A Choad's Guide to USC Football

Mark Sanchez leaves practice with knee injury

2008-08-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

Mark Sanchez was carted off the practice field this morning due to an apparent knee injury. Mitch Mustain is the backup quarter back.

Pete Carroll said Sanchez dislocated his kneecap. Rehab will start on Monday and then will be day to day. Other Trojans have had this injury and they were able to come back in 10 days.

Carroll was quoted as saying "We lucked out".

Rumors spred that Sanchez might have been goofing around a bit and may have resulted in the injury. Though it is said now that he went to throw the ball and landed awkwardly to a player, before practice had started.

Hot SC Song Girls

2008-07-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

via Busted Coverage, hat tip to Deadspin and hat tip to National Lampoon Splog

SC Song Girl Lindsey Michelle Grubbs (Brunette):

USC Flashback Fantasy Camp with Pat Ruel

2008-06-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

Pat Ruel gives these old dudes a hard time.

Mark Sanchez will win the QB job

2008-04-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

It appears Mark Sanchez's leadin' the USC QB battle.

LA Times

- The Dude

aside from him getting injured, he's VERY likely to
win the job. Carroll's "it's all about competition"
mantra is sorta bs. It's a great thing and I wouldn't
want him to change it but in these types of situation
he often gives the more senior player the job having
claimed in the past that "it was just the right thing
to do" (like keeping Chauncey Washington the starter
last year when there were easily 3 other backs as if
not more talented than he was).

The more troubling thing is that he hasn't made any
real change to the coaching staff and UCLA's made a
MAJOR upgrade in their staff. I expect that game to be
an actual game this year. It's also troubling that
Sanchez has "more but not all" of the offense down
than Mustain. Mustain not having it down is a little
understandable since he's only been in the O for a
year, but Sanchez has been in the same O now for 3
years. He should have it down pat. Not just "got it a
little better". Sark's an up and coming coach but he
should be answering to a wise veteran who knows how to
organize the big picture stuff. Instead the O is
controlled by a bunch of kids (relatively speaking).

But yeah... expect sanchez to win the job. Mustain had
a huge scrimmage but those who went to the scrimmage
said that mustain got a little lucky and even though
his stats were worse Sanchez looked more in control
and was the "clear leader" of the offense. I'm sorta
pulling for Mustain myself cuz i've heard many a not
so flattering thing about Sanchez. And many feel that
Sanchez'll be given the job til the first loss. But I
do think in the end Sanchez'll have the gig and he'll
do pretty well with it. The O is going to be
interesting this year. If it sucks this year you can
put the blame SQUARELY on Sarkisian's shoulders. And
honestly, i wouldn't be surprised if it was subpar.
McKnight and Allen Bradford (2 rb's have lit it up),
and a WR here or there has done okay (although there's
still no real identity there), but they need a TE to
step up and the OL is patchwork at best. The D is
gonna have to carry this team and they're going to be
replacing their two best DL's and an all pac10 LB in
Rivers. The DB's should be freakin SICK though.

Needless to say i'm expecting a rough road ahead.
While rivals like ND were adding STUD defensive
coaches like Jon Tenuta and UCLA was adding Chow, we
stood pat with a coaching corps that was
underexperienced and had PROVEN that they were (at
best) inconsistent based on the results last year.
Ugh.

SC's 2008 Class Breakdown

2008-02-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

So SC's class isn't as good as the past couple years
class. It's still in the top 10 but it's not insane
like it's been in the past. Partially that's because
they don't have a ton of rides and partially it's
because they don't have a QB more than one WR and a
real RB. You don't take big skill position guys and
you don't even really have a chance at a super high
ranking. It doesn't really matter though cuz SC just
about every year has the highest average "star rating"
for it's recruits. This year there's only one team
(Notre Dame) that's better than SC's.

There was really only one big disappointment heading
down the stretch and that was that this kid from
Arkansas who came out to SC a few times decommitted
from SC and switched to Arkansas at the last minute.
He's a WR who SC was likely gonna use at CB but when
Petrino got hired at Arkansas he suddenly wanted to
play WR bad... SC said they'd give him a chance but he
went with the local school in the end. Bummer cuz we
could've used him as a cb (a big need for SC).

The really good news is that the big surprises for SC
were that we landed the top DE in Michigan (this kid
Nick Perry who had 36 sacks his senior year against
good competition. It's a state record. I don't even
know how you get 36 sacks. That's just insane. Plus
he's like 6'4" 250 and has running back speed). THe
other surprise is one of the best CB's in the
nation... A kid named TJ Bryant who hails from Lincoln
HS in Tallahassee... which is about as much of a
traditional feeder program to a school (in their case
Florida State) as you could expect to see. They almost
ALWAYS feed kids to FSU so this was pretty big get for
SC. He's a really good athlete and nearly ideal size
for the type of CB's Carroll likes (6'1" 180 and
fast).

The overall for the rest of the class is as follows...

SC had the biggest need at OL and DL and they
addressed those needs really really well (the party
line on this class is that 'it's not the best class in
the nation but it's the best class for SC's needs'
(which are often two different things).

Ryan Kalil's brother Matt is probably the best OL
prospect in the nation and he's all SC (and a LOT
bigger than his bro at the same stage. Ryan was like
6'1" 255 his senior year. Matt is 6'7" 295).

Tyron Smith is another great OL that SC's bringing in.
He's referred to by some people as "the OL with the 6
pack" he looks like he belongs on American Gladiators
or something. He's 6'5" 270 and he's pretty much all
muscle. He'll need to add some bulk and get up to the
290 range before he can really see the field. He's got
incredibly long arms and he should be one of the best
prospects to come in in this class. He and Kalil are
the two headliners. They also got 3 other OL kids
who're all highly rated.

Daniel Campbell is a big fat kid (6'5" 330) but he's
suprisingly nimble on his feet. He's gotta hit a
weight room bad but he could ber like Deuce Lutui was
for SC if he gets in shape. He's got lots of potential
but if he's a lazy-ass it may hinder his development.

Matt Meyer is another one of the kids who's a good,
big kid and is already in school. Smart kid too.
Turned down stanford to come to SC.

The last OL is Khalid Holmes. He's Alex Holmes (former
SC tight end) brother and is a very good looking guard
prospect.

The guy who probably has the best chance of seeing the
field early is a kid named Blake Ayles. He's a great
TE prospect (maybe the best in the nation) and he
could be a great weapon for SC very soon (his biggest
competition is another good TE prospect named Anthony
McCoy). Tough kid too. I'm hoping he's SC's version of
Zack Miller... a TE who played at ASU a few years back
who was an immediate impact player.

RB/WR/LB/S DJ Shoemate is a versatile athlete and a
real good player who went up against top competition
in southern california (he and Kalil are teammates at
a school called Servite that plays in the toughest
Southern CA league called the Pac-5). He played a lot
of rb and is coming off a foot injury from two years
ago. Personally i don't think he'd make a great RB (at
least not as great as some of the other kids SC
already has). But no one really knows what position he
will play. I thikn he'd make a great safety (athlete
wise at least) or a great fullback but a lot of people
scoff at those ideas. Chris Galippo (the best LB in
the nation who came to SC last year and was a teammate
of Shoemate's at Servite) said "Shoemate doesn't have
a defensive bone in his body". The good news is that
if he is on O he has a lot of skills... he can run,
can run between the tackles, and can really catch.
He's also a great kid and a total team guy. He's been
committed to SC for like two years too.

Brice Butler is a WR from Georgia who i think also has
a really good chance of seeing the field early. If you
watched his hs film next to the average hs WR kids
film you'd noticed how polished this kid looks. He's
got GREAT "dwayne jarrett like" hands and he runs
great routes. He's a lot like Steve Smith but a little
bigger. Not a burner but he's going to be one of those
reliable WR's who our qb's love and who they'll go to
whenever they're in trouble.

On DL SC has 5 kids coming in. The aforementioned
Perry who's the real headliner, Armond Armstead,
Jurrell Casey, Malik Jackson and Wes Horton. Horton is
the one i'm least impressed with. He plays at a very
good HS program (Notre Dame Sherman Oaks HS), but he
seemingly hasn't seen a real weightroom yet. He'll
need a year or two in SC's strength and conditioning
program before he can hit the field if you ask me.

Armstead was a real under the radar guy but he's a
really good athlete (especially for a DT who goes
about 6'4" 290) He's sorta the same height/weight as
Manuel Wright... the DT who played at SC a few years
back. He does have huge man-tits though. It's like he
needs a tit reduction. High motor DL type though and
that's hard to find in these big kids.

Casey is one of the biggest and best DL's in the
nation. THere's sortof a west coast bias against west
coast DL's and for west coast skill position players,
but if you ask me Casey's one of the best in the
nation. He's gonna be our Patterson/Ellis of this
class. Kid has huge, thick legs, he's fast and he
fucks shit up real good for the O. Real strong and
active kid. If you watched him in hs you'd be thinking
'who the hell is that kid? he's gonna be in the league
some day.'.

Malik Jackson is a lean but very good DE. He's about
6'4" 230 so he's gonna have to add some bulk to see
the field but the kid is just a football player. He's
active, tenacious and has a really high motor. One of
the more respected hs football analysts thinks that
he's teh best DL on the west coast but doesn't get the
love cuz his offer's are so minimal (some services
judge how good a kid is based on the prestige and
numbers of offers he gets from schools). But his
offers were low cuz his grades are equally low. He's
probably the biggest worry as far as getting a kid
into school in this class. That said, if he gets into
class and if he adds weight, in a couple years he
could be one of our best DE's. DE and CB are a big
need coming up for SC so it's good to have these guys
in the pipeline immediately.

Like i've said before, the great news is that the '09
class is gonna be sick. That's gonna be the class full
of headliners. SC already has something like 6 of the
top 100 prospects already committed and i think the
next closest school has 2. SC is going to absolutely
clean up next year. UCLA may challenge for a couple
kids and surprise SC fans a little here or there but
this class is already off and running and Matt Barkley
is a huge draw. If we run the table on the top 3 local
WR's (which could happen) people are gonna sh*t.

--DJP

USC Wide Receivers

2008-02-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

I miss Smith and Jarrett. Hopefully USC'll get some cool wide receivers soon.

- The Dude

Funny you should mention that Dude...

This weekend, SC had about a dozen or so of the top
local juniors visit unofficially (meaning it was on
their dime) this weekend to hang out with Carroll and
shoot the shit. SC got the top prospect in the nation
for the class of '09 (that's the hs seniors starting
in September), who's already committed to SC (Matt
Barkley) to drop by with some of his fellow class of
'09 committed players and help recruit the kids SC was
trying to lock up.

Carroll is basically throwing down the gauntlet on
UCLA with this move. UCLA sorta got the drop on SC in
recruiting last year by hosting a big 'junior day'
during the summer (SC and UCLA each have em... SC's
last year wasn't that well attended for some reason).
so SC's response is to have a "small" junior get
together this weekend and the results are pretty f'n
positive for SC.

Just from this weekend, they're already rumored to
have committments from two top WR's (Patrick Hall and
De'Von Flournoy (he's not white)... neither of which
were thought of as SC locks (and pretty much everyone
concedes that SC's '09 class is gonna be one for the
ages if all goes according to plan). And another one
(Shaquelle Evans (another kid who's not
white))reportedly getting an offer and thinking pretty
hard about pulling the trigger (Flournoy, Evans and
this kid Rolando Jefferson are basically the top 3
west coast WR's this year... the 4th is actually a guy
SC already has and is likely gonna make into a
corner).

On top of that they also supposedly landed the 2nd
best corner in the nation (Cliff Harris), AND the top
DE in the nation (Devon Kennard) and a top 10 prospect
overall just flew out from Arizona on his own dime to
hang out with SC prospects (this kid had 25 sacks last
year in highschool. dayum!).

Tomorrow i guess a bunch of the prospects will get
together, hang out and watch the superbowl together (a
big secret weapon in recruiting is getting those
really charismatic kids to commit early so that they
do a lot of the recruiting for you (plus there are no
rules to govern them from recruiting like there are
for coaches)). SC's got those kinds of kids in spades
already (Harris, Barkley and TJ McDonald (son of SC
all american and NFL stud Tim) are all workin it
pretty hard). Nothing really helps like having a stud
qb helping you recruit other skill players on O.

On top of the kids who showed up, SC now has two
commitments from teammates (harris and mcdonald) of
another top WR in the west (ronaldo jefferson) AND the
2nd best LB in the nation (vontaze burfict) would've
got his offer and likely would've committed to SC
tonight if he didn't have a prior commitment (we'll
have to see if it pans out. the best LB in the nation
is this Hawaiian kid name Manti Te'o and he's gonna be
at SC this summer... kid is a freakin maniac on the
field). On top of all this, SC is after this WR kid in
Tennessee (marlon brown) who's like 6'5" 210 and plays
like he's 5'10" 180. Very fast and athletic. He's not
a 'southern boy' with shit grades like most of the
kids in SEC country either. He's got an offer from
Stanford... SC's got a decent but not great chance
with him.

The WR class this year is okay (Butler's very good but
who knows if Shoemate'll play WR or not. and they lost
this kid Chris Polk to Washington cuz he wanted to
play RB and SC ain't the place to get that opportunity
right now). But next year should be the
sheeeeeeeeeeeeeit.

SC actually does have a lot of good WR prospects on
it's team right now but the production SUCKED this
past year. All hs kids are rated on the 5 star system.
And while it's not a perfect judge of talent it's a
decent gauge to go off of. Anyhow SC's WR's last year
were Turner (5 star), Hazelton (5 star), Ausberry (4
star) and Ronald Johnson (5 star). There wasn't
another team in the nation that had that high a rated
WR corps. And the production sucked! IMO the arrow of
blame points right towards the coaches.

Still... coming up in the system SC has Brandon
Carswell (4 star), Joe Adams (4 star and maybe a
corner but a good WR nonetheless), Travon Patterson
(3 star but a "surprise") and the name to keep an eye
on... Damian Williams (4 star transfer from Arkansas
but reportedly VERY good). If the WR's don't produce
this next year it's all on the coaches if you ask me.

So yeah, don't worry about SC getting top WR's. Worry
about them being able to develop all of the awesome
talent they get (in short: worry about what the
coaching changes are that SC makes in a month or so).
Tonight was one of the biggest surprise "news nights"
for SC recruiting in a little while. Letter of intent
day is only a couple days away and supposedly SC is
gonna be "surprising" a couple southern schools...
which is always funny cuz southern schools fans flip
their sh*t when they lose to a team that gets as much
media love as SC. They'll be accusing SC of all kinds
of outlandish stuff... like paying players and the
like.

--DJP

Barkley coming to SC

2008-01-24T08:31:00.001-08:00

It's been common knowledge for
months that Barkley was going to SC. He told people at
an SC game this year (he's been to SC practices
countless times) when they asked him if he were going
to SC "Is the Pope Catholic?" (he is).

His dad played polo at SC and everyone's known he was
goin to SC. In fact he's been recruiting for SC for a
few months now... and by almost all accounts he's a
great great kid. A great GPA and he does a bunch of
charity work in his own time, he's described as a high
character kid by all his coaches and teachers, etc,
etc... The only question was really when he was gonna
commit to SC.

Some schools prefer to have kids hold off for a while
to do a big public commit or to get other teams to
waste time or recruit them so they can get insight
into how the opposing teams are recruiting against
them. But EVERYONE knew Barkley (the #1 overall
prospect in the '09 class by pretty much everyone) was
all SC.

Football wise he's got a canon of an arm and a real
solid head on his shoulders. He's also been running a
pro style offense in high school since he was a
freshman in highschool (and no one really walks into
Mater Dei and starts as a true freshman... it's one of
the best programs in the nation). I watched him in a
game this past year throw a ball from the endzone,
with a defender draped all over him and who had
completely taken his legs out from under him, 45 yards
on a rope to an open receiver who went for a 90 yard
TD to seal a victory over a top rival highschool. He's
also the first EVER junior to win the National
Gatorade Player of the Year in football. If he gets
good coaching and is in the right system and stays
healthy he's gonna be SICK.

