Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Crack egg on forehead, apply directly to face.

I told you the USC Trojans were the best team in college football. I told you USC had a defense that wasn’t just the best of the this season, but maybe any season this century. I told you USC was so good, they’d probably win the NFC West. I told you these things because I believed them.

So how foolish do I feel waking up this morning to find out USC went up to Corvallis, last night and lost to the Oregon State Beavers 27-21? AGAIN! After all the talk this week from Trojans coach Pete Carroll and the rest of this team about how they were taking the Beavers seriously, and had revenge on their minds for their shocking upset loss out there in 2006, USC went out on a Thursday night and laid a giant egg. They might as well have pooped in my refrigerator. I’m shocked not because they lost to Oregon State, but because they lost to Oregon State AGAIN! How can you make the same mistake twice?!? It’d be one thing to get beat by Washington State or Arizona, but how do you lose in to the Beavers the exact same way you lost to them two years ago?!?!

At any rate, this is bad news not only for USC and the Pac 10, but also for Ohio State and the Big 11. USC's title hopes are shot, and if the Big 10 wants a rep in the BCS Championship game, they're going to have to hope either Penn State or Wisconsin runs the table. Right now, we're looking at an SEC/Big 12 showdown with 5 undefeated teams (Oklahoma, Georgia, Mizzuruh, Florida and LSU) all in contention for 2 spots. As you no doubt know, take what I say with a gigantic grain of salt, but I think we'll see- at best- two one loss teams in the national title game, and that the age of parity is officially upon us.

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I also can't leave out the Minnesota Twins, the Little Engine That Could, the team nobody believed in. Wow what a comeback win last 7-6 in extras over the White Sox! I don't get cable at the moment, so I watched the 8th, 9th, and 10th innings on Gamecast, which is a really stressful and frustrating way to "watch" or follow a game, but I'm so glad I had it. I was keeping tabs on the game at first, then when the Sox went up 6-1 and The Office season premiere started (freaking brilliant, although is it me or has Dwight's character fallen off a bit? There weren't as many laugh-out-loud Dwight moments as usual- well except where he drops Phylis off in the middle of nowhere to make her walk back and lose weight. Anywho, good to see that while NBC is hell bent to ruin their best shows- first Friday Night Lights and now Heroes oh and I'm really worried about Life, which was a great show last year but is already getting a little too much hype from the Peacock- The Office remains the best sitcom on TV) I forgot about the game until almost 10. By the time I got Gamecast back up it was the 8th inning and Gomez had just knocked in a run to make it 6-5. The Span triple to tie it, some vintage Joe Nathan, and then in the 10th Alexei Casillas singled in the king Piranha himself, Little Nicky Punto, for the game winner.

The Twins, who regained sole possession of first place for the first time since late August, now have to NOT "Pull a USC" this weekend as they play 3 with Kansas City. Two out of three should be enough, as the Sox have to play the surging Cleveland Indians (by the way, let's be glad the season isn't any longer, because since the All-star break the Tribe are 38-27, and would be overtaking both the Twinks and Pale Hose with another couple of weeks), and a sweep for Chicago, especially with the way they've played of late, seems unlikely.

While I don't love the Twins chances against either Boston or Tampa in the playoffs, I didn't love their chances of even finishing .500 this year. And as I proved with all of my USC chatter, what do I know? Go Twins!