Prompted by Stanford’s recent upset over USC, let’s look at a quick comparison of the types of athletes each school gets using the NFL Draft as an evaluator of talent. Let’s examine a year-by-year analysis:

Over the course of the last ten years there have been 47 players from the University of Southern California drafted into the NFL as opposed to 35 from Stanford. That twelve player advantage doesn’t tell the whole story though, let’s look at so-called “notable” players.

USC:
Dewayne Jarrett
Steve Smith
Reggie Bush
Matt Leinart
LenDale White
Lofa Tatupu
Carson Palmer
Troy Polamalu

Stanford:
Alex Smith
Kwame Harris

Just another way of stating the magnitude of the upset… USC had absolutely every reason in the world to beat Stanford… and couldn’t pull it off.

It’s over.

USC was upset today by underdog Stanford 24-234, and it’s over.  USC’s National Title hopes?  Yes, but that isn’t what I’m talking about.  The 35 game home winning streak?  Yes, but not the point.  The era of invincibility?  Ding, ding, ding… we have a winner!

After squeaking by the underdog University of Washington last week for a three point win, the Trojans now get upset by the Stanford Cardinal, a team they were favored to beat by 41 points.  Yes, 41 points.

This is a huge upset, bigger even then Appalachian State beating the Michigan Wolverines earlier this season.  For years USC has been treated as the elite program in college football, and deservedly so.  Stanford hasn’t been in the upper class of their own conference since John Elway was there.

So, congratulations to Stanford University and all its fans.  Enjoy this taste, this will go down as one of the great upsets of all time.