But UCLA shouldn't fret. They've got a really good QB
commit in this years class named Nick Crissman, and
below Barkley there are like 3 or 4 REALLY good west
coast QB's (i'm actually hoping that SC gets another
one of them they're so good).

UCLA may have Chow but SC is the big dog and they have
WAY more talent to put around Barkley that's already
there. Without being impartial, it's the smart thing
to do.

National Championship Game is Boag

2008-01-07T18:09:00.000-08:00

I don't think this is sour grapes when I say I'm not really interested in this game. 'Course I'll watch it, but only outta default really - which is appropriate as those teams got selected by default. Well, Ohio State did. LSU got a shady "Texas in '04" boost.

- The Dude

The most underreported story of this bowl season is
just how ridiculous that "boost" that LSU got was. It
sorta hurts the case that Oklahoma got wupped so bad
but still... they beat the #1 team in the nation their
final week. LSU beat a so-so Tennessee team and they
SHOT up the polls. The last i checked a 2nd home loss
in November knocks teams out of the NC picture. I know
it's a wacky year but man that last boost they got was
BS. IMO ESPN has a lot to do with it. Another thing
that rarely gets talked about is that head coaches
don't often vote in the ballots. A lot of them staff
it out the whole year or vote only in the final
vote... and a LOT of them take their cue's from ESPN.
They don't spend all day watching games to figure out
the right team to vote for. They've got their own job
to do. So when the night of the voting ESPN is making
it out to be ridiculous that anyone but LSU be
considered for the #2 spot... well, you're gonna get
LSU in the Championship game. For comparison look how
far Oklahoma jumped in the final BCS standings and
compare it to LSU.

It really aint right what happened. But it is what it
is. I'm actually predicting Ohio State to win tonight.
I think they've got a very good D. LSU's D was
overrated this year (although now that they're healthy
they may be very very good again), and Ohio State is
gonna be pissed about last year and all the crap they
got for being slow and not up to the SEC standard
(plus Ohio State has never beat an SEC team in a bowl
game and thats' gotta piss em off too). I'll be
watching as long as LSU doesn't look like they're
going to win. I don't care to see any of those fans or
players celebrating.

-- DJP

LSU does not belong in the National Championship Game

2007-12-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

That would be great BCS karma if Oklahoma was picked BCS #2 over LSU, and then hafta listen to LSU whine about how a triple OT loss is better loss. Or of Georgia were BCS #2 over LSU, and listen to LSU whine about how Georgia didn't even win it's conference.

- The Dude

The espn propaganda is all about how it's almost a
sure thing that LSU gets the NC game. it makes ZERO
sense to me.

The big line of the night is that you now need to have
won your conference to deserve the big game. well OU
didn't win their conference in '03 when SC got screwed
out of the NC game. and georgia and kansas already
hadn't won their conferences last week when they were
ranked ahead of LSU. if it'd been factored in you'd
think it would've been factored in THAT week. but
nooooo now alluvasudden it's gotta be factored in. not
to mention, if you follow that logic, and if a few
things go different you could be talking about a NC
game that includes only Michigan, UCLA, Virginia,
Tennessee, West Virginia or Kansas. I mean give me a
break. LSU fans are playing the 'we only lost in OT'
card (ironically what SC fans had on their side in
'03) but if you play the 'what if?' game with LSU's
season the other way they could end up with about 5
losses.

The other thing people are failing to mention is that
LSU wasn't impressive today. Tennessee also isn't a
great team. They beat a decent team. Not a great
one... and they barely beat em. Their offense scored
14 points against a not great defense. AND they're
rated (i believe) 7th in the BCS. two teams ahead of
them lost... when they lost they fell to 7th so i
suppose it's safe to assume that they'd leapfrog #1
and #2. So now they're 5. How do you get them to #2?
By busting out that 'conference champs' argument like
it's something that wasn't already decided last week.
What a joke. If they get the NC game i'm gonna be
pissed and i won't be alone.

You really can't lose a home game to an unranked team
in late november and a week later be in the NC game
cuz two teams lost. I'm sorry... that's just not how
it works. Heck, they should've fallen farther than
they did last week but no one brought up a stink cuz
they were out of it and no one's bringing it up now.
Ugh.

The sad thing is that there are going to be about 4 or
5 teams that have legit claims to the NC game that
aren't going to get it. There will be a lot of pissed
off people come tomorrow afternoon. This system is
just a MESS.

-DJP

Crazy Football Season

2007-11-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

This season is nuts. It's like there's no real outstandin' team out there. USC now controls it's Rose Bowl destiny again, but if USC loses to ucla, and Arizona State loses to Arizona (both not unrealistic outcomes), then who gets the Rose Bowl? ucla.

--The Dude

This is by far the craziest college football season I've ever seen. LSU lost to unranked Arkansas today (thank god). That makes 7 times this year that the #1 or #2 team in the nation has lost to an unranked team. My guess is that happens MAYBE twice in a year on average. Two teams (Kansas and Mizzou) are playing for the chance to make it to the NC game (they'd still have to win the big 12 championship game) and in the preseason polls neither of those teams were in the top
25. Kansas didn't even get 'also receiving votes' props. No one voting even thought they were one of the 25 best teams. Mizzou only got a few votes. Just crazy.

So many nutty things have happened this year. SC lost to a 41 point dog (i thikn the worst in history point-spread wise), Louisville lost to a 38 point dog. South Florida was once the #2 team in the nation. Heck, Texas lost today to an unranked Texas A&M team. And it's probably not over. If you ask me the winner of the Kansas/Mizzou game (who'll possibly be the new #1 team in the nation) will probably lose in the big 12 championship game against Oklahoma... then you've got maybe West Virginia and Ohio State in the NC game (even the possibility of a West Virginia/Kansas NC game is too weird to even ponder). What makes this really weird is that college football isn't as fluid as other college sports like baseball or basketball. The #1 team doesn't normally go wire to wire but the eventual champ is almost always in the top 15 before the season starts... and even if there is a team that's not they usually have to face off against a team that has been.

This year has been the biggest argument for a playoff I've seen. No one is winning the NC. here's just a bunch of teams losing it and a few teams that either have easier schedules or have screwed up so long ago that it's not as much of a penalty against them. Truly bizarre.

Oh and if all that isn't wild enough, there's no clear Heisman front runner (should've been Dixon, could be Tebow, could be McFadden, could be the Kansas/Mizzou qb who wins tomorrow). We don't even know who's going to go to the rose bowl... from EITHER side.

The funny thing that could result from all of this is that IF Ohio State makes the NC game OR if SC just gets an at-large BCS bid, they could could end up playing LSU in a different BCS game. It's what everyone wants to see. I'd love to see SC pound the crap out of Les Miles. That guy's a big time jagoff in my mind. He's that total tough guy coach who's as stupid as he is 'firey'. Ugh. Anyhow... crazy crazy season. It's been fun to watch, that's for sure.

--DJP

Super Models and Band Geeks

2007-10-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

UCLA vs ND...

2007-10-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

As an SC fan/alum I feel I have to chime in on this game. If you're asking yourself 'why didn't you put this in the 'He said...' portion of the blog. Then you should probably ask yourself why you're reading this blog that closely. Just kidding. But not really. This deserves it's own entry in my opinion and since it's our blog. That's what i'm doing.

So here's my take on this game...

ND sucks. Their OL sucks. They're pushing this "we've been getting better" angle for the past two weeks because they found a running game, actually scored a couple times and the Purdue game was actually (gasp) a game in the 2nd half and ND showed somewhat of a spark when Evan Sharpley entered the game. Here's the thing though... Evan Sharpley isn't starting this game. Cholly Weis' arrogance is getting the better of him and he can't go and start Sharpley now because that'd be admitting that he made a mistake by starting Clausen in the first place. So he's sorta stuck. He's got to turn this team and this season around with Clausen... but if things DON'T turn around then i think he runs the risk of losing his team because he's bet on a youngster who isn't the best 'right now' option he has. But ND isn't really that much better. Purdue had NO pass rush against ND last week and ND still couldn't score in the first half. ND's a bad bad team people. And here's the gameplan for UCLA and it's simple as can be...

Let your pass rush get pressure on Clausen. 90% chance this works effectively since the ND OL is atrocious. If it doesn't, send an extra LB or corner on 3rd and long (there should be plenty of these) and you should be fine. Clausen isn't experienced enough nor is he a quick enough decision maker to burn you on this consistently throughout an entire game. It's low risk, high reward. Then on O, run the ball... run it up their asses. ND hasn't really stopped anyone from running the ball who wanted to. Markey may be out so just ride Bell's back all day if that's the case. The ND DL is not good and UCLA should be able to create holes and space to run in. UCLA should also be pretty motivated after choking in ND last year. The biggest enemy to UCLA is Karl Dorrell trying to get too cute. He's just not that good of a coach. And as much as i hate Cholly "The Genius" Weis, he's a much much better coach than Dorrell. Just ride the running game to 2nd and 3rds and short. Keep the pressure OFF Ben Olson. That's key. You do not want this game hinging on whether or not Ben Olson has a big game or comes through in the clutch. Pick your spots but he should only throw the ball 25 or so times in this game. Run Run Run. It's really not that hard. If UCLA were to lose this game then Dorrell should be on the hot seat because the gameplan has been drawn up for you. Your team should be motivated. You have the biggest advantage in the game (UCLA's DL vs ND's OL). This should be a clear win. I'll say...

UCLA 30 ND 14

Oh and if anyone from the SC perspective wants to go to this game in SC gear and film the reaction from the local fans and put it on YouTube you have my full and complete support. I bet that'd be enormous comedy. ha ha ha ha.

He said...

2007-10-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, well i would've picked South Carolina to beat Kentucky (aka the most overrated top 10 team in the past 5 years), but since that game has past I'll leave well enough alone. BTW the top 10 this week is a total mess. What is USF doing up there? I realize they beat an overrated West Virginia team but c'mon... top 10? Give me a break. I realize half the top 10 lost last week but that doesn't mean that all of those teams don't belong in the top 10. Does anyone really think that Kentucky would beat Oregon? Heck, one of the biggest upsets of last week was that half the top 10 lost and one of those teams wasn't named Wisconsin. Anyhow, on to the picks...

Florida @ LSU

I'll be pulling for Florida in this one (begrudgingly) if only because LSU fans attempt to be a constant irritant to USC fans... except USC fans generally don't care nearly as much about college football as LSU fans do. They have other things to care about the 8 months of the year that college football isn't happening. LSU football fans aka "corndogs"? Not so much. I'm not a huge Florida or Urban Meyer fan. I do admire what he's accomplished so far in his career though. Still, LSU is loaded, playing at home, healthy and aren't coming off a loss. Florida on the other hand had its defensive captain arrested this week, lost to a mediocre Auburn team at home (after pulling that bush league, but legal, last second timeout bs w/the Auburn kicker) and have no running game outside of Tebow. And as potent as the Florida team is offensively... a ridiculously large percentage of the offense is on the qb's shoulders. Tebow is a big kid but he's going to get hit hard in this game and IMO it'll end up taking his performance down a few notches. They've got some great qb's and all but in the end I think LSU pulls away and wins by over 10. I want to say this'll be a typical SEC bore... i mean score, so i'm tempted to say LSU 20 UF 10 but these are two decent offense's (two of the few in the SEC). So i'll go with...

LSU 35 UF 24

Oklahoma v. Texas

Texas has been overrated all year. They just aren't that good looking of a team. Colt McCoy hasn't been nearly the savior they thought he'd be and Mack Brown has gone back to being Mack Brown in the post-Vince Young era. He's got the easiest job in the nation though. Recruit the home state, win 10 games a year. Win a fair share against Oklahoma and you keep your job. They play NO ONE and IMO won't do anything special until they find another Vince Young (at least not under Mack Brown). He just sits on the home state talent and'll finish in the top 10 for the next 10 years. It's a great program. Just not an elite one. Oklahoma on the other hand has shown shades of being elite. They flat out dominated people this year. I was shocked by the Colorado loss. And while that is a worse loss than Texas falling to KState, Texas hasn't looked nearly as good as OU in any of it's other games. OU should win this big. I saw OU favored by 6.5 and honestly i'd buck my usual 'you never know in rivalry games' rule and still take OU if they were 10 or 12 point favorites. I see them winning this one big.

Stanford @ USC

Due to a seizure Stanford's starting qb and best player TC Ostrander is out this week which means the Farm has to play a backup RS soph QB who's attempted less than 10 passes in his career in the game... in the coliseum... against a pissed off USC team that's coming off a sloppy performance, a week of hearing that they didn't do well enough, and losing their #1 ranking in the AP poll (that's the same AP poll that so many LSU fans knocked when they gave SC the national championship in '03 that alluvasudden is legit now that it has LSU #1. Weird how that works isn't it? Friggin LSU fans. If they weren't so retarded you'd have to love em). Anyhow, Stanford basically has zero chance this week. It's going to be ugly. SC's favored by 40 points. That's a big much for me cuz basically you're betting that everything goes right and/or Stanford turns the ball over a few times and SC doesn't make many mistakes. While that could happen i dunno if i'd bet on 40 points. It should be a bloodbath though.

Look for USC to sit their banged up players (which there are a LOT of. Put me on the "pissed off" list if Harris (cb), Matthews (lb), Stafon (rb) or Malu (ol) play). I also think SC'll get tailbacks Allen Bradford and Joe McKnight involved a lot more in the offense. With Stafon and Gable hurt this is a clear 'get ready for the future' game where we should be looking to build the confidence of our young players. SC should also be looking to get the WR's more comfortable contributing. We've GOT to complete a long ball down field soon. Too few shots down the field have been taken IMO. I'd love to see guys like Ronald Johnson, Vidal Hazelton and David Ausberry get a lot of looks. We've gotta get them up to speed and define an identity in our passing game. It can't just be Havili and Davis all day long. Anyhow, look for (hopefully) a lot of that to happen. The backups may be in in the late 3rd quarter in this one. Stanford is improved, but this is a HUGE mismatch in favor of SC. Unless they come out playing worse than they did against UDub this one should be a walk in the park. And most importantly... lets try to get through a game injury free. It's ridiculous how many injuries this team has suffered already. Anyhow, as for a score, i'll say...

USC 50 Stanford 14

What I expect from the USC - Wazzu game...

2007-09-20T14:53:00.001-07:00

I expect the game to unfold much the same as the Nebraska game did. I expect a lot of quick passes and a ton of early completions (Wazzu LOVES the "3 step drop and chuck" game). They'll score most of their points in the first half then the clamps will go down and the 2nd half we'll adjust and pull away. IMO this game won't be decided by half unless we get a bunch of early turnovers or if Brink is just off the mark throwing the ball. I expect Wazzu to be pretty much completely one dimensional. They shouldn't run on this D and SC should move the ball more effectively through the air. I'm hoping that a WR has a breakout game similar to what Stafon Johnson had last week. The Wazzu D gives up points in droves so SC should score in the high 30's if not more (if we get some turnover breaks they should crack 50 without much problem). It'll be interesting to see if the OL has another great week because unlike Nebraska the Wazzu DL has some upperclassmen on it.

All in all i'm not worried about it. For this to be a game in the 4th quarter Brink is going to have to play out of his head and they're going to have to get some rushing yards. I don't see both of those things happening and the SC O should blow them up. Wazzu did play SC tough last year so there's extra motivation on SC's side and extra confidence on Wazzu's side. I expect that confidence to be diminished by the end of the game. SC wins this one big IMO.

Charlie Weis' biggest mistake...

