[OutsiderFan]

Garvin, I'm fairly certain you didn't think Stanford would beat Oregon, Baylor would crush Kansas State or Texas A&M would beat Alabama.

My only point is there seem to be scenarios under which Stanford can play for the crystal football.  As Lee Corso might say, "Stanford is sneaking around the chicken coop" right now in that nobody is aware they are a threat.

The key is Stanford being so high in the computers and so low in the polls.  Stanford has a lot more room for growth than say Florida State, who is already ahead of Stanford in the polls and can't go much higher because of its low computer ranking.  Stanford is six spots behind FSU in the polls, but three two ahead in the computers.  If the voters get behind Stanford late, and with two high profile games left, it cold happen, Stanford could make a big jump up the BCS rankings in the final two weeks, particularly this week, given all the other match-ups.

Back to USC and Notre Dame.  Ordinarily a team losing its Senior QB and one-time Voldemort candidate would be a reason to count out USC, but USC has elite talent all over the place, and Barkley has been mediocre all year as it was.  Wittek might actually be better than Barkley.  Maybe not Hogan over Nunes better, but better or at least on par.  Notre Dame has brobdingnagian pressure to win, USC has none, and they will make their season by knocking off the #1 team. 

[OutsiderFan]

Garvin, I'm fairly certain you didn't think Stanford would beat Oregon, Baylor would crush Kansas State or Texas A&M would beat Alabama.

My only point is there seem to be scenarios under which Stanford can play for the crystal football.  As Lee Corso might say, "Stanford is sneaking around the chicken coop" right now in that nobody is aware they are a threat.

The key is Stanford being so high in the computers and so low in the polls.  Stanford has a lot more room for growth than say Florida State, who is already ahead of Stanford in the polls and can't go much higher because of its low computer ranking.  Stanford is six spots behind FSU in the polls, but three two ahead in the computers.  If the voters get behind Stanford late, and with two high profile games left, it cold happen, Stanford could make a big jump up the BCS rankings in the final two weeks, particularly this week, given all the other match-ups.

Back to USC and Notre Dame.  Ordinarily a team losing its Senior QB and one-time Voldemort candidate would be a reason to count out USC, but USC has elite talent all over the place, and Barkley has been mediocre all year as it was.  Wittek might actually be better than Barkley.  Maybe not Hogan over Nunes better, but better or at least on par.  Notre Dame has brobdingnagian pressure to win, USC has none, and they will make their season by knocking off the #1 team.