BCS Selection Show: USC vs. PSU Reaction

What is customarily an eventful evening for numerous teams dreaming of a berth in a BCS game, was anything but that.

The Trojans knew if they took care of business against cross-town rival UCLA this past Saturday, they would earn an outright Pac-10 title sending them to the Rose Bowl against a one-loss Penn State team.

“Well it’s a little uneventful when you know what’s going on,” head coach Pete Carroll said of the Rose Bowl announcement. “It was little suspense, and I don’t know there could be much suspense because its been pretty rock-solid all the way throughout.”

The match-up will pin two of the most successful coaches in college football against one another for the first since Carroll’s arrival at USC, making this an intriguing match-up.

“Joe (Paterno) might no consider this a match-up,” joked Carroll of the two head coaches colliding. “It will be an honor to go against him, and I think it’s a great classic match-up across the country for us. A lot of people will be interested in this game, and they have an enormous following.

“I’m excited about it. I like that we get a chance to go against such an incredible team, who’s had such a great year. This could very easily be the best game in the country on that day (Jan. 1).”

Paterno, who has had his fair share of ups and downs over the past few years at Penn State, is excited to emerge from the Big Ten as the conference champions preparing to take on USC.

“Well, obviously I'm very excited,” said Paterno of the match-up. “I think any time you've gone as long as I've gone and have an opportunity to do what we're going to have in a few weeks, I'm excited. I know my team's excited. I just hope we can do a good job and make it a great game.

As I said earlier, I think we're going to play one of the two or three best football teams in the country. It’s kind of nice, kind of exciting, something 45 years ago I wouldn't have dreamed of happening. “

Carroll would not stand outside of Galen Dining Hall complaining and wining about why his one loss team did not make it into the BCS National Championship Game, although his hypothetical scenario left some thinking the what ifs.

“The thing is find interesting is out of all the (BCS) teams who do they (media) think would win it,” said Carroll of the possible playoff. “I could think we’d make a big pitch when you come in with the kind of defense we have, it’s hard to vote against that in the championship game.

“That’s just for curiosities sake.”

The Trojans will head to the Rose Bowl for the third time in as many years, although a lack of excitement is the last thing Carroll is worried about when his team comes to take the field New Year’s Day.

“We heard all of those questions last year,” said Carroll of his team potentially becoming complacent heading into yet another Rose Bowl. “Then we had one of the great explosions of energy and fun. This is a big deal to us and we love playing in the bowl game regardless of where we’re going.

“It’s a great achievement.”

A seventh straight Pac-10 title is nothing to be bitter about, and the media hype surrounding the game is leaving Carroll excited toward the opportunity.

“The whole Rose Bowl buildup to us is awesome,” commented Carroll on the activities leading up the New Year’s day game. “You get as much build-up and as much hype for the game as you can possibly get.

“The excitement is going to be enormous and the stadium is going to be rocking.”

The BCS system is the way it is, and there is no changing that.

This USC team just could not move up high enough no matter what they did, and Carroll directly relates that back to the loss to a then struggling Oregon State team.

“Even when Oregon State started playing better I don’t think the evaluation shifted at all,” commented Carroll on the Trojan’s inability to move up the BCS ranking ladder. “I don’t know why that is.”

Penn State is also on the outside looking in with one-loss, although head coach Joe Paterno would make no mention of why his team should be playing in Miami January 8th.

“I'm only looking forward to playing Southern Cal,” said the Penn State head coach. “That's all I'm looking forward to.”

The current system seems to favor a heavier dose of offensive firepower then defensive capabilities, leaving the Trojans on the outside looking in of the BCS National Championship game.

“I don’t know that a team scoring 65 points a game tells you who the best team is,” said Carroll, obviously referring to the USC defense and it’s performance this year. “I think it’s the media’s way of looking at it, I think its media-driven.

“The points and big scores are fan driven and not coaches driven.”

Having coached plenty of great linebackers in his career, Joe Paterno had this to say of the current trio of backers across the country at USC.

“I think they're terrific,” commented the legendary coach. “That (Brian)Cushing kid, I'm still mad at Cal (USC) coming into Jersey and taking him out from under our nose, Bergen Catholic. They run well, they're smart. They time blitz well. They're big time. They're big time, they really are.

“The two outside guys get maybe a little bit more action, but the third guy is pretty good, too. They're all good. It's a heck of a defensive team. I mean, they got a couple guys in that secondary that will knock your head off.”