Barnes needs to stick to political commentary and do a little more simple research.
First, 'SC also beat 9th ranked Virgina Tech on the road in front of 70,000 fans in the BCA Classic opening game.
Secondly, I'd like to know how many USC games Barnes watched during the year. Probably one - Notre Dame.
Third, Matt Leinart excelled with a Frosh/Soph offense minus Mike Williams and with a true freshman at wideout (Dwayne Jarret). Everyone has been gunning for this team since spring camp. No one expected Auburn to be this strong.
Fourth, if Auburn wants the respect they "deserve", they need to stop scheduling patsies like Lousiana-Monroe and a DIV-2(!) team like The Citadel. A DIV-2 team matchup shouldn't even count in the standings.
Fifth, Auburn lost a lot of traction with the press when they were manhandled by 'SC in 2003 by a score of 23-0 after getting picked to win the National Championship by a lot of writers. It didn't help them in this year's pre-ranking after burning a lot of voters the year before.
Ugh. In a perfect world, we'd have a playoff. 'SC didn't moan last year when we finished ranked #1 in both polls and didn't get a chance at the BCS championship. Pete Carroll stayed above the fray and quietly went about soundly beating Michigan in the Rose Bowl instead of whining to the press about how ridiculous the situation was. Now the tables are turned, we're ranked #1 anyway, and still the Eastern press corps thinks there's some sort of God-given right to be coronated "the champion" because West Coast games are past their bedtime and hard to watch....
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"Fifth, Auburn lost a lot of traction with the press when they were manhandled by 'SC in 2003 by a score of 23-0 after getting picked to win the National Championship by a lot of writers. It didn't help them in this year's pre-ranking after burning a lot of voters the year before. "
Agreed this matters under the current method of determining a winner but is also why there needs to be a playoff. 2003 should not matter.
Auburn had 4 victories over teams that ended the season in the top 25 and the average rank of the other Division 1 teams they beat was 73.6.
USC had 3 victories over teams that ended the season in the top 25 and the average rank of the other Division 1 teams they beat was 65.6.
Not that big a difference - makes it real hard for either team to declare they should have been included. That's why this system is just rediculous.