USC-ya Later: The Magic of Thursday Night Football

Southern Cal became the latest team to fall on ESPN’s Thursday Night Football, continuing a trend that begs the question: What is it about Thursday night that makes for great football? The Trojans fell 27-21 at Oregon State on Thursday, despite having a week off both before and after its dominating win over then-No. 5 Ohio State. Oregon State entered the game with a record of 1-2: a win over Hawaii and losses to Stanford and Penn State. The Beavers certainly didn’t seem ready to upset the No. 1 team in the nation. Already this season, we have seen Vanderbilt upset No. 24 South Carolina in Week Two and unranked Colorado stun No. 21 West Virginia in Boulder in Week Four. Just last year, unranked Miami beat No. 20 Texas A&M in Week Four, No. 11 South Carolina stunned No. 8 Kentucky in Week Six, unranked Wake Forest upset No. 21 Florida State in Week Seven, unranked Rutgers upended No. 2 South Florida in Week Eight, unranked Arizona shocked No. 2 Oregon in Week 12, ... (link)