Tuesday Question ... OU, LSU or USC?

Oklahoma, LSU or USC ... which one is the odd team out at the moment?

Past TQs
- Was the App St win good or bad for college football?
- 3 Sleeper Teams
- Predicting the Season
- 3 things we're sure of
- What to look for on Signing Day
- Bears or Colts?
- Early bowl surprises and trends
- 3 things to look for from the bowls
- Do you want the Alabama job?
- What are the 3 best non-BCS bowls?
- Who's 2nd in the Heisman race?
- Michigan-OSU rematch?
- Michigan or Ohio State?
- Should Louisville be No. 3?
- The nat'l title game will be ...
- The best one-loss team
- Rule changes to help the flow
- The Midseason Stuff
- The real top five ranking
- The early coach of the year is ...?
- These three teams are for real, these three aren't
- After 2 weeks, who's better, who's worse?
- 10 Greatest Quarterbacks of All-Time
- 10 Greatest Defensive Players of All-Time
- 10 Greatest Regular Season Games of All-Time
- 10 Greatest Playmakers of All-Time
- 10 Worst Heisman Winners
- 10 Greatest Bowl Games
- All-Time Offensive Team
- All-Time Defensive Team

Pete Fiutak           

Q: LSU, USC or Oklahoma ... who's the odd team out right now?

A: Oh this will be fun.

This has the potential to be another wild and wacky BCS year with LSU, USC and Oklahoma all looking like the number one team in the country, and others like Florida and West Virginia all wondering what they have to do to get into the overall discussion.

Of course a million things are going to happen over the next few months, and of course there will be upsets, but right now, until USC plays Nebraska and shows what it can do once it opens things up full-throttle, it's the third team in the mix.

I'm the only person in America who really thinks Miami is good, so I put a lot of stock in the OU dismantling of the Canes. Then again, LSU ripped apart a defense that might end up being among the five best in America.

Again, there's a lot of football to be played, but people assume that, and then all of a sudden, we have a battle on our hands to see who deserves to be in the national title game. This is an important discussion to start having now, and it's important to not just assume things as we go along. That's how Florida crept up and shocked everyone at the end of last year. For Oklahoma, LSU and USC, it's about style points now, as well as just getting the big wins.

Richard Cirminiello      

Q: LSU, USC or Oklahoma ... who's the odd team out right now?

A: Right off the bat, it just can’t be LSU.  Not after the way it played in Saturday night’s 48-7 demolition of then-No. 9 Virginia Tech, the most impressive win to date by any national championship contender.  Through two weeks, the Tigers have beaten an SEC team and a top 10 by a combined score of 93-7.  Case closed.  The debate between USC and Oklahoma isn’t an easy one because the Trojans haven’t been challenged and the Sooners have looked like a juggernaut in lopsided routs of North Texas and Miami.  After just two games, Oklahoma has played its way into the discussion, and will not go away as long as it keeps winning.  However, if I felt strongly just two weeks ago that USC was the country’s premier team, I’m not about to flip-flop after the Trojans have played just one lackadaisical game versus Idaho.  Now that LSU and Oklahoma have aced their early season exams, let’s see how USC performs in its first really big test at Nebraska.  For now, the Sooners are on the outside looking in, but the view is a whole lot better than it was just ten days ago.  Oh, and not that this has any relevance to the question, but anyone suggesting that margin of victory doesn’t matter in the rankings ought to immediately get a CAT scan.  If LSU and Oklahoma won by three last weekend, rather than by 41 and 38, respectively, would we be having this debate?       

John Harris

Q: LSU, USC or Oklahoma ... who's the odd team out right now?

A: LSU and Oklahoma are the logical choices after this weekend to be numbers one and two, but that’s because both teams played last week.  It’s natural to forget about a team that didn’t take the field, but what are we going to say next week if USC hammers Nebraska in Lincoln on Saturday?  I still project LSU and USC in the national championship game, but Oklahoma is burning an image in my brain that’s hard to erase.  USC doesn’t have to be dominant in Huskerland, but they better play well.  That all being said, having seen LSU up close and in person last weekend, I’m positive no team could’ve beaten them on that field that night.  Well, one not named the Indianapolis Colts.  No team that I’ve ever seen, on television or otherwise, so thoroughly dominated a decent team like LSU did to Virginia Tech last Saturday night.  LSU faithful have said it was the best performance of an LSU team ever.  That’s saying a little something.  We’ll see about USC this weekend, but circle October 6^th as D Day for both LSU and OU.

Matthew Zemek      

Q: LSU, USC or Oklahoma ... who's the odd team out right now?

A: Well, first of all, let's wait until November 1 at the earliest. As I always say, let the season play out.

But if you had to have an "odd team out" at this very, VERY early stage of the season, it has to be USC for the simple reason that OU and LSU have played at least one impressive game. USC hasn't.

Again, though, let's wait about two months--maybe until Thanksgiving--to see if this question is worth answering.

Then we'll have a real humdinger of a debate.