I pick USC in a blowout probably something like 51-17. As you probably know, West VA plays absolutely no one besides Louisville and Rutgers. Seriously, the 3rd best team they play is Maryland. Their schedule is a JOKE. A bad season for them next year is 10-2. This team is over rated. I'd put them at #10 at best. The SEC Big Ten PAC 10 and even the ACC are miles ahead of the Big East. One of the teams from those conferences deserved to be #2. Last year WVA barely beat GT, who was starting a new quarterback for the first time during the season. In case your forgot, GT stunk it up big time towards the end of the season and WVA beat them by only 3 points. If WVA ever had to play a team like LSU or Virginia tech, they'd get slaughtered. But we'll never know for sure what would happen because they've scheduled their out of conference games against Mighty Mississippi State and East Carolina. The number 2 team in the nation? Give me a break.

Oh yeah I almost forgot. GT sucked so bad at the end of last year that the Gator Bowl didn't even want them there, but had to take them. And the #2 team in the nation only beat them by 3 points

West Virginia at #2 is an insult to teams such as LSU and Texas. The Big East in light weight as much as the SEC is overrated. Yes the SEC is good if you look at how many 1AA teams they play throughout the year. SEC schools are great systems schools, but most of their players are average once they get to the NFL except for maybe Auburn which is coached similar to an NFL team.

At any rate, WV does not the embarrassement in the National Championship much like Oklahoma a few years ago. The best thing to happen to them would be to lose during the regular season. The Trojans are so good, when they played Nebraska last year the coaching directive to players was "Don't get blown out!" Imagine playing a game and the coaches know you will lose!

When its all said and done, I hope the Trojans play Auburn, LSU or Texas so once and for all we can prove that we don't rank ourselves, the East Coast bias sports writers do.

yeah definatly SC, but I don't think it would be that bad more like 31-10

Go Gamecocks.

y do u ask this question
u answered your own question
of course USC would win

Totally agree with all you said. West Virginia's schedule is a joke.

As much as I cannot stand USC I have to agree with you on this one .

USC. They'll probably win it all this year.

The Men of Troy have a definite edge over the Mountaineers, but I can't see the score being that lopsided. Obviously, Rivals.com thinks enough of WVU to rank them that high, so there must be some talent there!

I have to disagree with Rivals' ranking though. Based on schedules, I would put WVU after Texas, and Louisville probably wouldn't even make the top 15. Most of the pre-season rankings have nothing to do with facts, just supposition and expectation...not to mention the desire to raise controversy and sell newspapers, magazines, online subscriptions, etc.

West Virginia would win the game 27 to 14. The Trojan condoms are always wildly over rated and let down in big games. The Trojans can not deal with a powerful rushing attack and certainly not a mobile quarterback (remember Vince Young). However, I do not expect either of these teams in the national title game, so do not count on it happening.

I completely agree. Someone posted on another question and said that like 17% of the time the #1 preseason wins the national championship and usually 2 top ten teams finish unranked. Well there's one of them for ya. I was impressed when Louisville beat Miami, but not impressed enough to put the big east on a shrine.
And one of the things I hate the most about the big east is people are starting to vote them high because they don't think they'll lose any games because of their easy schedule! Some guy did that a couple years ago when SC got all the first place votes except for one, and the guy was like Louisville's the only team going undefeated with that schedule. If they win 12 games you can reward them, but don't vote them in because their schedule is easy. They'd better knock w.virginia down like 22 slots if they lose, especially like louisville lost to south florida.

USC in a blowout.

For those that don't remember the Orange Bowl a few years back (Matthew R)....Oklahoma was a dominant team with a heisman winning QB, and a RB in Adrian Peterson who was a heisman runner up. SC wasn't supposed to have a chance. Final Score USC 55 Oklahoma 19.

So what does that have to do with this year? Not much other than the fact that USC is supposed to have the #1 defense in the country this year. That Coach Carroll has said that this is the biggest/fastest/best he has coached. That is saying something. Rivals.com says that of the 10 returning defensive starters (yes that is right 10 starters returning) that ALL of them are likely headed to the NFL. Their linebacking trio is "second-to-none".

Now these are all projections and may fall apart as the year goes on, but the WV offense would be lucky to put up 20 points, and I can't see them slowing down the USC offense much.