2007-09-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

Charlie's arrogant arse is under fire lately adn with good reason. So what was his biggest mistake that led to this point? Domer fans will lay the blame largely on Tyrone Willingham. But to my way of thinking the longer you get away from the last coach the LESS that last coach is to blame. Willingham hasn't coached this team in FOUR years. He's not the reason ND's Oline is the worst in the nation. The talent isn't the worst so it's on the coaches right? So what was Charlie's biggest mistake? In my opinion it's been thinking of Notre Dame as a Team and not a PROGRAM.

Meaning that he's played his best players and thought about the season in a vacuum. A HUGE reason for their current struggles is because Charlie hasn't developed the next wave of players. They're developing "on the job". He's been there fore three years. there is ZERO excuse for them to even have to start a true freshman at qb (no matter how talented). Why haven't the RB's been developed? How can an OL that he's overseen for THREE years be this bad? How is it that the DB's have regressed? How come there's no offensive identity? Why are even seniors like Sullivan and Carlson playing like crap? How come you don't seem to have even one reliable WR? 3 years is plenty of time to find and develop a functional WR corps.

But he's (IMO) been shortsighted. He's operated for the 'now' instead of for 'now and tomorrow'. He doesn't play his young players as much as he should. He doesn't develop guys so when the seniors graduate there's nothing left and he has to start over. In short, he's got an NFL 'win now. tomorrow isn't guaranteed' mentality. At SC guys like McKnight will get PT despite having a loaded depth chart because we'll need him in a year or two to really be THE guy. So he plays. At ND Sharpley doesn't get any real action in games because Charlie's focusing on winning now and winning Quinn a heisman. Sharpley/Frazier/Jones not being ready is all on Charlie.
That's always what the Domers miss... they focus on the recruiting that Ty did and how bad it was... well guess what? He didn't haul in worse rated recruiting classes than Boise State or Illinois or North Carolina or Washington State. And he's had THREE YEARS to coach these kids up and develop them.

He's had these kids for a while... and it's not as if they're DEVOID of talent (that's what the mainstream media constantly gets wrong). It's there. It may not be elite but it's there. There aren't two levels of talent 'amazing' and 'crap'. Ty did bad for ND but okay for a middle of the road team. But here they are... with two really good classes from Weis and two okay classes from Ty and they're performing like it's all crap. If they can't perform at even a decent level (which they haven't) then it's all on Weis.

Why Do the Domers Still Blame Ty?

2007-09-10T23:11:00.000-07:00

It's become clear to me that most Notre Dame fans still blame their former coach Tyrone Willingham for all of their current ails. It seems curious that in Charlie Weis' 3rd season that he's getting such a free pass for having THE WORST OFFENSE IN NCAA DIVISION I, despite his 'genius' status. So lets examine how the Domer argument breaks down.

-Ty didn't recruit well and he left ND in the lurch.

Okaaaay, but didn't Ty also recruit the players that helped ND win the past two years?

The response to this is typically 'yeah, but he didn't do anything with them while he had em!' Which is true, but the discussion isn't whether Ty did or didn't develop players well at ND (he clearly didn't) but whether he left them with talent or not. So the argument invariably becomes...

-Ty left ND with SOME talent but his last class was a mess and that's why ND's facing its current problems.

Uh huh... but hasn't Weis had 3 recruiting classes to correct things? If there's a lack of playmakers on O or a lack of linemen on both sides of the ball then isn't that on the coach who's been on campus for 3 years, not the one who left 4 years ago? But no, this doesn't keep most domers i've talked to from pressing forward. They simply say...

-Weis had to coach in the superbowl. He was hired too late to put together a REAL class so he's really only responsible for two classes.

And this is where the divide happens. Carroll was hired around the same time Weis was. Granted he didn't have a superbowl to prepare for so that is a legit issue, but i'd venture to say that you gain as much as you lose when your new HC is too busy coaching in the superbowl to do some last second recruiting wrap ups. At that point in the recruiting process you're just basically closing on recruits that're still considering your university. In that first class Carroll closed on Shaun Cody and Mike Williams... two big prospects and it was right at the end of the recruiting cycle. So it can be done. Weis hasn't done anything, but even more troubling than this is the fact that Weis hasn't really developed any of the young players he's brought into the program.

ND's suffering from a shortage of playmaking personnell because Charlie hasn't made it a priority to do it. He doesn't know how to build a college program. There's more than just that year or that game at stake. You play your freshmen at the end of a blowout because some day they're going to be juniors and seniors and you want them to know what they're getting into. There is NO excuse for Evan Sharpley only having 2 pass attempts going into this year. None. There is also no excuse for the Irish not having a better offense. 'but but Ty!' is what the Domers will say... That's no excuse. PLENTY of offensive players have made an impact in their freshmen and sophmore years.

Just look at some that had impacts in their freshmen or sophmore years at SC under Carroll's regime...

Shaun Cody, Mike Williams, Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, Dominique Byrd, CJ Gable, Emannuel Moody, Cary Harris, Rey Maualuga, Brian Cushing, Lawrence Jackson, Lofa Tatupu, Kevin Ellison, Taylor Mays, etc, etc...

And the list goes on. What has Charlie done? Yet it's all Ty's fault. I frequent one board where a Domer's literal theory on this is that Ty left a "timebomb" in recruiting waiting to go off this year. So it's literally that the previous two years are not at all to Ty's credit but this year is all his fault. Of the years Charlie's had on campus this one is BY FAR the one that is the most his... yet it's also the worst one and the one that's most underperforming. The O is atrocious and he's supposed to be a genius. The D is brutal and he's fired one DC already (although truthfully i do see signs of hope). The OL is embarassingly bad and his OL coach is now the one under fire. Last year it was Minter the ND DC who was fired, and now it's the OL coach... who were, both, incidentally, Charlie Weis hires.

Domer nation is ignoring the fact that a lot of the responsibility falls right on Charlie's shoulders. And they ignore the fact that the BEST players on this team are still Ty's recruits. John Carlson, John Sullivan and Trevor Walls are the best players on this team... all Ty recruits.

To be a great football coach in college you can't just recruit good players and gameplan. You HAVE to develop players and so far Charlie's not doing that very well. My question to all the Domers is 'when does this team become Charlie's?' and 'How many losses will it take this year, a full 3 years into the Charlie Weis regime, until it's on Charlie's head?' I can understand a previous coach leaving a current coach in a less than stellar position but it happens all the time and at lesser programs with lesser talent and resources coaches do a quick job of turning the team around. Look at what Urban Meyer did at both Bowling Green and Utah. That guy can coach. And it didn't take long in either case. Yet here we are... in 2007 and the coach from 2003 is the one being blamed for all the troubles of this current team. I realize there were some weak recruiting classes but this current team is largely Charlie's.

He's not calling games and installing gameplans to win games (although i bet he wants to go after that demoralized Michigan team... we may actually see a gameplan where they want to go after a team this week). He's calling to develop and protect his qb's... which is a p*ssy way to call a game. In game 1 it was 20 runs in a row in order to keep Demetrius Jones from getting his block knocked off by the Georgia Tech defense. Guess what? Didn't work. They got killed. Its not going to take a DC like John Tenuta long to figure out that you're afraid to pass (or can't pass) and just unload on you. Backfire, big time. And then this past week Charlie called a ton of conservative passes and got no running game going. I understand that the OL isn't there yet but if you've been around for any length of time you KNOW, not think but KNOW that you're not going to win a game by throwing 5 yard swing passes all game long. At some point you have to take a shot down field. If you don't have the OL to do it then too bad... you STILL have to do it. You're just going to have to pick your spots carefully. You have to do it to win. If you're worried about your fragile true freshman qb ruining his confidence and/or getting beat physically to the point that it removes a winning gameplan from your book? Well then he SHOULDN'T BE OUT THERE. Put Evan Sharpley or Zack Frazier (oh wait, he was run out of South Bend) out there and try to win.

The bad news for ND fans isn't just that they're losing. it's that they're getting BLOWN OUT. A good coach in his 3rd year in a program... ANY program (let alone ND) isn't getting blown out. There's simply no way to explain your way out of this domer fans. So go ahead, blame Ty all you want. I'm sure it'll make you feel better. And keep pushing back that year that you make a run at the national title. It's a good thing you gave Weis a 10 year contract after only 7 games... because at this rate he'll need every one of them.

The Weekend Slate...

2007-09-07T14:57:00.001-07:00

Some good games this weekend as the bigger programs finally get through their glorified scrimmages and start playing some decent teams. Interesting perspective I read the other day about game 1 cupcakes though... Supposedly a lot of coaches like cupcake game 1's because that's the game they can suspend all their players for who get into off season trouble and still look like they run a "disciplined" program. Call me pessimistic but I bet that's true... particularly in the SEC.

Anyhow, on to the games...

VTech v LSU.

Tech is 8 point dogs and I can't really fathom why they're not double digit dogs in this one. The only theory i have is that America is pulling for VTech not only with their hearts but also their wallets and it's upsetting the line. East Carolina held Tech's anemic O to 33 yards rushing. LSU's got maybe the best D in the country. Something tells me this going to be a slow game of field position early on until Tech gets worn out and LSU lays on the hammer. I'm not a big fan of LSU's offense and the Tech D is good, but LSU's got more on O than Tech does, plus they're at home. Big advantage LSU. If i were a betting man i'd put a ton on LSU to cover. This looks like a sure LSU win to me.

ND + 17.5 at PSU.

Call me crazy but I STILL don't think ND is as bad as they looked last week against Tech. Tech runs some weird blitzes and schemes and it always seems to result in pressure on the QB. I don't know how or why no one has stolen GTech Defensive Coordinator Jon Tenuta away from Tech, but it seems only a matter of time until some offensive coach like Steve Kragthorpe recruits him to be his million dollar a year DC while the head guy focuses on offense. What he did to the ND O and OL was down right embarassing. Weis and the Domers should be embarassed for their effort, execution and pitiful gameplan. That said, the Domers will see much more of a conventional defense this week. It's kinda silly to start your true frosh phenom in such a hostile environment against a decent opponent but if you ask me Emperor Weis is pounding on the panic button and hoping Clausen is as good as advertised.

Now, I don't think ND is going to win the game but I do think they'll cover the 17.5 spread that's been laid out there. The OL just won't be that bad two weeks in a row. It can't be right? It'll be interesting to see how Clausen reacts to getting hit. He hasn't been hit really at all, so we'll know a lot more about him by the end of this game. He gets rid of the ball quickly and he's a good player so he'll likely save himself a lot of trouble by getting rid of the ball quickly. Now about Penn State... i'm sorry, but I just don't believe the hype about Anthony Morelli. His own COACHES have intimated in the past that he's a mental midget. You can't really excel at the QB spot if you're dumb. Morelli's got the physical tools and had a good first game but c'mon... this isn't a great qb. He's okay. PSU does have some weapons and should be able to run the ball to keep the pressure off him. I'm guessing the environment and the D gets to Clausen and makes this one a PSU victory but not without ND showing some signs of life (unlike last week). Armando Allen and Duval Kamara are two guys i'd look to see emerge in this game and heck, if Clausen can just rediscover veteran (and very talented) TE John Carlson this game'll be a step in the right direction. Expect an ND loss BUT there to be reason to be excited about the future IF you're an ND fan.

Oregon at Michigan.

Is there such a thing as a "must win" in your 2nd game of the year? I guess so. If UM falls to Oregon the screams for Carr's head are going to be come deafening. They practically already are. I think Lloyd Carr is an okay coach but he's clearly seen the game pass him by. There's nothing inventive about this team. They have a ton of athletes but don't really excel because he's so conservative and he's consistently caught off guard by superior coaches with faster athletes or better gameplans. Everyone is talking about what a matchup problem the Ducks are going to be for Michigan since they run a similar offensive scheme to Appy State. Don't believe the hype. Michigan A. has a games worth of gametape on how they deal with that kindof O. B. Has MUCH better athletes on both sides of the ball than they showed vs. Appy State and C. Have a VERY motivated team who'll be circuling the wagons around their coach and IF this is going to be his last year (i thought it was even before they lost to Appy State) they certainly don't want to send him out on this kind of a note. I see a very motivated Michigan squad looking to make a statement. Oregon's always a team that looks good until they face a motivated talented team... then they wilt. It's pretty much status quo for the boys from Eugene in the Bellotti era. Michigan big.

Oklahoma vs Miami.

To me this is the most interesting game of the week. Two GREAT defense's out there. Sam Bradford, the new OU QB looked downright invincible in his opener. Kinda like Colt McCoy did last year... until he faced some actual competition. Bradford set records in his opener and a lot of credit should be given to the Sooners offensive staff. Miami's going to go through some growing pains under Shannon and I do think that he'll end up being a good coach for them, but right now this team is almost entirely about D. And what a great D it is. If they had even a top 20 offense this'd be a national title contender. As it stands I don't think Kirby Freeman or Kyle Wright are the answer. They're still finding their offensive identity. Similar to my reasons for picking LSU over VATech... you've got two good D's but only one of these squads really has a semblance of offense. Look for the Oklahoma rushing attack to be the difference in the game. And Demarco Murray is going to be a star. Heck, if he had better qb's throwing to him, Malcolm Kelly already would be. I wouldn't bet on the spread either way but I do think OU wins.

And lastly...

Upset Special: UDub to beat Boise State. Something about that Jake Locker looks special to me. In fact the only reason I didn't pick UDub as a surprise team of the year this year is because of their brutal schedule. C'mon UDub! Make up for that embarassing display by Oregon State vs. Cinci-freakin-natti.

The Week 1 Recap: Okay F**k this!...

2007-09-04T17:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, i've given up. I can no longer predict games about teams I don't know much about. I'm sticking to what I know from now on... West Coast Football. Unless there's a game that strikes my fancy i'm not chiming in on it unless it's a really big game. So anyhow, here goes with the week 1 recap...

1. Appy State upsets Michigan.

Unreal. Not ONLY was this the first time a D2 team beat a ranked D1 team and not only was this a top FIVE team with serious and legitimate national championship hopes and dreams and not ONLY was this game in front of 110,000 screaming Michigan fans but Michican PAID Appy State to play in this game. Ouch. Biggest upset in history. Michigan really shouldn't have had this game on the schedule period. There should be two schools of thought on games like this... either go all the way if you're going to schedule a D2 school and schedule a bad one (ala LSU) or schedule bad D1 teams (Houston, Baylor, Washington State, Duke, Vanderbilt, etc...). When you schedule the best D2 team you have team motivated to beat you and to prove that their way of football is legit. It's lose-lose for Michigan in this game. Beat em soundly and you're supposed to. Even play it close and everyone wonders what's up. You've got a motivated and talented team you're playing against. Again... lose-lose. Lloyd Carr is going to lose his job at the end of the year and it's been a long time coming. His teams aren't dynamic in the least. They're constantly playing down to their competition and they just aren't dominant. Plus they all look and feel the same... dull. I actually really really like Michigan and their fans and their program. I have tons of respect for it. But Michigan can and will do better than Lloyd Carr. They've gotta get off this outdated concept of the "Michigan Man" though... they need a good coach, even if the guy has frosted tips, drives a Miata and looks like that Mystery guy from The Pickup Artist.

2. Notre Dame gets its ass kicked by Georgia Tech.

Charlie Weis should send Lloyd Carr a box of chocolates for taking the heat off him this week. God what a horrible performance. So lets recap... the "genius" kept his quarterback a secret so that the Tech D wouldn't know how to adjust? Well it looked to me like they were fine running through the Irish swiss cheese OL no matter who the qb was back there. Boy o boy did they destroy them. I was particularly shocked about how bad the ND D played. I thought Corwin Brown was really going to have this D turned around. Tech had ONE weapon... Choice. And a bunch of times they ran direct snaps to him... which is the running equivalent of empty backfield... you know it's a run and the Irish still couldn't stop him. No pass rush. No OL play. And what was the gameplan that the "genius" came up with? 19 runs out of the first 20 plays? Is that right? Jones looked like he'd been told 'Look at your first receiver... if he's not open after 3 seconds, run.' What a genius. 3 points... at home... vs an unranked opponent. They didn't just get whooped. They got embarassed. Weis is in trouble and if this year continues to play out this way he's going to be on a hot seat and he may end up losing a lot of the recruits that they've currently locked up (although i guess they can sell them on playing time. ha ha ha).

