Here is unaltered text from an email I sent my cousin John before the big game last night. I was sure of my stance that USC couldn’t handle UT and even bet one of my bosses a lunch. Amy saw how confident I was and put $10 in the company pool. She picked up $30 this morning.

Here is the the original email with my game predictions and anti-USC rant:

The big deal here though is everyone taking sides in the Rose Bowl. Both Amy and I have made bets with coworkers betting on Texas winning. The USC people out here are so blind. OSU racked up over 615 yards on ND and won by 14 points….USC didn’t have as good a game. OSU lost to Texas in a last minute touchdown much the same way ND lost to USC. I’ve been telling all the USC faithful that the Fiesta bowl would predict the winner of the Rose Bowl. To make matters even worse for USC – Penn State (the only other team to beat OSU) just won their own Orange Bowl last night. Also- don’t forget Wisconsin put a hurting on Auburn (a team that was a “contender” for the national title at the beginning of the season). To me this all proves that the big ten is an under-rated conference. To wit- the Pac-10 is over-rated. USC has been beating up (or having nail biters) with teams (cough cough Washington) that OSU beats up on for pre (big ten) season games (I went to that one!). USC is a good team that has been made to look great because they are playing against lackluster programs for the majority of their season (almost losing to Arizona…hellooooo!!??). The final nail in their coffin comes by way of historical similarities. In 2003 Larry Coker was trying to take his team (Miami) to a its 35th straight win and a second straight national title. We all know what happened when the heisman contenders on Miami faced an underrated OSU team. Note that USC’s record is exactly the same when you look at facts and not sports-writers opinions (which the media adopts as facts)… FACT: the 2004 SUGAR BOWL was the national championship game that year – NOT the rose bowl (which USC won). LSU won the national championship in 2004, NOT USC, therefore they are only going for their 2nd title this year – not their third as espn.com likes to force upon us. To say that USC is going for their third is #1 insulting to an LSU team that worked really hard to get there that year – and even harder to get into the picture this year after Katrina. #2 bolstering the need for a playoff game #3 ignoring the obvious fact that USC didn’t get into the Sugar Bowl that year because of their inferior STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE – the very reason I think they are over-rated this year.