Crazy Trojan Musings

Catch 22

2008-12-08T14:30:00.004-05:00

I have been struggling for months to come up with a concise way to make this point. Therefore, thank you to Adam Maya of the Orange County Register:

4. They beat who?
Alabama played Western Kentucky, Tulane and Arkansas State. Florida played Citadel (in November!). Oklahoma played Chattanooga. Texas played Florida Atlantic, UTEP and Rice. It almost doesn’t seem fair that USC played Ohio State, Notre Dame and Virginia, two of which are going to a bowl. There is a catch 22 here regarding the Pac-10: The conference is down because of unimpressive non-conference résumés. Partly why they are unimpressive is because they lost to both good and decent teams.
The SEC and Big 12 are loaded with victories against irrelevant non-conference schools, which inflate their record and make their conference schedules look much tougher, which inflates their rankings. This is obvious to everyone, right?

Unfortunately, this does not appear to be obvious to everyone because I recall reading this sentiment only once previously in print media this season. This scheduling philosophy runs from top to bottom in most BCS conferences with few exceptions. Most SEC and Big 12 teams schedule their way to bowl games by waltzing through four ridiculous non-conferences games, leaving them in position to qualify for a bowl game with a 2-6 conference record.

If the Pac-10 scheduled like the Big 12 and the SEC, the Pac-10 would show much better in the top 25 polls. Nor would producing seven or eight bowl teams be a problem, as it was this year. The problem is compounded by the fact that every Pac-10 school plays nine conference games, more than any other conference in the country, a fact Maya does not even mention.

Carroll to NFL . . . Ever?

2008-11-21T11:30:00.002-05:00

This seems like good news . . . unless it's just standard coach-speak in response to the same question about the NFL Carroll fields every fall:

Washington: “You can go down as a legendary coach at the college level, but (are there) any desires when you’re sitting around at the table in the offseason saying, “I wonder if I can do that at the NFL level, and just dominate like how (I’ve) done at the college level?’ ”
Carroll: “I think I’m very fortunate that I had a lot of years in the NFL and had a blast. And I still love the NFL. I think it’s a great league. It’s a great level of competition and all. But we just found home here. It just seems to fit well, and we’ve had a great time here at ‘SC. Been very lucky to be at this school at this time.
“I’m having the time of my life, as content as you can get. And hopefully we’ll just be able to stay here and keep this thing rolling as long as we can.”

The Legend of Rey Grows

2008-11-06T16:13:00.003-05:00

There is this:

"We let Rey say who he wanted on the kickoff team," recalled Todd McNair, who counts special teams among his coaching duties. "He said 'Gimme all the linebackers.' They're called the Myrmidons."

What?!

Maualuga revived the USC tradition that started four years ago, just after the movie "Troy" was released. "It's kinda backwards, because the Myrmidons were Achilles' elite fighting unit," laughed McNair. "They were fighting against Troy and we are Troy. But, we like the idea of the Myrmidons."

How cool is that? Also from the Washington game:

Late in the third quarter, Maualuga asked his coach if he could go in for another kickoff. "Get outta here, you crazy?" McNair told the senior.
Clearly unsatisfied, Maualuga instructed a younger player to walk halfway onto the field and pretend to join the coverage team, then return to the sideline. Maualuga took his place.
"I'm standing there, and Coach [Pete Carroll] is like, 'T-Mac, what the heck?!?'" I look, and he's out there!" said McNair. "Then he proceeds to go down the field, knock two guys down, and tackles 'em on the 2- yard line!"

They took his helmet away after that.

Hope

2008-09-26T15:26:00.003-04:00

USC is manhandled by Oregon State 21-27. That did not look like a fluke.

I had hoped the 2008 season would not be like 2006 and 2007, when USC suffered one or two inexplicable losses. Now, that is exactly what I hope for in 2008. The last two seasons, the Trojans regrouped after their losses to finish strong and win the conference. We shall see.

A best case scenario would look like 2003, when USC lost in overtime to unranked Cal, but went on to win their remaining nine games in dominating fashion and finish the season ranked #1. We'll see. That did not look like a fluke.

Fight on!

Worth a Thousand Words

2008-09-16T14:45:00.003-04:00

USC decapitates Ohio State 35-3, September 13, 2008, Los Angeles.

Crazy Stat to Record for Posterity

2008-09-15T16:11:00.002-04:00

Pete Carroll is 78-14, two games into his eighth year at USC. His 14 losses have been by a combined total of 59 points. That's an average of 4.2 points per game. Only one loss, in 2001 at Notre Dame, was by more than seven points (USC lost to Notre Dame 16-27 in Carroll's first season).

On Saturday UCLA lost to BYU 0-59.

HT: ocregister.com.

Norm Chow is Dead to Me

2008-09-04T13:18:00.001-04:00

No, not really; I'm just formally disowning him. I harbor no ill will toward Norm Chow and I wish him happiness, but not luck or success when it comes to his new job (which he obviously does not need). Chow is no longer a Trojan. He is a Bruin, so he is now the enemy.

Therefore, you will no longer see me pining after his masterful play-calling. Chow has been gone almost as many years as he was originally with the Trojans. Objectively speaking, there has been no drop-off in offensive production over the last two seasons compared to 2002-2004, Chow's last three years with the Trojans. Refer to USC Trojan Football Analysis for evidence of that assertion. Art of Troy has convinced me that the decreased level of scoring over the last two seasons is actually the result of less opportunistic defensive play, especially in terms of turnovers and direct scoring by the defense.

I obviously have a lot of respect for Chow. He is a fantastic coach and he's getting a lot of well-deserved love from pundits after UCLA's upset of Tennessee. I still believe we would have between one and three more national titles (2005-2007) if he had stayed, but that has to do with better play-calling at critical moments in crucial games, and everyone knows hindsight is 20-20.

If UCLA's new coaching staff helps revive a real rivalry between USC and UCLA, that would be a good thing. However, UCLA first has a lot of work to do on the field. They are off to a good start in 2008, but it's way too early to pass judgment on the success or failure of the new Bruin regime. Pete Carroll went 6-6 his first year at USC with Chow and DeWayne Walker on his staff. It will be interesting to compare Rick Neuheisel's first year at UCLA with Carroll's first year at USC.

L.A. Times background info on Chow to UCLA here (my first draft of this post was back in January).

Virginia Weekender

2008-09-03T23:31:00.011-04:00

The best thing about USC opening their season against UVA in Charlottesville was I got to go to the game! We hitched a ride from DC to Charlottesville on one of the USC Alumni Association charter buses and hung out before the game at the USC tailgate inside UVA's basketball arena, John Paul Jones Arena. We'd been to Charlottesville and the UVA campus before, so we didn't spend any time wandering around campus except for our walk to the stadium.

Scott Stadium from Row Y, Section 521. I read this game set an attendance record for the stadium.

Joe McKnight flies through the air for the Trojans' second touchdown. Pete Carroll celebrates in the background.

Scott Stadium was a pretty cool stadium for college football, especially the lawn behind the opposite end zone.

Marc Tyler's catch and run for a touchdown.

Only Row Z offered respite from the oppressive heat, thanks to a breeze coming over the top of the stadium. We noticed only the home team's benches had canopies providing shade.

Bring on the Buckeyes!

Pete Carroll Is Glad for UCLA

2008-09-03T14:10:00.006-04:00

From Ted Miller:

We hear a lot of stuff from the SEC -- I think that's a great statement that UCLA was able to knock those guys off," Carroll said. "I don't know what they'll say from the other side, but you can't make a stronger statement. One of their stronger teams got beaten by a first opportunity for a new coach in a new program. It was a great win for UCLA and I think it does make a big statement. I'm glad it happened.

And why not? It reflects well on the Pac-10, and I don't think for one minute anything UCLA does across town influences Carroll's philosophy about running a football program. Sure, he's competitive, but his focus won't turn to UCLA until November 30, the Sunday before the regular season finale against UCLA. Therein lies the primary difference between USC football and UCLA football: USC measures success by conference titles, BCS bowl victories, and national championships; UCLA measures success by its status in relation to USC.

Previous musings on this topic here.

I Love This Shit

2008-08-05T15:12:00.003-04:00

All is right and good in the Pac-10 when the media is writing stuff like this:

Nine tenths of the Pac-10 feels no hope.

This group, from Tucson to Seattle to Eugene to Berkeley to Westwood, looks up and sees USC's Men of Troy standing above, smirking in their Cardinal & Gold Armani armor, which sports six gaudy, sequential badges of Pac-10 supremacy.

Watching the historical dominance of the Pac-10 by the Trojans be reflected in the present day, but to a greater degree, is extremely satisfying to one brought into the fold during the 1990s.

It Was Fun While It Lasted

2008-01-25T16:50:00.000-05:00

This is what I wrote and intended to post under the heading "It Was Fun While It Lasted" after USC's last loss to Oregon on October 27:

First of all, USC can still finish 10-2 and go to a BCS bowl, so there's plenty to play for. Although the Trojans lost to Oregon last Saturday, their play demonstrated that USC can beat anybody if they eliminate costly mistakes such as red-zone turnovers and big penalties. That includes Oregon State, Cal, Arizona State, and UCLA, the four remaining teams on USC's schedule.

Nevertheless, the Trojans five-year reign over the Pac-10 has unfortunately come to an end. After last Saturday, there is no longer any question that the Trojans have descended from their perch as the dominant program in college football to being merely a 'good' team. As fans, it hurts so much because we know how it feels to be at the top.

At a time like this, it is critical to maintain perspective. As disappointed as we all are right now, we are seven years removed from the darkest days of USC football, before Pete Carroll arrived to lead the Trojans back from irrelevance and mediocrity. The program is incomparably stronger than it was in 2000. USC has not lost its potential to be a great team and there is no reason to believe USC will not continue to compete for Pac-10 and national championships every year.

I don't remember why I didn't follow through with the post (I probably determined it was excessively negative), but having not deleted the draft provides insight into my thinking at the low point of the 2007 season. Clearly, I jumped the gun in giving up on the Pac-10 title and overreacted regarding the Trojans' status in college football. However, until Oregon lost Dennis Dixon, it looked like the Ducks were going to roll through the rest of the conference and into the BCS National Championship Game, where they would have been this year's selection to beat up an over-matched Ohio State team, instead of LSU. So, USC probably owes its sixth consecutive Pac-10 title to Oregon's misfortune (as does LSU its BCS title). Of course, the Trojans had more than their fair share of injuries to overcome.

My thinking was on the mark in other aspects, including my assessment of the team's chances against the remainder of their schedule. Happily, the team also believed there was still plenty to play for, regrouped, and finished the season impressively. Consequently, the 2007 season was "successful", based on my arbitrarily-defined criteria, and the Trojans appear poised to again contend for the national championship in 2008, just as I predicted.

Classy Bruins

2008-01-21T09:58:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting bit of news from Scott Wolf about UCLA's "elegant" handling of the basketball rivalry.

Can Slick Rick Deliver?

2008-01-04T14:46:00.000-05:00

The impression I have, based on some Rick Neuheisel statements since he was hired as UCLA's new football coach, is that he is establishing a definition of success for his tenure that is based on UCLA's future performance in relation to USC. I don't mean just UCLA's head-to-head record against USC, but also an ability to win championships and bowl games at a rate comparable to USC. Neuheisel's statements include his televised interview from the stands as a spectator at the Rose Bowl game and his recorded telephone message to UCLA supporters, in which he said, “The team across town has risen to national prominence, and it’s time we meet this head on.”

I respect this approach, but is he setting up himself and his program to fail? My guess is UCLA fans expect to beat the Trojans about as often as they lose to them. Is that a realistic expectation right now? In the past quarter century, USC is 12-12-1 against UCLA, but that includes an eight-game losing streak during the 1990s, pre-Carroll. With Pete Carroll at the helm, the Trojans climbed the college football mountain and have performed at an elite, unprecedentedly consistent level – the 2008 Rose Bowl championship gives the Trojans a 5-1 record over six consecutive BCS bowl appearances. In the same period of time, UCLA has compiled a 43-33 (28-22 Pac-10) record including a 2-4 record in bowl games, none of which were played on or after New Year’s Day.

I don’t expect the Trojans to beat UCLA every year in perpetuity (I can live with one loss out of nine!), but Neuheisel is sowing the seeds of disappointment unless he can engineer a dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of both programs. If he cannot, his performance will not compare favorably against the bar he is setting, and he may not last long in what is probably his last chance as a head coach in the college game.

More Crushing on Pete Carroll

2007-11-30T09:18:00.000-05:00

Here's a link to a mind-blowing article on Pete Carroll from Los Angeles magazine: 23 Reasons Why a Profile of Pete Carroll Does Not Appear in this Space. This guy never ceases to amaze me. Halfway through, I'm very happy to read the following:
His first task: Turn USC into the grandest college dynasty ever. Not this week’s number one team but history’s. “To win forever,” he says . . . .

Sounds impossible, right? Unrealistically ambitious? Read the article and you'll have a tough time not believing he can pull it off.

