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Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed. But I say love it is a flower, and USC its only seed.
The sweet-smelling Rose Bowl will host this year's BCS National Championship Game and differing strength of schedules makes the task less, or more, arduous for the premier teams to get there.
USC, for example, has an easier path to the final compared to some of the other contenders.
Starting in the Big 10, Ohio State, Michigan, and Iowa are the main challengers, but their conference is arguably the toughest.
Ohio State will host the majority of their demanding opponents such as the Texas Longhorns (week two) and the Iowa Hawkeyes (week four), but they will be tested on the road. Victories at Penn State and at Minnesota are not a given and a trip to Michigan in the last week of the season could ruin all aspirations.
Michigan obviously has the daunting matchup with Ohio State, but their home schedule is lighter. They will happily host Notre Dame after losing in South Bend last season and the only other tests they will receive are from the Golden Gophers and the Nittany Lions. On the road, Michigan State is a perennial trap and Iowa will want revenge from last season.
The Hawkeyes have a strenuous road agenda from top to bottom starting with Iowa State, Ohio State, and Purdue. Wisconsin and Northwestern will follow and winning in the backyard of a Big 10 rivals is never a gimme.
A conference championship game always cautions prognosticators, but in the ACC, the divisions are unbalanced. Florida State has had a tumultuous offseason and NC State and Maryland don't have the necessary ingredients for a Rose Bowl appearance, so the Coastal division should have less of a threat in the championship game.
That being said, the two best suitors, Miami and Virginia Tech, both face each other, Virginia and Georgia Tech. VA Tech also has to travel to NC State and West Virginia while Miami has scheduled trips to Tallahassee and Death Valley in the first two weeks of the season.
The Big 12 is another conference where the scales are tipped to one side. The top four teams in the South, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech, are as strong, or better, than the North's best team, Iowa State. Aside from the Cyclones, the North is as frail as Missouri and quarterback Brad Smith has yet to develop into anything special. Further, Colorado doesn't scare anyone.
In the South, the Longhorns are a pundit's sweetheart to meet USC in the Rose Bowl, but they have away games at Ohio State and A&M and an exigent home game against Oklahoma. The Sooners have a cakewalk at home with A&M being the only hazard, but they have to go through Texas, Texas Tech, and UCLA on the road. More importantly, they need to find a replacement for Jason White, reconstruct their offensive line, and have some receivers emerge in their offense.
In the SEC, almost every Rose Bowl contender has a harsh schedule. LSU might have the easiest with Tennessee, Florida, Arizona State, and Alabama on the map, but Florida's is the polar opposite with Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Steve Spurrier, and Florida State scheduled. Tennessee faces the same opponents — minus FSU — and has a tricky nonconference agenda with UAB and Memphis rolling into town. Oh yeah, that pesky championship game also comes into effect here.
You could make a case that if there was a Top 25 ranking right now, every contender above would face at least one or two top-10 teams.
Not USC.
There are potential thorns on their schedule, such as away encounters with Oregon, Arizona State, and California and a home appointment with UCLA, but it's hard to envision USC losing two out of these four.
So conceivably, the Trojans could lose a game and still make it to the Rose Bowl.
Considering their team is the closest to NFL-caliber from the college level and is deep enough to withstand a few bumps and bruises, you can expect it to happen.
Bette Midler and USC contending for another national title mix like Mondays and me.
"The strong man is not the good wrestler; the strong man is only the one who controls himself when he is angry." — The Prophet Mohammad
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