[NU Sports] The bully has been beaten up ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Teams across the nation may still fear SC, but Pac 10 teams obviously do not anymore.

Once Oregon came along and popped SC in the mouth, the SC aura (at least temporarily) was gone. Washington was the usual hiccup and they had an old coach, but Oregon's destruction opened the floodgates.

ASU outplayed the Trojans and narrowly lost last week.

Stanford is just KILLING them this week. The cardinal and gold are getting BOOED off the field at the Coliseum!

Always fun to see NU win, Ill-noise suffer and now watch SC lose. Maybe tonight we'll get the schadenfraude trifecta when Charlie Weis lays his job on the line against the Waanstache (though I think Pitt's heavily overrated and ready for a fall).

HOWEVER (to relate this to the list), this is good news for the Big Ten (along with Iowa's gutsy performance in the Shoe).

If SC loses, they won't get a B(C)S at-large bid, and Stanford -- while a great story -- ain't gonna bring fans either. Arizona could be an attractive pick for the Fiesta, but the Cats have Oregon and SC both left on the schedule.

So no Pac 10 at-large team, the SEC out of options, the Big XII in shambles and the Big Least/ACC as one-bid leagues is good news for the Big Ten.

... and for Boise State.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

PS - Iowa just engineered a masterful drive following their kickoff return to turn a two-score deficit in the fourth into a 24-24 tie. WOW! This is an amazing game in Columbus.

PPS - A bit sad to see my dreams of New Year's Eve in the Valley gone, but good for NU in the long run to move up bowls.

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STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!