3. Florida State loses to Clemson.

Boy was this the tale of two games. How much momentum did Clemson have early on? And by the end of the game they were grasping on to their lead. Wow. Weatherford isn't a good qb. And as i've said before Jimbo Fisher is NOT a great OC. I don't know why they threw so much money at this guy because if you look at his LSU offense's there's nothing really special to them. LSU wins with defense. Everyone knows that. Look at Jamarcus Russell's stats throughout his career... none of those years were amazing. What a waste of dough. Trickett I am a believer in but he had two freshman starting on that line and they were obviously overmatched. And what's up with Bobby Bowden? It's been years since he's been a coach and he's no longer even a "figure head"... he's just an old man that FSU lets hang out on the sidelines. I mean he doesn't even wear a freakin headset for half the game. The guy isn't involved. For a head coach to go without a headset would be like a head chef with no arms. Sure, he can set the menu but he's not actually doing any of the cooking. If FSU didn't have Mickey Andrews they would be in HORRIBLE shape. Anyhow, props to Clemson for winning the game with no passing game (ala Georgia Tech vs. ND). Davis ran hard and looked great and my GOD did CJ Spiller look fast and explosive. What a highlight machine that guy is. ACC DC's are crappin their shorts thinking of stopping him. It's gonna be a lot of 8 in the box all year against Clemson this year though until they can prove that they can pass the ball. The WR's and TE's looked athletic but they don't get them open scheme wise and the QB isn't very accurate.

And lastly...

4. Idaho vs USC.

Idaho didn't have the talent to hang with SC in any real way in this game. Even their TD was against 3rd and 4th stringers from SC. The 2nd half you can write off a lot of the D and O's performances as 'guys playing with each other who rarely do' so there was no cohesiveness. That said, the DL did NOT do a good job at any point in the game of getting pressure on the QB. This is a very disconcerting trend from this team. There is NO excuse, none... for the USC DL to not get pressure against an Idaho team... i don't care that Rob Akey was the DC for Washington State and largely employed the same offensive gameplan that Wazzu executed to great success against USC last year. SC should dominate this team in every aspect. And they didn't. I don't get why Kyle Moore continues to break containment EVERY F***ING TIME a qb rolls to his side. I don't get why Coaches Holt and Watson haven't been taken to task for overseeing this mediocre pass rush. Heck, even the blitzes didn't work. I also don't get how come the Idaho wr's weren't just open but wide open in the holes in SC's zone... which is the more athletic team again? And I also don't get why time and time again Rey Maualuga continues to overrun plays and leave SC open to the cutback run game. How hard is it to slow down and make sure the cutback run doesn't blow you up? It's the MLB's job. Lua was probably two steps slower than Rey but he's a better MLB because he understands how to play the position. Maualuga HAS to get this in check and now. I'm tired of seeing him getting caught up in traffic because he's playing with his legs and not his head. And lastly... again SC lost the turnover battle. I know this is a point of emphasis for the team but this really is something that needs to be corrected. If teams are going to do the whole 'roll out' game then we need to teach Kyle Moore the meaning of the word "containment". If teams are going to cut back on us in the run game then we need to teach Maualuga the meaning of the words "cutback contain". If teams are going to run the 3 or 5 step drop and throw tactic against us to prevent SC from getting a good pass rush on em then we should play tighter coverage near the line (i know this goes against the bend don't break philosophy but if turnovers are the key then you gotta roll the dice a bit). We're going to see the same book used against SC that we saw Wazzu, UDub, Oregon State and UCLA use against SC last year... short passing game and patiently move the ball down the field. That's the book on SC and frankly it's good that SC has so much talent because they no longer have the coaching to win on even talent. Holt, Ruel, Watson, even Sark... these guys are big downgrades from the previous coaches in the early years at SC. Chow, Orgeron, Davis, Dewayne Walker... that was a great coaching staff. Carroll's ego ran Chow out of town and in my opinion SC is the worse for it. If Carroll unloaded 3 or 4 of the coaches this past offseason I wouldn't have been bothered. Assistant coaches matter SO much in college football. And with SC having the athletes it has and the juice it has (Kiffin... as crap a coach as he was, becoming the youngest head coach in NFL history coming from the ASSISTANT ranks at SC is a huge coach recruiting tool), it should have the best staff in college football... but honestly, i'm not seeing it. I miss the days of Coach Orgeron and Coach Davis' lines going at it. Ruel's a technician but his lines play with little fire. Holt is all fire... but his lines don't play with much of it and aren't very effective. Watch how the Clemson and GATech lines played this weekend and see if you see any of the same from SC vs a far less talented team. That's on the coaches. Anyhow, it's one game so you can't make too much of it... it was a glorified scrimmage. The real test is in two weeks. Nebraska here we come...

The Rundown: Week 1...

2007-08-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

Here are the games of the week complete with picks...

Tennessee at Cal:

Cal wants revenge from last year big time. They and the Pac10 had to hear about how badly "one of the best Pac10 teams" got tooled by a middle of the road SEC team when the Pac10 team was supposed to be so good going in. This is a very important game for west coast and Pac10 football teams. If Cal blows Tenn out, it's big for the Pac10. If they lose or (worse) get blown out it'll be embarassing not only for Cal but for Pac10 football. Cal has to show up and IMO they will. They've got playmakers all over the offense. Furthermore the new kickoff rule should really give Cal and advantage with Mesean Jackson returning punts and kicks. Special teams units are usually pretty bad early in the year too so expect Mesean to have an impact. The Cal D struggled a bit last year and Tennessee lost some good players on D as well so I see a shootout here. I'll go with Cal 34 Tennessee 24

East Carolina at Virginia Tech:

Other than Cal/Tenn, there really aren't any "big" games in the opening weekend but this game is big for other reasons. Since the tragic shooting spree on the VA Tech campus this'll be the first time the nations eyes are on the Hokies as the recovery process begins. It'll be an emotional night for many of the students and administrators. I expect there to be some heavy hearts in the stadium and it should make for a great night. On the field this should be a pretty handy win for VA Tech as they're one of the most talented teams in the nation this year (particularly on D). The D should dominate here. I'll go with VA Tech 30 East Carolina 10.

Oklahoma State at Georgia

What a weak slate this first weeks games are. Shame on everyone for scheduling so many freakin cupcakes to start the year and special props to Cal and Tennessee for having the nads to actually come out of the gate with a real game. I think Matt Stafford is going to make a real big leap this year. Although OSU has some players I think Georgia has too many for them to keep up. I'll go with Georgia 28 OSU 20.

Also, since they're not in the top 25 they're not on "the slate" but Georgia Tech and ND lock horns this weekend and I for one think Georgia Tech is WAY overrated this year. Here's my prediction... Tashard Choice is held in check and everyone starts talking about how great the ND D is alluvasudden (they should be improved but, frankly, they should be) and ND wins at home. ND 28 GTech 10.

And lastly...

Idaho at USC:

What a joke of a game. If only Coach Holt hadn't taken off to Idaho (only to return as SC's DC) we wouldn't have had this game on the schedule. This should be a blowout and the backups should get tons of time. The only real questions of this game is will SC cover and will anyone important get injured. Other than that the outcome isn't in doubt. The SC D should be suffocating and i expect the 1st team Idaho O to pack it up early on. Scrub time points may change things but I'll go with USC 55 Idaho 7.

Moody transferring...

2007-08-15T23:22:00.000-07:00

According to Scott Wolf of the Daily News (you may know him better as "that asshole at the Daily News who always has something negative to say about USC") , RB Emmanuel Moody is transferring schools... likely to Oklahoma State.

This is actually good news as far as I'm concerned. The 'can't lose' rb's on USC's roster are Johnson, Bradford, McKnight, Tyler and Green at this point. Moody was the least versatile of the RB's SC had. He couldn't switch to D like guys like Gable, Bradford and Johnson can. He was a RB all the way and while he was more of a homerun threat than Gable he was also a dancer. There are other tailbacks that were going to leave him on the sidelines watching. I give him credit for coming to SC in the first place. He's a really hard worker and i think he'll do great wherever he goes. He's in great shape and he's talented enough to start at 95% of the college teams out there. I think he'll do great where ever he goes. I think it's the smart move for him. Good luck to him.

New UCLA WR Coach Eric Scott Arrested...

2007-07-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

The man hired to bring top DT prospect Brian Price to UCLA (he was his head coach in high school. Gus Malzahn anyone?) has been arrested for burglary. He committed the ALLEGED (ha) burglary with at least one of his former players from high school. What a great leader of young men you've hired Dorrell.

USC fans already had no love for Scott as he repeatedly blocked USC's attempts to make their recruiting pitch to Price. At one point (as the story goes) when the USC coaches had their in home visit with Price, Scott was in the living room talking over the coaches and not allowing them to make their sales pitch to Price. Scott just sat there like the fat friend hell bent on cockblocking. Well congrats UCLA. You got Brian Price. I hope he was worth it.

It's one thing when a 20 year old kid punches a frat boy out at a party. Quite another when one of your COACHES, the adult leaders that your head coach brings in to help guide your program and raise the young men in your program spends his free time robbing houses. Nice job Bruins. For the complete story see the link below...

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_6460368

USC Recruiting '09...

2007-07-20T15:03:00.001-07:00

I know the '08 class is being assembled but with the recruiting cycle looking like it's starting earlier and earlier it's never too soon to look ahead. Here are just some of the pr0spects on SC's radar (if not already committed) that're reason for a LOT of excitement even at this early stage. Bear in mind these kids have only finished their SOPHMORE years of highschool so a lot will change. That said, here are some names to look out for...

Morrell Pressley TE - CA - committed to USC. Still only 215 lbs but fast and athletic. He's gonna be a big time kid by the time he's a senior.

Devon Kennard DE - AZ - ASU and USC battle (at this early stage at least). This is Dennis Erickson's "I'm planting my flag in Arizona" recruit. He plays with incredible tenacity. It'll likely end up a battle for SC to land him but things look very promising early on.

Matt Barkley QB - CA - heavy USC lean. He's the 'second coming'. Started at prestigious Mater Dei since his true freshman year. Very exciting QB prospect. May already be the best qb in the state as a junior to be.

Marquis Simmons LB - CA - committed to USC. Yet another stud LB from the Simmons family. A very athletic kid. We took his older brother this year (who may end up at safety) but he's the real prize. Fast, athletic and mean.

Manti Te'o LB - HI - If you're into recruiting or watching athletic hs football players play then do yourself a favor and watch his sophmore year tape on youtube.com. It is RIDICULOUS. Arthur Brown, the LB from Kansas who has the most impressive tape THIS year (and one of the most impressive films i've seen period) looks like this kid does RIGHT NOW. If he continues to grow he should be around 6'3" 230 by the time he's a senior. He plays fast and is a REAL aggressive hitter. He's the most athletic, gifted and developed player on the field and he's two years younger than most of them. Last year, as a sophmore he was already the best player in Hawaii and I expect by the time he's a senior he'll be Hawaii's first ever 5 star recruit. Now the SC perspective... his family has a LOT of BYU ties. I believe he's got 2 or 3 family members there right now, plus i believe his father either went to BYU or likes BYU a lot. I know they want a good environment for their son and they want him to take his LDS mission (which is the plan right now) . Pete Carroll has been agreeable to this. I know the big advantages for BYU as of right now are that A. it's got the strong family and religion ties. and B. it's in a better area than USC is. That said, USC is not out of it and in fact the word is 'if the recruitment continues on the same path you may very well see him at SC.' So there's reason for excitement here. SC has a lot of Polynesian players and ties so I could see it working out in SC's favor. Next to Barkley Te'o's the most exciting player SC's looking good for in '09 (with Kennard a close 3rd).

Josh Nunes QB - CA - Supposedly he's only been playing football for a few years but Nunes has a canon for an arm. He's the prototype physically... 6'4" 190 and he's still learning. He's got good touch for such a big kid. And he's one of many top CA signalcallers that'll be in the '09 QB class (headed by Barkley). IF SC takes two qb's in this class i hope that Nunes is the 2nd one. With as stacked as SC is at QB I don't see it but i'll keep my fingers crossed.

Oh and believe it or not there are a couple '10 kids who SC has their eye on as well... Dillon Baxter a RB from San Diego has already received the "next reggie bush" label, which is quickly becoming the "next michael jordan" of the college football world. Anyhow, he's a kid who may end up getting an early offer after having a very good FRESHMAN year. Unreal how early these recruiting cycles start these days.

Anyhow, as exciting as '08 recruiting is '09 is looking like the year where there are a lot of spectacular prospects looking SC's way. I can't wait.

The USC Offensive Line...

2007-07-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

If you ask me the biggest area of improvement we need on offense is in run blocking. It was our single biggest issue on O last year and there are a slew of theories as to why. So lets take a close look at the line...

Everyone who's paying close attention seems to have a theory as to why the SC OL struggled in the run game last year. We'v got 4 and 5 star recruits all over the line so why were we struggling? We even had two all american candidates on the line. So what's with the struggles? Be it because of the lack of a fullback or because of an underwhelming line performance is up for debate. I personally don't put it all on the fullback. Our OL just flat out struggled at times. Watch the tapes of the '05 or '04 lines. There's a clear difference. Those lines MAULED people in the run game. There were multiple holes for the RB's to pick. Great spacing and they held their blocks well. Last year? not so much. And i think only part of if was because of the lack of a fullback.

Here's how i feel about the starters...

LT Sam Baker: Solid and consistent. A steady presence. I'm SO glad that we have him back. I'd be down about our OL prospects this year without him to be honest.

LG Jeff Byers: Byers is NOT a road grader. He's essentially a Denver Broncos prototype. Great motor. Great effort. Very fast. Very smart. Strong for his size. But his strengths lie in his technique, mobility and motor... NOT his size and strength. Like you pointed out the big question with him is whether he can stay healthy or not. IF he does i think he could be an improvement but until he proves that he can stay healthy all year it will be a question mark over his head.

C Matt Spanos: The snap problems don't concern me much just yet. If it's a consistent problem throughout fall ball i'll feel more nervous but i fully anticipate it'll get worked out. There will definitely be a dropoff in terms of experience and knowledge but Spanos is a big guy and is a fiesty mauler type WHEN he's motivated. I have hopes but you can put me in the cautiously optimistic category on him.

RG: Chilo Rachal: He HAS to improve his consistency this year. All we'd read and heard heading into last year was that he had the mauler's attitude and was a "road grader" and was very physical. But he was really inconsistent last year and just straight up lazy at points. I hope that Herring really steps up his game and pushes Rachal because I think he had an underwhelming year last year. I was hoping he'd be the Deuce type where you could just say 'we need two yards... get on deuce's hip pocket and lean forward... we'll get there.' but he wasn't that kind of a guy. He needs to improve this year. if he starts delivering on his promise then i think we have a chance to be a very very good OLine. If he's the same as last year then i think we're going to have more problems in the run game. You liked what you saw in him in spring though and that's encouraging to me. I've read some reports that he's improving his energy level but i'll believe it when i see it through a few games.

RT: Drew Radovich: I'm very glad that Rado's back at tackle as well. Although i'm hesitant to get too excited about this move because while Kyle Williams wasn't the disaster some made him out to be last year he also wasn't a stud... and Rado didn't start over him last year. I'm concerned but hopeful.

