You may have noticed that you are currently ranked 2 ^nd to the University of Southern California Trojans by the Associated Press. You may have also have noticed you have somehow garnered eight AP first place votes from the Men of Troy despite their 24 game winning streak.

I congratulate you on a victory in Ohio Stadium that can be categorized as historic. Momentous. Validating. You have clearly demonstrated that you currently belong in the top two of college football.

However, I regret to inform you that you are about as close to your goal as to winning a Miss America pageant. The eight writers who maintain you are actually the best football team in the country seemingly pay as much attention to the sport as the Sultan of Brunei. They must see USC play about as frequently as Matt Leinart throws interceptions.

In case you were too busy in Austin mauling Rice, which by the way finished 3-8 last season, let me catch you up to what your competition has been up to, exactly how complacent a second national title has made USC.

In the first quarter against the Arkansas Razorbacks of the distinguished Southeastern Conference, the Trojans managed to pile up 261 yards. In eight (8) plays. They averaged 32.6 yards per play, half of which scored touchdowns.

Now pick your jaw off the floor and go change your underwear. (And don’t ask about the other three quarters; it doesn’t get any better, as the Trojans scored two touchdowns in each, even with starters taking shoulder pads off in the third. That’s right, the pace didn’t really slow even when the guys not good enough to start ran the show.) Overall USC had 32 first downs, but faced third down just eight times. Of the other four they didn’t convert, they went 2-for-3 on fourth down, and punted once. Once.

You play in the Big XII. You beat Ohio State, arguably the best team in the Big Ten. You probably think you can handle anything. Forget that in the last two years, USC has used a BCS Bowl to annihilate the champ of each of those two respective conferences. And those teams never abused a team the way the 2005 version did Saturday night when it thrashed Arkansas 70-17.

Let’s just assume the season goes as predicted; you and USC beat your respective conferences like bongo drums. Not guaranteed, of course, but based on the schedules, it’s not unlikely. So USC puts out the welcome mat in its own back yard in Pasadena for a national title bout.

The good news is that to get a good scouting report on USC, all you would have to do is ask your Red River buddies, after you presumably exorcise your demons at the Cotton Bowl.

The bad news is Oklahoma’s take on USC may be a tad blurred by the psychological trauma the Trojans inflicted when they embarrassed the Sooners 55-19 last January. And based on their 1-2 start, countless hours of therapy have yet to take effect in Norman.

You may think you have a much better team than they did. Heck, Vince Young could be the reigning Heisman by January. Oklahoma had one of those in Jason White. And Adrian Peterson came up just short last year, finishing second to…well, never mind.

You also have a defense that holds teams like Ohio State to 22 points. That’s a whole five fewer points than San Diego State allowed the Buckeyes.

Don’t kid yourself. Even with the month you would have to prepare, can you really find a way to stop USC’s arsenal without using 15 defenders? You don’t think Pete Carroll can find a way to at least contain Vince Young with a defense that, like the offense, is bolstered by repeated top-5 recruiting classes, with blue chip recruits rolling off the assembly line like auto parts?

Enjoy this season, Mack Brown & Co. It could easily be the finest regular season Austin has seen since an undefeated run in 1983 (which ended with a Cotton Bowl loss to Georgia). But you might want to consider changing your second-favorite team from Texas A&M’s opponent to USC’s.

After all, if that new second-favorite team finishes the year winless, you may not like what you find in Pasadena this time around. Which would apparently catch at least eight AP poll voters by surprise.