No Time For Trojan Horseplay

Matt Barkley always sports a captivating smile, and in hindsight, this was supposed to be the time of the season when the freshman quarterback could finally take his foot off the gas. 

USC has managed to fight through what was predicted to be their two toughest games with a victory while managing to only give up one annual loss to an unranked opponent early in the season.

That was then, and this is now.

The Trojans are facing a pretty stark reality in the coming weeks.  Notre Dame really is a hard-fighting underdog squad this year and will certainly be nothing like the dismal disgrace that strolled into the Coliseum with pre-packed bags last season.  And that game will be USC's third major contest on the road. 

Perhaps I shouldn't be too concerned as it looks like Troy has gotten used to long distance battle following Cal, but "Big Balls Pete" seems to really do his worst in the road games he should definitely win. 

Also someone told me that game is a rivalry... confirm/deny?

What looked like two major road games to start the season for USC has quickly turned into four, and they're about to catch the bigger ones on the second half of the season.  The biggest one is an epic matchup that no one would have predicted three weeks ago, but with Oregon putting up thirty-five plus point victories over Cal and Washington State (higher margins that the Trojans could obtain), the Ducks may be the Pac-10 team to beat. 

The fact that they have home field advantage on Halloween should scare the bajeezus out of any Cardinal and Gold wearer nationwide.

Troy has its fate in its own hands.  Win out and they'll have an excellent case for going to the National Title game. 

Beating former coach Steve Sarkisian really would have helped, but ousting Charlie Weiss and Chip Kelly's squads should make up for it in the eyes of educated voters.  As it stands, the Trojans are one loss away from the Holiday Bowl. 

If they don't lose, they're Pac-10 champions again with a major argument for spot in the National Championship game.

My argument for that is a little controversial but it has a lot to do with strength of schedule.  As it stands now, the teams ranked above USC are Florida, Texas, Alabama, LSU, Virginia Tech, and Boise State. 

Presumably one of the three SEC teams will win that Mexican standoff and march into Pasadena ready to roll.  Virginia Tech has a solid chance of losing another game, but also with the strength of schedule argument, I think USC could vault them as a one-loss team.  The same is probably applicable for Boise State (see Utah circa-2008) and now the controversial part is with Texas.

The Longhorns, as the season is shaping up, will not play a single top ten team.  They might not even play a top fifteen or top twenty team.  Based upon strength of schedule arguments (again see Utah circa-2008) USC should jump them in the end even if Texas is undefeated and USC has one loss. 

Of course all the teams in front of USC could lose as well making the necessity of this argument obsolete.

Or USC could lose to the Leland Stanford Junior University, I hear that has happened before and that squad doesn't look half shabby.

Or maybe they'll lose to UCLA.

I hear that game is a bit of a rivalry... confirm/deny?

Got any more tricks to show the sports world Pete?