Even after almost seven years at the helm of USC football, you'll learn things about the man that sound like they were lifted out of a movie script, like this:
Along the way [Bo] Taylor tells me that he and Carroll do this often. They make late-night journeys through the dicey precincts of Los Angeles. Alone, unarmed, they cruise the desolate, impoverished, crime-ridden streets, meeting as many people (mostly young men) as possible. The mission: Let them know that someone busy, someone famous, someone well known for winning, is thinking about them, rooting for them. The young men have hard stories, grim stories, about their everyday lives, and at the very least Carroll’s visit gives them a different story to tell tomorrow.

[. . .]

We start in east South-Central, a block without streetlights, without stores. Broken glass in the gutters. Fog and gloom in the air. We hop out and approach a group of young men bunched on the sidewalk. Glassy-eyed, they’re either drunk, stoned, or else just dangerously bored. They recognize Carroll right away. Several look around for news trucks and politicians, and they can’t hide their shock when they realize that Carroll is here, relatively speaking, alone.

Carroll shakes hands, asks how everyone’s doing. He marches up and down the sidewalk, the same way he marches up and down a sideline—exhorting, pumping his fist. At first the young men are nervous, starstruck , shy. Gradually they relax. They talk about football, of course, but also about the police, about how difficult it is to find a job. They talk about their lives, and their heads snap back when Carroll listens.

This anecdote from Carroll's tenure with the NY Jets also caught my eye:

And at the end of my talk I say, ‘As we get through it, I’ll explain it more to you, and I know this to be true so much right now that thunder will strike—’” At that moment, Carroll says, he struck a table with his fist and a clap of thunder shook the building. His coaches, he says, turned white. I turn a little pale myself. “At bed check,” he says, laughing, “I found guys curled up, reading their Bibles.”

Read it.

HT: TrojanWire.

I Still Miss Norm

2007-10-30T14:38:00.000-04:00

At about this time in 2006, I lamented the absence of Norm Chow and expressed my belief that USC was worse off without Chow. I had hope after the Nebraska game that USC might finally be learning to fill the void, but the 2007 season since then has killed that hope. This column by Jon Wilner makes many of the same points I made in 2005 to argue that USC has not adequately replaced Chow's skill sets:

USC should not be scoring 23 points against Stanford, 20 against Arizona and 17 against Oregon. It should not be committing 10 turnovers in those three games (the Trojans are last in the league in turnover margin). There’s too much talent, way, way too much talent on the USC side of the ball. And those other teams, Arizona, Oregon and Stanford — they aren’t very good defensively (fifth, seventh and ninth in the Pac-10, respectively).

[. . .]

In Year One A.N. (After Norm), the Trojans had arguably the best array of offensive talent in Pac-10 history, and there have been some pretty good offenses in this league:

A Heisman-winning quarterback, the best tailback of his generation, another tailback who scored 26 touchdowns, plus two NFL receivers and three first-team all-league linemen. The Trojans averaged 49 points and almost 600 yards per game and play-callers Steve Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin looked like they were little Norm Jrs. But you didn’t need to be an offensive mastermind to Get the ball to Reggie.

The past two years, the Trojans have gotten progressively sloppier, more predictable and far less effective. Some of the decline has to do with personnel, but not all of it — not even close to all of it.

[. . .]

Chow would never run when everyone knew a run was coming, he’d never call all those swing passes and bubble screens, all those quick outs that are easy to see coming and even easier to defend. He’d be throwing downfield – and doing it effectively.

I believe that Steve Sarkisian is a smart coach, and I believe that he will learn from his mistakes, but he is relatively inexperienced and it is hard to not think of what might have been had Pete Carroll conducted a nation-wide search to find a replacement for Chow. I hope that promoting first Lane Kiffin and now Sarkisian to Chow's former position pays off in the long run for USC, but the USC football program should not be in the business of providing on-the-job training!

Healing?

2007-10-26T15:46:00.000-04:00

The Trojans appear to be returning to near full-strength just in the nick of time. I expect Saturday’s game at Oregon to be the most challenging game of the regular season for the Trojans.

Here is the projected depth chart for the 2007 Trojans updated to reflect the current injury situation to the best of my knowledge. I should note that I was surprised to see Brian Cushing, Rey Maualuga, and especially Stafon Johnson play as much as they did at Notre Dame.

Affected players’ names are followed by a number indicating the number of games he has missed so far this year due to injury and his status for the Oregon game.
Strikethroughs indicate players who are out for the year.
Contrary to USC’s official press release last week, Nick Howell is not out for the year.

The linebacker corps has returned to virtually full strength. Cushing, Maualuga, and Keith Rivers are all finally ready to start together for the first time since the Idaho game. The secondary will also be starting their strongest line-up, excepting Josh Pinkard who is lost for the year. Finally, the offensive line is surely returning to health. The 2007 projected starting offensive line of Sam Baker, Jeff Byers, Matt Spanos, Chilo Rachal, and Drew Radovich will probably start together for the first time this year.

Mark Sanchez will start again in place of the healing John David Booty. That might be a good thing.

I am very excited about tomorrow’s game. This is about the time Pete Carroll’s Trojan teams have engaged the afterburners in years past, and last week at Notre Dame they played their most complete game of the season. Of course, Notre Dame is no Oregon (this phrase normally having the opposite meaning than in 2007) and Notre Dame Stadium is no Autzen. However, I believe tomorrow we will finally be privileged to see the Trojan football team everyone expected at the beginning of the season.

Cursed?

2007-10-19T16:02:00.000-04:00

Are the 2007 Trojans cursed?

The Trojan line-up has been devastated by injuries. This is the situation as far as I can tell, based on attrition to the depth chart since the season opener:

Affected players’ names are followed by a number indicating the number of games he has missed so far this year due to injury and his status for the Notre Dame game.
Strikethroughs indicate players who are out for the year.

The offensive line and the secondary have been hit especially hard. At one point, Josh Pinkard, Cary Harris, Shareece Wright, and Vincent Joseph were all out at the same time, leaving virtually no CBs to play opposite Terrell Thomas. Safety Mozique McCurtis filled in. It’s even worse than it looks on the offensive line. According to USC’s 2007 media guide, Nick Howell was Matt Spanos’s original backup. However, Spanos injured his triceps prior to the opener, so USC opened the season with true freshman Kristofer O’Dowd at center. O’Dowd played commendably for the first three games. Then, O’Dowd and RG Chilo Rachal both injured their knees during a single play at Washington. It looks like USC will start Butch Lewis at LT, Jeff Byers at LG, Spanos at C, Alatini Malu at RG, and Drew Radovich at RT for the Notre Dame game.

I know that injuries must be expected during the course of any season, but this is ridiculous.

Add this to the adversity with which the team has had to deal. Many of the passengers on the team’s charter flight to South Bend were thrown from their seats, putting the fear of death into some of the players, when the plane dropped abruptly during its landing approach. The pilot aborted the landing and circled around for a repeat attempt.

Welcome to Notre Dame. I’m sure the jungle grass and the green jerseys will help calm your nerves.

A tip of the hat to Student Body Right.

UPDATE: I know the graphic is unreadable, but if you click on it, you will be linked to a full-size version.

Overrated

2007-10-08T14:28:00.000-04:00

I'm not unhappy about where USC is ranked this week, but this . . .

USC #7 Coaches' Poll
USC #10 AP Poll

is wrong. I expected the Trojans to land somewhere between #10 and #15, but a ranking as low as #20 would not have upset me.

Like I said below,

The fact is there is no objective evidence this year’s team is any better than average, even though they have more talent than any other team in the country. USC has beaten four teams with a combined record of 9-14 (Idaho is 1-5; Nebraska is 4-2, barely beat Ball St., and got blown out by Missouri; Washington St. is 2-4; and Washington is 2-3) and lost to Stanford with its 2-3 record.

USC will have plenty of opportunities to prove themselves, with games against Oregon, Cal, and Arizona St. on the schedule. I hope they live up to their still-lofty ranking.

Recalibrate?

2007-10-08T14:27:00.000-04:00

It might be time to revise my expectations for USC football - for this season, obviously, but maybe also for the program itself. The last time I went through such a transition was in 2003 when the Trojans followed an outstanding season (11-2, Orange Bowl victory over Iowa, Carson Palmer’s Heisman) with a national championship. I started to believe that BCS bowl berths would be commonplace and national championships not infrequent.

Trojan fans have been spoiled by an unprecedented level of success over the last five years or so. We have come to expect that kind of success every year, and we have been lulled into believing that Pete Carroll has installed a system at USC that will perpetuate this success as long as Carroll remains the head coach. However, the loss to Stanford raises serious questions about this perception. Is USC returning to a more normal state for modern college football programs? Was this game the continuation of a negative trend that started with the 2006 Rose Bowl (Texas 41 – USC 38 if anyone needs a reminder), a trend characterized by losing to three unranked Pac-10 teams in less than a year, a trend in which last year’s dominating Rose Bowl victory over Michigan is an anomalous blip? Or, is USC football still on an elevated plateau with the loss to Stanford as a rare exception? I hope for the latter, but I fear the former.

The fact is there is no objective evidence this year’s team is any better than average, even though they have more talent than any other team in the country. USC has beaten four teams with a combined record of 9-14 (Idaho is 1-5; Nebraska is 4-2, barely beat Ball St., and got blown out by Missouri; Washington St. is 2-4; and Washington is 2-3) and lost to Stanford with its 2-3 record. It is unreasonable to expect the Trojans to never lose. It is not unreasonable, however, to expect the Trojans never to lose at home against a team the caliber of Stanford.

Carroll and the rest of the USC coaching staff have received excessive praise for reviving a slumbering program and building it into the dominant program of the decade. It was deserved. However, the fire and intensity with which Trojan teams customarily played during their amazing four-year run from 2002-2005 has only been evident sporadically since then. The extreme listlessness and total lack of intensity the Trojans displayed last Saturday against Stanford is impossible for me to fathom. Has all the success in the recent past led to arrogance and complacency on the coaching staff? It has sure looked that way lately. Hopefully, this loss is just what the team needed to prompt some recalibration of its own.

It’s time for the coaches to really earn their pay. Yes, Carroll is a recruiting fiend, but if this game proves anything, it’s that vastly superior talent does not guarantee wins. Apparently the Washington game wasn’t enough proof for the players that they have to do more than just show up to win, and for the coaches that they have to take every opponent seriously. Carroll has not had a Trojan team in this situation before. This team could feasibly self-destruct and limp through the rest of the season with 4 or 5 more losses (if Stanford can beat USC at home, then anybody can beat them). This team, players and coaches, needs to use this loss as a wake-up call to reevaluate, refocus, and rededicate to playing and coaching football like Trojan fans have come to expect. If that doesn’t happen, I will start having doubts about the health of the USC football program. Which will it be? Prove that the Stanford game was a fluke and USC still sets the bar for college football excellence!

However the rest of the season goes, it just got a lot more interesting, and I’ll be watching just as closely and enthusiastically as ever.

Fight On!

USC-UW

2007-10-03T23:56:00.000-04:00

I knew our seats were probably nosebleed-inducing, but was surprised (and out of breath) to find they were in the absolute top row.

Our view of the field standing up. The support post did not actually obstruct our view when sitting.

Looking east over Lake Washington toward the Cascade Mountains. The mountains are not visible due to the weather.

Second quarter

Even though we were sitting in the top row, it was a great vantage point and we still had a good view of the action.

Fourth quarter. This play was Jake Locker's one-yard sneak for the Huskies' last touchdown of the game. The visitors' section, Spirit of Troy, and contingent of four Song Girls are in the background.

You probably can’t make out the numbers on the board displaying team statistics near the top of the above photo. This was one of the last plays of the game, so they should read something pretty close to: Huskies 190 total yards (100 rushing/90 passing); Trojans 460 total yards (224 rushing, 236 passing). Yeah, USC dominated the game statistically. So why was the final score so close? Trojan mistakes from start to finish.

USC committed three turnovers, two of which led directly to Husky touchdowns (one 14 yard drive after a fumbled snap and one pick-six). A blocked punt and return to the USC nine yard-line led to the third Husky touchdown. UW’s field goal concluded a 10-play, 22 yard drive that was jumpstarted by a 15-yard penalty for interfering with the punt receiver and extended by two 15-yard pass interference calls. USC was penalized for 161 yards and five of the Huskies 15 first downs were due to penalties.

That is the litany of negatives, aside from Booty’s inconsistency. The positives? Well, the last time USC made this many mistakes, in Corvallis in 2006, they dropped their first Pac-10 game in three years. The fact that the Trojans escaped Husky Stadium with a road win after that much sloppy and mentally-deficient play can be thought of as a positive. All the credit goes to the defense, which was truly dominant. UW’s first drive of the game was its longest at 67 yards, but ended with a Thomas Williams interception. Only one other Husky drive was longer than 30 yards.

