Cheer Up USC: At Least You Are Home For The Holidays

It started, already. The "experts" have already written off Penn State's chances against USC in the Rose Bowl. Some are even calling it a consolation prize for USC, and they still need to beat UCLA next week to even make a BCS game (although nobody actually thinks they will lose that game).

What do I think about that?

Good. That's fine with me. I'd rather be a 10 point underdog, than a 3 point favorite ever day of the week and twice on Saturdays. Why? Three simple reasons:

1. Penn State plays better as an underdog, especially in bowl games. (Just ask the '82 Georgia Bulldogs, the '86 Miami Hurricanes, and the '05 Ohio State Buckeyes. Sure two of those games were over 20 years ago, but I would argue that being an underdog also bleeds into the next category.)
2. The team that plays better in a bowl game is usually the team that is excited to be there. (Penn State is excited to go to the Rose Bowl, unlike USC who thinks that they are better than the Rose Bowl and too good to play another Big Ten team. USC really wanted to play in the BCS Championship, Fiesta Bowl, or Sugar Bows against a Big-12 or an SEC team.)
3. Two words: Bulletin Board. (USC has already provided some pretty good bulletin board material for Penn State motivation. I can't imagine what they will say in the coming month. Also, no one in the media is going to give Penn State any credit for having enough speed or talent to keep up with the USC offense, or to score against the USC defense--ranked #1 nationally. Keep it coming guys, I'm sure JoePa will take all of the motivation he can get.)

What's the reality of a Penn State v. USC Rose Bowl? Penn State might not have enough speed or talent to compete with a USC team that has NFL athletes 3-Deep at every position. But this is a team game and it's not a best-of-seven series (thank god). We only need to win one game.

Win one game against a disappointed and unenthusiastic team who has heard for five weeks that they are supposed to beat another slow, run-of-the-mill Big Ten team? That USC team is beatable. No predictions here, not yet. I'm just saying... I like our chances.

P.S. To all USC fans (and media blowhards) who argue that they are the best one-loss team, and that USC should be playing in the BCS Championship game instead of Oklahoma, Texas, or Florida, I have a message for you: next time, DON'T LOSE TO OREGON STATE!!! USC (just like Penn State) can not lose to an average conference team, in an average conference, and hope to get respect in December when BCS voting really matters.