Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller
The only reasonable way to look at the first BCS standings published today is to say, "Hey, we've got lots of football left to play" and leave it at that.
But, of course, this is college football, so there's going to be endless analysis and spin.
From the Pac-10 perspective it's USC at No. 5 and... did we mention USC was No. 5?
The other nine conference teams have long become irrelevant in the BCS chase in all but one respect -- how their successes or failures affect USC.
The Trojans are ranked 10th by the computers. Not good, but all they can control is to keep winning, which may be enough considering how often teams get upset.
But it wouldn't hurt to have the strength of schedule perk up. That means if you are a Trojans fan you need to also be a fan of:
- The rest of the Pac-10: It would help the Trojans greatly if one or more conference teams find a way to slide into the national rankings. California's loss at Arizona was a significant body blow. If the Bears had been 7-1 when visiting USC on Nov. 8, they likely would have been ranked close to the top-10.
- Virginia, Ohio State and Notre Dame: Virginia's recent surge helps. Ohio State plays host to Penn State this weekend, which could serve the dual purpose of helping the Trojans strength of schedule and knocking out a team ahead of them. It also would help to beat a nationally ranked Notre Dame team on Nov. 29.
- For chaos in the SEC and Big 12: The leaders in the Big 12 and SEC -- not you Alabama, Georgia and Florida -- can't avoid tough games all season. After scheduling patsies to bolster their records and rankings during the nonconference season, they now have the required games in conference, which means the likelihood of more one- and two-loss teams.
- USC style points: Just as we've already seen with some voters in the AP poll -- hello Texas -- the coaches poll and Harris Poll -- both of which count in the BCS standings -- will feature plenty of disingenuous voters trying to manipulate the poll. That means voters with eyes that can see USC is without question an elite team will continue to vote against what they know to be true and rank the Trojans, say, 12th. That would be harder to sell in this age of transparency if USC delivers a series of decisive butt-whuppings.
