Shelley: USC is already getting on my nerves

The college football season hasn’t even begun and I’m already ticked off.

One of the greatest things about college football is the controversy that will inevitably surround poll rankings and strength of schedules.

It never fails to make for an interesting season and thus gives football nuts like me plenty to argue about with other football nuts.

This is also college football’s greatest flaw and where my yearly frustration kicks in.

Before the first down is even played this season, west-coast know-it-alls and ESPN “experts” have already proclaimed USC this season’s team to beat and a lock for the national title game.

Well of course they are. They play two teams ranked in the top 25 in the coaches’ poll this season in Nebraska (no. 19) and UCLA (no. 17).

There’s no denying USC is loaded with talent. They always are. But their conference is the weakest of the weak.

I would dare say that if USC were in the Big East, it would be tougher going. And forget about if they were in the SEC.

Coming in at numbers two and three in the coaches’ poll are SEC powerhouses LSU and Florida.

Let’s just have a look at who they play this season.

LSU plays four top-25 teams this season: Virginia Tech (no. 9), Florida (no. 3), Auburn (no. 14) and Arkansas (no. 20), not to mention Bama and South Carolina, who I guarantee will be top-25 teams by the end of the season.

Florida plays five top-25 teams this season: LSU (no. 2), Tennessee (no. 15), Auburn (no. 14), Georgia (no. 13) and Florida State (no. 21).

But we all know the SEC is the strongest conference. The down side to this is of course a higher probability of losing enough games to be knocked out of title contention.

Texas, which comes in at number four, plays four ranked teams this season: TCU (no. 22), Oklahoma (no. 8), Nebraska (no. 19) and Texas A&M (no. 25).

While this is certainly not as tough as LSU or Florida’s schedules, it’s still miles above USC’s.

Even Michigan, a team I’m hearing a lot of national champ talk about, plays a much tougher schedule than the Trojans.

They play Penn State (no. 18), Wisconsin (no. 7) and Ohio State (no. 10).

With such weakness in USC’s schedule compared to the overwhelming strength of the 2-5 ranked teams in the coaches’ poll, USC is a lock for the big show.

It’s sad, but it’s the truth. The other team in the title game is completely up for grabs as far as I can tell.

If there are three one-loss teams at the end of the season, with USC being one of them, no matter who the other teams are, they deserve it more.

On top of all that, Pac-10 commissioner Thomas C. Hansen told the Sporting News that if a plus-one title game were implemented, the Pac-10 would leave the BCS.

His reasoning is that he and the presidents of the Pac-10 schools want to preserve the traditional Rose Bowl, Pac-10 versus Big 10 match-up.

He is concerned Pac-10 teams would get seeded out of the Rose Bowl.

I think he is concerned there might never be another Pac-10 national champion if the plus-one model is implemented.

How could the Pac-10 possibly turn its back on the BCS? The BCS has given the Pac-10 and the Trojans more gifts than a spoiled kid gets on that My Super Sweet 16 show on MTV.

That’s crazy talk, Mr. Hansen.

A plus-one model may be the closest college football ever gets to a playoff system. I’ve been a huge supporter of a playoff system since the BCS started. If a plus-one is as close as it gets, I’ll take it.

It’s high time USC and the rest of the Pac-10 get on a level playing field on the college football landscape.

And it looks like a plus-one is the only way to accomplish that.