Lastly, i do want to say that more so than just this year i'm actually concerned for next year and the year after with our OL. We're bringing in a ton of studs this year in recruiting but a big reason for that is because we have SO many spots to fill and SO much opportunity to offer. Heberer, Coleman, Lewis, Howell, Charles Brown, Herring... more than a couple of these guys HAVE to step up in the next year or two if we're going to have a good OL in the immediate future. And some of those guys are still getting it and building their bodies up.

IMO in '08 and '09 we're going to feel the crunch of not having recruited more OL's the previous couple years. Losing guys like Sam Young and James Wilson will hurt in those years IMO. We're going to have to have a very good 'hit rate' on the quality of our OL players in the next year or two. If guys like Herring, Coleman and Brown are busts then we're going to find outselves either rushing a frosh into action or fielding a substandard OL.

This year's crop is going to need a couple years IMO. Even a stud like Tyron Smith is going to need time to learn better technique and to add about 20lbs before he's really field ready. That takes time. Oh and lastly (for real this time)..."I'll be giving the OL a serious look everyday in practice. Because the game is still called "foot" ball. And the Trojans need a serious ground game to be a serious contender for a NC."I couldn't agree more. Lets hope it happens. So far i like the talk from the coaches (both Sark and Ruel) about being more aggressive on the OL and getting the attitude back that they lost a little this past year.

Snoop Dogg responds to Les Miles...

2007-07-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

Classic (naughty language ahead)...

The Pac10 a pre-fall practice look...

2007-07-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

Alright, lets take a look around the Pac10 a bit and see what kind of a finish we can expect this year. First some not so short points on each team...

Arizona - If Stoops wins 7 games or more and does well in their bowl game he's good. If he doesn't he's gonna be on the hotseat next year if you ask me. Great D as always in the desert but that O has sucked for way too long now. Tuitama's a good qb waiting to happen (despite his concussion issues), but the system and their swiss cheese OL is doing them no favors. Hiring the Texas Tech OC was a smart move but can the spread be picked up and be effective in one year when you haven't been recruiting the personnel for it? I doubt it. They should continue to make slow progress in the right direction.

Arizona State- My pick for the surprise team of the year in the Pac10. In fact they're such an obvious pick I'm not sure if it's a surprise. Erickson is a better coach than Koetter. He'll also give them an attitude on D and he'll stock the talent with JC studs in a year or two. I look for Carpenter to bounce back big time this year. They've also got a cake schedule. Better coach + favorable schedule + good talent = big season. I don't see them finishing below the top 4 in the Pac10 this year.

Washington- Y'know to my way of thinking UDub may actually be the REAL most improved team in the pac10 but their schedule will never allow them to show it. Boise State, Ohio State, USC, and at the high powered Hawaii O to finish the year. Usually Hawaii wouldn't really be THAT big of a deal but if you see Hawaii's schedule this is their 'game of the year'. They play NO ONE. Plus by the end of the year they're going to be dealing with 'Colt Brennan isn't a heisman winner because his video game stats came against inferior competition' they're going to want to take that out on the one big conference team they face... UDub. Rough road for these guys this year. Jake Locker is the biggest recruit Willingham's secured since he took over the reigns at UDub. How he performs at QB this year will be watched closely.

Washington State- Doba. Nice guy. Program continues to regress. Last year they had a close one with SC. This year? SC's D is going to create more turnovers and fly around the field. The O should be better too. I think Doba finishes the year in the unemployment line. They're bad. Real bad and they're not getting better.

Cal- Very talented team, especially on O. The D is the problem. Last year they looked like they'd be good but they disappointed badly. Desean Jackson is the most exciting player in college football. Nate Longshore is a big kid who's not going to win a game vs an elite opponent for you BUT he has the playmakers around him to win the game for you. He was Derek Anderson/Andrew Walter last year... big in small games, small in big games. Great WR's on this team though. Jackson, Hawkins and Jordan are all really good WR's. I'm not sold on Justin Forsett being THE guy at RB, but there's tons of other talent at that spot too (montgomery being a likely contributor). And despite all the hype about all of SC's freshmen the biggest impact frosh this year may be Jahvid Best. He's got Desean Jackson type speed. Shane Vereen is another freshman burner. Cal's gonna have burners on O for years. They should be a lot of fun to watch and Tedford's a great coach. It's too bad they're getting resistence from the locals to upgrade the facilities because they'll lose Tedford to a bigger and better program if they don't get it together and they BADLY need it (i've never been to Wazzu but the Cal stadium is the most embarassingly bad Pac10 stadium i've ever been to).

Stanford- The most interesting thing about Stanford is that their idiot coach Jim Harbaugh talks trash. He's talked trash about SC saying publicly that he heard from "a source on the USC coaching staff" that Carroll is leaving after this year and talking trash about his alma mater saying that Michigan takes a lot of kids who wouldn't normally make the grade (which i'm guessing includes him). You gotta love a guy who inherits a program completely void of talent and immediately starts talking trash. They're going to be in for a whuppin this year. He may be changing the attitude but he doesn't (and won't) have nearly the horses to back it up.

Oregon- Bellotti's a dick but he's a good coach. "Losing" offensive coordinator Gary Crowton to LSU was probably a good thing. They had the 2nd best RB in the Pac10 last year and they rarely utilized him enough. Dennis Dixon wasn't exactly a qb that inspired confidence either. A lot of dropped balls from their talented wideouts and... well... they just weren't that good. This year Dixon is taking time off to pursue baseball despite having not played it in years. Not a good sign. They did have a good recruiting class this year and they do have lots of talent. Still... since SC arrived back on the scene they've never been "big bad Oregon" again. They do get SC up in Eugene again this year and that place is a madhouse so they could pull of a big upset. I believe they play Michigan and that'll be a big game for the pac10. Even a good showing with a loss would be nice.

Oregon State- They're everyone's darling this year. Somewhat based on their win over SC last year (well that and the fact that they got double digit wins). They've got a good running game (bernard is probably the most underrated rb in the Pac), good wr's, an underrated D but they've got a new qb and the big thing... when has Mike Riley ever had an elite team? Does he ever meet the expectations of his team? He's always under the expectations or way over them. I think they're going to disappoint this year.

UCLA- They've got the mark of a good season coming. I think it'll happen... to a certain extent. They return a ton of defensive players and everyone is raving about Dewayne Walker as a hot coaching candidate. They did do a good job against SC last year and if you ask me that's where a lot of the hype is coming from. It's true that Walker did a job on SC's O last year. He also did a good job vs. Charlie Weis' O. That said, he also gave up a lot of points to a few teams on his schedule AND he gave up 30 points to a Jeff Bowden coached Florida State offense. That's bad news. They were great at points and not so great at others. Inconsistent is what they were but to hear it talked about you'd think they held everyone to 15 points or less last year. They'll likely be very improved this year on D and that will be their strength. However the D is likely going to have to carry them because they have no gamebreakers on O. It's a bunch of pretty good players but no one who'll bust a 6o yarder for you. Also Ben Olson is a bit of a stiff. He gives you good numbers and it looks good to have a 6'5" 230 lb quarterback out there throwing ropes but he's not really a big playmaker if you know what i mean. In many ways he and Cowan are polar opposites of each other. Cowan's not a measurables guy and doesn't put up big stats but he IS a playmaker and he has the grit to make a play when it needs to be made. And the word i've heard from a player on UCLA's team is that the players prefer Cowan to Olson. They think he's soft. You put a hit on him and he loses his nerve. Not good.

USC- First the D...

It should be ridiculous. 10 starters return but it's really 11. Kyle Moore is the "new" starter at DE but he's started before on the line and he's up and coming. Not to mention he'll be pushed by freshman phenom Everson Griffen... that's 6'3" 265lb 4.57 40 Everson Griffen. If he gets the technique down (still a question mark) and doesn't wear down during the year he should be very very good. The LB's are the best in the nation by far and are probably the best 3 lbs the nation has seen on one college team since Derrick Smith, Jesse Armstead and Michael Barrow were all playing in the same LB corps for Miami. Rey Maualuga has all world potential IF he gets the mental part of the game down. He's almost too good of an athlete and too aggressive. If he starts overrunning plays and learns how to harness his aggressiveness he should win the butkus and be a top 5 pick in the draft. At times last year he was SC's best defensive player and at times he was our worst. He developed all year. And IMO it was a testament to how well Lua had the mental side of the game down and how poorly Rey did that they split time as LB's. Cushing is probably the least heralded of the SC LB's and he lead the team in tackles for loss and was the Rose Bowl defensive MVP. Go figure. He also spent the last year being an undersized DE running into tackles that outweighed him by 40 lbs. No more of that bs. With the freedom of space I'd look for him to reak havoc this year and have more of an impact. Oh yeah and Keith Rivers is a stud too (and probably the leading candidate to receive awards this year. A SICK athelte). On the DL you have two all american candidates in Lawrence Jackson and Sedrick Ellis. Fili Moala came on big time at the end of the year last year and I look for that progression to continue. Kyle Moore has been a bit of a disappointment thus far in his career not making nearly as much of an impact as you'd expect such a heralded recruit to make. This is his year to shine. If not Everson Griffen will likely overtake him for reps. The defensive backfield is stacked to high heaven with studs. We go 3 deep with All Pac10 candidates at safety and probably 4 or 5 deep with good serviceable players. We got another 5 deep at corner with good players. It's sick. Very fast, very athletic, very good. Good experience and good ballers. Terrell Thomas is at one corner spot and he's a leader. At saftey you have Kevin Ellison, Josh Pinkard and freakish athlete Taylor Mays... he's 6'4" 240 lbs and he's one of the fastest guys on the team. One of the other fastest guys on the team Travon Patterson (5'8" 175) was run down from behind in the spring scrimmage by him. That's all you really need to know. At the other corner spot you're looking at Cary Harris (very good last year) or Kevin Thomas (initially had beat out Harris and is still a very very good player) Shareece Wright and Mozique McCurtis (a great find by the staff... safety size, corner speed and can play either spot. Versatile kids like this extend your 85 scholies and are the unsung heroes that make a team great).

Now (quickly) the O...

Booty returns and is the heisman favorite. Look for Stanley Havili to make a big splash as our offensive threat at fullback. He can catch and run. We should use him a lot. TE Fred Davis returns but look for Anthony McCoy to start getting more and more reps (particularly in the red zone). He is the future. The WR and the RB rotations are going to be VERY interesting to watch get hashed out. Right now it appears that Patrick Turner and Vidal Hazelton will be the starters at WR but don't be surprised if you hear a lot from David Ausberry, Travon Patterson, Ronald Johnson (a frosh who looks a lot like Ted Ginn in practices... very very quick AND fast), and even maybe superfrosh Joe McKnight in the slot. Ausberry is sortof the dark horse at this point. He's got Mike Williams size but he's quicker and faster. He's going to be real dangerous. He came in raw but he's quickly made a very good impression. Can't wait to see how he pans out this year. Turner is the vet and gets the early nod but we need guys who can make plays in the open field and thus far Turner has not been that guy. If he steps it up we're looking good. Now to RB's... where to begin? there are just so many of them. 10 stud RB's on this roster. It's just an embarassment of riches. Some very good and very talented kids are going to be left on the sideline this year. My guess is that the frosh won't see the field much except situationally because they won't know the blocking assignments right away (this always seems to hold freshmen rb's back their first year). Hershel Dennis is the vet and the guy who shined in the spring game. Chauncey Washington is another vet who's put in his time. The safe money is on the two of them to tandem with CJ Gable being the 3rd back. BUT you've also got guys like Allen Bradford, Emannuel Moody (both of who are in INSANE shape right now) and Stafon Johnson who're coming into their sophmore years in great shape and very determined to make an impact. Add on top of that the nearly DE sized Broderick Green, uberfast home run hitter Joe McKnight and do-everything RB Marc Tyler (regarded by a few rating services to be the best recruit in the nation last year before going down w/his leg injury). It's going to be very hard to find reps for all the talent in fall practice let alone once the season starts. The safe and political thing to do is to start the seniors. If you started McKnight you've got about 5 backs that're pissed off that they've been leapfrogged. Start dennis and even the talented sophmores are 'okay, next year is my year'. I do think there'll be transfers after this year no matter what (i personally think Moody is a candidate and there've been whispers about Stafon for a while now). But you could tell me that literally any of these backs would be the starter in week 5 and i wouldn't be completely shocked. The OL to me is the group that needs the most improvement. As a pass blocking OL... they were great last year. As a run blocking O? I'd say they were below average. If you look at the way SC blocked the yera before in the run game and compared it to last year you'd think they were different teams. The holes just weren't there a lot. They've GOT to get that attitude back and start mauling people. We can throw any of our talented backs out there but if there's no holes then we're not going to get anywhere. This is the area that needs the most improvement on O. If Spanos, Byers, Chilo (inconsistent all last year), Radovich and Baker (our stud) step up the run blocking this year I think we become a dominant offense yet again. If they don't... we're beatable. I'm sure it'd be a huge burden off of Booty's shoulders if we could establish a good running game. It's the key to the offense this year if you ask me.

Okay, time to stop. My fingers are exhausted. Til next time...

Joe McKnight...

2007-07-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

The #1 recruit in the nation last year was Joe
McKnight. He's practicing w/the team in their informal
workouts currently. Anyhow, this is a really good
story about all the crap he's been through in the
Bayou (Katrina, his f'd family life, etc...). They're
already calling this kid one of the hardest workers on
the team. It's a long article but good. Check it
out...

Sports Illustrated

Hey Les Miles, so why not schedule USC?

2007-07-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

One of the best Les Miles takes i've seen (and this is coming from an LSU football beat writer)...

Glenn Guilbeau: Hey Les Miles, so why not schedule USC?

LSU football coach Les Miles is talking the talk of late. I'd like to see him start walking the walk instead.

He's been ripping USC and the Pacific-10 Conference.

But Les, why don't you schedule USC? You could do it. USC regularly plays strong non-conference teams, such as Notre Dame, Nebraska and Arkansas last year. Oops, SEC West champion Arkansas lost 50-14 at home to USC last season and 70-17 the year before in Los Angeles. This year USC plays at Nebraska and at Notre Dame. In 2008, USC plays at Virginia and hosts Ohio State and Notre Dame. USC goes to Ohio State and Notre Dame in 2009.

Weis sucks

2007-06-27T23:02:00.001-07:00

Actually it appears that ND's making a pretty big
splash in recruiting this year and that's no joke.
They're looking like they're going to have a REAL good
class. Just today it appears that they've landed a DL
who SC wanted REAL bad. Many thought he was a lock to
SC... but he went to ND and... well it looks good for
ND. Long way til signing day though. ND's also got
about 4 really good tight ends in their class. What's
funny is their new DC is looking like the ace
recruiter for them. But what's interesting about that
is that he's never even coached at ND before AND he's
installing the 3-4 (a D they don't have the personnel
for currently). But he's undefeated as the DC for ND
so he's using that in his favor.

I will say one thing... Carroll has been increasingly
criticized in recent years for the lack of a quality
coaching staff he's had. The talent at SC is
unmatched, but it's the Carroll and a bunch of other
guys show right now. The OL coach is pretty good but
the DL coaches are kinda weak. The LB coach is Ken
Norton who's a good recruiter but not much of a
teacher. The RB coach is an ace recruiter and a good
coach but the staff Carroll had when he first came to
SC was freakin stellar. At different points we had the
OC of the Jaguars as our quarterbacks coach. We had a
DL and an OL coach who were the best at their jobs in
college football (one is now a head coach. the other
is now in the pros) our db's coach is now the DC for
UCLA and one of the hottest coaching candidates in all
of college football. The LB's coach is now our DL
coach and was a head coach at Idaho (who's on our
schedule now SOLELY as a favor to him... but then he
left and came back and we couldn't get anyone else to
play us). Anyhow, we've seen a downgrade in coaching
talent. Even our "star" Sark is still kindof an
unknown until he performs on his own. SC has to
outtalent everyone whereas before SC could outtalent
AND outscheme everyone. Many attribute this attrition
in coaching talent and ability to Pete Carroll's ego.
Chow was thought to have been pushed out largely
because Carroll was tired of sharing the spotlight.
It's a hotly contested issue but Chow is one of those
guys who would stick somewhere for a long time (see
BYU 27 years) and he's comfy being a coordinator. It
was kinda perfect. He didn't really care to recruit
much and skated on his rep and considerable
accomplishments. Carroll was the face of the
university and was a recruiting machine. Then on D you
had Orgeron who was another rah rah recruiting
fireball but who also could coach (and had coached
many of the best DL in the history of the college
game). For a lil while there we had the best of both
worlds. And sadly i see it sorta coming to an end
unless SC gets some top quality coordinators in
here... but I don't think PC'll let that happen. Sark
is the young prodigy and if he leaves i expect he'll
be replaced with another young guy that Carroll can
use for his own bidding.

