Once again, we have so many football fans in the South disregarding the BCS Rankings and the other major rankings in college football. They are just giving too much credit to the Pac 10. No matter what it is in life, there is always a good rule of thumb you can follow. If you ever want to get to the bottom of something, just follow the money. Where does the money in college football lead to? For about a decade now, the boosters and a very wealthy and powerful group associated with the USC Trojan football program is where all the money starts and ends in college football. You can just follow the USC football program over the past few years and see how they continue to get way too much credit, for a program that is mediocre at best.

Go back to Vince Young and their underdog team the Texas Longhorns, facing the mighty Trojans and Matt Leniert, who were easy favorites to win the National Championship. No way did the Longhorns have a chance to win this title game in college football. One team that did match up better against Matt Leniert (who has never found his way in the NFL yet) was the Auburn Tigers. The SEC team from Southern Alabama had a couple of good tailbacks in Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown; along with a talented QB in Jason Campbell. These 3 players from Auburn have all 3 been the starting RB for their NFL teams (Williams – Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Bown – Miami Dolphins) or the starting QB  for his NFL team (Campbell – Washington); while star QB Leniert from USC has not been able to hold a starter or solid back-up role in the NFL. How could these 3 players be kept from a shot at playing a 1 star USC Trojan team in the title game a few years back? This is simple. The Auburn Tigers was the best team that year and the Longhorns or Trojans couldn’t have beat them. It made for a better game to put the 2nd and 3rd place teams in a National Title Game; than to let Auburn play.

The SEC can’t produce undefeated teams. It’s just too tough, with all the good teams in the Southeastern Conference. When one does manage to “luck up” and go undefeated, it’s a no-brainer to put them on the National Stage in the College Championship Football Game. The SEC has won the last 4 college football championships, because the best talent plays in the South. This is a fact and not a bias southern opinion.

What screws everything up, each year, is people like Kirk Herbstreet, who puts way to much of his air-time on TV, to talk and pump up the Nation about the USC team and the other PAC 10 football programs. Herbstreet doesn’t hide the fact he is (or was) a big fan of the USC football program. His ties with Pete Caroll ran deep and not only did Caroll cheat college football and the fans and players associated with the USC Trojan team, but Kirk Herbstreet played a financial role in this college football scam too. Herbstreet has been paid very well for his tongue and the words he has pushed for on the TV air waves. To promote the Country on the super talent, the super teams, and the super program in Southern California; which make up the Pac10 Conference in college football. The truth is the Pac 10 is very weak and for most years over the last decade or so, the Pac 10 isn’t even one of the top 4 NFL Conferences in college football. I think they may have been 5th best conference in 2 of the last 10 years and the other 8 years, clearly not even a top 5 conference in college football.

So who benefits? Well once everything gets pushed and moved around and USC fails to make another appearance in the BCS Title Game, the power shifts and another PAC 10 team gets rewarded for the bogus rankings, that get pushed on to USC and their opponents; which is mainly Pac 10 football teams.

Have I lost you yet? Well with all of that said, you can still break it down year by year and see how USC is the direct blame. It is their group of wealthy fans and boosters; which pay money to the football program and to the players, coaches, media personalities like ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreet, and to those who hold a vote in the college football ranking system. All of this money gets pushed into places, where USC is guaranteed a higher ranking than any other school who matches their season’s record.

Before I can show you how Oregon is the clear number 1 choice in the Rankings (even though they shouldn’t be), I have to show you where USC plays key roles in this year’s cheating scheme of 2010. It’s really hard to understand how USC could have worked their way into the top 25; when there is clearly 30 teams or more in college football, who are better than them.

USC Trojans AP Top 25 – 14th in the Country. The USA Today Rankings don’t even see them as a top 25 team. How does this happen? First, no way did USC have enough coming back from their horrible season last year, to warrant a top 25 spot, much less 14th! USA Today has it right, since this team has a new coach and no big talent returning. This is the PRESEASON RANKINGS.

Week 1 – USC travels to Hawaii and beats them by 13 points. Even though USC gave up 36 points on defense, they beat a 9 – 3 football team on their own field. This is a descent win for USC. The AP drops USC 2 spots to the number 16 team in the country (little unfair and USC should have kept their previous ranking). USA Today Ranking still does not put them in the top 25.