This week’s Stanford game arrives at a fortuitous time. USC has suffered a rash of injuries. Hopefully, the next couple of games will give LB Brian Cushing, LB Clay Matthews (Cushing’s back-up), C Kristofer O’Dowd, RG Chilo Rachal, OG Alatini Malu (Rachal’s back-up), CB Cary Harris, CB Shareece Wright (Harris’s back-up), and TB Stafon Johnson time to rest and heal before the meat of the schedule begins on October 27.

UW Tailgating Photos

2007-10-03T23:53:00.000-04:00

Cat and I flew to Seattle early Saturday morning for the USC-UW game. We landed at noon, rented a car, and drove straight to the U District. After parking north of campus, we met up with my cousins who are sophomores at UW for a few hours of tailgating with another cousin, who is a USC fan. I tailgated with Anne at the last USC game I attended in person.

Anne, Cat, and Marnie

Marnie is not actually a USC fan; she apparently lost a bet to Anne the previous weekend when USC played Washington State.

Cat was definitely the MVP of our mixed Husky-Trojan flip cup competition.

Husky Stadium, north side

The clouds over Husky Stadium looked ominous, foreshadowing the mistake-riddled play of the Trojans throughout the game.

Our tailgate hosts: Zach and Anne, Marnie and her husband.

Another Celebrity Fan of USC

2007-09-18T16:28:00.000-04:00

I watch "24", so the following made me smile:

Ruel and the other USC assistants had gathered a few hours before the game. Having created some pretext to get Carroll into a meeting room, they popped in a DVD of uncertain provenance. On the screen appeared Sutherland's Jack Bauer, who interrupted a scene by turning to the camera and saying, "Happy birthday, Pete."

Kiefer Sutherland gave Pete Carroll a Jack Bauer action figure for his birthday, which was the day of the Nebraska game!

USC-Nebraska

2007-09-18T10:26:00.000-04:00

I didn’t have any noteworthy thoughts about the state of the program after the Idaho game, which showed us nothing about the team. After the following two-week wait to finally see the team in real action, I was definitely tense when Saturday arrived. Obviously, I liked what I saw on Saturday night.

Things I love about the USC Trojans right now:

Offensive play-calling – Steve Sarkisian is showing willingness and an ability to effectively adjust his play-calling mid-game. In the 2007 Rose Bowl, USC abandoned their balanced attack in favor of passing nearly exclusively in the second half (26 of 28 plays at one point; the two runs were quarterback sneaks for first downs) to blow open the game. On Saturday against Nebraska, the Trojans turned to the running game after two stalled drives weighted toward passing and Nebraska took a 10-7 lead. They finished with 313 yards rushing vs. 144 yards passing. Best of all, the feel of the Nebraska game was reminiscent of Norm Chow-called games in 2002-2004. Many opponents during those years were allowed to hang around well into the second quarter, perhaps drawing fans of those teams into a false sense of hope. However, once Chow ran through his script, deciphered the opponent’s defensive scheme, and made his adjustments, the offense became virtually unstoppable. This game felt like that.

Rushing defense – The defensive script for the Trojans is the same as always: stuff the run and keep everything in front of the secondary. Once the opponent’s attack becomes one-dimensional, the offense as a whole usually suffers. That’s exactly what happened in Lincoln on Saturday night. Yes, Nebraska moved the ball with lots of short passes underneath for 1 ½ quarters, but the USC defense made them earn every yard. More importantly, Sam Keller started the second half with interceptions on Nebraska’s first two drives and was mostly ineffective until the Trojans started playing their reserves.

New guys stepping up – This is also nothing new, but the depth of talent on this team and the readiness of back-ups to excel in critical roles when needed still amazes me. Freshman David Ausberry has emerged as the Trojans’ most reliable WR. Stanley Havili is back from his medical redshirt year performing exactly as everyone hoped. Sophomore Stafon Johnson, who had all of three carries in 2006, was the offensive player of the game at Nebraska (144 yards on 11 carries). Clay Matthews did a fine job filling in for Brian Cushing. Freshman Kristofer O’Dowd’s performance at center in place of Matt Spanos has been exceptional.

The Trojans’ next 5 games, with the possible exception of Washington in Seattle, look like absolute gimmes, especially considering the atrocious play of Arizona and Notre Dame so far. Unless USC sleepwalks through one of these games (which has been a problem in recent years), it looks like the Trojans now have a five-game season starting at Oregon on October 27, with a bunch of dress-rehearsal scrimmages until then.

The nervous anticipation I was feeling last week has turned into eager excitement for the rest of the season to unfold.

I Live in Cavalier Country

2007-08-03T09:27:00.000-04:00

. . . or maybe Hokie country. It's tough to say for sure. I commonly see stickers from both schools displayed on vehicles in northern Virginia. Just across the river is definitely Terrapin country, though. The map below attempts to divide the United States into areas based on the consensus team supported by the areas' inhabitants.

I'm a map junkie and a college football junkie, so I couldn't resist posting this map.

The map is located at the CommonConsensus Map Project, which hosts similar maps for the four major U.S. professional sports in addition to NCAA 1-A football. I found this website via strange maps, a fantastic site for map junkies like myself.

I'm off to add my vote now.

Trojans to Open Defense of 2007 National Championship At UVA

2007-05-03T10:09:00.000-04:00

USC will open the 2008 season in Charlottesville, VA against the University of Virginia. The Cavaliers will make the return trip in 2010.

I better get to work now on acquiring tickets for the game. The 2004 contest against VA Tech at FedEx Field was an amazing spectacle. Plus, Charlottesville is a pleasant location for a weekender.

Before They Were Famous

2007-04-19T23:40:00.000-04:00

This is the funniest clip I've come across in at least a year:

Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell together on the Dana Carvey Show.

McKnight Believes Bush

2007-02-07T15:00:00.000-05:00

I got to thinking today about whether the New Orleans Saints drafting Reggie Bush in 2006 helped USC land the top-ranked running back recruit in 2007, Joe McKnight.

McKnight attends John Curtis H.S. in suburban New Orleans. Presumably, McKnight is a fan of the Saints and their star rookie running back. Today, when McKnight announced his decision, he said his decision to attend USC over LSU and Ole Miss came down to the strength of USC's public relations program, in which McKnight plans to major. However, it wouldn't surprise me if Bush being a Saint influenced McKnight's thinking to some degree.

Apparently, Bush helped USC seal the deal with McKnight. Check out this quote from an Associated Press story on McKnight's announcement:
McKnight said he was not at all worried about the prospect that USC may be penalized because of an investigation of whether Reggie Bush or his parents took improper payments from agents while Bush was playing there.

McKnight said USC coach Pete Carroll set up a conference call so he and [McKnight's coach J.T.] Curtis could talk to Bush and ease their worries that USC might wind up under sanctions.

"We addressed that directly and we were satisfied," Curtis said. He said Carroll told him that USC is not being investigated.

I would love to hear what Bush told them.

Also of note: due to Hurricane Katrina, McKnight started his junior year playing for Evangel Christian (Shreveport, LA), John David Booty's high school.

Update (02/09/2007): USC is looking into whether it broke NCAA rules while recruiting McKnight. Apparently, it is a violation for a former player to telephone a recruit or his relatives or guardian. Carroll, Curtis, and McKnight have all denied that any such call ever took place, saying that McKnight misspoke at his news conference and that McKnight was never on a conference call with Bush.

My Take on Pete Carroll’s Recent Flirtation with the Dolphins

2007-01-12T13:27:00.000-05:00

Over the last six years, Pete Carroll has been consistent about at least three things: he is happy at USC; he is constantly in search of new challenges; and he would only return to the coaching in the NFL if given the level of control he enjoys at USC, which is total control. Until approached by Wayne Huizenga of the Miami Dolphins, Carroll did not believe that such a situation existed at an NFL franchise, and so did not seriously entertain the notion of returning to the NFL.

Huizenga described a setup at the Dolphins that was exactly what Carroll thought could not exist in the NFL. According to Carroll’s nature of seeking new challenges, he seriously considered the Dolphins job. After all, he has conquered just about every challenge at USC with five straight Pac-10 championships, five straight BCS bowl appearances (with four wins), and five straight top five recruiting classes. In fact, I believe he was closer to declaring himself a candidate for the job than maybe anyone realizes. However, when Carroll sat down to earnestly work through his decision-making process, he came to the conclusion that there were still challenges to address at USC, and he loves his job at USC too much to leave. I don’t think he made his final decision until just after his Tuesday press conference upon returning from vacation in Costa Rica.

I think this is an extremely positive development for USC fans who want Carroll to stay. If, after being presented with this opportunity by Huizenga and comparing his USC job to this potential NFL gig, Carroll decided to remain a Trojan, what other job could possibly draw Carroll away from USC? He has glimpsed his ideal NFL job and come to the conclusion that he is better off where he is. He is possibly more certain than ever before about his future at USC. This is great news for USC fans.

Jill Painter at the L.A. Daily News has a similar take on the situation as me. From her column:

"If you're asking me if I'm ever going (to the NFL again), if I was ever going to go, that (the Dolphins' job) would've been the best one," Carroll said.

Sam Farmer at the L.A. Times argues that staying at USC would be a much better decision for Carroll than the one John McKay made to go to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Update: Pete Carroll said as much to the Daily News on Thursday:
"I was at the brink of it," Carroll told the Daily News of Los Angeles. "I made the decision to return right before I talked to (the media Tuesday).

Warp Speed, Scotty!

2007-01-10T13:58:00.000-05:00

I’m already sick of hearing how the SEC is light-years (as in the top speed of SEC defensive linemen) better than the Big Ten because Florida beat Ohio State in the BCS Championship. The only thing that game proves is that Florida was better than Ohio State on January 8, 2007.

If people are going to point to the results of bowl games as an indicator of the relative strength of conferences, shouldn’t they include all the bowl games played between the two conferences? Including Florida’s victory, the SEC was 1-2 versus the Big 10. Yeah, they’re definitely a better conference.

It seems like the mainstream media would have us believe that kids in the South are genetically programmed to grow up faster than kids in the Midwest, and kids in the Midwest are genetically programmed to grow up bigger and stronger than kids in the South. Yes, I know that programs recruit countrywide, but these maps (HT: The Wizard of Odds) show that Florida and Ohio State, at least, get most of their talent regionally, just like the Trojans, who enroll a handful of recruits every year from across the country, but fill the vast majority of their roster with players from California and other western states. Maybe Urban Meyer is recruiting players from Alpha Centauri.

I am no partisan of either the Big 10 or the SEC. It just annoys me when the media delivers shoddy analysis and expects their audience to accept it without question.

I'm Ready

2007-01-09T15:08:00.000-05:00

After watching last night’s BCS “national championship” game, and feeling very little surprise at the outcome, I’m finally ready for a playoff in NCAA Division 1-A college football.

Until now, I have not been in favor of a playoff. If I had my way, we would throw out the BCS and all related formats and return to the pre-Bowl Coalition/Alliance days. Bowls could invite whichever teams they wanted and form any deals that suited their interests with the conferences. I would be satisfied if the Trojans’ annual goal was simply to win the Pac-10 and go pummel some unlucky Big Ten team in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day (that’s all the Trojans have control over now anyway). Of course, that would require acknowledging that the Div. 1 national championship is truly “mythical”, something that the vast majority of college football fans seem unwilling to do. Since the likelihood of this scenario occurring is extremely low, having a playoff is a much better alternative than the ridiculous BCS.

Before bowl season started, I was relatively confident (25 of 32 confidence points, if you're interested) that Ohio State would beat Florida handily. That changed when I watched the Rose Bowl. The beat-down suffered by Michigan at the hands of USC led me to question the strength of the upper echelon of the Big 10, and therefore the superiority of Ohio State, a notion the mainstream media had presented as canon for almost the entire season. Time and again the bowls have demonstrated that a team’s performance in its conference is not predictive of its performance against teams from other conferences in bowl games. The underdog has won four of the last five BCS championship games. Hence my underwhelming surprise at Florida’s victory last night. Only a playoff system guaranteeing match-ups between different conference champions would provide a true national champion.

Limit playoff participants to the six major conference champions plus two at-large teams. Have a committee select the at-large teams and seed all eight teams using a BCS-like formula as a guide or something simpler like the college basketball ratings percentage index (RPI).

I guess you could say this change in attitude was partly provoked by selfishness. After watching how USC played against Michigan and Florida played against Ohio State, I would have loved to see USC take on Florida. The Trojans would have been tough to beat. But who knows; maybe LSU would have taken the title this year. Or Boise State. Obviously, you’d have to say Florida would be the favorites after last night.

I figure if a playoff had been in place for the last five years, the Trojans could have two more national championships. Over the past five years, USC under Pete Carroll has demonstrated a talent for performing very well in big games, especially against teams from other conferences. Aside from this year, USC was playing at the highest level in the country when they beat Iowa in the 2003 Orange Bowl. They would have made a playoff that year as an at-large team.

By the way, no way is the team that got its ass handed to it last night in the desert anywhere close to the second-best team in the country.

Congratulations Gators!

Effin' Hilarious

2007-01-02T19:29:00.000-05:00

I missed this while watching the game live, but laughed my ass off when I saw it on YouTube. Keep an eye on Henne as he is rapidly removed from the scrum.

