Facts are facts: USC No. 2 in BCS and rightfully so

When did USC stop playing football? Did the "we-are-not-worthy" number and close up shop? Donate those seven Heismans to some deserving charity?

John David Booty, who succeeded Matt Leinart at QB, has completed 63.3 percent of his passes for USC. (AP)

That apparently happened Sunday when Troy had the audacity to debut at No. 2 in the BCS standings. The outrage could be felt from Park Avenue to Rodeo Drive. With a stop on State Street in Ann Arbor.

The collective voice: them again.

In a season filled with Ohio State excellence, Michigan resurgence and SEC hand-to-hand combat, USC quietly kept its reserved spot in the national championship game.

By doing what, exactly? Struggling with Washington State? Going down to the wire with Washington and Arizona State? Maybe it was just USC burnout from the masses, but you would have thought these struggles meant the Trojans had dropped the sport.

They aren't winning a football game by 30 anymore, that's for sure. That ended way back in the second game of the season. Yep, the Trojans just aren't themselves having beaten the SEC West leader (Arkansas), the first-place team in the Big 12 North (Nebraska) and every other schlub lined up in front of it.

You'd thought it was time to shutter Heritage Hall except that -- annual BCS update here, folks -- we're talking about a computer spreadsheet. Coaches' ballots filled out by minions. Strength of schedule. Inherent infallibility.

So, yes, USC is the nation's No. 2 team in the only standings that count this time of year. Whether the Trojans deserve it is an argument for your Thursday night poker club.

But throw the ingredients into the hopper that make up the BCS and there is no other conclusion.

• Pete Carroll's boys started the season at No. 3 in the coaches' poll. That was momentum earned from coming within 19 seconds of a third consecutive national championship. That's what is called a head start. Then Texas lost. Hello, No. 2.

• USC has, and will, play one of the more challenging non-conference schedules in the country -- Arkansas, Nebraska, Notre Dame.

• In at least three BCS computer indexes the Pac-10 is rated as the No. 1 conference. It is second in another.

So that's the raw data. Does USC pass the smell test so far? A lot of folks don't think so, not after those close calls against Washington, Washington State and Arizona State.