It’s a superficial, weak mind that attempts to settle labyrinthine sports arguments like "who’s better?" by resorting to the cliché, "look at the scoreboard." Enlightened thinkers understand that head-to-head bean-counting is a poor substitute for a subtle critique of strengths, weaknesses and potential. Take Matt Leinart, for example, who intuitively understood following USC’s loss to Texas in the 2006 Rose Bowl that the notion of "the better team" is a fluid concept, not merely a matter of petty wins and losses:

One of the followers of the tao of Leinart, ironically, is Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, who appeared to be on the wrong end of the 44-10 slaughter USC committed against the Ducks Saturday night. You may have thought you were watching a bigger, faster, stronger team right its season by outgaining a capable but overmatched Oregon outfit 598 yards to 239, holding the Duck offense to a punt or turnover on eight straight possessions and intercepting Masoli to set up the final, dagger touchdown from Mitch Mustain to David Ausberry in the closing minutes.

Oh, ye feeble minds. Let the wise Masoli reveal to you the reality behind the mirage:

"We feel like we’re the better team."

"Tonight they played better than us, and the score indicated that. But I still feel like we’re the better team, we just gave that one away."

"We just made some mistakes that we usually don’t."

"I feel like our football team is better all-around, but they played better tonight, so they got the ‘W’.”

You can assess an abstract philosophical question like "who’s better?" in any number of closed-minded, "factual" methods. Head-to-head: the Ducks were outscored by 34 points and outgained by 359 yards Saturday, and have lost four of five to the Trojans since 2002 by an average of 19 points. Against the rest of the Pac-10: USC is 41-6 to Oregon’s 29-19 and has won or shared six straight conference championships since ’02 to Oregon’s zero. In the polls: the Trojans have finished six straight seasons in the AP’s year-end top four, at least ten spots better each season than the Ducks, who haven’t finished in the top ten since 2001, Pete Carroll’s first season in L.A. and Jeremiah Masoli’s first year in middle school.

But you’re thinking about results, man. You need to expand your mind. Instead of talking about wins and losses, you need to think about the essence of Oregon. Think about what would happen on a neutral field, if everyone was healthy, if the Ducks executed every block, threw tight spirals, stopped dropping passes, didn’t hold, blow coverages, miss field goals, go for the ball instead of the tackle or commit stupid penalties. Picture what would have happened Saturday night if the game was exactly the opposite of how it actually went, in reality. Who’s the better team now?

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Photo of Masoli via Getty Images.