USC Needs a Repeat of History to Reach the BCS Title Game

As the sixth-ranked USC Trojans focus on Stanford this week, as fans during November, we'll always concentrate on the best possible scenario for our team. Of course, that would be the trip to the National Championship game in Miami.

Five teams are ranked ahead of the Trojans, but out of those five teams, there remain two conferences: the Big 12 and the SEC. With Penn State out of the picture, USC does have a chance to make it. Will it take divine intervention? Maybe.

Just in case any of you have a short memory, I'll give you a little bit of the BCS' chaotic history in the last two seasons' Novembers.

November 2006: USC did lose like this year at Oregon State. However, unlike this year, USC back in 2006 started off November ranked ninth. Ahead were teams such as Ohio State, Michigan, Louisville, West Virginia, Florida, and Tennessee. (Wow, two years make such a difference!)

Slowly over the next few weeks, those teams began to fall one by one (not in particular order): Rutgers' biggest victory in school history over No. 3 Louisville, Louisville over West Virginia, Ohio State over Michigan, Kansas State over Texas, Georgia over Auburn, and South Florida over West Virginia.

Along with USC wins over three ranked consecutive opponents, the Trojans were guaranteed to take on the winner of the No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan matchup. USC subsequently lost to UCLA, but the Trojans did manage to be in title discussion until the end of the regular season.

November 2007: The No. 1 and No. 2 teams went 3-7 until bowl week. If USC had one loss, the Trojans would have definitely jumped ahead of two-loss LSU, which lost right before the SEC game, as well as Ohio State, which lost in its second to last game as well.

The last two Novembers seemingly consisted of season twists in every BCS conference. Our first November weekend of 2008 drama was Penn State.

Still to come: Miss State at Alabama, Auburn (which has won six in a row in this series) vs. Alabama, the SEC championship game of Florida vs. Alabama, South Carolina at Florida, Florida State vs. Florida, Texas at Kansas, Texas vs. Texas A&M, Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma St., Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech, and the Big 12 championship game.

USC ranked in the top two by season's end—possible? Definitely. Probable? If, and only if, BCS chaos extends into the end of the regular season.

As for now until the end of the regular season, USC needs to focus on its weekly opponent and properly prepare. What's at stake is Pete Carroll's November streak and a chance at the BCS bowls, whether it be the Rose Bowl, the NC game, or another BCS bowl.

Another last minute loss and it could potentially be a Holiday Bowl for the Trojans. Can you imagine that?

If the NC game doesn't work out, I'm hoping Oregon State wins out, just so that USC plays in a different BCS bowl game. Why not see USC play lights out (against a non-conference opponent) and quiet the critics for a change? Seeing the Trojans in a Sugar or Fiesta Bowl can surely spike the ratings.