USC Is The College Football Team Of The Decade
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 2:47PM 
By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season
BROOKLYN -- If Texas wins the national championship, are the Longhorns the team of the decade?
My answer is no.
A win in Pasadena will give UT two national championships this decade, a Fiesta Bowl and a Rose Bowl win for a perfect 4-0 mark in BCS games. The Longhorns won two Big 12 championships and regardless of the outcome of the title game, they'll finish the decade with eight Top 10 finishes.
With two great quarterbacks and loads of other NFL-caliber talent, Texas has won 110 games and is 7-2 in bowl games, including five straight wins. Certainly Texas has enjoyed a great run.
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As the Tim Tebow era comes to a close in Gainesville, the Gators can boast a pretty strong resume as well. If the category was "The Team Of The Second Half Of The Decade," by all means, the Gators would get it.
Florida has won 99 games in the 2000s, two national championships and three SEC championships, all while playing in what has become in the last five years the sport's toughest conference. Florida is 3-0 in BCS games this decade, but 4-5 overall in bowl games.
The Gators have two 13-win seasons under their belt, and are a very impressive 47-7 in the last four years under coach Urban Meyer. Unlike Texas, Florida does have a Heisman Trophy winner in Tebow.
My team of the decade is USC. The Trojans won a national championship, shared one with LSU and almost won a third. They are difficult to beat in January, as evidenced by their 6-1 record in BCS bowl games this decade. Those six wins have come by an average margin of 22 points.
USC has won 101 games and is 14-4 vs. Top 10 teams. The Trojans won at least a share of seven consecutive PAC 10 championships, a streak that ended this season in what is a considered a terrible year in which they only won eight games.
With three Heisman Trophy winners just this decade, USC finished in the Top 10 seven times, and with Pete Carroll at the helm and Matt Barkley returning for his sophomore season, look for the Trojans to be a national title contender again next year.
Reader Comments (11)
Who in the hell wrote this piece? You left out that Texas beat USC in the National Championship game. You point out that Texas doesnt have any Heisman winners this decade but did have arguably the greatest college player of all time (Vince Young) and Colt McCoy should have won the Heisman Trophy last year. You do point out that Texas has won 9 more games than anyone else, and by winning the National Championship this year, would be a tie with USC and Florida. Media should not be biased and report the news truthfully, which if that happened, USC might be seen for what they trully are - 5th best team in a weak conference
hey kelly usc should have one that championship between usc and texas
do you remember vince youngs knee touching the ground on 4th down but them getting a touchdown anyways
if they didnt get that touchdown they wouldnt have won that game and the pac 10 has a better record than the big 12 this year so who is really better. our bowl record last year was 5 and 0 what was the big 12's? so its not biased your just a cry baby so quit bitching if anyone who should have anything to bitch about its usc for having their chance of winning 3 championships in a row stolen by the referrees
Kelly: Your note can't be taken seriously when you begin with "Who in the hell wrote this piece?" Look at the top of it, in all CAPS, where it says, "By JOHN P. WISE." That's me.
Texas beat USC in the national championship for one season, not the entire decade.
Regarding Heismans, 3-0 is a significant difference. Almosts and should-haves are ridiculous in this argument.
Arguably with Vince Young? Certainly an immense talent and a delight to watch, but his impact lasted only about half as long as Tebow's. Tebow will go down as one of the best players ever, if not the best player ever.
Not sure what is biased or untruthful. USC did finish fifth ... this season ... after seven straight PAC 10 championships.
I hope the responses to my comments are not the intellectual elite of USC, but i have a feeling that they are...Who the hell wrote this is my way of saying this is a ridiculous piece...You can all wine and cry about the National Championship Game between Texas and USC but it wont change the score....lmao....Remember the motto coming out of that game should be "Punt, Pete, Punt"...As for Tebow, he is the ultimate example of how the media manipulates the thoughts of its readers...If i was looking at greatest college program of the decade, i think total wins should top every other arguement....Have a great day in San Franciso, maybe you can be tops next year of another mediocre conference, but i doubt it...Maybe coach left his playbook in Malibu this year and that is why yall sucked so bad....hmmm
so many teams are deserving, but remember, its not just about heismans and nationial championships. but about the enitre season, and WHO THEY PLAYED IN NON-LEAGUE. over a decade. because conferences hvae good and bad years just like teams. but who does that team play out side their own conference! the team of the decade should be about: ten years of non-league, league, and BOWLs.
A win is a win. You dont go back and differentiate between wins when recording program wins or coaches wins. That is insane. Based on wins, Texas is the dominant program in this decade.
Kelly: Thanks for visiting my site but please, sir, feel free to take your tone down a notch or two. I love a healthy debate, but when an inflexible, hard-headed douchebag comes back and repeatedly shouts about how wrong everyone else is, it makes my site look like one that attracts, well, hard-headed douchebags. Indeed a win is a win and if I wanted to display the winningest teams of the decade, I could have done it in a very nice and boring list form and called it "The Winningest Teams Of The Decade." But this is a more subjective piece, open to a multitude of interpretations and if you disagree with the one I've made, your comments are welcome. But it's OK to do so in polite conversation. Lastly, if my piece was based only on wins, Texas would be No. 3 for the decade.
sorry but vince young is not arguably the best college football player. he had one OUTSTANDING and extremely dominating season. point being, just one. tebow dominated his sophomore year, scored 2 td's in the national championship game in his freshman year, had a good junior year and won the national title again and what turned out to be a disappointing senior season was still a good season. tebow is CLEARLY one of college's best athletes ever. that would also have to include herschel walker and archie griffin. texas fans will always think that they were the best this decade, and that's understandable. i'll always think sc was because pete carroll did was not many coaches could do. after his disappointing 6-6 first season, they were dominating again and won 11 every year up until this year. oh and bradford definitely deserved the heisman last year, he is and will always be a far better player than mccoy is and he deserved the heisman with his 48 passing td's.
oh and for the people who think sc plays weak teams, they've played plenty of good top 25 teams. he brought up that they wont by an average of 22 points in their BCS bowl games, which already is amazing. but search the actual facts instead just hating usc for being usc, they've played plenty of ranked teams and the ones that they win against, they almost always murder them. and i meant score 50-60 points murder.
Another TEXAS homer, talking about how great they are...this and that!
Let's look at the game last night.....ONE PLAYER....Colt goes out, cries like the little bitch he is with is DADDY on the sideline.....HOLD ME DADDY, HOLD ME!
USC was/is the better team back then and just by all the players being drafted from the USC team as compared to the Texas teams shows that.
We stop Vince and the game is over!!!
ONE PLAYER, one game....different outcome!
Keep thinking your the best
ZERO heismans to USC's 3
1 Natty to USC's 2
7 straight PAC TEN TITLES
texas has won what? 3
TEXAS is the clear cut for BRIDESMATE, not the best!
Save the title for who it belongs to, USC!
FIGHT ON!
@REV Raiderman dude your comment is terrible. This is what I hate about blogs, even my own -- The commenters who can't disagree without getting personal and hateful. Is Colt McCoy really a little bitch? He enjoyed one of the best careers for a quarterback in college football history: 45 wins, 3 straight bowl victories before Thursday, prolific passing stats, 2 Heisman candidacies, etc. And he handled himself in a spontaneous postgame interview far better than you've presented yourself here in prepared, attacking comments full of CAPS, ellipsis, misspellings and even a "we" thrown in for good measure. Folks who say "we" and "us" when talking about their favorite sports teams are lame, bro. Grow up and learn how to have a healthy debate before you leave another comment here please.