USC Gets
By Virginia Tech, 24-13
by Mike Mitchell
8/28/04 11:19pm edt
It was a light opening
weekend in college football with only two games on the schedule,
but USC and Virginia Tech began the 2004 season with a bang.
The youthful Hokies, recently transplanted to the ACC from the
Big East, had the USC faithful shaking like a California earthquake
when they took a 10-7 halftime lead. But the Trojans, led by
Reggie Bush's three touchdown catches from Matt Leinart, rallied
for a 24-13 win.
The "BCA Classic" was played in front of an estimated
92,000 fans at Fed-Ex Field in Landover, Maryland (just outside
of Washington, D.C.).
Virginia Tech entered the game as an 18-point underdog by the
oddsmakers. The computer's pick, based on the Congrove Computer
Rankings, called for a 10-point USC win and almost nailed it.
The Hokies and Trojans will be among just five teams that won't
be playing next weekend when the college football season gets
into full gear.
The only other game played Saturday night saw Miami, Ohio romp
past 1-AA Indiana State 49-0. The RedHawks draw a much tougher
opponent for next Saturday's game when they journey to the "Big
House" to take on Michigan.
Streaking: Miami (Ohio) ran the nation's longest winning streak
to 14 with its win over Indiana State Saturday night.
Boise State opens the 2004 season on an 11-game winning streak.
The Broncos have won 18 straight over WAC foes.
North Texas has won 18 straight over Sun Belt conference opponents.
Army has lost 15 straight.
SMU has lost 12 straight.
That Computes: The Congrove
Computer Rankings and Weekly Picks correctly projected the winner of every game for
10 of the 117 Division 1-A teams in 2003. It missed just one
time with 16 others.
The computer's 2003 preseason
forecast came within two wins or less of predicting the final
regular season records of 80 teams. It was exactly right for
16 teams, missed by one win on 32 teams, and missed by two wins
on another 32 teams. It predicted the exact conference records
of 23 teams.
It correctly
projected the winners of both Big 12 divisions, Connecticut as
the top independent, Miami (Ohio) as east division winner of
the MAC, Georgia as east division winner of the SEC, USC as conference
champ of the PAC-10, and North Texas as conference titlist of
the Sun Belt.
The 2003 preseason forecast projected 43 of the 56 bowl teams,
placed nine in the correct bowl, and identified at least one
of the national title game participants for the eighth time in
eleven seasons.
The computer finished the season with a straight up record of
589-182, exactly the same as 2002. |