HT: RCollier27 at Conquest Chronicles

Consensus

2006-12-01T15:20:00.000-05:00

Somewhat of a consensus has emerged among the fans (or bloggers, at least) of the three teams in contention to face Ohio State in the BCS Championship game: Florida, Michigan, and USC.

Orson at EDSBS, which is always an entertaining read, does not concede that USC deserves the spot over Florida, but acknowledges that Florida fans don't have a leg to stand on if they complain about USC getting the nod:
"This is something Florida fans cannot do, since in the anarchic world of college football, the team with the biggest heads on their pikes wins. At the moment, an unbelievably tough Florida team loses this comparison with USC, who laughs at the lolling tongues of the midget skulls of UCF and Western Carolina we’re carrying around in our schedule. If you don’t care about the national picture, fine; yet if the sports bar discussion turns to a Gator claim on a title shot, take the stool you sit on and saw one of the legs off before you begin, since you might as well begin where Jeremy Foley’s [Florida AD] put us schedule-wise."

Brian at mgoblog actually conducts a side-by-side analysis of the three teams' resumes [entire schedules] and argues that USC deserves to make the BCS Championship game over Florida and Michigan:
"Michigan has a narrow advantage in "best win" but after that it's all Trojans until you get to the loss category. They clearly lost to the least intimidating opponent, but unlike their competition they battled back and had a chance to tie at the death. Also, OSU benefited from a panoply of freak plays: a punt return touchdown, USC turnovers, etc. I think the most astounding thing about USC is this: they played one team worse than 5-7. When they rolled on to the field this year, all but one of their opponents was capable of beating them.

"If you really think that Michigan's Notre Dame win was superlative enough to override USC's season of wins against solid opposition and that their Oregon State loss was an unforgivable sin, you can make a case for Michigan. But let's give it up, guys. USC's tiebreaker is Arkansas and Nebraska versus our Vanderbilt, Central Michigan, and Ball State. They took on two above-average BCS teams. We took on the worst team in the SEC and two MAC teams, though one of them happens to be okay this year. Set aside the Michigan fandom and look at the big picture: if USC has this season and does not make the NC game, no one will ever schedule anyone again. It's time to take the bullet."

This all presumes USC will beat UCLA tomorrow, so you can be assured everyone in both fan bases will be pulling hard for UCLA.

GO 'SC! BEAT THE BRUINS!

L.A. Recruiting Wars

2006-12-01T13:02:00.000-05:00

There's more in the balance when USC plays UCLA tomorrow than bragging rights (and a spot in the BCS Championship game for USC). The victor also wins an advantage in the recruiting competition that's in full swing across the region.

Everyone knows a big factor in the dramatic turnaround of the USC football program from 2000-2002 was Pete Carroll's masterful recruiting. His philosophy is to lock up all the best players in southern California and then augment that talent with a handful of the best players from across the country. I always wondered how Carroll was able to immediately dominate recruiting in southern California, almost as if UCLA didn't exist. According to an article by David Wharton in today's L.A. Times, Carroll didn't have to go against UCLA head-to-head in many cases.

The Bruins held the upper hand in the late 1990s as former coach Bob Toledo led them on a 20-game winning streak. But soon after, UCLA appeared to shift its focus to the national scene. "You talked to the City Section coaches and they said they never saw UCLA on campus," said Greg Biggins of StudentSports.com.

Carroll filled the gap.

All in all, it's an interesting piece about the origins of Carroll's recruiting success, and how Karl Dorrell has tried to emulate Carroll's approach, with some success. Of course, USC has a seemingly insurmountable advantage at this point and figures to maintain that advantage as long as the USC coaches maintain their recruiting intensity.

Sweet USC vs. ND 2005 Videos

2006-11-30T21:23:00.000-05:00

USC vs. Notre Dame 2005

Episode 5: Darth Poodle (everybody loves the Imperial March!)

Wake up the echoes . . . not so much. Notre Dame did pull out all the stops and almost pulled off the classic upset. More likely, based on the result of this year's game, it seems that Notre Dame merely used up all their mojo for at least the next four years (or did Dr. Evil just steal it).

I'm sure somebody will soon put together something pretty cool from this year's game.

Trojan Envy?

2006-11-29T21:46:00.000-05:00

From a Domer? Yes, indeed, and expressed in a public forum, no less. What is the world coming to?

What has to be even more painful (if you're a Notre Dame fan), is the realization that your hoodie-wearing, crew-cutted, robot genius coach with all the Superbowl rings may not be the savior of your storied football program after all. I wonder if anybody in South Bend is having second thoughts about giving Charlie Weis that multi-million dollar 10-year contract extension after his seventh game as a collegiate head coach.

USC to Wear Home Jerseys at the Rose Bowl?

2006-11-29T11:51:00.000-05:00

A quote from Pete Carroll's weekly Tuesday press conference:

"I'm going to ask Coach Dorrell next year that they wear their home jerseys at the Coliseum . . . . I am hoping when they come here, they will be able to do that. I asked the Pac-10 about that last year and there are some issues. I think it's silly that there are some issues that we are going to have to forfeit a timeout or something, but I will do it. I think it's worth it. We should continue to enhance the beauty of this matchup."

This would be a return to the tradition of both teams wearing their home jerseys for the rivalry game, as they used to do when the game was played in the Coliseum every year before fUCLA moved their home games to the Rose Bowl. It's unclear from the quote - is Carroll planning to play in the home jerseys this Saturday against fUCLA or does he want to resolve the issues with the Pac-10 or work out an agreement with Coach Dorrell first? Lord knows we could get by without the time out; we practically threw one away last week on that ridiculous coach's challenge of a fourth down spot.

Anyway, I think it would be outstanding if the Trojans came out in their home jerseys this Saturday, like sort of an eff you to fUCLA . . . yeah, we know we have to play this game on your home field, but this is really our house and everyone knows who's king in this city.

Roses!

2006-11-19T17:14:00.000-05:00

Forget all the BCS rankings nonsense. You can't control that shit. The Trojans, however, took care of everything in their control and clinched the Pac-10 title. In doing so, they became the first team in the Pac-10 to win five straight conference championships, and I couldn't be happier. Congratulations!

Michigan is still second in the BCS rankings after losing to Ohio State yesterday. Big deal. I don't think it'll stay that way if USC beats Notre Dame and UCLA. Michigan has finished their regular season. USC has two games left and their computer rankings will only improve if they keep winning. Of course, it would definitely help matters if Arkansas and Nebraska win their conference championships. Like I said above, none of that is worth worrying about. It's out of our control. In the meantime, we'll enjoy our record-setting championship and kick some ass in the Rose Bowl if it comes down to that.

One thing I will guarantee is that you won't see Pete Carroll whining to the media and campaigning to the pollsters à la Mack Brown, Tommy Tuberville, or Charlie Weis.

Exactly Right

2006-11-19T14:05:00.000-05:00

Stewart Mandel expresses simply and concisely the best argument against an Ohio State-Michigan rematch:

My point all along . . . is that we don’t really know Ohio State and Michigan are the two best teams. It’s just an opinion. The only way to find out for sure would be to let someone else take a shot at the Buckeyes.

That's right; we already know that Ohio State is better than Michigan. They proved it on the field. It doesn't make sense to make them prove it again. Give the champion of another conference the opportunity in the BCS Championship to prove on the field that Ohio State isn't the best team in the country. At this point, in most deserving order, those teams are as follows:

1. USC (Pac-10 champ), if they beat Notre Dame and UCLA;
2. Arkansas/Florida winner (SEC champ), if that team wins its last regular season game;
3. Louisville (Big East champ), if they win their two remaining games; and
4. West Virginia (Big East champ), if they win their two remaining games (with Rutger's loss, Louisville now holds the tie-breaker for conference champion if both Louisville and West Virginia win out).

Only if none of those teams take care of business should Michigan be sent to the BCS Championship. Sorry, Notre Dame, but if Michigan and ND end up being the two top-ranked one-loss teams, Michigan gets the nod. You can't erase Michigan 47, Notre Dame 21.

Perfect

2006-11-15T22:19:00.000-05:00

I know; the Trojans’ record this season is not perfect and neither is the team. One thing that is perfect about USC football is Pete Carroll’s philosophy about game preparation and the mental foundation of performing consistently at a high level.

I don’t read the transcripts of Carroll’s weekly Tuesday press conferences very often, but several excellent quotes emerged from this week’s conference that provide insight into Carroll’s philosophy and serve as a reminder of how USC has been able to maintain excellence for almost five years now.

USC’s approach to every game is the same:

“I've never even begun to try and pump a game since the first Notre Dame game about it being a special game. I made that mistake in the first year and I knew it was a classic mistake and we haven't done it since and won't do it.”

USC lost that game by 11 points, the only one of Carroll’s 11 losses that was by more than a touchdown.

“Every week, there's something about a game. It's the biggest crowd ever; it's the first time this or that and that's what we've come to expect and that's normal for us in a game. So those factors should not be part of the make up of a game.”

This approach may proscribe the occasional emotion-fuelled victory over a more-talented opponent (which almost got Notre Dame a victory over us last year), but it also helps eliminate the let-downs and poor performances against inferior teams. Hence, beating Stanford 42-0 after the only loss of the year. The key is to establish consistency at an elevated level.

A follow-up question about Carroll’s first game against Notre Dame segued into a great explanation of his philosophy.

“I knew I screwed it up. I knew I blew it. I could tell during the week but I went with it. I just had to learn. It's more fun probably to talk up these kinds of old historic this and that's. And it's fun for everybody but it doesn't serve the preparation of the athletes and the coaches. It doesn't serve you well. You don't need that. We don't need extra incentives. If you understand that every game is a championship game, and you're going to give everything you possibly can in the preparation and in the participation of that game, then when would you ever decide when to, when not to? That's the whole point. It's the same philosophy that goes through everything that we do in football. When are you going to decide that a play is more important than another play; when I need to go full speed or when I need to try my best? So you get out of that mentality – you don't allow for that kind of thinking in any phase. We don't in any phase of our program. We're real hard about any indications of that being displayed by our guys. That's why we try to practice so fast and so hard every single day, every day of the year for six years.”

It’s no surprise then that Carroll was so animated during the instant replay debacle during the Oregon game.

“When the whole instant replay thing happened, if you looked, I think the clock was 13:50 or something left in the game. We were all caught up in the replay thing; we're waiting to see what was going to happen. We were very competitive about not letting them score there. We took them down to fourth down and had a great chance to keep them out of there and not give them a breath of hope and then that whole thing started. It was somewhere in the middle of that, that it clicked in my mind that this is an opportunity that we could lose our edge. If they get this decision, and now it's ten points and there's a whole quarter left to play, that we could really suffer through this, this exchange, momentum and all. And it hit at me and I realized that what I needed to do is I needed to make sure and capture the focus of our players and not let them wander. Sure enough, I walked over and I saw a couple of our red-shirt freshmen offensive linemen kind of sitting on their helmets and they were kind of yucking it up and not really paying attention. And I looked at Dwayne Jarrett and I saw him kind of talking and I realized that I had to capture, I had to attempt to capture what the heck was going on because we might lose the focus and then all of a sudden, this turns into an ESPN game and then they're cheerleading for what the Ducks did at the end of the game as opposed to what we were going to do. So in an effort to try and make sure that we didn't, it was a teachable opportunity as well. That the game isn't over, and that you need to stay focused. I tried to capture them so I was working hard. From the All-American receiver and the quarterback and Ryan Kalil and the oldest guy in Oscar Lua, to the red-shirt freshman, I was trying to send the message of how we need to finish this game and to make sure that if nothing else, they were captured by my craziness down there. What was extraordinary for us in that moment is that the offense went out on the field after they scored, after all the garbage that happened, the offense went out there and went "Bang!" right down the field and scored a touchdown and it was over. We had them. I was fearing that we had the opportunity to lose the momentum over whatever that span was going to be and it was so important to remain competitive throughout that game that whatever it took, I was going to do it. Obviously, whatever it took, took me a little bit too far. But that was a competitors moment right there I thought. I wanted to at least let them know what I was feeling. I was wearing it on my sleeve.”

Methinks he could write a book about this stuff.

On scheduling:

“Go back to the Auburn games and the Virginia Tech game, and the Arkansas game. Those are extraordinary bowl game atmospheres that are perfect for you to start your season off because once you've accomplished that win however you do it, you set yourself in motion to handle whatever is going to come up during the course of the season. I think there's a vast difference between that and playing a team that's from a different division or something. Some teams do, and we understand the philosophy there and it's a great philosophy as well but this has really served us well. There's no time when we ever take a breather in the schedule or look at anybody than the opponent because we know that anybody can beat you. That's about learning how to respect the game and respect the match-ups and respect what can happen that can be outside of your control. That's why playing against teams that are struggling is such an issue to play well because now you've gone over the top, you've lived the philosophy, and you've proven that you understand.”

