Dforeman

Dan Foreman
R. Robson
C&C Bullshit
1/22/09

The USC Trojans. You are either with them or against them. In many cases, the people that are against them will try to say that the Trojans are indeed overrated.

Being a fan of the Trojans, I have heard this and many other things about the team that are false. The thing that the others overlook though is the numbers.

As said by Ivan Maisel, a sports analyst for ESPN.com, the Trojans have put up numbers this year that are tremendous, some being records set in the NCAA. For example, the Trojan defense has allowed 8.28 yards per completion this year. This being a record set by the 1997 National Champions, the Michigan Wolverines with 8.8 yards per completion. Their defense played a big role in 2008, but as you know, you can’t win games without scoring as well.

The USC offense was run this year by quarterback Mark Sanchez, who in his career with the Trojans threw over 4,000 yards with over 300 completions as seen on his profile on ESPN.com. Before Sanchez was John David Booty, and yet before him was Matt Leinart. These three talented quarterbacks all have something in common; they led their team to a Rose Bowl. USC has been in the Rose Bowl for three consecutive years now. There aren’t many teams in the NCAA that can say they have accomplished this feat.
Some like to bring up USC’s strength of schedule and the fact that they are in the Pacific 10 Conference that isn’t very tough. They say that if the Trojans were a part of the SEC (South Eastern Conference) or the Big 12, they wouldn’t be what they are today. I find this to have some truth in that they would have tougher teams to play, but USC has proven themselves more than once against top ranked teams in the nation.

According to USCTrojans.com, the Trojans have a mark set of 29-16 in bowl games, that being a .644 winning percentage. There are only 5 teams with a better winning percentage in bowl games, considering the teams have been to at least 10 games all together. Not only do they have the great winning percentages in all bowls, USC has made an appearance in the Rose Bowl 31 times, being 22-9. In the last 12 Rose Bowls, the Trojans have won 9 of the contests.

So, is USC overrated? Not in my opinion.

As said before, critics like to sit back and make assumptions about the Trojans saying they are overrated without looking at any of the numbers. In some cases numbers don’t lie, and this is one of those times.

http://usctrojans.cstv.com/trads/usc-rose.html
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=174154
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls08/columns/story?columnist=maisel_ivan&id=3797481

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