Week 2 – USC wins at home against Virginia who is a 4 and 8 football team this year. USC wins by 3 points (17 to 14) despite this 4 and 8 football team from the ACC gaining more yards than USC and had 4 more first downs; while playing on the road in a hostile environment. The Virginia Cavaliers is one of the weakest teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference and are actually listed last, in their ACC rankings. AP Top 25 drops them down 2 more sports (deserved it) and the USA Today still does not have them on the Top 25 radar, after winning their first two games. Seems to be a big difference in opinion. One system starts at 14 and now has them 18 with 2 wins and the other just ignores them.

Week 3- USC beats an unranked Minnesota team by 11 points on the road. Now things are getting strange! USC drops 2 more spots in the AP Top 25??? A poll that saw them as the 14th best team in the country and this 14th ranked team wins their first two games, two descent road wins and a shameful home win and again USC drops 2 spots to number 20 in the country. The guys at USA Today still don’t see wasting their ink on them and USC fails for again to make the top 25 teams here.

Week 4- USC travels to Washington State and blows out a 2-9 Pac 10 team. Now the AP 25 Poll awards USC for this win and moves them back up 2 spots to the number 18 team in the country. This is disturbing that USC beats 3 non-Pac10 teams and drop 2 spots each week. Suddenly a Pac 10 opponent appears on the schedule and they get awarded 2 spots in the poll for beating them? USA Today still leaves USC off their rankings. A 4-0 team is not ranked on USA Today; while the AP has kept them in the top 20 all year long and gave them lots of help, by ranking them 14th in the preseason polls. Things really begin to stink here, if it wasn’t already, and here is proof the Pac 10 gets too much credit in football. The AP Poll has found a way to take a shot at the ACC; while giving the Pac 10 a boost. USC loses 2 spots for beating a weak ACC team. Then turns around and awards them 2 spots for beating a weak Pac 10 school. This is part of the math calculations and cheating; which takes place on the Pac 10 side of things in college football.

Week 5-  USC suffers their first loss of the season. They get beat at home by Washington (Pac10 school) . The Huskies are a 5 and 6 team and a below .500 team has just went into USC and beat them on their own home field. You know USA Today will keep them off the list for another week and the AP 25 finally is able to push them off of their list and now the USC Trojans are no longer ranked on anyone’s list as a top 25 school. As you can see, overall record of 4 and 1 isn’t bad, but no competition and with a weak schedule, they have lost 1 home game and won another home game by 3 points, to the worse ACC Team.

Week 6- USC losses for a 2nd straight week. Finally they play a rank team in number 16 Stanford, but should Stanford be the 16th best team in the country at this point? USC and Stanford both had the same record at 4 and 1. USC unranked; while Stanford was all the way up in 16th place with their 4 wins over Sacramento State, UCLA, Wake Forrest, and Notre Dame. They did not have a win over any top 25 team and their 1 loss was to a Pac 10 team Oregon. In comparison, the South Carolina Gamecocks (SEC school) had played 1 less game on the schedule, but they had 1 loss to Auburn and had beat number 22 Georgia (top 25 school). South Carolina is number 19 in the country with a win over a top 25 team; while Stanford has beat no top 25 teams. Right here is a problem. Stanford from a weaker PAC 10 conference is being given more credit than a SEC school; when the SEC team has a victory over a top 25 team. So Stanford because a PAC 10 springboard; which this conference needs, so they can keep up with the SEC. No poll has USC ranked for a 2nd straight week.

Week 7- After losing two straight, USC gets back to winning against a Pac 10 California team who is unranked. The Golden Bears is a 5 and 7 team this year, so another team below .500 for this year. Nothing impressive here and neither poll awards USC for their win; which they shouldn’t have.

Week 8 – USC’ BYE WEEK – The team played against no one. Both polls keep USC unranked.

Week 9 – Time to play the number 1 team in the country. Nice for USC to have a bye week, before such an important game. Oregon comes in to USC’s stadium and beats them by 21 points. If you beat a team by 21 points, that’s a convincing win, right? If you beat them by this margin on their own home field, it leaves no room for doubt, that this was a solid win and the home team deserves no credit. However, we now see USC move back into the top 25 AP poll? How could this be? Sure you played the number 1 team in the nation, so you’re expected to get beat. If you only get beat by a field goal or a touchdown, it could show some signs of strength. This did NOT happen! USC got beat by 3 touchdowns and they had home field advantage! Some interesting stats developed in this game too.

