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UCLA 13, USC 9 (final)

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Bucklion;676309; said:
Doubtful. I think this gives people who thought UM was really the #2 team in the country the excuse to put them back there...and I would venture that there are way more of those.
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Good thought. I thought that too but then thought that those voters were for tsun and wouldn't change. However some of the voters for USC now could do what I suggested and it wouldn't take many. A couple more moving to Fla than moves to tsun would do it. IMO
 
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Best Buckeye;676315; said:
Good thought. I thought that too but then thought that those voters were for tsun and wouldn't change. However some of the voters for USC now could do what I suggested and it wouldn't take many. A couple more moving to Fla than moves to tsun would do it. IMO
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It's really up to the computers now. Remember, at the beginning of the season people were saying Florida had the toughest schedule in the history of college football, and that if they made it through with one loss they would be guaranteed a shot. It was underachieving teams like Georgia and Florida State that probably have done them in.
 
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well, looking at the computer polls, it looks like Florida gains a lot more than Michigan with USC's loss. Michigan is already rated 24 in a few of the categories, so they probably won't gain as much as Florida.


Of course, all of this is dependant on a Florida victory.
 
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Just realized that there's something positive about USC losing - it stops Mark May from tooting his own horn about them, like he's done for the last couple of weeks.
 
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BB73;676711; said:
Just realized that there's something positive about USC losing - it stops Mark May from tooting his own horn about them, like he's done for the last couple of weeks.
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I'm sure he'll pimp scUM or Florida, whoever gets chosen to play us.

It's nice to see USC fans miserable with the exception of the good ones. It was getting pretty bad on their scout.com board.
 
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Dispatch

UCLA 13 NO. 2 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 9
Bruins ruin Trojans? title game aspirations

Sunday, December 03, 2006

John Nadel
ASSOCIATED PRESS

20061203-Pc-D5-0800.jpg
</IMG> UCLA?s Eric McNeal makes a diving interception late in the fourth quarter to thwart USC.
20061203-Pc-D1-0700.jpg
</IMG> Southern California coach Pete Carroll couldn?t find anything in his notes to prevent a shocking loss.


PASADENA, Calif. ? Southern California?s dejected players trudged off the Rose Bowl field, oblivious to the celebration going on around them.
Their national championship hopes had just ended.
UCLA knocked No. 2 USC out of the national title game with a stunning 13-9 victory over its cross-town rival yesterday. The Bruins did it with a vastly improved defense and a quarterback starting on three days? notice.
"Give credit to UCLA. They made it a difficult day," said USC coach Pete Carroll, whose team lost for just the fourth time in its past 59 games. "They kept us from doing what we wanted to do. We had no rhythm. We did not anticipate this happening."
Neither did most fans of either team. The Trojans routed the Bruins 66-19 last season to lock up a second straight appearance in the national title game, and figured to win again to make it three in a row.
It wasn?t to be.
"I didn?t believe it until the clock hit zero. All we wanted to do was stay close and get a chance to win," UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. "I know how important this win is for the Bruin family. I know that it?s been a long time."
Since 1998, to be exact. The Trojans had beaten the Bruins seven straight times. Before that, UCLA beat USC eight times in a row.
Within minutes after the game ended, with a crowd of 90,266 still roaring, UCLA?s Junior Taylor, Chris Markey and Dennis Keyes jumped the bandstand, grabbed cheerleaders? megaphones and led the delirious fans in cheering for the upstart Bruins.
Patrick Cowan passed for 114 yards and ran for 55 as UCLA paved the way for a Michigan-Ohio State rematch or an Ohio State-Florida matchup for the national championship Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz.
As Pacific 10 Conference champions, the Trojans will return to Pasadena on New Year?s Day and play in the Rose Bowl game. The final Bowl Championship Series standings and bowl pairings will be announced today.
The Trojans moved into position for a potential winning touchdown before Eric McNeal deflected and then made a diving interception of a John David Booty pass at the UCLA 20-yard line with 1:10 remaining. It was USC?s only turnover of the game.
"What a great way to go out in your senior year playing your last game in the Rose Bowl," Dorrell said. "To finish your last game with an interception like that ... I?m sure he?ll tell his kids someday how it ended and how he made the stop."
Besides having their national championship hopes ended, the Trojans (10-2, 7-2) had their NCAA-record streak of 63 games in which they had scored 20 or more points snapped.
"I really hate it for the seniors more than anybody," said Booty, a fourth-year junior. "The Rose Bowl is still a big-time game we are glad to be in and we?re going to play our hearts out in that as well. But it is tough when you know what could have been." The Bruins (7-5, 5-4), winners of three straight, will face Florida State in the Emerald Bowl on Dec. 27 in San Francisco.
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DaddyBigBucks;671384; said:
Fun stat for the day:


3rd Down Defense - National Ranking
UCLA: 1​

USC: 64​
Not a typo...
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Neither this stat nor any other are the reason that UCLA won the game, but this one does give us some insight.

USC was 6/17 on 3rd down and 1/3 on 4th down. 9 of their 11 possessions (12 if you include the desperation heave to nowhere that was the last play of the game) ended in punts or 4th down failure. Even the INT on the last real scoring chance occurred on a 3rd down play.

In other words, UCLA's defensive success on 3rd and 4th down ended all but one of USC's meaningful possession's.
 
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