A Dream Dies in Corvallis

Welcome to the NCAA 2008 football season. Suddenly, its starting to look a bit like the 2007 season. Last year the #1 and #2 teams in the nation lost several times to unranked opponents and chaos ruled the rankings. South Florida, BC, Kansas and others all were in the limelight briefly with hopes of playing for a national title just to watch those dreams die. Last night USC found out that the upset was not restricted to last year.

Normally I watch the ESPN Thursday night game. It's usually a decent contest between two middle ranked opponents. Last night when I saw it was USC versus Oregon State, I turned to Mrs. Pike and said, "I'm not watching that. If it's not 35-0 USC at halftime I'll be surprised." The Beavers had looked lost early in the season and looked like a team searching for an identity and some sense of a real future. The Trojans looked like they were ready to roll the nation aside on their way to the national title game. They were very impressive against Ohio State, and some said this might be Pete Carroll's best team since he took over at USC.

Ever since the Demolition in Pasadena, all people have been talking about it is how USC would walk through the rest of its schedule because the Pac-10 was terrible this year (especially after getting manhandled by the Mountain West in recent weeks). There was talk that no one in that entire conference had what it would take to challenge this team. The only real question was if there was going to be an undefeated SEC team and undefeated Big 12 team and which one was going to get the snub and not face USC for the title.

The boys from Corvallis weren't listening. As with every season of college football, the surprises are what make it worth watching. All the premature talk last week about ECU running the table and now USC, it just proves that you need to take every week one game at a time. The Beavers knew this and they took it to heart.

I began watching on the Beavers second possession of the first half and watching little Jacquizz Rodgers carve up the vaunted USC defense. For all the talk about Brian Cushing and Rey Maualuga, neither was able to stop Rodgers in the first half from averaging 5+ yards a carry. For those of you scoring at home, that's a first down every 2 runs. Lyle Moevao didn't even have to throw the ball in the first half so the pass rush became no concern. When all you do it throw quick screens & running plays pass rush blitzs aren't going to help you.

Defensively, Oregon State was everywhere in the first half. They were chasing Mark Sanchez out of the pocket and making him throw on the run and inaccurately. Joe McKnight couldn't get out of his own way no matter how many moves he tried to put on. As the half wore on and the lead increased you could see USC getting more frustrated (punctuated by silly personal foul penalties) and dejected while the Beavers were flying around the field and seemed to know what USC was throwing at them before the plays even started.

I give Pete Carroll credit. He made some fine halftime adjustments and USC game out looking like the team they should be. The dominated OSU defensively and Sanchez was finding open receivers for touchdowns. But a funny thing happened. After the counter-punch was thrown in the third quarter, like Kelly Pavlik in Pavlik-Taylor I, Oregon State got back up, dusted themselves off, and put the game away. They started running again, though not scoring they gave USC abysmal field position which ended up leading to the interception (bye-bye Heisman for Mr. Sanchez) that sealed the game.

This is what college football is all about. The unexpected. This is the second time in three years that a USC team has come to Corvallis with dreams of a national title in their heads and once again they go home with the "L".

Where does this leave the college football landscape. Well for coaches in the Big 12 and the SEC this means that going undefeated probably guarantees you a shot at the national title now that USC has been removed from the equation. But there could be a wrinkle in the system. If only one of those conference produces an undefeated team (and with the level of talent in those conferences and the games they have to play against each other this is highly probable) then the door opens for someone else like a South Florida or maybe even BYU if the stars were to align just right.

You can debate the 100 different reasons why there is more parity in college football. The fact is that it makes for great drama over the next few months and leads to more upsets and more exciting stories. Just like last year. The coaches may not like the uncertainty but for those of us who watch we want every year to be just like last year.