I doubt you'll see SC do what FSU did this year which
is bring in Jimbo Fisher from LSU an experienced and
highly qualified OC. Or what Fulmer did at Tennessee (
bringing back David Cutcliff to run the O). This is
the Carroll show. If an OC thought he could run it his
way they'd be LINING UP to come here and be the OC
because no one has the talent we have. This is not to
say that our coaches aren't good or even great at
certain things. They are (recruiting is one of em),
but there's a lot of inconsistencies in how the team
plays and a lot of mediocre performances where there
shouldn't be. Last year I was hoping SC'd get rid of
Coach Holt and Watson (DL's), and bring in a real
special teams coach (which have sucked for years and
with as much depth as SC has we should be DOMINANT on
special teams). Instead SC just replaced Kiffen with a
WR coach from the NFL (who's now our 'passing game
coordinator/WR coach). He's by all accounts more of a
technician than Kiffen and few can imagine how he'd be
more of an asshole. It seems like the players are
already warming to him. He coached the WR's in New
Orleans last year and Sean Payton is one of the
brightest young coaching minds in the NFL so that's
good news. The Saints also had 2 really good WR's this
past year so getting John Morton (not the former SC
WR. this guy is white) was a pretty decent coaching
'get' but SC needs to be trading at a higher level
w/its assistants in many (including my) opinion.

Our DL production the past few years has been below
what it should and our OL lacked fire last year. We
have these beasts but they don't go out there and
maul. Coach Ruel (OL coach) is a good technician but
his lines have been inconsistent and haven't been as
tough or in your face as they should be. SC was a
finesse line last year and that has to change and
improve.

Still... the hard part is done... the talent is there.
It's just a matter of having the right coaches. Sadly
i don't see it happening unless a few guys leave all
at once and I dunno why that'd happen since SC is such
a prestige program right now. Oh the trappings of
success...

Safety Josh Pinkard busted for DUI

2007-05-29T22:19:00.001-07:00

Everybody getting DUI's now. Don't Drink and Drive Trojan Fans!

Arkansas QB transfers to USC

2007-05-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

I like how we destroyed Arkansas in the first game last year, then
this QB becomes starter, gets an 8-0 record... and then we steal him.

SC Kid, what's the word on this guy? Is he a threat to Mark Sanchez's
job?

ESPN

--Burbank

Man i should've wrote you guys about this a while ago.
This has been a pretty stone cold lock to happen for
about 3 months now (it was either USC or Tulsa...
weird that we won that one).

Here's the deal (there's a reeeeally long story (even
longer than the one i wrote... and don't even ask me
about USC's running back situation. that's an even
longer email) to this that's full of soapy details of
the behind the scenes stuff that happened at arkansas,
but i'll spare you guys)...

Arkansas signed 3 guys from Springdale HS last year.
Mustain, Derrick Williams (this stud WR that Florida
was trying REAL hard to steal away) and some other
dude. Then they also brought the head coach in from
Springdale (Gus Malzhan) and made them Arky's
offensive coordinator (can you say sha-dy?). Anyhow
there was this huge falling out (Malzhan left to be
the OC at Tulsa) and guess what? SC took Williams and
Mustain (the Gatorade Player of the Year and the top
qb the year he came out of hs). This now makes THREE
Gatorade Player of the Years that SC currently has on
their roster (its' basically the hs hesiman). Jeff
Byers, Mark Sanchez and now Mustain. That's
ridiculous.

Williams IMO is gonna end up being a stud for SC no
matter what but he won't see the field this year cuz
of transfer rules. The good news for both of them is
that they played in teh SEC as true freshmen so their
burn year here at SC is just their RS year so starting
next year they'll both have 3 years to play 3.

Mustain's a pretty good qb. He's not 6'5" 230 like
Palmer or Leinart but he's a solid 6'3" 205, he's
quick (not a runner per se) and REALLY accurate. He's
kinda like Booty but with better touch and probably
not as strong an arm.

And yeah, he's a threat to Sanchez. In fact the word
is that Sanchez was pretty pissed that SC brought in
Mustain (sorry dude). SC's pretty set at QB these
days. It's not really even fair. (more on that later
in the section i'm sure none of you will care about).
A couple things about Sanchez. A. he's had an injured
back and there's some rumblings that it may be more
serious than anyones letting on B. there's been rumors
that the coaches aren't pleased with his development
and going into year 3 in the program they don't see
the light going on for him and there's concerns that
he may not be 'getting it'. mustain and sanchez going
head to head will be a VERY interesting subplot to USC
football this time next year. Sanchez has more time in
the system and will get playing experience this year
and those are two big advantages. He also has a rocket
arm and good leadership skills... but Mustain's no
slouch. He's a real accurate thrower but he also had
some bizarrly bad games for Arkansas last year.... and
not against the top competition either. He had a
really bad game against Louisiana Monroe. That's kinda
ridiculous. He gets a pass cuz he's a true frosh
playing for the first time in D1 but it's not as if
he's some amazing prodigy. He's gonna have to develop.
I'm already dyin to hear what the practice reports
will say about him this coming year.

Okay... now for the stuff few (if any) of you will
care about...

Mustain's getting #13 on O. why is this significant?
because #13 on O last year was Stafon Johnson... a top
running back recruit the previous year from Dorsey HS.
He was the odds on favorite to win the job heading
into fall practice last year (he was my pick) and he
didn't get it... got in the coaches dog house for not
trying hard enough and hasn't really got out. SC has
10 tailbacks who're all really good and it looks like
Stafon is getting squeezed out... Plus there are
rumors of this transfer. This seems to lay creedence
to that. Unfortunately there's a top local recruit
that's good friends with Stafon and he's likely
heading to UCLA because the way stafon has been
'treated' by USC has burned us in his eyes (whatever).

Mustain is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes
to SC qb recruiting. You already know about Mustain
and Sanchez but Aaron Corp is teh only qb that SC
brought in last year. He was the California Player of
the Year... NOT Jimmy Clausen. Corp is a leader and a
really different qb for SC to have. He doesn't have a
canon, but he's got really good speed (and he's a
white guy from orange county... go figure) good
leadership skills and good accuracy. SC sorta lucked
into landing such a top qb in Corp... i really don't
think they knew what they had when they locked him up.
They went after Clausen first. Then this guy from New
Jersey who ended up going to North Carolina and THEN
Corp and Forcier (UCLA)). Corp kinda blew up his
senior year and by the end of it the SC coaches looked
like geniuses... but it was total luck. No one knew
he'd be THAT good. Corp's one of (now) FOUR 5 star
qb's on USC's roster. As a comparison UCLA has 1 5
star player on their entire offense... and i'm
counting the backups. Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona
State, Arizona, Stanford, Cal, Washington State...
these teams have ZERO 5 star qb's on their rosters.
Not that stars mean everything but you can see how
much talent SC has at qb.

Not only that but SC's likely going to skip on a qb
this year (we offered one guy who ended up going to ND
but he wasn't really THAT big of a target... and not
learny the prospect as some of the guys coming up next
year). Next year is looking like its going to be a
HUGE qb year in the west. Matt Barkley is looking like
the big frontrunner as the top qb out west and he's
got real strong SC ties. Most people are thinking its
a foregone conclusion that he'd come to USC in two
years but no one really knows. He's started at qb
since he was a frosh at Mater Dei... which is a really
REALLY good sports school in OC. And no one starts at
qb as a true frosh at that program (this is where matt
leinart and matt grootegood played). Barkley as a
sophmore is about 6'3" 222. If he grows another inch
or two look out. The one knock on him right now is
that he's never had to carry the offense. He's a good
game manager and has all the skills... but he's still
got some development to make. There are two other BIG
TIME kids (and another two or three that i can't name
off hand) named Josh Nunes and Tate Forcier (his bro
just signed with UCLA). Nunes is a lil more raw than
Barkley but he's 6'4" 190 and he has a CANON for an
arm. The kid can throw it 60 yards like it's nuthin.
He's a prototypical qb if you ask me. If i could pick
and choose SC's qb's to take next year it'd be Barkley
(the polish and poise pick) and nunes (the high
ceiling skills pick). Forcier's a better passer
supposedly than his older brother and has more polish.
If he's like his brother he'll also have a good set of
wheels on him. He's MAYBE 6'0" right now so he'll have
to grow a bit to reach that upper echelon of qb's.
Right now the camp circuits are going on and the
reports are he looks really good.

-SC Kid

John Morton hired

2007-03-01T20:40:00.000-08:00

Dalton, whaddaya thinka this?

- The Dude

i think he's a good hire (i actually thought they
hired him a couple weeks ago... maybe it didn't become
official til just now). He's an interesting coach.
Came up w/the Raiders and coached Rice/Brown but they
were in the twilight of their careers so i dunno how
much he had to do with it, but he did perform as an OC
for USD under Harbaugh (the new Stanford coach and
former Colt ) and he called
plays (which is good) and then this past year he
pushed hard for the Saints to take Colston and you
can't argue w/the results there. So it stands to
reason that the guy is a good coach. Sean Payton is
also one of the best young NFL offensive minds out
there right now so he's learned from one of the best,
PLUS he wasn't let go from New Orleans, they fought to
keep him... he just wanted to coach in college where
the time demands wouldn't be as bad as the NFL and he
could see his newborn child and his 3 year old a lil
more. I like the pickup. It'll be interesting to see
if the guy can recruit cuz he's never had to do it at
SC's level before.

IMO the biggest coaching news this off season has been
Carroll promoting his son to Recruiting Coordinator.
It's not exactly a hustle job when it comes to talking
to recruits but you've gotta be good at organizing and
evaluating recruits... it's a highly important (and
somewhat thankless) job and Carroll's kid leapfrogged
about 5 guys who were more senior, more accomplished
and more qualified for the job than him (although the
word is most of them didn't even want the gig cuz it's
kind of a pain in the ass). It'll be interesting to see
how SC does this year w/baby Carroll in charge. We've
already offered some guys (some who look close to
committing or already have) who i thought for sure
we'd wait on.

2 new committments for next year...

matt meyer 6'7" 297 LT (big kid, quick feet, high gpa)
chris polk 6'0" 210 WR/RB/DB (fast, but not a home run
hitter, likely a slot wr or a safety)

another real surprise is SC offered a runningback from
Venice HS who ran for 2000 yards last year. now that
sounds good until you hear that the guy is 5'8" 180
(which probably means he's really my size). it doesn't
make sense because A. SC has a TON of RB's already and
B. there are a bunch of AWESOME rb's available in
SoCal next year (including probably one of the top 3
prospects in the nation Darrell Scott this insanely
good and fast RB who plays at St. Bonaventure and ran
for over 3000 yards and 45 td's last year (you read
that right)).

Anyhow, we'll see how the baby Carroll works out.

-SC Kid

Letter of Intent Day

2007-02-07T10:10:00.000-08:00

I haven't followed as closely as in years past but
today is letter of intent day for college football...

Florida will probably end up with the top class, but
SC could (and should) be a very good #2. They rank all
these players based on star ratings and for about the
4th year in a row SC will have the highest average
star ranking around. The only thing really holding our
class back is a lack of scholarships to be given out.

Anyhow, the big news is that SC landed "the next
reggie bush" Joe McKnight. He's about the 4th "next
reggie bush" to come around in the past few years but
he's got a pretty sick combination of skills. He's
from deep in LSU territory so it's a pretty big get
for SC. LSU fans are gonna be pissed. He's a great
kick/punt returner, rb, wr and he could probably be
the top corner in the nation as well. ESPN has had 3
different #1 ranked prospects this year... Jimmy
Clausen (goin to ND), Marc Tyler (rb, going to SC),
and Joe McKnight (current #1 and heading to SC). On
another service the #1 prospect in the nation is
Everson Griffen... a DE from Arizona, who's also
headed to SC.

I won't bore you guys w/a big lowdown but here are the
highlights...

Aaron Corp QB Orange Lutheran: He's a running/passing
qb and he was California Player of the Year (not Jimmy
Superstar err Clausen (he's kinda hated by the SC
fanbase for A. not choosing SC and B. making a
complete spectacle of his announcement to attend Notre
Dame... he announced by pulling up to the college
football hall of fame in a limo and holding an
enormous press conference... it was like he was
announcing that he was Jesus Come Again.

Joe McKnight RB John Curtis HS: Versatile talent. Fast
but not track fast. He's not as fast as reggie bush
but he is a very fast player. He's also about 6'0" 195
already. He's gonna be a stud wherever he plays and
he'll likely play early at SC. Ironically in hs he was
used a ton as a decoy. His senior year he only had 45
carries... despite being one of if not the best big
play threat in the nation.

Everson Griffen DE Agua Fria HS: His nickname is the
"superfreak" cuz he's got ridiculous athletic skills.
He basically can't be stopped on the hs level. Once he
develops some pass rush moves he's going to be
unstoppable. He's 6'4" 265 right now and he could
seriously play running back in college. His hs
highlight tape shows him playing rb and he's the
fastest guy on the field... AND he's got moves. He's
an incredible athlete. If you ask me he's the kid in
this class with the most likelihood to have an impact
early on simply because he's a rare athlete.

Chris Gallipo LB Servite HS: Best LB in the nation
coming into the most stacked and talented LB corps in
the nation. He committed to SC a year ago and he's
been one of if not our best recruiter. Quality kid
too. He's bringing two of his teammates to SC next
year (two of the best prospects in the nation) in DJ
Shoemate (home run threat at either rb or wr) and Matt
Kalil (6'7" 290 OL best OL in the west maybe this year
as well as next year). He was the first ever defensive
MVP of the Army All American game and he's just a
terror. He's gonna be a great LB for SC in 2 years.

Ronald Johnson CB Muskegon HS: One of the top 2 cb's
in the nation. He's from Michigan and not many SC fans
thought we really had a shot at him (he may end up
playing WR for SC). SC lost out on a top local CB
Donovan Warren who really shocked everyone and chose
Michigan so Johnson for Warren is kindof a trade.
Johnson's regarded as the better athlete but the less
polished of the two.

Those are the big big ones, but there are a few other
really really good players (Marc Tyler is probably teh
best rb prospecte in the nation but he had a badly
broken leg near the end of the year), a top DT,
another top RB, another top LB/FB type, etc, etc...

Anyhow, another great recruiting class for SC. There
are more names to announce soon so there MAY be a
surprise or two to come, but as of right now that's
what the class looks like. Good times.

D

Reggie Bush is such a Choad!

2007-01-28T18:23:00.000-08:00

Reggie you are a total choad.

Plus you are a poor sport.

NC Game

2007-01-09T21:52:00.000-08:00

Man we totally could've won the national title this
year if it wasn't for stupid UCLA. Ohio State looked
HOOOOORRRIBLE last night. There were so many things
about that game that went counter to what had happened
ALL season long (OSU's performance is a great argument
against long layoffs... as OSU had FIFTY ONE days off
between their last game and the bowl game).

