Apparently, if you’re a top-ranked college football program, Lee Corso is the last person you want to see.
In the last three weeks, ESPN’s “College Gameday” has set up shop at South Carolina, Wisconsin and Missouri ahead of home games against the nation’s top-ranked teams — AP No. 1s Alabama and Ohio State and BCS No. 1 Oklahoma, respectively. So with Oregon topping the latest AP and USA Today polls — and with Corso & Co. on hand for Saturday’s game at USC — the big question is: Can the Ducks avoid the hex?
All of the aforementioned No. 1s got caught in road games against ranked conference rivals. The Trojans are 5-2 and ranked 24th in the AP poll. They also have played most of the season with a Reggie Bush-sized chip on their shoulders after NCAA sanctions ripped away 10 scholarships and banned them from postseason play.
USC doesn’t pose the same threat to Oregon as Wisconsin did to Ohio State or Missouri did to Oklahoma or South Carolina did to Alabama, but the Trojans are dangerous — in part because they really have nothing to lose. They’re bowl-ineligible for two years, so a twilight kickoff at the Coliseum against the No. 2 team in the BCS is as close as they’ll get to playing in January.
Still, it’s hard to imagine the Ducks losing. After all, they’re only No. 1 in the polls that don’t count — Auburn tops the BCS. Plus, they’re just better than USC, even if they are on the road … and playing against a league rival … and in a similar situation to the ones Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma were in the past three weeks. They’ve got this.
Right?