I love the (unintentional, perhaps, but not likely) little dig at teams that schedule Div. 1-AA opponents, and this response to a question about Florida playing Western Carolina this week.

“We couldn't be playing for a Rose Bowl if we were playing Western Carolina. I think the impact of the Pac-10 championship being this week is perfect timing. It's beautiful and we're looking forward to it.”

There’s much more, including Carroll’s opinion of instant replay (he’s against it in any format), a joke about the meaninglessness of statistics, teasing Jeff Tedford about attention from the NFL, and his take on the importance of coaching vs. players’ talent.

Sorry about the length of this post – just trying to live up to the name of the blog!

Turning Point 2006

2006-11-15T21:20:00.000-05:00

Last January, just prior to the Rose Bowl, I posted an entry outlining the turning point games of the 2002 – 2005 seasons. The loss to Oregon State looks like this season’s turning point. A recap:

2002: Having lost in overtime the previous week to WSU, USC trailed Cal 21-3. The Trojans scored 27 consecutive points to win the game 30-28. USC blew out its remaining 7 opponents, including Iowa in the Orange Bowl.
2003: Again coming off an overtime loss, USC was down 17-10 at halftime to ASU. The Trojans scored 27 unanswered points to win 37-17. The team won its remaining eight games by an average of more than 26 points, including a Rose Bowl win over Michigan to win its first national championship since 1978.
2004: It was the Cal game again. With USC leading by six, Cal advanced to first and goal with less than two minutes remaining. The USC defense held, sacking Aaron Rodgers (who set a single-game record for consecutive completions earlier in the game) on second down and forcing three incompletions. The Trojans won their remaining eight games, including a 55-19 shellacking of Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
2005: After the Notre Dame game, Leinart finally shrugged off the pressure of maintaining a school-record winning streak and leading the team to an unprecedented third national title and started playing relaxed football again. The team won the remainder of their regular season games handily (except a close one to Fresno State), but lost the BCS Championship game to Texas.

2006 so far: Trailing 33-10 with less than 20 minutes remaining against Oregon State, USC scored the last 21 points of the game and narrowly missed sending the game to overtime when their 2-point conversion attempt failed with seven seconds remaining. Since the loss, USC has beat Stanford 42-0 and Oregon 35-10, thereby outscoring its opponents 98-10 in the last 140 minutes of play. There are two big differences between the Oregon State game and the turning point games of the previous four seasons. First of all, the game ended as a loss. Second, it came a little bit later in the season, but only by a game or two. This is not surprising considering the youth of this year’s team.

Of course, I had the benefit of hindsight last season whereas there are still three games left in the 2006 regular season. However, if recent history is any indication, and the trend that started late in the Oregon State game continues, Trojan fans have much to look forward to for the remainder of the season.

The Positive

2006-10-30T16:39:00.000-05:00

Pete Carroll: "Four turnovers and a punt return. That's what it takes to beat us."

Frustrating in so many ways

2006-10-30T15:56:00.000-05:00

Turnovers: First and foremost, -4 in the turnover battle?! WTF?!! I have no idea when the last time that happened was. It turns out the last time USC committed four turnovers was the last time they lost a regular season game, in 2003 vs. Cal (Cal also had four turnovers in that game). The Trojans absolutely need to fix this problem if they want to win out.

Play-calling: Where’s the offensive creativity? Where’s the urgency? Sarkiffian finally opened it up when they were down 23 with less than 20:00 remaining, and lo and behold, the Trojans almost pulled off the comeback. Is there some reason why they can’t or shouldn’t make those plays starting in the first quarter? What's with the decision to go for a TD on 4th and goal from the 10 instead of kicking the field goal? I don't even want to get started on the call on the final two-point conversion attempt.

Soft pass coverage: If there was one aspect of the Trojans’ play that looked especially lackadaisical, it had to be their zone pass coverage. The Beavers weren’t gaining many yards after the catch, but they didn’t need to, consistently hitting receivers for 15 to 20 yards per catch. It would have been nice to see more tight one-on-one coverage, giving Trojan defenders more chances to break up passes or even, god forbid, intercept a pass or two.

Slow starts: This is a well-established pattern for 2006 that I hoped would be broken last Saturday. Following slow starts in all but the ASU game, the Trojans didn't seem to wake up until late in the third quarter. Even I didn't sleep in that late on Saturdays when I was at USC.

OK - rant over.

It will be interesting to see how the Trojans respond to their first regular-season loss in over three years. Will this be a learning experience from which they bounce back stronger, or will they self-destruct and begin a painful slide to a second-tier bowl game?

What planet ya from, Charlie?

2006-10-25T16:32:00.000-04:00

Ooooooo, I liked this. Best quote:
"Hey, care to know what befuddles me, Charlie? How the head coach of Notre Dame, a program which has consistently been overrated and ranked higher than it deserved to be for more than a decade -- and for most of the past century -- has the audacity to complain about polls. I mean … wow! That more than befuddles me."
Be careful, Charlie - remember what happened to the last coach who complained about the BCS standings, Tommy Tuberville (Arkansas 27 - Auburn 10).

HT: Student Body Right.

Update: Stewart Mandel of SI.com chimes in with some hard numbers.

Wild, Wonderful West Virginia

2006-10-11T23:33:00.000-04:00

So it says on their license plates. I can't say I disagree, based on limited experience with the state. West Virginia was wild indeed for me and a few friends last weekend:

If you have the means to hit the Gauley River during the fall drawdown, I highly recommend it. It is so choice.

I Miss Norm

2006-10-11T20:23:00.000-04:00

Do any other Trojan football fans miss Norm Chow?

I wrote multiple times during the 2005 season that, even though the USC offense continued to put up monster numbers after the departure of Chow as offensive coordinator, it was too early to reach a verdict on whether the Trojan offense would ultimately suffer without Chow.

First, I wrote that with the players returning in 2005 (Bush, Byrd, Jarrett, Leinart, Smith, White, and four past starters on the offensive line), the offense would be extremely prolific no matter who was running the show. My concern was the loss of Chow’s play-calling genius.

Then, I questioned Michael Ventre’s assertion on MSNBC that USC lost nothing offensively when they lost Chow. Finally, I reiterated my feeling that USC was worse off for losing Chow’s play-calling ability and we would have to wait until at least 2006 before passing judgment on the performance of his replacements, Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian. To repeat a quote from a December 2005 Pat Forde article on ESPN.com (insider):

"Norm had an uncanny ability to call plays," Sarkisian said. "We may not have always known what was coming, but it worked. Especially in big games, he was willing to make calls nobody else would make.

"I think we're a little bit more on the structured side. We know what calls are coming. We know by the play sheet what to call, depending on the situation. The quarterback knows what's being called by the specific situation."

That sounds great from the perspective of an opposing defensive coordinator.

Personally, I think with Norm Chow calling the plays, Lendale White does not get stopped on 4th & 2 to turn the ball over to Texas with just over two minutes remaining in the Rose Bowl, and we are defending national champs; the Trojans do not go four games in a row without scoring 30 points or more in 2006; and USC does not settle for four field goals against Washington.

Yes, I miss Norm.

2006 So Far

2006-10-11T20:14:00.000-04:00

The good news is we’re 5 and 0. The bad news is . . . well, I’m not terribly comfortable with the manner in which we got to 5-0.

I felt really good after the Arkansas game. After a slow start, the Trojans took control of the game in the second half and won a decisive victory. The slow start could be chalked up to it being the first game of the season. Now, it just looks like Arkansas hadn’t yet realized their potential.

The defense looked great in the Nebraska game. However, based on more recent indicators, that appears to have been a result of Nebraska’s conservative offensive play-calling rather than inspired defensive play.

The final score of the Arizona game looked decisive, but Arizona’s offense is the worst in the conference, it was close until the fourth quarter, and the Trojans needed Arizona to shoot itself in the foot in order to reach the 20-point plateau.

The close, down-to-the-wire victory in Pullman could be attributed to narrowly escaping a widely-predicted trap game played in a remote hostile environment, but the same script played out one week later, at home, against the other Washington school that won only three games in the previous two seasons.

Where are all the big defensive plays? After +5 turnovers in the season-opening Arkansas game, USC is -1 over the following four games and has lost the turnover battle in the last two games (when was the last time that happened?!). USC has only 7 sacks on the season (5 in the Arizona game) with zero in the last two games.

The Trojans are doing enough to win games and are still undefeated, so I’m not complaining. With luck, the team will settle into a dominating style of play we have come to expect from Pete Carroll-coached Trojan teams. Perhaps they will continue to do just enough to win the rest of their games and remain in contention for a national title throughout the season. More likely, if their play does not begin an upward trend soon, they’ll drop a game or two in the second half of the season, especially with a challenging sequence of Oregon, Cal, and Notre Dame in November.

U.S. MNT Gives a Poor Showing

2006-06-23T10:59:00.000-04:00

U.S. Exits with a Whimper.

I need more time to digest what I saw the team do at this tournament before commenting.

World Cup Previews

2006-05-12T11:35:00.000-04:00

For the most comprehensive and entertaining team-by-team preview of the upcoming World Cup I have come across, check out That's On Point:
The Draw;
Angola; Argentina; Australia; Brazil; Ivory Coast; Costa Rica; Croatia; Czech Republic; Ecuador; England; France; Germany; Ghana; Iran; Italy; Japan; South Korea; Saudi Arabia; Mexico; The Netherlands; Paraguay; Poland; Portugal; Serbia and Montenegro; Switzerland; Sweden; Spain; Togo; Trinidad and Tobago; Tunisia, Ukraine, and USA.

Gunslingers is also posting in-depth previews of each team.

I have some notes I collected four years ago on a system for running a pool not unlike March Madness or the college football bowls, but I'm not sure how much interest there would be in participating among my friends. Most of the people I know will watch as many games as they can regardless of their rooting interest. A pool might add an additional layer of interest for some.

Fill in the Blanks

2006-03-08T13:41:00.000-05:00

The map below indicates graphically the countries of the world that I have visited (red). It's my aspiration to fill in as much of the white space as possible. The lack of any red in Africa and South America is particularly conspicuous, but there are multiple locations on both continents that I would like to visit as soon as possible.

Create your own visited countries map.

U.S. states I have visited:

create your own visited states map or check out these Google Hacks. I am not counting layovers in airports as visits.

Thanks: HeyDudeWhoa!

Signing Day

2006-02-02T09:47:00.000-05:00

According to multiple authorities, USC signed the #1 recruiting class in the country yesterday. Florida and USC were neck-and-neck in the final tally.

The day was not without controversy for USC, as one of the country’s top two wide receiver prospects, Vidal Hazelton, faxed his letter of intent (LOI) to USC without his father’s approval. The LOI is invalid without a legal guardian’s signature. He is said to be considering Penn State. On the other hand, Hazelton’s classmate at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, VA, running back Keiland Williams, has not signed an LOI with LSU and is thought to be strongly considering USC. Regardless of the final outcome of the 2006 recruiting competition, it will be at least a couple years before the relative strength of each school’s class can be determined definitively.

The Trojans ended up securing a commitment from a quarterback, Garrett Green, on the last day, so offensive line is the only position in the class with an apparent deficiency.

This marks the fourth consecutive year that USC’s recruiting class has been listed by many national recruiting publications as the best in the country. Not coincidentally, that is just one year less than the number of years that Pete Carroll has had a full recruiting cycle to build a class. If Stewart Mandel’s statement is true:

“Second-year coaches at rebuilding programs almost always clean up in recruiting. Momentum is rarely higher than when a coach first arrives. The key is keeping it going.

“At schools where the coaches are more deeply entrenched, however, recruiting results are often a telling reflection of the overall state of a program,”

then yesterday’s results are very good news indeed for the USC football program.

Update: Vidal Hazelton signed a LOI with USC on February 23, becoming the 25th member of USC's 2006 recruiting class.

My Thoughts Exactly

2006-01-10T16:50:00.000-05:00

by Mr. Two Cents via EDSBS

After winning 34 straight, this is a relatively accurate representation of my, and I assume many other Trojans', gut reaction to losing to Texas in the Rose Bowl. I laughed out loud at this.

Fight On!

2006-01-05T13:58:00.000-05:00

My previous post notwithstanding, I’m proud of how the USC players approached the Rose Bowl game and the way they played, especially in the final moments; they truly fought like Trojans! I’m also proud of the Trojans’ reaction to losing the game and their future outlook.

"This is what it's all about, 41-38 in the final game," said Leinart . . . . "You couldn't ask for anything better. This was a great football game. We gave our hearts, they gave their hearts and they came out on top."

"It's been a great run. We've done some special things," Bush said. "I don't think we should be ashamed about anything."

"We played hard," said Trojan senior defensive end Frostee Rucker. "You got to credit Vince Young."

Rucker tried to explain the mistakes, the missed tackles, the failed fourth-and-2 play, the lost opportunities. Rather than continue, he simply said, "The rest is history."

The sometimes combustible White was calm as he recounted the play and the way USC's 34-game winning streak was halted. He seemed at peace with the how the game went down. He knew there was no shame in losing when the other team just rises up and makes a play. "I tried to leave it all out there, man," he said with a smile. "I really did."

