With Lane Kiffin getting fired, it was always "when," not "if." Is USC still a great job? Yes.
Getting ready for a great Week 4 for The Q. Please pop by this afternoon to keep up with the best takes on the biggest storylines of the day (and there are plenty).
Meanwhile, off yesterday's day in college football, I am participating in a very cool USA TODAY Sports panel that is picking a "if-the-season-ended-today-and-the-playoff-was-in-place" four-team bracket.
After yesterday, mine is (1) Georgia, (2) Alabama, (3) Clemson, (4) Texas A&M. Georgia's win over a very good LSU team was so wildly entertaining and impressive that the combination of UGA's wins over LSU and South Carolina -- plus taking Clemson to the edge at Clemson in a toss-up first week of the season -- makes Georgia the clear-cut No. 1 team for me.
My explanation to my panel colleagues:
The whole point of the expanded playoff is that we are supposed to get beyond "and-oh" superficialities and reward the teams with the best resume — who did you play, who did you beat and what was the context?
This week, it is baffling that anyone could put any team but Georgia at No. 1. Where Oregon and Ohio State have yet to play anyone great, UGA has now beaten TWO superb teams and taken a third, on the road, right up to the edge. Their resume right now is so vastly superior to that of Oregon or Ohio State — or any other team that is "unbeaten" -- that if you don't have them ranked No. 1, it is hard for me to believe you are taking the new playoff process seriously, versus just propagating the legacy system of "Oh, your record is so sparkly!"
By the time Oregon and Ohio State finish their ENTIRE schedules, they won't have played as many tough games combined as Georgia has played before the end of September. If resumes matter, then Oregon and Ohio State don't.
-- D.S.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
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