USC Football: Is Trojans' No. 25 Ranking in AP Poll a Slap in the Face?

Well, at least they are ranked, right Trojan fans?

With today's release of the Associated Press Top 25 poll, the USC Trojans have finally found a home in a national poll.

Just barely though.

Sneaking in at No. 25, USC finds itself on the cusp of consideration by the only poll that has the cajones to rank them at all.

But is it just lip service? An act of kindness by a poll that really has no conviction that USC will be anything other than an afterthought when all is said and done in 2011?

And more importantly, should the Trojans add this to a growing list of slights heaped upon them this year?

With the NCAA's denial of their appeal related to the sanctions connected to the Reggie Bush fiasco, the revelations that the NCAA's hatchet man, Paul Dee, sat in judgment of the Trojans while only recently disconnected from his own corrupt program at Miami, and the ensuing omission (as expected) from the USA Today / Coaches poll, the Trojans have spent the first part of this year ducking the arrows of indignity.

And now this.

Ranked ahead of the Trojans are fellow 2010 8-5 teams, Florida and Notre Dame.

Even Ohio State, reeling from the loss of its head coach, Jim Tressel, and some of its top players due to its own NCAA mess, is ranked seven slots ahead of USC.

For crying out loud, Georgia, and its 2010 6-7 record, finds itself six spots ahead of the Trojans at No. 19.

Of course, it would have been unrealistic to expect the Trojans to crack the Top 15, but No. 25?

Really?

Pundits have been questioning whether USC had much to play for after the NCAA broke their heart by not allowing them to play in a bowl game this year.

Apparently being only a few points and minutes removed from an 11-2 record in 2010 and returning 13 starters, including one of the best quarterback-receiver tandems in the nation, doesn't hold much weight with the so-called "experts."

For USC's part, they should just file it away along with the other slaps in the face they have received so far this year.

It will fit well with the other fodder the Trojans hope to use in the upcoming season to prove the geniuses wrong in 2011.

So, perhaps in the end the Trojans should thank the AP.

If they needed even more motivation, here it is.