"This is really what we wanted," said guard Fred Matua. "We want to be out there and play it to the fullest. We don't play to just stay on top. We play to win, man. We're not about putting the game in our defense's hands. We want to take it from them on our terms. If we go down, we're going down fighting, not just hopin' and wishin'. This is how we play at SC, and any high schooler that wants to play like this, man, come on through. We don't play scared."

Said Pat Ruel, USC's O-line coach, "I'm disgusted because this team has given so much and it came down to this play, but hey, I guess it's time for us to start a new streak. That's all."

With a collective attitude like that, I have no doubt the excellence and dominance of USC football will continue uninterrupted.

Congratulations . . .

2006-01-05T10:40:00.000-05:00

to the Texas Longhorns for a great Rose Bowl win and an outstanding season.

Obviously, I'm not completely satisfied with the Trojans' performance. Overall, they played a solid game against the best team they faced this season. Unfortunately, they made several critical mistakes and missed multiple opportunities of the type on which they usually capitalize. In the first half, they missed chances to extend their lead and in the second half, they could have put the game away with a final fourth down conversion.

I can't help myself from mentioning that Texas benefited from some bad calls by the officials. However, by no means did the refs determine the outcome of the game. Texas deserves credit for coming through in the clutch to win a hard fought battle between two elite teams.

This was a very exciting bowl season; indeed, the entire 2005 college football season was one of the most exciting and entertaining seasons I can remember. I can't wait for next year!

Turning Point

2006-01-04T13:06:00.000-05:00

The Notre Dame game was the turning point of the season. Each of the past three seasons has had one, after which the team never looked back. In 2002, it was the Cal game. USC lost the previous week in overtime at Wazzu. Trailing Cal by 21-3, USC scored 27 consecutive points to win the game 30-28. USC blew out its remaining 7 opponents, including Iowa in the Orange Bowl.

In 2003, it was the ASU game. USC lost its previous game in three overtimes to Cal (the Trojans’ last loss to date). USC was down 17-10 at halftime. Matt Leinart had been knocked out of the game in the first half with knee and ankle injuries. With Brandon Hance warming up to start the second half, Leinart asked to be put back in. The Trojans scored 27 unanswered points to win 37-17. The team won its remaining eight games by an average of more than 26 points, including a Rose Bowl win over Michigan to win its first national championship since 1978.

In 2004, it was again the Cal game. With USC leading by six, Cal advanced to first and goal with less than two minutes remaining. The Cal QB, Aaron Rodgers, had earlier in the game set the NCAA single-game record for consecutive completions. The USC defense held, sacking Rodgers on second down and forcing three incompletions. The Trojans won their remaining eight games. Only the UCLA game was close, but USC rebounded from that game to destroy Oklahoma 55-19 in the Orange Bowl.

The Notre Dame game was also a turning point for Leinart. The pressure of maintaining a school-record winning streak and leading the team to an unprecedented third national title was weighing heavily on the fifth-year Heisman-trophy winning QB. He had suffered a concussion and required stitches two weeks prior in a comeback victory over ASU. He had his worst game of the season at Notre Dame, completing only 53% of his passes with two interceptions and zero touchdowns. But, he led the most exciting game-winning drive of the season, including the amazing fourth and nine toss to Dwayne Jarrett from the USC 26 with 1:32 to go. Reading about that play today still gives me shivers.
As Leinart crouched under center, he said he saw a Notre Dame player to his right, "Kind of bluffing, but coming. Whatever. And I'm like, 'OK [shoot], here we go.'"

Kiffin could see that Leinart recognized the coverage.

"He's got it. He's got it!" Kiffin said into the headset.

Sarkisian started mouthing the audible to himself.

Carroll did the same, thinking, It's there, it's there, is he going to? Jarrett, wide to the left, had double vision from a fall earlier in the game, but clearly saw what everyone in the stadium and millions of television viewers saw too.

Leinart had stepped back and was changing his call.

"I was like 'Wow, I'm going to have to make a play.'" Jarrett said. "I just tried to open my eyes as wide as possible."

Leinart turned and pointed right with a closed hand. Then he turned and did the same to the left.

And then Matt Leinart stepped forward to start a play that will forever define him.
After Notre Dame, the pressure lifted from Leinart’s shoulders and he started enjoying playing football again.

There has been some speculation that the pressure of securing his legacy as the greatest college quarterback in history and winning an unprecedented third-consecutive national championship will be too much pressure for Leinart. He let his emotions get the better of him in the UCLA game, the final home game of his career. I don’t see that happening. I expect a performance more like the one following his emotionally-draining experience at Notre Dame, after which he threw for four touchdowns, zero interceptions, and a 77% completion rate at Washington.

The Gods of Football

2006-01-04T12:12:00.000-05:00

Nothing would please me more this evening than to see the outcome of the Rose Bowl virtually decided in the first quarter, à la this pious post by Orson at EDSBS, who has clearly seen the light of Trojan football, so that I can enjoy the rest of the game in joyful celebration.

Not Nervous

2006-01-04T09:25:00.000-05:00

I'm at a loss. I haven't really felt nervous the past month and today is no different. Last year at this time I could hardly contain my anxiety. This is especially strange when contrasted with how I felt before some of this season's regular season games, especially Oregon, Cal, and especially Notre Dame and fUCLA. Like I said, I can't explain it.

I'm wearing the same shirt I wore last year, just in case.

Bottom Line?

2006-01-03T14:52:00.000-05:00

The question is what you like better - the chances of a Pete Carroll defense stopping Vince Young, or the chances of the Texas defense stopping Leinart, Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, LenDale White and, oh, right, the Heisman winner, Reggie Bush.
I'll take Carroll.

So will I.

Trojans' Future Looks Bright

2006-01-03T12:24:00.000-05:00

This may sound crazy since this football season won't be over until sometime very early on Thursday morning, but I'm already looking forward to next year. So is Pete Carroll.

Don't mess with Texas . . . I mean . . . the Bushes!

2006-01-03T08:27:00.000-05:00

One of my 'SC friends sent me this link today. Highly amusing.

USC Sideline Place to Be Seen in L.A.

2005-12-30T13:18:00.000-05:00

With all the celebrities crowding the USC sideline these days, it's a wonder there's room for the players and coaches. A sampling of some of the coolest celebrity USC football fans: Henry Winkler (defined cool as "The Fonz"), Andre 3000, Kirsten Dunst, Will Ferrell, Flea, George Lucas, Snoop Dogg, and Wilmer Valderrama ("Fez" in That '70s Show).

Texas has some pretty cool fans of its own, especially alumnus Matthew McConaughey and the peerless Lance Armstrong.

Says Outkast's Andre 3000, "If you talk to anybody, tell them Andre 3000 wants tickets, and I'll pay for them."

Maybe he should talk to George Wendt (Norm!) who apparently has four tickets to the Rose Bowl.

An Open Field . . .

2005-12-30T10:57:00.000-05:00

is another unique characteristic, along with extremely intense and ultra-competitive, of a Pete Carroll-conducted football practice. I did read earlier this week that Texas beat reporters are banned from USC football practices, but only because USC beat reporters are banned from Texas practices.

Open practices teach accountability and concentration while setting a daily standard for a team that must first survive the demands of an entertainment-capital home before surviving the schedule.

[. . .]

If you can endure Ken Norton's screaming at you in front of your girlfriend, then miss a tackle in front of your mom, then spend 20 minutes on the same field answering questions about it … how tough can Texas be?

Future Vince Young Quote

2005-12-30T10:41:00.000-05:00

Will be overheard in the Texas locker-room during halftime of the 2006 Rose Bowl:

"I can't beat it," Young said. "It's the Reggie show."

[see second section of linked article]

Sarkiffian Better Than Chow?

2005-12-29T13:46:00.001-05:00

This article by ESPN.com's Pat Forde outlines the success Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian have had this year replacing Norm Chow as offensive coordinators. I touched on this earlier this month and I'm still not convinced the USC offense is better off, or even no worse off, without Chow. Forde discusses the major differences between the Chow offense and the "Sarkiffian" offense. Emphasizing the running game and shifting the passing game slightly more vertical have been positive developments. However, it's the other difference that concerns me:

"Norm had an uncanny ability to call plays," Sarkisian said. "We may not have always known what was coming, but it worked. Especially in big games, he was willing to make calls nobody else would make.

"I think we're a little bit more on the structured side. We know what calls are coming. We know by the play sheet what to call, depending on the situation. The quarterback knows what's being called by the specific situation."

Doesn't that mean once an opposing defensive coordinator figures out your system, he may have a pretty good idea what's coming next? It's not the day-to-day coaching in practice that I'm not convinced has been replaced; it's the play-calling. Don't get me wrong, I have no complaints about the Kiffin-Sarkisian combo this year. I just think it's too early to pass judgment on Norm Chow's replace-ability.

Very Good News

2005-12-29T11:35:00.000-05:00

Pete Carroll finalized a contract extension yesterday. Yes, I understand that an NFL team could easily buy out Carroll's contract if he ever decides he wants to return to the pros. However, Carroll has never given any indication other than that he is happy at USC and wants to stay as long as he can maintain the level of excellence he has brought to the program. The contract extension confirms that. Carroll will never be hotter as a coach than he is right now; if he's not making the move to the NFL now, when will he?

"It's a logical thing for people to think," he said of his speculated interest in a new Los Angeles pro team. "But those same people also say that the NFL is the end. And it's not. Matt Leinart showed that this year."

Another quote I liked from the above linked Bill Plaschke article in today's Los Angeles Times:

"After five years here, I hope we have shown there is a way to have great discipline and intensity and still enjoy every minute of it," Carroll said. "It's hard for people to understand, but that's what we do."

I really like the timing of the announcement for three reasons. It could give a timely extra punch to USC’s recruiting efforts as crunch time approaches. Currently, USC’s recruiting class is high on quality but low on quantity. However, USC seems to be in the running for the majority of the remaining uncommitted top-100 recruits. Second, there are likely to be a number of openings in the NFL after the end of the regular season this weekend. The announcement should preempt speculation about Carroll taking any of those jobs. Finally, finalizing the contract now demonstrates USC’s confidence in the long-term future of the program regardless of the outcome of the Rose Bowl.

It's in the Bag

2005-12-28T14:46:00.000-05:00

I hear the Texas football team arrives in Los Angeles today. They will enjoy a week of festivities leading up to the Rose Bowl game against USC on January 4. Texas definitely deserves to be rewarded for winning the Big 12 championship and finishing the season undefeated and ranked #2, so I hope the Longhorns’ southern California vacation is not ruined by delusional hopes of actually winning the game. The outcome of the Rose Bowl, you see, is preordained. As proof, I offer:

USC has never lost a bowl game when ranked No. 1.
USC has never lost to Texas in 4 meetings. The teams’ most recent encounter was nearly 40 years ago in the Trojans’ 1967 national championship campaign.
USC has never lost in a bowl game against a Big 12 opponent.
USC has never lost a BCS game, having currently won three in a row.

(Source: USC Rose Bowl press release)

Pete Carroll Plays Dumb

2005-12-19T12:02:00.000-05:00

I don't know how he pulls it off, but Carroll prepares his players for ultimate high-pressure big-game situations like nobody else in the college game. People like to compare the Trojans to the worst NFL teams, but the comparison to professional clubs might be fair when it comes to the players' mental approach to games. Check this out.

The Weakest Link?

2005-12-19T10:59:00.000-05:00

I don't necessarily disagree with Matthew Zemek's analysis of the receiving corps as potentially the Trojans' weakest link in the Rose Bowl, as opposed to the defense or the special teams, but I don't see the receivers as an area of particular concern going into the big game. In fact, I can't think of any aspect of the team that really worries me at this point, which I'd say is quite a luxurious position in which to be. Perhaps that attitude will change over the next two weeks if my anxiety level rises as game-time approaches.

The Round Robin Rocks

2005-12-16T14:07:00.000-05:00

I want to go on record as being very excited about the Pac-10's new conference scheduling format starting next year. The Pac-10 almost immediately approved a full round robin format after the 12-game football season was made permanent by the NCAA. For some reason, I don't think the average non-Pac-10 fan is aware of the change, as demonstrated in this letter: "I say the Big XII, SEC, and now the ACC are determining conference champions the right way. On the field. The PAC 10, and Big 10 +1 need to take notice." To credit Pete Fiutak, in his response to the letter he states he supports the Pac-10 plan. It’s not the Pac-10 that needs to take notice, but rather the 12-team mega-conferences and especially the Big 10.

In the Pac-10, there will never again be conference co-champions that did not play each other, such as Big-10 champs Iowa and Ohio State in 2002, necessitating the existence of convoluted rules to determine the conference's Rose Bowl/BCS representative. Also, the Pac-10 will have no need for a conference championship game. Every team will play nine conference games and there is no risk of crowning a team with a lesser conference record the conference champion based on one very good or bad game, á la Big 12 champs Kansas State in 2003 or ACC champs Florida State this year.