Final score 59-12

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Big knowles, what rankings are you using. And I mean that as a legitimate question. The info I have would be:
Lindy's top25 Athlon top25
Va Tech #8 #9
Florida #11 #6
Arkansas #14 Not Ranked
Auburn #23 #21
But of course LSU gets all these teams at home

California #12 #11
UCLA #22 #15
Nebraska #25 #18
Oregon St. #NR #22
USC plays Nebraska and Cal on the road.

LSU out of conference -
Middle Tennessee 7-6 in the Sun Belt
Tulane 4-8 in conference USA
Louisiana Tech 3-10 in the WAC

USC out of conference -
Idaho 4-8 WAC
Nebraksa 9-5 Won the Big 12 North
Notre Dame 10-3 Independant

OK so Idaho and Luisiana tech are a wash, but Tulane and Mis. Tenn?!?! So before you bash USC's schedule, look in the mirror.

Well, despite what happened to WVU last season, who they lost to, and who they struggled with, look at USC last year. They lost to Oregon State (GA Tech comparison) last year, who was a struggling team and got blown out of the water by Boise State. And of course, they even lost to a struggling UCLA that got blown out by also struggling FSU. WVU, however, is returning a lot of starters this year and will have some no doubt firepower this year no matter who they play. When you say that hey play no one besides Louisville and Rutgers, whoa, hold on, lets not underestimate the rising program that is South Florida, one of the teams that beat them last year. The reason they have been able to make such dramatic gains with their football program is because of the talent pool in Florida, with which they will improve even more greatly in the coming years. They might even actually be a surprise team. South Florida is ranked ahead of Oregon and Oregon State this year. Compare schedules? Are you kidding me? It's USC that plays nobody! Playing Notre Dame gives them nothing! The only people they play are Nebraska, ranked 18, and California (13)! WVU has Louiville (7), and Rutgers (19). Everyone else in the Pac 10 blows. They both have pretty weak schedules this year if you ask me. I think that USC would have the edge if they played eachother, because of sheer talent, but it would be a close game. But that will only happen if LSU loses in the SEC. LSU is much better than either of them I think, but it will be much harder for them to go undefeated than these weeny bastards. They got Virginia Tech (11), Florida (5), Auburn (12), and Arkansas (24). Not to mention the always tricky Spurrier and South Carolina.

Others not in the Top 25

Southern Cal

Arizona (48)
Oregon State (34)
Oregon (32)
Arizona State (28)
UCLA (26)

West Virginia

Maryland (39)
South Florida (30)

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USCruiser....those were Rivals.com preseason rankings, which are just as legitimate as anyone's until the official ones come out in a week or so, but they shouldn't be far off. When you were talking about LSU's non-conference schedule, you forgot Virginia Tech. Better this year than Cal, UCLA, and Nebraska. Oh and Notre Dame last year at 10-3 was incredibly overrated and should be terrible this year. USC shouldn't even mention Notre Dame this year if it comes down to campaigning for the nat'l title game. And besides, LSU doesn't really need a strong non-conference schedule to prove themselves. They play in the SEC.

considering neither team has played a game yet, it's hard to tell. WVU returns some really good players on offense, but their defense was horrid last year. If they have any kind of defense, they could beat USC. Don't forget the mighty trojans lost to two unranked teams last year.

Ok just to have some fun, not knowing if these 2 teams make the championship game. I wouldn't pick USC in a big blowout but they'll still win comfortably. Anyway i see a USC team that's to strong defensively would stopped all the West V. plays run or pass. Booty would pass for 350 yards and five TD's NO INT's. And Slaton and White are frustrated with theirs plays. Final score is 49 - 21 USC winning it. Fight On!

USC! Of course. But in my opinion the sooners are the best

Many of you are vastly underrating the Big East. At the end of the day, I predict four top 25 teamsfrom the conference; WVU, Louisville, Rutgers, and South Florida. For WVU to get to the Nat'l Championship, they will have to go undefeated in a tough conference. I'll take the Mountaineers to beat USC 38-35.

Foregt pac-10 and Big east, go SEC!!!

USC by a score of 42-21. White and Slaton would be able to muster a few nice plays, but the USC defense would shut them down the rest of the night. Plus, give JD Booty some time against eh Mountaineer defense and he would pick them apart, even with Turner and Hazelton new to the starting lineup/.