Monday, January 9, 2012

Counting Down the Champions, #3: 2004 USC Trojans

Date TFG RBA Away Team       TFG RBA Home Team Plays Odds
TFG / RBA
2004/08/28  20 /  26 Virginia Tech 13 vs   4 /   2 USC 24 147  74.5% /  73.6%
2004/09/11  45 /  58 Colorado St. 0 at   6 /   1 USC 49 164  92.2% /  84.8%
2004/09/18   2 /   1 USC 42 at  82 /  95 BYU 10 174  96.0% /  93.2%
2004/09/25   3 /   1 USC 31 at  55 /  47 Stanford 28 153  89.4% /  94.8%
2004/10/09   9 /   4 California 17 at   4 /   2 USC 23 147  77.2% /  78.0%
2004/10/16  20 /  23 Arizona St. 7 at   3 /   1 USC 45 162  84.2% /  76.4%
2004/10/23  72 /  78 Washington 0 at   2 /   1 USC 38 175  97.1% /  94.3%
2004/10/30   2 /   2 USC 42 at  44 /  41 Washington St. 12 183  87.0% /  82.0%
2004/11/06   1 /   2 USC 28 at  36 /  31 Oregon St. 20 183  87.5% /  81.4%
2004/11/13  93 /  71 Arizona 9 at   1 /   2 USC 49 161  98.1% /  96.4%
2004/11/27  34 /  33 Notre Dame 10 at   2 /   2 USC 41 155  87.5% /  83.6%
2004/12/04   2 /   2 USC 29 at  37 /  30 UCLA 24 160  89.8% /  89.0%
2005/01/04   2 /   1 USC 55 vs   1 /   6 Oklahoma 19 166  40.6% /  45.0%


USC Trojans
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2004 0.928 2 0.607 24 30.4 1 10.9 2 167.2 83
Justin
After the 2003 season USC set out to prove that they were the team to beat. With the exception of the week of November 13th, though, it was the Oklahoma Sooners who were the wire-to-wire TFG #1. USC, Auburn, and Miami jostled around for the #2 spot most of the season, but by the time of the BCS title game it was clear that Oklahoma and USC were the top two teams in college football. Once again, the BCS and TFG agree on this fact. Oklahoma had the #2 offense at 29.7 PPH and the #1 defense at 9.2 PPH, while the Trojans had the top-rated offense and the second-rated defense. Even against top-rated teams such as (9) Cal and (20) Virginia Tech -- who would finish the season at #5 and #9, respectively -- the Trojans put up solid performances. The title game wasn't even close, as the final score of 55-19 doesn't even start to describe the degree to which USC dominated Oklahoma. Auburn went 13-0, but thanks to the BCS format didn't get a shot at USC. TFG says they only would have had a 39.8% chance against the Trojans, but those are roughly the odds that USC had against the Sooners. Chalk up another argument for a plus-one or even an eight-team playoff.

USC Trojans
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2004 1.000 1 0.552 19 23.7 5 7.0 4 170.4 63
Eddie
Looking back on history, the 2004 season could be remembered as the year where blind conference loyalty and homerism leaped to the forefront of college broadcasting. (1) Southern Cal was an unquestioned champion according to RBA but faced weak opposition in the championship because the BCS cast aside (3) Auburn instead of (6) Oklahoma, leading SEC fans into a non-stop redneck publicity campaign that continues to this day. Between Reggie Bush, LenDale White, Matt Leinart, Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, and an embarrassment of riches on the lines and two-deep, the Trojans sported the most consistent offense on this list at 24.7 +/- 1.9 PPH. Their defense had moments of weakness, surrendering 28 to Stanford and 20 to Oregon State, but were otherwise dominating at 1.9 +/- 10.4 PPH. The Trojans left little doubt that they were a legitimate national champion. Oh, the #2 team that should have been playing in the national championship game against USC was... (2) Boise State.

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