The system is good for USC because it allows the Trojans to continue their annual contest with Notre Dame, play another big-name school in non-conference play (Nebraska in 2006 and 2007, Ohio State in 2008 and 2009), and play one other relatively easier non-conference game, in addition to their nine game conference schedule.

Nearly Impossible to Describe

2005-12-14T15:29:00.000-05:00

Apparently, Reggie Bush is making sportswriters work harder than usual to draft descriptions of his performances. Here's a collection of quotes describing Bush's play.

World Cup Draw Analysis

2005-12-09T16:19:00.000-05:00

The sum of the four teams' world rankings for each group (based on current FIFA world rankings with the seeded team in parentheses):

Group A (Germany): 16+37+23+21=97
Group B (England): 9+30+14+51=104
Group C (Argentina): 4+41+3+47= 95
Group D (Mexico): 7+62+10+19=98
Group E (Italy): 12+50+2+8=72
Group F (Brazil): 1+49+20+15=85
Group G (France): 5+56+36+29=126
Group H (Spain): 6+28+40+32=106

The average of the sums is about 98. Each group's sum is within 15% of the average except Group G, which is about 29% greater than the average, and Group E, which is about 26% below the average. That's bad for the US, which is in Group E.

The seeded team is the highest ranked team in its group except for Argentina in Group C (the Netherlands is ranked one spot better at 3) and Italy in Group E. Interestingly, both the Czech Republic and the US are currently ranked higher than Italy in Group E; again, bad for the US, although I can't imagine Italy is too pleased with its draw. Group E looks like next year's "Group of Death".

Germany's group (A) does not have a single team ranked in the top 10, but three of the four teams are in the top 25. Argentina and the Netherlands (Group C) should have no problem advancing from their group. Three of the four teams in Mexico's and Brazil's groups (D and F) are in the top 20. It looks like France and Spain have by far the easiest roads to the Round of 16 followed by a slightly more difficult road for England.

I can't say this looks good for the US. Advancing to the Round of 16 in the 2006 World Cup will require finishing ahead of either the Czech Republic or Italy in group play - this would be a major accomplishment. Winning Group E is extremely unlikely. I was pissed when the US was not seeded and getting drawn into a group with another top 10 team besides the seeded team is particularly unlucky.

The 2006 World Cup Draw . . .

2005-12-09T15:46:00.000-05:00

is in progress. I'm tracking it live on ESPN Soccernet.

The seeded teams have all been placed in groups and they're now drawing teams from Pool 2 . . .

The drawing of teams from Pools 2 and 3 is complete. Serbia & Montenegro cannot be placed in Groups A, B, E, G, or H. Group C looks particularly nasty.

The remaining 7 teams just breathed a sigh of relief - S & M was placed in Group C.

Ouch! We're in a tough group.

The drawing is complete.

Group A: Germany, Ecuador, Poland, Costa Rica
Group B: England, Paraguay, Sweden, Trinidad & Tobago
Group C: Argentina, Ivory Coast, the Netherlands, Serbia & Montenegro.
Group D: Mexico, Angola, Portugal, Iran
Group E: Italy, Ghana, Czech Republic, United States
Group F: Brazil, Australia, Croatia, Japan
Group G: France, Togo, Switzerland, South Korea
Group H: Spain, Tunisia, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia.

Three Reasons . . .

2005-12-08T12:10:00.000-05:00

This seams to be a popular format for analyzing the USC-Texas Rose Bowl match-up:

Stewart Mandel's three reasons (each) why the 2006 Rose Bowl will and will not be different than the 2005 Orange Bowl blowout.
Heismanpundit addresses the same question.
Burnt Orange Nation gives three reasons why USC will win and three reasons why Texas will win.

Rose Bowl Debating

2005-12-08T09:38:00.000-05:00

For some fun Rose Bowl debate, check out the Texas blog Burnt Orange Nation. Unsurprisingly, there's a strong pro-Texas bias in the comments, which makes it all the more entertaining. The administrators of the blog have shown admirable balance in their postings, especially since December 4. This, of course, was the day it suddenly became a reality that their beloved Longhorns would actually have to back up Texas fans' smack talk on the field. Don't look for any USC victory predictions here.

Dutch and USA Unseeded for World Cup Draw

2005-12-06T12:02:00.000-05:00

This pisses me off. The U.S. national team is currently ranked eighth in the world and won their CONCACAF qualifying group ahead of Mexico. Friday's draw will be critical.

Mack Brown Thinks USC Is the Best

2005-12-06T10:50:00.000-05:00

Mack, how do you motivate your team if you think your opponent is better?

ESPN Rose Bowl Poll

2005-12-06T10:02:00.000-05:00

ESPN SportsNation's Rose Bowl poll results, with my answers in bold.

Some points of clarification:

Question 2) Who will be the game's biggest star?
Reggie Bush could have a huge game – he has in all of USC's big games this year. However, Bush had a relatively quiet game in the 2005 Orange Bowl. I think Texas will game-plan for Bush, and if the Trojans' versatile and balanced offense takes what the defense gives them, someone else will have a huge game. It could be Dwayne Jarrett; it could be Steve Smith or Dominique Byrd, like last year; it could be LenDale White. Obviously, Matt Leinart will play a huge role in whatever happens.

Question 3) What was USC's best win of the season?
If “best” means best overall performance on offense and defense in a big game, then it was the UCLA game. If “best” means most exciting, historically significant win, then it was the Notre Dame game.

The most noteworthy poll results relate to questions 10 and 11, “Which coach would you want on the recruiting trail?” and “Which coach would you want preparing a team for a national title game?” Pete Carroll holds commanding leads over Mack Brown on those two questions.

Bush Highlights

2005-12-05T14:41:00.000-05:00

Here's a link to a fun video of Reggie Bush's college highlights (hat tip: The Sports Pulse).

Here's The New York Times article with a link to Bush's bootleg high school highlights video.

This is USC's Bush Heisman candidacy video.

A friend accused me last weekend of having a man-crush on Bush. I didn't really have anything to say about that.

Rose Bowl Hype

2005-12-05T09:52:00.000-05:00

As a USC fan, it's going to be hard to take the massive Rose Bowl hype that is coming too seriously. I guess I'm jaded from last year, when the latest so-called "Game of the Century" turned into a 55-19 rout. I'm not saying I expect another blowout; on the contrary, I expect Texas to be a very challenging opponent. Hopefully, the players' experience from last year in dealing with the buildup to a game of this magnitude will serve as an advantage in game preparation.

USC-UCLA

2005-12-04T14:44:00.000-05:00

'nuff said.

The Eight-Step Program for Beating the Trojans

2005-12-02T14:26:00.000-05:00

According to Seth Fast Glass of the UCLA rag Daily Bruin, UCLA must complete the following eight steps to beat the Trojans tomorrow:

STEP 1: Win the coin toss; score the first touchdown;

STEP 2: Throw the ball;

STEP 3: Take the lead into halftime;

STEP 4: Get Matt Leinart's jersey dirty;

STEP 5: Make a play on special teams;

STEP 6: Win the turnover margin;

STEP 7: Don't let USC make a big defensive play late; and

STEP 8: Get lucky

Is that all? Piece o' cake, right?

Given that the odds of UCLA completing Step 1 are exactly 1 to 1 and rapidly decline from there, it looks like the Bruins are going to be disappointed. Halftime leads didn't help Oregon, Arizona State, Notre Dame, or Fresno State, nor did big plays on special teams by Arizona State, Notre Dame, Fresno State, or UCLA last year. Matt Leinart has the country's best offensive line keeping his jersey clean. USC has the best turnover margin in the country. Making big defensive plays late has practically become a USC trademark (excepting the Notre Dame game). Step 8 speaks for itself.

Some Perspective

2005-12-02T13:39:00.000-05:00

With the level of excellence at which USC football is now operating, it's hard to remember how things were only five years ago. This article, by Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register, is a good reminder of how far the program has come and how much expectations have risen since Pete Carroll was hired in 2001.

Replacing Chow no problem for USC

2005-12-01T17:08:00.000-05:00

Does anyone else think it's still too early to be making this statement, as Michael Ventre does in this MSNBC article? I say wait until next year, after Matt Leinart is gone and there's some serious offensive personnel turnover, before passing verdict on how replaceable Norm Chow is.

Perception Plus Reality = ?

2005-11-30T16:57:00.000-05:00

Here's a Bruin with a nuanced, balanced outlook on the big game. I assume this is the exception rather than the rule.

What Kind of Rival Is UCLA?

2005-11-30T16:22:00.000-05:00

USC has two big football rivals: Notre Dame and UCLA. However, the two rivalries are different. The Notre Dame rivalry is characterized by mutual respect. Both USC and Notre Dame have suffered more losses to each other than any other school. The game against Notre Dame almost always takes place in the national spotlight with victory often serving as a launching pad for national championships and Heisman trophies. The rivalry with UCLA, on the other hand, is characterized by mutual dislike (many would say hate, and that would not necessarily be inaccurate). A win over UCLA is nice simply because it keeps the folks across town out of our faces for another year and puts the Bruins in their proper place. I know, I know . . . UCLA fans will point to this sentiment as an example of typical Trojan arrogance; but it’s true.

UCLA players and fans seem to view the cross-town rivalry somewhat differently. College Football Resource gave his take on each side’s perspective a couple weeks ago:
Two rivalries stand out to me as almost comical. Those are the ill feelings between Auburn and Alabama and USC and UCLA.

Most rivalries have both schools on some kind of level ground. That is, Michigan fans can make a lot of claims that they're the best, but so can Ohio State fans. But with these two specific rivalries, there's a certain big brother/little brother feel to them that cracks me up. Not surprisingly, USC and Alabama play the big brother roles. They've had a lot more success over the years, have owned the rivalries and their fans approach the rivalry a little different than those on the other side.

For simple proof, I present to you two blogs, one by a USC fan and the other by UCLA fans. The USC fan is his usual cool cucumber, relaxed about his place in the world and oblivious to the presence of his rival. The UCLA fan, however, has worked himself into some kind of lather, absolutely frothing three whole weeks before the game against his big brother. This stuff is hilarious . . . . It's like to one side they're just happy with the obligatory win just to shut the other guys up, and on the other side their whole existence is built into the outcome.

USC’s take on the two rivalries is encapsulated by Matt Leinart and fullback Brandon Hancock in today’s Los Angeles Daily News:

Leinart: “We respect Notre Dame. It's a classy rivalry.”

Hancock: “We respect Notre Dame and at the end of the day it's a pretty healthy rivalry. But all bets are off with these pansies. We don't want to just beat them. We want to hurt them. We're not going to call the dogs off in the third or fourth quarter. We want to send a message.”

Music to my ears.

P.S. USC has played Notre Dame 77 times and holds a record of 30-42-5 against the Fighting Irish. USC is 40-27-7 against UCLA.

A Nod to Pete Carroll

2005-11-28T10:57:00.000-05:00

Not much has been said about the job Pete Carroll has done coaching the Trojans this year. Matthew Zemek includes Carroll on his list of underappreciated coaches:
* Pete Carroll, USC. A weird choice as an “underappreciated” coach, but an appropriate one nevertheless. It’s easy to think winning coaches are just presiding over juggernauts, much the same way Bobby Cox has had it easy in managing the Atlanta Braves to 14 consecutive division championships. But when you consider how much of a bullseye USC wears each game, and how banged-up the Trojans’ defense has been this year, Carroll’s ability to mask weaknesses and get very green players to play big minutes and produce--or at least hang in there well enough to avoid losing games--is nothing short of phenomenal. While Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush will cover up a lot of defensive deficiencies, it still stands that without an ability to get clutch turnovers, USC and its defense would have lost a few games in 2005 that it managed to ultimately win. Carroll has had more than a bit part in shaping that reality. He has scrambled and strategize with all his might to keep SC in line for a third straight title.

Reality Check

2005-11-22T12:17:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to a video clip from Iranian TV promoting car bombing. (hat tip: HeyDudeWhoa!)

BCS Bowl-Bound

2005-11-20T15:11:00.000-05:00

USC apparently clinched its fourth consecutive BCS bowl berth when Oregon beat Oregon State yesterday, even if USC loses to UCLA. Of course, a loss to UCLA would knock them out of the Rose Bowl and end their hopes of winning a third consecutive national championship.

A Heisman-Winning Performance?

2005-11-20T13:47:00.000-05:00

If USC beats UCLA in two weeks and Reggie Bush wins the Heisman, will his outstanding, record-setting performance in the Fresno State game go down as the moment when he locked up the trophy? Ivan Maisel thinks so.

Update: Bush makes Stewart Mandel rethink his Heisman vote -
It was like watching one of those hilarious high-school tapes where some future college star runs roughshod over a bunch of private-school rich kids.

Further update: Pete Fiutak makes a persuasive argument for Matt Leinart to repeat as Heisman winner -
Simply put, if USC beats UCLA and plays for the national title, based on his accomplishments, Leniart will be the greatest college football quarterback of all-time. The guy is overqualified for the honor of being the second two-time Heisman winner.

