So… will USC be able to take down UCLA?

[chinngiskhaan]

I didn’t watch either game (can’t get Fox without subscribing to something and I really really don’t want to). I get the sense that we kinda shot ourselves in the foot against UCLA, and that USC is probably the better team of the two, but what do you all think???

[Charlie Foxtrot]

I think USC’s defense is going to have their hands full with the UCLA’s offensive attack.  It will probably be a shoot out.

 

[PNW Ute]

Yeah, I don’t see either defense getting many stops in that game.

[dleto]

Not responding to your main point but it’s pretty easy to get FOX over the air with an antenna if you live close to a broadcast location :).  That’s how I’ve watched the last two games.

[chinngiskhaan]

I know… but I don’t, and as silly as it sounds I don’t have the desire or time to get a coax and antenna set up.

[2008 National Champ]

I watched on sportsurge.net. It was a bit of a funky stream this week (commercials game in great, live play could sometimes strobe) but it was free.

[2008 National Champ]

It’s still convoluted but I feel like the best chance for Utah in the CCG is a rematch with UCLA.

I don’t want any part of SC on a neutral field.

Getting past Oregon is a must and is going to be a problem since Utah struggles against the run. Beating them twice will be much more difficult than last year.

Of the 3, I like Utah’s chances against UCLA so I don’t want them to lose. Let them get all big-headed with an undefeated season and have Utah knock ’em down and steal their lunch money in Vegas.

[chinngiskhaan]

How would we get to the CCG if UCLA doesn’t lose? Oregon beats Washington, we beat Oregon… Then we are both in yeah?

[2008 National Champ]

Without division champs it is tougher to project at this point but it appears that 4 teams have separated themselves and can finish with no worse than 1 loss. Utah has the tie-breaker over SC and the loss to UCLA. Should SC beat UCLA, each would be 1-1 against each other so then you move down the tie-breaker list and there’s a good chance Utah is the odd team out.

If we assume the top 4 keep winning, then it comes down to them playing each other. Thus, the games that matter are UCLA/Oregon, UCLA/USC and Oregon/Utah. Utah finishing with one loss means they win in Autzen and there could be three one loss teams. The cleanest scenario for Utah is UCLA winning the other two which means 9-0 UCLA v 8-1 Utah in Vegas.

UCLA losing either of their key games creates 3 way ties and Utah loses their head-head advantage over SC and/or Oregon. Also of note, should UCLA lose both of those games, it still sets up a 3 way tie at 8-1 but Utah doesn’t get to use it’s head-head wins in the tie-breaker because Oregon/SC don’t play each other. Once you start getting into the common opponents criteria, the SC/Oregon wins over UCLA become more important than the Utah wins over SC/Oregon.

There are probably 73 possible scenarios at this point so I just took the easiest. Any upsets will completely reshape the race.

[MFury]

Not sure on the details – to me best case is both Utah and UCLA win out, the we meeting in CCG.

I’m not as worried as some about USC round 2. They didn’t spend enough to buy depth. Another month of football and they’ll have more gaps. So will we, but my sense is they fall further.