Where Do We Go From Here?

I let the dust settle first before I went off about what USC's loss to Oregon State.

I decided to give it a day, because, well, I wanted to gather my thoughts.

There's something that my favorite blogger Dan Shanoff pointed out yesterday; nationally, Southern California is seen not as a choker, like our good friends at THE Ohio State University, but are seen as a team as so cocky and arrogant, that it can't take care of the games that it needs to get to the top of the mountain.

The Buckeyes might get their asses kicked in the big games, but at least they get to the big games.

The Trojans, they haven't had a chance at the BCS title since losing to Texas because USC has lost to Oregon State, UCLA, Stanford and now, Oregon State again, teams seen as inferior in-conference opponents.

Because of this letdown the last couple of years, I don't expect the pollsters to be very kind to USC. If I were voting in any of the polls coming out tomorrow, there is no way I rank the Trojans in the top 25. In effect, USC's BCS hopes are done.

But what does that mean for the rest of the Pac-10?

There are two different strains of thought within the conference itself.

The first and most prevalent, is that any other potential Pac-10 contender is screwed. Here are a few text messages I got from friends Thursday night: "Wtf? I have no idea," "Looks like (Mike) Riley owns the Pac-10," "Jesus Christ," "Is this really happening?" "Shit," "There goes the Pac-10's credibility."

The thought for a long time for teams like California, Oregon, Arizona State and any other contender in one single season has been that USC was going to beat them, USC was going to run the table, get into the BCS and the runner-up in the Pac-10 would go to that promise land known as The Rose Bowl.

That seriously was the case when the No. 4 Bears finished second to No. 1 USC in 2004, but got screwed by the the BCS system.

Now, with the Trojans' BCS title game hopes all but dashed, so is the rest of the teams' hopes of getting to the Rose Bowl. Why? Because we still all know that SC has all the talent in the world. A loss like this should refocus the Trojans and they should take out their anger on the rest of the Pac-10.

Another Rose Bowl appearance for USC seems all but inevitable.

But, to steal a phrase from Lee Corso, not so fast, my friends.

The second strain of thought and the one that is less prevalent is, well, if Oregon State can knock off the Trojans, then shouldn't anyone be able to knock off the Trojans?

We all are not sure that USC can run the table the rest of the season. Sure, all of its (what-should-have-been) toughest opponents play at the Coliseum: Cal, Oregon, Arizona State and yeah, even Ohio State payed them a visit earlier this year.

But if lowly Stanford can cut through the mystique of the Coliseum, then, should the likes of the Bears, Ducks, and Devils be able to too?

And for teams like Cal, Oregon and ASU, which don't have a loss in-conference yet, the goal is simple: they have to run the table, which includes beating the Trojans, and if they do, well, then the Football Monopoly in The Rose Bowl Game (to borrow a phrase from our friends in Westwood) is Over.

It's easier to type this out than to do it. But really, it's sport. Anything can happen.

And at this point, wouldn't it be refreshing to not see USC in the BCS, kind of like not seeing the Yankees in the playoffs or not seeing Brett Favre be a douche in Green Bay.

We can only dream.