[. . .]

If USC goes on to win the national title, it’s not an overstatement by any stretch to call Leinart’s pass to Dwayne Jarrett for a 61-yard gain on fourth and nine in the final moments against Notre Dame the greatest throw of all-time.

Another Update: The best ever? Brian Meehan of The Oregonian also thinks so.

USC-Fresno State

2005-11-20T11:47:00.000-05:00

USC didn't even have to play this game!

With the Pac-10 schedule moving from eight to nine games starting in 2006, the annual match with Notre Dame, and the likes of Nebraska (2006, 2007) and Ohio State (2008, 2009) on the schedule in the coming years, I think it will be a while before we see Fresno State on the Trojans' schedule again.

Update: I haven't been impressed with Matthew Zemak's analyses this year, but I liked his Instant Analysis of last night's USC-Fresno State game. His thoughts about the nature of this comeback victory as compared to other USC comebacks in 2005, the role of place-kicker Mario Danelo, Reggie Bush's clutch impact, and the potential impact of the game on pollsters' and college football experts' opinions of the Pac-10 in general and Oregon in particular were interesting.

Welsh Rugby Fan Cuts Off Sack

2005-11-17T22:40:00.000-05:00

My thoughts after reading this story:

Maybe deals like this only help your team if God knows you're actually willing to hold up your end of the bargain.
This guy is clearly . . . nuts, but I have to give him his due. I mean, people say stupid shit like that all the time, but how many people actually have the . . . balls to follow through.
No wonder the Welsh population growth rate is four times less than the world population growth rate. Perhaps the Welsh should start rooting against their national rugby team. Or just ban wire cutters.
No doubt this guy has the world's highest pain threshold, which reminds me of an anecdote about a friend's roommate (yes, I have met the roommate and verified the veracity of the story): So, the roommate is riding his freestyle bike at a terrain park when he slips off the pedals and racks himself on the frame. It hurts. However, he continues with this activity until he notices some blood. Being of sounder mind than the Welsh rugby fan, he decides it is time to go home. He rides his bike several miles back to my friend's house. There, he relaxes on the couch watching TV. It becomes apparent everything is not right, so his girlfriend convinces him to go to the hospital. He ends up receiving stitches at the ER to sew up his scrotum. Men know that there is no worse pain, qualitatively speaking, than getting hit in the balls. When I heard this story I was in absolute awe that my friend's roommate was able to function at all after this incident.

Poll Fiction

2005-11-15T23:36:00.000-05:00

Freedom Dip takes exception to USC’s claim to a 2003 national championship in football (hat tip: Burnt Orange Nation):
Let's get something straight with USC and the rest of the college football world.

USC is NOT going for a 3-peat!!! Period.

Who won the national title in 2003? Wasn't it LSU?

If fans say, "Well, USC should have been in the title game." Then I say tough. The BCS is the system agreed upon by the coaches, and the coaches voted the Tigers No. 1 after the Sugar Bowl that year. Ap's vote doesn't even count anymore. BCS is the accepted system for now.

If USC claims half the title in 2003, then Auburn should claim half of the 2004 title.
End of story.

Well, allow me to retort.

Does Tommy Trojan look like a bitch?

I said, DOES TOMMY TROJAN LOOK LIKE A BITCH?

No? Then why are you trying to f*** him like a bitch, Freedom Dip?

Seriously, this is a tired argument and the only people trying to make it are LSU fans and other Trojan-haters. USC’s claim is that it is defending two consecutive AP national titles. Yes, there is a distinction. No, USC does not deny that LSU was a co-national champion in 2003 (I seem to remember some kind of ceremony on the south lawn of the White House with both teams present). Why are some LSU fans so determined to reject USC’s equally legitimate claim?

The NCAA does not recognize an official national champion in Division I-A football. Even the BCS itself concedes that there was a split national title in 2003: “For the only time since the BCS was formed, there is a split national champion.”

SI.com’s Stewart Mandel lays it out in his May 17, 2005 College Football Mailbag:
I'm getting sick and tired of all of you people saying that USC is going for a three-peat. Just being No. 1 in the AP poll does not mean you won the national title. Some people may think this is just an (even after five months) angry Sooners fan ranting, but it's crazy to say the Trojans are going for a three-peat.
--Seth Points, Haskell, Okla.

Tell you what, Seth: We'll stop referring to USC as two-time defending national champion just as soon as Oklahoma renounces its 1950, '55, '56, '74, '75 and '85 national championships. This may come as a shock to you (and to everyone else who has written in with the same complaint), but the Sooners won those titles the same way USC won its 2003 crown: By finishing No. 1 in the AP poll.

You may also be unaware that the crystal trophy handed out at the end of each year's BCS title game is not technically bestowed for winning the game but rather for finishing No. 1 in the coaches' poll (which, conveniently, is required to vote the winner of the game No. 1). So, unless for some reason you think the coaches' poll is somehow more legitimate than the AP poll -- and, as far as I know, they've been considered pretty much equals for about 70 years -- then there's really nothing "crazy" about it.

Let’s not forget that the AP poll was legitimate enough in the eyes of the BCS people that they completely revamped their ranking system after the 2003 season to preclude the recurrence of a unanimous #1-ranked team being excluded from their title game.

Don't believe everything you see in the movies.

2005-11-15T22:59:00.000-05:00

USC’s next opponent, Fresno State, believes they have found some chinks in the Trojans’ armor. “The Bulldogs said they . . . noticed some obvious mistakes and subtle errors by USC that opponents failed to take advantage of.”

Adam Jennings, receiver, California State University, Fresno: “You see them on the ESPN highlights and think these guys are the greatest team ever. In the film room . . . they don't look superhuman. You get to see the bad plays, the stuff not on ‘SportsCenter.’ You see mistakes and you have to figure out ways to exploit their weaknesses.”

Beware Bulldogs! Looks can be deceiving.

Houston Nutt, Head Coach, University of Arkansas: “Film is one thing. When you watch film and see them score 55 on Oklahoma’s caliber of defense . . . but to see it live. They are the best offensive team at every position.”

Jerry Glanville, Defensive Coordinator, University of Hawaii, watched every snap that Matt Leinart took in 2003 and 2004. After the game, he said the fifth-year senior was “better than he was last year.”

Bill Doba, Head Coach, Washington State University: “In the first quarter, their speed was something we had never seen.”

That’s right, folks. USC’s School of Cinema-Television, the country’s top film school and the alma mater of George Lucas (who has been spotted at several USC football games this year), is doing its part to support the football team’s 2005 campaign. It’s amazing what they can do with special effects these days.

Fiutak's Voodoo T-shirts

2005-11-15T14:39:00.000-05:00

Pete Fiutak recounts the following amusing story in this week's "Cavalcade of Whimsy" on College Football News:
The bidding starts at one USC Song Girl . . . This is no lie. I was wearing my UCLA Football t-shirt while running on the treadmill during the USC-Notre Dame game a few weeks ago. I took a very quick shower during the commercial break after the Brady Quinn fourth quarter touchdown run, and then unwittingly threw on my USC Football t-shirt when I got out. You know the rest. I noticed the same thing happened in reverse during the UCLA-Stanford game. I was wearing the USC t-shirt when working out, took a quick shower early in the fourth quarter, put on the UCLA t-shirt, and the Bruins won with an epic comeback. Guess what shirt was in the rotation when UCLA got destroyed by Arizona? I will wear one of the two on December 3rd. You may begin to woo me.

First of all, that anyone, even someone completely unaffiliated with either university, could so casually switch back and forth between USC and UCLA attire strikes me as very . . . wrong; like the situation on the ESPN commercial where the Ohio State guy and the Michigan girl (or is it the other way around?) are sitting together on the couch acting schmoopy.

Secondly, wear the UCLA T-shirt on Dec. 3, Pete - I wouldn't want there to be any doubt on Dec. 4 that the pasting given to the Bruins by the Trojans resulted from anything other than USC's vastly superior talent, coaching, and fortitude.

On the other hand, who can blame him for the attempted ploy to score some time with a Song Girl?

Move Those Chains

2005-11-15T10:59:00.000-05:00

I really like Erik McKinney's "Move Those Chains" columns on WeAreSC. Here are a couple gems from the Cal review:
Giving Pete Carroll four weeks to prepare for any team is like giving me the answer key to a quiz about the best popsicle flavors. Whereas giving Mack Brown four weeks to prepare for a team is like letting me have an extra day to memorize pi out to ten thousand digits. It’s not going to make a difference.

[. . .]

Hey DeSean, at least this way you get to play four quarters every game.

A Bullish Prediction

2005-11-11T13:02:00.000-05:00

Peter Dudley, over at the Bear Insider, forecasts Cal will upset USC tomorrow:
USC has been on the verge a couple of times this year. I am predicting an upset based on the fact that the Bear will not quit and the Bear will not die. I am predicting that Cal's players and coaches will not be in awe of their opponent this week. I am predicting that this, like the game two years ago, will become an "instant classic" and will feature the best offensive line play by the Bears this year. I'm predicting that this game will not go into overtime. I'm predicting that the Bears will emerge triumphant and will knock the Trojans out of the national championship picture.

Final score: Cal 34, Southern Cal 33.

Sorry, Peter, the Trojans already played in one "instant classic" this season, and they came out on top.

My prediction is somewhat more bearish on the Bears' chances. I am predicting Peter's prediction will be proven nonsense.

USC 42, Cal 21.

What about this season?

2005-11-11T11:18:00.000-05:00

This season is an exceptional case. With the expectation level so high after winning the 2004 national championship and returning virtually the entire offense, including the Heisman Trophy winner and another Heisman Trophy finalist (Bush), anything less than winning the 2005 national championship would be a disappointment. However, I would still consider the season successful if USC made it to the Rose Bowl, regardless of the outcome. Of course, my confidence in USC’s chances of if they go to the Rose Bowl is high given Carroll’s track record in BCS bowls, the coaching staff’s proven ability to construct excellent game plans when given extended time to prepare, and the team’s tendency to steadily improve over the course of the season until peaking for the bowl game.

Therefore, even though the team is 9-0 and has already beaten Notre Dame in possibly the best college football game of the year, it is too early to say that USC has had a successful season. In fact, should the team lose one of its last three games, the season would be a disappointment based on this season’s exceptionally high expectation level, and will probably even be a disappointment based on the standard criteria I outlined in the preceding post.

Of course, all I’m thinking about this week is beating Cal. Beat the Bears!

What are the criteria for a successful season?

2005-11-11T11:17:00.000-05:00

When I was an undergraduate, I decided that the Trojans must accomplish two of three objectives before I would consider a football season successful: beat Notre Dame; beat UCLA; and go to the Rose Bowl. Incidentally, by these criteria USC never had a successful season while I was an undergraduate due to the unfortunate coincidence of two devastating streaks: eight straight losses to UCLA from 1991 to 1998 (the four that I saw were all very painful, but USC is making up for it now with a six-game winning streak starting in 1999) and Notre Dame’s 13-game unbeaten streak against USC from 1983 to 1995 (the 1994 game was a tie). I was at the last game of the ND streak.

In my mind the criteria has shifted. The Trojans must accomplish two objectives in order to have what I would consider a successful season: 1) go to a BCS bowl game; and 2) beat either Notre Dame, UCLA, or both. USC could finish with an 11-2 record and win a BCS bowl, but if they were to lose to Notre Dame and UCLA, it would not be completely happy about the season. Obviously, the likelihood of losing to both rivals and still going to a BCS game is very low, so I expect that scenario to be rare.

I would be interested to know what fans of other major programs believe are the criteria for a successful season at their schools.

Don't Panic

2005-11-09T16:06:00.000-05:00

I finally added a subtitle to the blog. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference will immediately be clear to fans of Douglas Adams. No, you won’t see me at a Hitchhiker’s Guide convention with a prosthetic second head and a fish stuffed in my ear, but I am a big fan of the books. I read them (the first four, anyway) during elementary school, and they surely influenced my sense of humor and contributed to my appreciation of British comedy.

Click this link to play the BBC’s 20th Anniversary Edition of Infocom’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – The Adventure Game. I remember playing the original version of this game on my family’s Apple IIe.

In case you were wondering, I usually know where my towel is.

Very amusing . . .

2005-11-08T14:43:00.000-05:00

video. Even Gators fans in the crowd are "Gettin' Jiggy wit' It". (finder's credit to EDSBS)

League Champs!

2005-11-07T17:26:00.000-05:00

My soccer team, Postgame FC, clinched first place in the CCSL Premier Division yesterday morning with a 3 - 1 win over Booters FC. We will be the #1 seed in the play-offs, which begin in two weeks against a semifinal opponent TBD. This was a significant achievement for our team, which has never finished this high in Premier Div. league play. I've only been with the team for two years, but according to the old-timers, Postgame FC started out five or six years ago at the bottom of the bottom division in the league (hence the team name; post-game apparently being the only time the team could post impressive performances).

This result definitely made up for having to get up at 6:30 on a Sunday morning for our 8:00 game.