USC: We're No. 1 (Early 2007 Edition)

Being true to my fair-weather fandom of USC “basketball,” I’ve been making an effort to learn more about college hoops in preparation for our impending Trojan Uprising. One thing I don’t quite understand is why everybody cares so much about mid-season rankings.

Nestor of the “nation” tried to explain to me the importance of ugla’s recent No. 1 ranking in basketball. “Exposure” … “recruiting” … blah, blah, blah, he said. But common sense tells us that rankings really don’t mean a damn thing in hoops, especially when a 5th place team out of the Pac-10 can win a championship.

Regardless of this season’s rankings, ugla already has its big recruit secured, as does USC and virtually every other program. And ultimately, everything will be played out on the court. So, what does it matter?

In college football on the other hand, rankings are everything. And lucky for us, USC Football is once again top-ranked.

Just ask ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Rivals.com, and Scout.com … We’re No. 1.

You can also ask msnbc.com’s John Walters, another writer we like, who has USC ranked No. 1 for an important aspect of USC Football that also matters: the Trojans’ play-anybody-anywhere attitude when it comes to scheduling non-conference games.

Thank you, USC. […] While most head coaches and athletic directors concur (be it privately or publicly) with Florida's Urban Meyer, who last week said that he considers a 60-0 win against a I-AA opponent "fun", you […] made a date or two with danger on your schedule. Your non-conference, free-to-date-whomever-you-please schedule. […]

As a college football fan, I say thanks. Thanks […] to always fearless USC, who this year travel to Lincoln, Neb, and South Bend, Ind., to face two of the three winningest programs of all-time (having just smacked around the winningest, Michigan, two weeks ago).

Walters goes on to rank the top 10 non-conference games for 2007, and again, we’re No. 1.

1. USC (11-2) at Nebraska (9-5), Sept. 15
Carroll's Conundrum: The Trojans return ten starters on defense, and that's before Pete figures out how to get super stud freshmen Chris Galippo (LB) and Everson Griffin (DE) into the rotation. Nice problem to have. The Maze Unsheathers will likely toss Pac-10 party boy transplant Sam Keller behind center. It's like "Tommy Lee Goes To College" without the horticulture tutoring sessions. In 2005, while the QB at Arizona State, Keller led the Sun Devils to a 21-3 halftime lead versus the Trojans before imploding in the second half.

While we’re at it, USC is also currently No. 1 in several rankings for football recruiting, having already received verbal commitments from 10 of Rival.com’s revised Top 100 high school players (including nine 5-Star studs in the top 50), with a few more who could commit by Signing Day.

The best part of all this is that we don’t play a single snap against any team until September 1. That’s more than seven full months of unadulterated “USC is No. 1” hype, including the covers of season preview publications, features on ESPN, and all sorts of props throughout these internets. How’s that for an impact on exposure, recruiting, blah, blah, blah? Sweet!

No doubt the only rankings that really matter are at the end of the season. But it’s still more fun when we’re No. 1.

Fight On!
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