horsemen.

Big East:

Not buying it -- West Virginia. You won’t be buying either next week when the Mountaineers lose to Virginia Tech.

Big 12:

Buying it -- Iowa State, Texas.

Not buying it -- Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State. After that win over Indiana State, look for Texas Tech to jump to No. 1 in this week’s Division I-AA rankings.

Atlantic Coast:

Buying it -- Florida State, Virginia Tech. The problem is, in the new divisional format, one of these teams is going to lose when they meet in the first ACC title game.

Not buying it -- Virginia.

Not buying it, non-BCS conference division -- Toledo (Mid-American) and Texas El Paso (Conference USA).

Harris Is Here

It’s already obvious that a few of the voters in the first-year Harris poll have no business being on the panel.

How else can you explain Idaho, at 0-4, getting five votes while Kansas State and Toledo, a combined 6-0, got three votes each?

Or Arizona, at 1-2, with its only victory over Northern Arizona, listed among “other teams receiving votes”?

How can people trust the top of this poll if elements of the bottom are fraudulent?

The shame is that BCS officials chickened out and did not demand that all weekly Harris votes be made public -- only the final tally in December will be released.

At least you knew where everyone stood when the Associated Press poll was involved because the voters were held publicly accountable.

You could call the guy who voted for 0-4 Idaho and inquire: “What were you smoking?”

Or maybe the Harris operator taking the voter’s call Sunday mistook “Idaho” for “I don’t know” when jotting down the information.

You know how sketchy cellphone reception can be.

As for the critical teams involved, there are only minor differences between the first Harris poll and AP. Both rankings have USC, Texas and Virginia Tech as their top three schools. Harris has Florida at No. 4 and Louisiana State at No. 5; AP has those teams flip-flopped.

Weekend Wrap

Washington Coach Tyrone Willingham did not prevail against his former team Saturday, but he obviously knows enough about the Irish personnel to understand the way you beat Notre Dame is to throw deep against its secondary. This week’s exit-poll question: If Isaiah Stanback can throw for 353 yards against Notre Dame, can Matt Leinart throw for 600?

More poll chuckles: How is it that Louisville, a wipeout loser to South Florida, and Georgia Tech, a wipeout loser to Virginia Tech, can still be ranked in the writers’ and coaches’ polls? Harris did not include Georgia Tech in its first poll but did have Louisville at No. 24.

The Big East, which was praying Pittsburgh and Louisville could hold up the banner for the weakest BCS conference, may want to switch to voodoo. Pitt lost three straight to open the season and Louisville, which once looked like a longshot national-title contender, is not one now.

The Big East champion, remember, still receives an automatic major-bowl berth, which is going to tick off some 11-1 team that gets left out of the BCS bowl mix.