*Oregon produced exactly 222 more yards on offense than USC did. That is amazing in it self, but what if I told you that the USC Trojans had the ball on offense for 5 minutes and 10 seconds longer than the Oregon Ducks? Did the Pac10 officials try to help USC win this game? USC had 3 flags threw at them the whole game and they got penalized for only 22 yards. While Oregon got flagged 8 times for 85 yards. Oregon almost had 3 times as many flags against them; and was 3 yards shy of having 4 times the amount of yardage subtracted from them. I believe the Pac 10 officials working this game, was in favor and took bribes to try and help the home team USC to win this game or at least to keep it close.

History of USC Flags and Penalty Yards Before the Oregon Game:

1. @ Hawaii -  11 Flags = 100 yards

2. Virginia – 13 Flags = 150 yards

3. @ Minnesota – 7 Flags = 71 yards

4. @ Washington State -  5 Flags = 39 yards (Opponent 2 flags = 15 yards) Refs Let Them Play Here

5. Washington -  5 Flags = 49 yards

6. @ Stanford – 8 Flags – 53 yards

7. California – 8 Flags – 54 yards

8. Oregon – 3 Flags – 22 yards (opponent 8 flags = 85 yards) Either 1st or 2nd game for USC to have lower flags/penalty yards than their opponent.

I won’t push too much on the corruption angle here. Even though USC got the bye week before playing Oregon and the referees did lend more help to the Trojan football team; than their northern Pac 10 opponents got. Oregon did have 9 days to prepare for this game, but USC still got 5 more, as they benefited from a full two weeks of preparations.

The main point I wanted to make about the bye week and the ref’s giving USC all the calls, is the fact, that USC still lost this game by a considerable margin.

*Homefield Advantage

*Awarded 63 More Yards by Officials wth Penalty Flags

*Controlled Ball on Offense 5+ Minutes

These 3 things in a football game, can help a team to win or make it a closer game than it should. USC got beat by 21 points and gave up 50+ points, to a team that had the football 5 less minutes than they did. In no way should USC should have moved up in the polls.

Now comes the most disturbing part of my debate. I have walked you guys through each week of the season up to this point. After USC loses this game to the number 1 Oregon team, I have them calculated as moving up from no rankings in the AP Top 25, to the number 24 team in the Country. I know my “Week 1″ , “Week 2″, etc.. might be a little confusing, but I first showed the preseason ranking with USC number 14 in the AP Top 25 Poll. Then I start with “Week 1″ for the first game USC played. Based on that result, I go ahead and include the Sunday ranking decision on my Week 1 statements.

If you tracked this online at Yahoo, you would see they go from a “preseason ranking” to a “2″, “3″, “4″, etc… They never list “1″ on their rankings; while I did include a Week 1 on mine.

If you go to Yahoo Sports and look at Oregon’s season, you will see they got credit for beating the 24th ranked USC Trojans on their schedule. I don’t think this happened and I believe USC became 24, after losing to Oregon. I know, I know, that doesn’t make much sense, so obviously I am the one who is wrong and Yahoo has it listed correctly.

If this is true and I am wrong, it only goes to prove my corruption point further with the NCAA, Pac10, and the AP Top 25 Ranking. Why? Because let’s remember what happened to USC before the Oregon game. Nothing! Absolutely nothing happened before Oregon rolls into the Coliseum at USC, because the Trojans had a bye week!

So is the AP Top 25 Poll, trying to convince college teams, coaches, players, and college football fans; that the USC Trojans actually deserved to move up, not 1 to number 25, but up 2 spots from a unranked position, to the number 24 team in the Country, on their bye week?

SEC Teams are commonly losing ground in the rankings; on their bye weeks. It is not uncommon at all for a team who doesn’t play one Saturday, to actually lose spots. To move up, by not playing, would call for a lot of special circumstances. The USC Trojans had only played one team in the top 25 and that was Stanford, who was ranked 16 without a top 25 win; while South Carolina was 19th and they did have a top 25 win. In Stanford’s defense, you can give them credit, since South Carolina had a bye week and had played 1 less game. But if you go that route, it only hurts USC even more, by moving them up 2 spots; while they took a week off from college football.

Oregon has been given credit for beating a top 25 team (24 USC); while USC was ranked at number 18 in the AP, they lost their WEEK 5 Ranking; when they got beat by Washington. WEEK 6 Rankings show USC as an unranked team. They lose to Stanford for back to back loses, and continue to not be ranked in WEEK 7. They get back to winning and beat California, but the AP doesn’t view this as a quality win, and in WEEK 8, the USC Trojans are still not ranked. Now USC goes into their bye week, and the new rankings come out; which vault USC to number 24??? They moved up at least 2+ spots, to number 24 after playing nobody. Over their last 4 weeks of college football, they have lost 2 games, beat a California team, who had 2 losses and no wins over a top 25 school, and a bye week, and was not vaulted to any where after the California win, but received more credit, when they just didn’t play?