I was glad to see OSU lose though. They seem to have a
higher rate of prick/arrogant fans than most teams.
Plus that program is kindof a joke (look at the majors
of most of the football players... they aren't regular
majors that you've heard of).

Anyhow, Troy Smith hadn't had a game that bad since he
became a starter. Florida averages around 25 points
per game and they have NO running game (aka: they're
easy to defend). Ohio State (although i think this is
overrated cuz i don't thikn there were many good O's
in the Big 10 this year) only gave up about 10 points
per game this year. Oh and OSU hasn't given up that
many points in 7 years... to anyone. Plus Florida
hadn't blown ANYONE out this year... not even
Kentucky. All of their games were close games and then
kaboom... this happened.

The end of the 1st half killed the buckeyes. Tressel
had em do a sneak on 3rd and less than 1 and Smith
gave a really weak effort (combined w/a NO push from
the Ohio State OL... which looked lackluster all game
long) then they went for it on 4th and 1 (from their
own 29 with 1:50 to go). They got stuffed and UF got a
field goal... then on their next posession they tried
to throw it deep, smith got sacked (for like the 4th
time in the 1st half) and the ball fell right to UF on
the 5 yard line. One more td and kaboom... game over.

Lots of good shots of OSU fans in the stands looking
dejected and pissed. The stadium sounded like it was
mostly OSU fans before the game too... you didn't hear
much from them after the 2nd quarter. The OSU team
kept cheerleading but their team didn't perform. One
thing that did really suck was that Ted Ginn, OSU's
big time gamebreaker and their most talented and
fastest player got injured on like the 2nd play. He
actually returned the initial kickoff 93 yards for a
td and there wasn't anyone within 10 yards of him when
he made it to the endzone. Then on the 1st offensive
play from scrimmage he injured his foot. Game over...
and this guy was gonna be a major part of the OSU
gameplan... so that sucked. You'd rather the two teams
play w/out any injuries (especially after 51 days
off). It'd be like SC losing Bush on the 2nd play...
if we didn't have White or Jarrett. He was their
bigtime playmaker. Oh well.

UF's going to be good for a lil while cuz FSU's on the
decline and Miami's in limbo. Florida's talent rich
and Meyer can recruit. Next years 1 and 2 may be UF
and SC (although UF STILL won't have a running game
and for as much love as Tim Tebow gets that guy is not
a very good passer). blah blah blah. OSU loses. Yay.

Will Carroll go to the Dolphins?

2007-01-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

Anyhow, it looks like Carroll is being woo'd
by the Dolphins for their vacant head coaching job (is
this gonna be TWICE that Nick Saban fucks SC!?)... it
also appears that Carroll is pretty receptive to what
they have to offer. Anyhow, something's really weird
about this whole situation. Carroll's on vacation when
Danelo dies. No statement issued or anything. The team
holds a meeting yesterday (the day before Carroll
returns from vacation) to discuss what happened and no
Carroll. He returns today and holds a press
conference... no mention (taht i can tell) about
Danelo. But he addresses the Dolphins rumors and says
that he intends on coming back, that he expects to be
at SC but then goes on to gush about the Dolphins job
and say what a unique opportunity it is and how its
the first NFL job that's come around that's been
tempting to him and how rare it is to get an
opportunity like that in the NFL and how it shows him
how much he should appreciate what he has at SC
(whatever that means). He said that he wasn't offered
the job but that if Huizenga called him up again he'd
answer the phone (which seems to me that this was a
press conference to announce to Huizenga that if he
wants Carroll he can have him for the right price...
ugh). If Carroll were staying it seems weird that he'd
hold a press conference like this cuz all it'd do is
make recruiting harder on himself. The other schools
sure will have an easier time selling 'he's leaving'
to recruits on the fence now. I don't like how this
smells right off the bat but if i HAD to wager i'd say
he's stayin.

-SC Kid

Joe McKnight

2007-01-05T10:50:00.000-08:00

coaching changes at this time only affect one thing as
far as SC is concerned. SC's got their "next reggie
bush" (this kid named Joe McKnight) all lined up and
seemingly ready to come here with one lil hitch...
he's from the bayou. He's down to LSU and SC and it
looks like SC's gonna get him but the kid also loves
Saban so now Alabama may be in the picture. If SC gets
this kid though you guys will love him. He's freakin
sick.

Oh and i'm 99% sure i'm the only one who'd be
interested in watching this but there's this army all
american high school game that gets played every year
and its got the best hs football players in the nation
in it. Its this Saturday. There are about 8 USC bound
players in the game (the most of any school) and
probably one or two more who will end up comin to SC
there as well. I doubt you guys'd care to do this
w/your saturday but if so, its this saturday.

playa's to watch: Everson Griffen (Defensive End), Joe
McKnight (Do-everything RB/KR/WR), Kris O'Dowd
(Center/Guard), Broderick Green (Big RB), and Marvin
Austin (DT).

-- SC GUY

Jimi Hendrix is glad for the Trojans beat the hell out of Michigan

2007-01-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

Song Girl

2007-01-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

DeadSpin.com

Reggie Asked to Stay Away from Rose Bowl

2006-12-31T11:09:00.000-08:00

Bush: USC asked me not to show

The Saints running back and former Heisman Trophy winner told FOX NFL Sunday and FOXSports.com that USC officials have asked that he not show up on the sidelines for the Trojans' Rose Bowl matchup against the Michigan on New Year's Day.

Bush called the athletic department Friday to get his credentials for the game, but was told it would be better if he didn't attend the game.

"It's ridiculous," said Bush. "I guess I won't be going."

Bush said he believed all the negative stories that surfaced earlier this year regarding alleged financial impropriates caused them to put forth such a request and he's obviously not happy about it. Thus, Bush is making no plans to show up — despite winning the Heisman for the university a year ago and helping lead them to the national championship game two years in a row.

Pictures

2006-12-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

Alabama: How the mighty have fallen...

2006-12-08T15:23:00.000-08:00

They're sortof in the position we were in pre-PC... but even worse so cuz of all the fast coaching turnover and the NCAA sanctions. And they (similar to us) just don't get it. There are dreams of Spurriers and Butch Davis' and so forth but while the Alabama head coaching job is a good job and the program an great program because of all the history and tradition... its no longer a GREAT job. They have to sortof start over and perhaps most important, be PATIENT while the coach does his thing. The best thing they could do for this program heading forward is to give WHOEVER they hire (assuming the guy isn't a complete Mackovician disaster) a good 4 or 5 years chance. That'll at least put them in the game for a top flight head coach in case they have to change directions again in 5 years. I really don't think that program or their fans understand the self-inflicted damage they've done to themselves over the past few years.

Alabama is one of those areas that cares a LOT about football and will do almost anything to win... but thats not always a good thing. The 'what have you done for me lately' culture exists more and more in sports. A guy like Chuck Knoll wouldn't EVER exist as long as he has in the current sports atmosphere. I'm not saying that Shula was a good coach or anything but firing him was a mistake if you ask me just because it again showed that that program won't have a lot of patience if the results aren't immediate. Heck they won 10 games last year right? (and that was coming off of sanctions correct?) and now the guy's out on his can? What top flight head coach wants to bother with that? If you're a Spurrier or a Butch Davis or a Rich Rodriguez or a Norm Chow or whoever and can basically write your own ticket... why would you want to walk into a situation like that? Coaching is hard enough and the demands and pressure are crazy enough w/out having to think 'even if i sign a 5 year deal i'll likely only have a couple years to impress and if things don't go great right off the bat... and they may not because of things out of my control, then i might be on the block too.'

From my view Bama's still one of those programs thats caught waaaaaay back in the 60's and 70's. They're still debating whether they should hire a 'Bear Guy' or a 'Bama Guy'. I realize loyalty is too rare a commodity but shouldn't they just be looking for the best coach they can find? I used to admire Alabama's reverence for their old coach. The guy is the epitome of a coaching icon... but now i find it kinda creepy. Let it go people. Its time to move on to the next era of Alabama football. Guess what? The next era of successful Alabama football may not resemble Bear-ball at all. Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer were great coaches too but you don't see Oklahoma running the wishbone anymore do you?

Its long past time to move on and get with the new era of football. Forget all this 'Bear-guy' crap and get yourself a top coaching candidate.. and if you gotta go to the assistant ranks and take a flier on a guy? Then do it. I think doing the Texas plan and finding a guy like a Mack Brown to come to your program (a guy who turned a so-so program into a contender) is a great way to go (hence, why I liked the Rich Rodriguez attempt) but you're no longer in the Spurrier class. The sooner Alabama comes to grips with this idea the better (it may be during this search or it may be down the line).

ND and the Genius go DOWWWWWN!!

2006-11-29T16:35:00.000-08:00

aaah, what a game.

So I guess it doesn't matter that Weis used 2/3rds of his practice time for whichever service academy he played before the SC game to practice for SC (another "genius" move according to Lee Corso of ESPN). When you play the likes of Stanford, Army, Navy, North Carolina and Air Force leading up to your matchup with USC you may find yourself overmatched speed wise.

Some of the best complaints about USC after the ND blowout...

"Well when we play at the Coliseum, you guys get to play us at the end of the year after you've worked out all the kinks in your team! Why not play us in November when you play in our house?! Cowards!"

Right. Like ND didn't have the same ability to work out their kinks. The fact is ND got exposed. They had two tough games on their schedule and they got blown out. There's no denying it. ND fans should just be thankful that they've got their free pass to yet another undeserved BCS game. Take your ridiculous freebie payoff that you don't deserve and be quiet please.

"If we didn't drop passes we'd have won that game."

Oh this is a fun game to play. How about this one. If the punt isn't blocked and Booty doesn't sprain his ankle (leading to two int's) then this game is over in the mid-2nd quarter. Or how about this one... if the ref's called push off penalties then Szmardjiafawera's td catch is waved off and not one but two of McKnights big gains are negated. We can do this tit for tat back and forth with ND fans all day and guess what happens in the end? SC still ends up winning by a ton.

"We equaled the same yardage that SC had. The game was a lot closer than you'd think."

Wrong. ND also had the advantage in turnovers... and got NOTHING. Two big plays... the 60 yard scramble (which was a ridiculous fluke) and the 40 yard reception by McKnight where he pushed the corner off and sent him flying sideways are 100 yards of that offense... and both resulted in ZERO points. Also, Quinn's number may've looked good by the end of the day but SC basically went into a prevent in the 4th quarter (where his numbers started to improve). In the first half (y'know when the game was on the line) Quinn was 8 of 23. Ouch.

More on Brady. Quinn has this "media darling" persona but he's kindof a prick. He was labeled "the man born to beat SC" by D'Marco Farr (yes, i know he's a moron) earlier in the day... and the guy who was "born" to beat SC went 0-4. Some birthright. Anyhow, back to Quinn being a prick. In the broadcast of the game he refused to talk to his OC up in the box... that reeks of arrogance. So what if the game isn't going your way? Listen to your coaches. You're supposed to be a "leader". Act like it and stop being a poor sport. Second, his comments about the heisman and Troy Smith earlier in the week stuck of a fragile ego. He said something about stats (uh, brady its easy to have good stats when you haven't played an even decent team since September) and then finished his statement about the heisman by saying (about Troy Smith) "lets see where we end up during the draft". This kids ego is so fragile when talking about the Heisman (a college award)... an award he's obviously not going to win, he can't help but throw in a cheap shot about how he's going to get drafted higher (which is also obvious). Its not really even part of the topic... but his insecure ass has to bring it up. Sad. Very sad.

I do have to say that it's very interesting watching the blowback to the whole 'genius' stuff. Now that ND loses 18 starters and SC returns pretty much their entire team (depending on NFL departures of course) the light has shown on Coach Front-butt (if there's a less flattering look than Weis' sweatshirt/sweatpants look it may be the shirt tucked into the khakis...good GOD does that emphasize his front-butt). Now the nation has come around to the idea that Weis' next big signature win over a quality opponent will be his first. Its not that he's a BAD coach... its that he's not NEARLY the genius or the 'icon' that he's made himself out to be. The hype got WAY ahead of the reality when it came to Weis (in large part to his and ND's own doing) and the blowback is tough for ND fans to handle.

Weis is now 2 years into his stint at ND and while there have been clear improvements there have also been some pretty clear faults. The D and O lines were both stacked w/upperclassmen yet they didn't only underperform this year, they actually regressed. Weis has yet to improve the D and his defensive recruiting leaves much to be desired. Weis is being outrecruited by Ron Zook of all people. If he's struggling to lock down top midwest targets in need areas then he's goin to struggle w/national recruiting when you're asking city kids to leave and head to cruddy ol South Bend.

So now the media and the nation is awake and things have almost flipped. Now ND wasn't a worthy opponent the whole time. Now they were overrated and now SC doesn't deserve a NC bid if/when they run the table. Fact is SC has blowout win over significant opponents and is peaking at the right time. Sorry Florida... style points count in this broken system and you don't have nearly enough. Barely beating any decent team on your schedule and underperforming vs. some of the weaker teams does not a great championship case make. Oh and apparently Urban Meyer went to the Mack Brown school of whining your way into the BCS cuz he's bitchin like a madman about deserving the NC game. Try the Pete Carroll route... just focus on what you can control and let the chips fall where they may. Things may change if/when UM is kept out of the national championship game but you don't hear Lloyd Carr making a peep do you?

Anyhow, i can't believe we're here but SC is at the end of a 'rebuilding year' with a chance to get into the championship game yet again. Its all gravy from here on out. Sure i want SC to tie UCLA's streak against ND and sure i want them to go to the NC game and beat Ohio State but even if those things don't happen i'll be a happy camper. I expected to lose 2 games this year at least and now it appears that that'll be what we'll lose at MOST (and one of those two losses may be in the NC game... a place i 'd never thought we'd be).

A couple final notes about ND...

1. It's great that the nation is finally coming around and questioning the 'genius' label that Weis has given himself. Look at his record so far. He's got them moving in the right direction but he's no Carroll. Its not genius to perform like ND did. Its not genius to not mix things up when coaches adjust to your tendencies. Its not genius to have an upperclassmen laden team regress when you've now had two full years with them.

2. Some Domer fans got their panties into a bunch over this lil mini-"controversy" that happened the other day. Basically it's this. At a booster banquet Pete Carroll said Charlie Weis looked like he was going outside to get the morning paper not coach a football game. ND fans got wind of it and screamed nonstop about what an asshole Carroll is for saying such a thing (btw: Was he wrong? Weis DID look like he was on the way out to get his morning paper. It wasn't like he called him an enormous fatass who probably hasn't seen his wang since the 80's... which, by the way is ALSO probably true). The funny thing is this... Weis claimed that his suitcase was lost during the flight out (doesn't ND charter their flights?) yet he had a suit on when they walked into the stadium? If there were any reason to actually care or look into this i'm guessing someone would but it really doesn't matter much. Weis sure didn't look the part of a 'genius' on the sidelines last Saturday though... unless you're talking 'too insanely smart to think about things like clothes'... but when your team is getting blown off the field and you're 2 of 6 on 4th downs (a few of them VERY poorly conceived) you mostly just look like a slob who doesn't care to dress himself even decently. Listen, the fat gut and the crew cut tell us that you've given up. You don't need the wardrobe to hammer the point home. We get it.

USC vs. ND tickets

2006-11-23T11:01:00.000-08:00

This game has everything you could really want out of
this rivalry (cept for national title implications...
but since SC's the only one who REALLY has a shot its
doesn't have that one lil extra bit of incentive for
both teams). Anyhow, this article is enough to make
you consider selling your ticket no?...

USC-Notre Dame tickets are scarce, expensive
By Ben Bolch, Times Staff Writer
November 22, 2006

Related Stories
- Unrivaled moments
So, you're not a big-time USC athletics donor and you
still need tickets to Saturday's USC-Notre Dame game
at the Coliseum for less than the down payment on a
luxury SUV?

