USC

No matter what happens Monday night in that farce of a BCS championship game, I'm still holding strong to my preseason belief that USC is the best team in the country.

And it's not even close.

USC would render Tim Tebow and the Gators one-dimensional on offense. And the Sooners just don't have the beasts on the line or the athletes in their secondary to keep up with the Trojans. Without Vince Young, Texas doesn't have a chance of keeping it close. Alabama reminds me a lot of Penn State in that it's relatively slow and predictable.

No other major-college team is even worth mentioning in this discussion.

Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again: few things are more appealing to me than a New Year's Day afternoon spent "looking live" into the Rose Bowl. It's like everything is so much more vibrant and colorful there in the valley at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, particularly when the Trojans are wearing their cardinal red jerseys.

And, yeah, it's even better on HDTV.