From Bob Somerby at The Daily Howler:
We wanted to give this topic more space, but let’s just ask the Kevin Drums to adopt the cause of Arizona State, this year’s most abused college football team. The Sun Devils are ranked eighth in the nation by the six BCS computers—but they’re inexcusably ranked 18th and 20th in the AP and USA Today human polls. Indeed, they’re even ranked several spots behind Iowa, with whom they share a two-loss season—and who they clobbered, 44-7, on the field of play in September. Which team has played a tougher schedule? According to USA Today’s Sagarin computer, ASU has played the nation’s second-toughest sked, Iowa the 35th best. (Put it another way: ASU has played four of the current AP Top 25; Iowa has only played two.) Meanwhile, why is Wisconsin ranked ahead of ASU? The Badgers have played only one ranked team—Iowa—which beat them to a pulp last Saturday. But then, the week before, they got blasted by unranked Michigan State, too. But so what? Despite back-to-back blow-out defeats, the myopic pollsters still have the Badgers ranked ahead of Arizona State, a team which simply has to have the nation’s worst PR department.
Pac-10 fans will be thankful if Southern Cal beats Note Dame this weekend. In the meantime, a member school is being jobbed. It happens to some Pac-10 team every year. Let’s bang the drum-sticks this week where the need is the greatest.
In his praise of the Sun Devils Somerby doesn’t even mention that ASU’s two losses were to the number 1 and number 4 ranked teams (USC and Cal).
Of course, when Arizona stuns ASU Friday (that would stun me, too), this will all be mute.
You called it baby!
When it comes to those old rivalries odds and point spreads become meaningless. The Wildcats have kept the Sun Devils out of a few Rose Bowls and may well have cost them a trip to the Holiday Bowl this year.
We’ll see if UCLA can spoil USC’s big holiday plans.