This is an obvious attempt, by the AP Poll and their voters, to give the Oregon team, a top 25 win. Oregon should not have credit for beating a top 25 team; when USC moved into number 24, after a bye week. You just can’t go from unranked to suddenly top 24 ranked, with a bye. Even with faulty top 25 win, does Oregon’s resume still look better than the Auburn Tigers? Not only does Oregon have the benefits of being ranked as the number 1 team getting ready to play the number 24 Trojans, but the AP at this point, has Boise State in 2nd place with 11 first place votes to Auburn’s 3 votes! And Oregon with 44 first place votes!

1. Oregon – 44 first place votes – 1 Top 25 Win (Stanford)

2. Boise State – 11 first place votes – 2 Top 25 Wins (Oregon State & Virginia Tech)

3. Auburn – 3 first place votes – 3 Top 25 Wins (South Carolina, Arkansas, LSU)

Now obviously the AP Voters are given some credit for margin of victory, as they should. But let’s keep in mind, this is the standings and votes after 8 games. Oregon has played only 1 top 25 school in 8 games and Auburn has met 3 top 25 schools in their first 8 games. Almost half of Auburn’s schedule has been with ranked opponents, so it’s a little tougher to win by wide margins, when you’re facing tougher opponents.

Auburn’s unranked opponents consist of teams like Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Clemson. They had 2 easy opponents in Arkansas State and and Louisiana Monroe; which they beat both easy by a combine score of 104 to 29.

Now let’s look at Oregon’s unranked teams, since they have 7 on their list, compared to 5 for Auburn. The good unranked teams Oregon beat in their first 8 games; were really no one!  Oregon beat Tennessee, who was able to win their last 4 games of the season to finish at .500. So Oregon really played the Volunteers when they were at their worse. Oregon beat Arizona State and they were 5 and 6 this season. Oregon beat the UCLA Bruins from the Pac 10 who was 4 and 7 this season. Oregon had wins over Portland State and New Mexico who finished a combine 3 wins and 20 loses for the season. And the only other win was against Washington State from the Pacific 10 Division in college football, who was 2 and 9 this season. After 8 games into the college football season, we have a team who beat a top 25 team and 1 team with a .500 record. They had 6 wins over teams who were under .500 and 2 teams with 2 wins and 2 teams with 1 win!

How exactly do you award 41 more first place votes to a team like that, against an Auburn team who has played 3 top 25 teams. Then won against a 8 -4 Mississippi State team, who is now ranked 22 in the country, really giving Auburn 4 wins over top 25 teams in their first 8 games. They beat 2 more .500 teams in Kentucky and Clemson. Beat Louisiana Monroe who had a 5 and 7 record this year and beat Arkansas State who had a 4 and 8 record. Auburn’s worse team two teams were 5 and 4 win teams. While Oregon played two 1 win teams.  Move up the ladder to the next two games and Auburn defeats a SEC and a ACC team (Kentucky and Clemson), who both finished with .500 records in two tough football conferences; while Oregon’s ladder goes into the 2 win teams. I mean really, Oregon played 4 teams in their first 8 games that finished the season with 2 wins or less. Auburn never played an opponent in those first 8 weeks of the season, who would end this year with 4 wins or more.

It’s important to point to this out, because Auburn’s competition level is 100X stronger than what Oregon had to face in these first 8 weeks and yet, they found 41 more first place votes! It’s just ridiculous and even more ridiculous when you see how USC made their way into the top 25, right before the Oregon game on a bye week.

Anyone in the country can compare the Auburn schedule with the Oregon schedule and see which team has faced tougher opponents. Yet, Oregon is ranked number 1 in the country and plays a weak in-state rival with Oregon State; which Herbstreet was quick to point out Saturday night, how this game is not a cake walk for Oregon, even though Oregon State had just got beat 38 to 0 earlier in the day. While once again, Auburn has the cards stacked up against them, as they have to face another top 25 team and play them on a neutral field in Atlanta, Georgia for the SEC Championship Game.

Auburn has already had to sit out of a championship game; while having a perfect season. No fair to make them jump through any more hurdles; when they have clearly deserved the first place votes and should be number 1 right now with a wide lead and some wiggle room.