Steve Lopes has three words for you: "There aren't
any."

Lopes, the USC senior associate athletic director who
oversees ticket operations, said the school has only a
handful of tickets left — and they are reserved for
athletics donors with last-minute needs.

Fighting Irish fans don't have it any better. Notre
Dame officials say this game is the most-requested
road game in school history. Josh Berlo, director of
ticket operations, said his office fielded 33,251
requests — and that's only from the alumni and
benefactors who participated in a ticket lottery last
summer.

With three days to go, the game is already the No. 3
college football game in StubHub's six-year history —
exceeded only by the 2006 Rose Bowl and last week's
Ohio State-Michigan game — according to a company
spokesman.

Tickets via StubHub had been purchased from $80 to
$2,352 as of Tuesday afternoon, and a ticket
originally priced at $65 was on sale for as much as
$2,700. The average price for a ticket sold was $383
per seat, down from $446 for last year's game in South
Bend, Ind. But the drop in price didn't reflect
demand, because StubHub already had sold four times as
many tickets to this year's game; it could mostly be
pinned on the Coliseum's containing roughly 13,000
more seats than Notre Dame Stadium.

On EBay, two tickets on the 20-yard line were going
for more than $900.

Tickets on broker barrystickets.com were selling from
$228 to $2,700. Ken Solky, vice president of the
National Assn. of Ticket Brokers, suggested purchasing
tickets only from an NATB member such as Barry's
because the organization offered a 200% refund
guarantee if a member broker failed to deliver a ticket.

Booty's Dorm Room

2006-11-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

Aaah the dorms. So fancy. Check out Booty's crib...

Sports Illustrated

i like where he keeps his championship rings.

Pete Carroll hates Bellotti

2006-11-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

So after Bellotti pulled that "challenge the replay"
bullshit (seriously, i've never even heard of that.
even the announcers were puzzled) carroll gets the
explanation from the ref's about whats going on and
what you see in this video is him looking across to
bellotti and sayin, well, y'know...

Video

oh and i guess the refs STILL got the replay thing
wrong even after looking at it for 20 minutes. The
ball WAS tipped (they got that part right at least)
but it was tipped by an OREGON player... oh and the
oregon player who tipped it? He ALSO stepped out of
bounds before coming back to touch the ball first. So
on a play where TWO oregon players touched the ball
illegally they look at it for 20 minutes, come up with
the wrong call and give them a TD they didn't deserve.
Thanks Pac10 ref's.

Btw: Carroll and Bellotti do genuinely hate each
other. So its good that we fucking own them in
recruiting and on the field (they have us beat in
locker rooms though. thank you phil knight). I guess
bellotti was complaining about the lighting in the
visitors locker room before the game AND the path the
visiting team has to take to get to the field. He
probably just forgot how it goes at the Coliseum...
since it's been SIX years since those pussies played
SC at home. Fuckin Bellotti.

--SC Kid

General College Football stuff...

2006-11-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

A couple random quick hit thoughts about the college football season...

-Is there a coach who's made himself more money this year than Bobby Petrino? He's in even better shape than Meyer was at Utah a couple years ago... since he's already got a pretty big money contract and is likely to get big time college AND pro offers (i wouldn't be shocked to see Dan Snyder or some other NFL owner w/big pockets go hard after this guy). Miami's also gotta be very interested in him if they can't get Butch Davis back.

-I'm gonna miss John L Smith. He's insane. Hopefully he lands somewhere where he can have regular press conferences. I'd like to see him as an OC again and see what he can do up in the box again.

-Steve Slaton is the best RB i've seen this year (including Peterson) but him sitting out the 3rd quarter of the Louisville game was a heartless, gutless move. So your hands are numb... still go out there and function as a decoy. The report on ESPN was that head coach Rich Rodriguez kept turning around and asking him if he could go in and he kept saying he wasn't ready. That's bs. Biggest game of the year, national championship implications on the line... get your arse out there. I realize he'd fumbled twice in a row but carry the ball w/the other hand and show up in the big moment. That's what makes a champion. He's going to make a ton of money on the next level cuz he's got good vision and true breakaway speed but that 3rd quarter showed me that the guy doesn't have the heart of a champion. He's a great RB but he's soft for not going into that game. If i were his teammate i'd be pissed. I'm reminded of how Terrell Davis behaved when he was rendered partially blind in the Superbowl with Denver years ago... he went into the game as a decoy despite not being able to see... cuz the other team'd know it was a pass if he wasn't in. That's (to me) what a champion does... he does whatever it takes and serves in whatever capacity he can to help the team. For the Louisville game at least, Slaton was the anti-Terrell Davis (sure he went in in the 4th quarter but that game was in the BALANCE in the 3rd and his team needed him. Either he didn't sense that moment or he didn't rise to it... either way he's accountable IMO.

-Charlie Weis is fat.

-The Big 12 is a joke of a conference. The Pac10 gets the amount of crap that the Big12 SHOULD get. There are literally two decent teams in the entire conference. One elite one and one good one and the rest are just mediocre teams that fight over the scraps. one of those mediocre teams ends up winning around 7 or 8 games and they just become the 'good' team that year but this is a crap conference. they don't even play anyone good out of conference either. What an embarassment. They're one texas defection away from being the Big East. Texas is being talked up as being THE team in '07 and with their schedule i don't see why not... they don't play anyone. One rivalry game against OU and the rest of the games are creampuffs. Congrats on "earning" your BCS game.

-One thing i love about the college game is this... there are mistakes. In pro these atheletes are insane and so well coached. No one really messes up that bad. Big plays are fewer and farther between and everything just feels more mechanical. Its like what makes the game fun and fun to watch has been so analyzed and dissected that the games become too scientific for its own good. In college the players are only allowed to practice a certain amount per week and only allowed to focus SO much on football... the result is more mistakes. Sure it can mean the game is sloppier but IMO it also means the game is more exciting. you've got some kid who was in high school 5 months ago and now he's playing corner on an island against an all american who's 4 years older than him and knows all the tricks in the book. You don't get that kinda stuff in the pros as much. I love the college game. I love football in general so i still follow the pros but for my money college is better for a lot of reasons... not the least of which is the mistakes that're made and how your teams life feels like its on the line every week. Now if we could only figure out a decent way to have an abbreviated playoff we'd be all good (i still say using the BCS ranking system and having the top 8 teams do a "playoff" would be the best way).

-The analysts of college football are mostly dumba$$es. I appreciate that there are a TON of different teams and players and coaches to follow. Its an impossible task to ask that anyone know as much about ALL the teams as we individual fans do about our own team... but there are just so many announcers/analysts who have no idea what they're talking about its stunning. I know a lot of these guys are former coaches/players but my GOD they don't seem to do hardly any research. I for one do really like Kirk Herbstreit, Mike Gottfried and Chris Fowler. I think those guys do do their homework and try to stay even handed (Fowler in particular is good). But there are so many guys like Lou Holtz, Trev Alberts, Mark May, Lee Corso, D'Marco Farr, Dan Fouts, Craig James, etc, etc... that its just ridiculous. I know some people like and some people hate the guys i mentioned above but to me they're at BEST inconsistent. There really isn't anyone to fill the void of Keith Jackson is there? Too bad.

-The SEC bugs me. Sometimes they do have elite teams. Sometimes not. But EVERY year we have to listen to this crap about how whoever the team w/the best record in the SEC is is an elite team... oh and if they have 1 loss its just cuz its IMPOSSIBLE to run through the ELITE SEC without at least one loss. Bogus. Sometimes there ARE great defenses in the SEC. But there are also a LOT of sh*tty offenses as well. There seems to be no real impetus to discern that there may be a difference (or accountability when the analysts are way off COUGH Georgia COUGH)... and it appears that the national media is reluctant to criticize how anemic the SEC's offense's are (talented but anemic nonetheless).

-I really enjoyed the break from ND being in the national spotlight. I do really hate that basically any 2 loss ND team will make it into the BCS. Their schedule sucks. Navy? Army? Airforce? North Carolina? Who's in charge of scheduling? the Ohio State AD? (yeah yeah... they played Texas, big deal)

-Props to Bill Doba. While everyone is picking Zona as the sleeper (which, btw if everyone is picking you, you're no longer a 'sleeper') Wazzu went out and is the surprise of the year (well them and ASU sucking so much). That program had been in regression for a few years but they've really put together a nice squad this year. Props to Doba. I've always liked his laid back, self-depricating, nice guy approach. Very refreshing.

-I have to wonder if Rich Rodriguez will abandon WVU one of these days. He's a WVU alum so maybe he'll just stay there and be happy... but he's got to be one of those coaches that programs like Miami go 'hmmm'. I know his offensive system isn't really a PRO system but it works and it is exciting. I wonder if it'd play in a bigger conference. And more importantly i wonder if he'll be interested in taking it to another level.

-I love that South Carolina hasn't really taken off under Spurrier. If there were ever a coach who needed some humility it was that dude. The guy put some AMAZING offensive teams together at UF but i'm glad to see him brought back down to earth a bit (if the NFL didn't already do that to him). I get the sense that he's just riding out his last few years in the coaching game, taking the salary and moving on. He's reportedly not a big recruiting effort guy and when you're the South Carolina head coach... ya kinda need to be. Sorry USCjr. Looks like you're still an also-ran.

-Charlie Weis is really really fat.

-If you were going to make a list of the top head coaches who'd make awesome assistants but aren't cut out for the head coaching game is there any doubt that the list would start with Ron Zook? That guy can flat out recruit. He can't really get it done as the head guy but MAN can he recruit. Who wouldn't want that guy as their recruiting coordinator? Heck, put him in charge of the PAT holders and let him earn his salary on the recruiting trail. He'd bring in a ton of talent. Ralph Friedgen would probably be another... and if Weis doesn't start turning that D around he may be one of those guys too.

-It was a cool sight seeing the Penn St players gather around Paterno after he got injured last week. The guy is an icon and IMO should be allowed to go however he wants (although i think the guy should see the writing on the wall... but lets not forget Penn State football IS Joe Paterno). Shame on Craig James for his classless comments about JoePa. I really can't stand James as an analyst and i don't agree with his stupid take on JoePa (but lets face it... JoePa is a lil long in the tooth. James wasn't lyin) but he shouldn't be fired for them. He SHOULD (IMO) be fired for the hundreds of other stupid takes he's had but not for this one thing. I don't like what he said but lets not be TOO sensitive. That's my take on it at least.

-Maybe i'm nuts but I really do think that one day i'm going to see Jeff Fisher as USC's head coach. I LOVE PC and i don't want him going anywhere until he wants to go but the SC/Fisher connection seems pretty direct and legit. We'll see. Oh and speaking of SC, i can't believe its been years since we've heard about Garrett meddling w/the program (there was a story about him chewing out one of the players a week or so ago if i'm not mistaken). Remember the days of JRII and Hackett when Garrett was supposedly on the field yelling at players. I'm amazed we haven't heard about more of that. I've never been a big Garrett fan and i think PC basically saved his job. I think the guy loves glory and loves the spotlight (and the way he's glomed on PC and taken credit for his hire is sorta laughable since PC lobbied for the job and he was still Garrett's 3rd or 4th choice). Anyhow, i'm not stoked that we've seen these days return but i'm pretty sure PC has enough moxie and enough clout to go 'get the F off my field Mike' if MG were to get out of line.

In conclusion i'd just like to say that Charlie Weis is an enormous fatass. Thank you.

The All-Meltdown team...

2006-11-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

One thing i love in life is coaches who lose their shit in press conferences. They should give an award out every year. Call it the Jim Mora award. No one will top how he's lost his mind over the years in press conferences. I mean who can forget "Playoffs?... PLAYOFFS?!". You can just say those two words to most football fans and they start laughing, knowing exactly what you're talking about. In fact i think it's a great halloween idea to go as Jim Mora and scream non-sensically about any and everything you see. "What's this in my hand? Whiskey? WHISKEY?! I can't even hold down a beer and you're talkin about WHISKEY?!". Although i do have to say his meltdown where he said that everything in the world sucked is my personal favorite. Something to the effect of "The offense sucked. The defense sucked. The special teams SUCKED! The coaching SUCKED! The playcalling SUCKED! We shouldn't have even been on the FIELD!' it just had this momentum to it. Like he kept getting madder as he got into exactly everything that sucked about the Colts that day. Oh and by the way, Jim Mora Jr hasn't carried the mantle very well for ol pops. Its a shame that he hasn't had at least ONE big meltdown since taking the reigns in Atlanta. You've got a legacy kid. Live up to it already.

The reason i'm bloggin about this today is because we just got word that John L. Smith has been fired today. John L. Smith... the guy who slapped himself in the face during a press conference. The guy who yelled at his coaches during his sideline interview during a game last year (i think it was the Penn St game, but it may've been Ohio State). Well John... after watching this crazy MSU season unfold it's no surprise that you're done. You'd still probably make a great OC for someone but boy o boy did you crap the bed with your behavior the past few years at MSU. Still, ya gotta love the entertainment value of a guy like him. There's always room in football for unstable coaches. And how come you don't really see other coaches lose it the same way that football coaches do? Sure you get the occasional Chaney/Calipari square off in college basketball. A Hal McCray or a Lou Pinella in baseball once in a while, but by and large football has the best coaching breakdowns in sports.

So as a farewell to John L Smith, i've put together my favorite meltdown coaches. The Jim Mora awards go TO!...

Jim Mora
John L. Smith
Denny Green
Bill Parcells
and
Mike Ditka

These guys should all have stressful jobs and all have press conferences afterwards to discuss what went wrong... i don't care what job they have.

Weis and Carroll: A Primer...

2006-10-31T16:17:00.000-08:00

Continuing the theme of the previous post, what I find most interesting about Weis is how the way he runs his program compares to how Carroll runs SC and how that adds another layer of interest to the rivalry. Weis and Carroll are basically polar opposites. Each has their own merits to their philosophy and each has their drawbacks. Here's how I see it...

Weis:
Angry
In your face
Holds his players accountable
The "break you down, THEN build you up" style
Tense
Tough
Innovative offense
Creative playcalling
Risk taker
Arrogant
Punishes mistakes

Carroll:
Jovial
A "players coach"
Emphasizes the "fun" of football
Wants his players to play loose
Innovative Defensive mind
Loose
Approachable
Rewards good play
Positive

Now as far as I see it there are positives to both ways of looking at it and negatives to both ways as well. I think the key is knowing WHICH players to pull which philosophy with. Certainly there are players who would react to Weis' style and go 'screw this guy. who is he to talk to me like that? respect me like the man i am.' (we've seen examples of this with transfers, surprisingly slow recruiting of late and things like that) and there are players who'd test Carroll's limits and if he doesn't keep them in line behaviorally they may get out of line and get into some trouble (we've seen examples of this as well). Carroll's loose style is so that players play loose and have fun. They don't play tense but they may not be focusing on the little things that can make a difference and that may cost them. Weis' players may focus on the little things but they also may play so tight that they play in fear of messing up and as a result... they mess up more. Like i said, positives and negatives to both philosophies.

The last thing i find interesting is that you've got a midwest school (traditionally a defensive school that plays conservative offense) with a top offensive coordinator and a west coast school (typically an innovative offensive school that is "soft" on D) that has a top defensive coordinator. It's just so opposite of script. You've got the jovial, fun loving, players coach, charming, charismatic, "hey lets have some fun!" kinda guy and then you've go the curmudgeon, tough, intimidating, demanding, chubby, "mess up and it's your ass" task master in Weis. Their styles couldn't be more different and they both work for different reasons. Personally I'd MUCH rather have Carroll as my coach and I have a hard time believing that heading into the future that kids will by and large respond well to Weis' style unless he's winning a LOT. Kids will always gravitate to winners but in my opinon modern kids will also gravitate away from the tough "in your face" guys. Its going to be a tough sell for Weis if he's not near the NC game every year. I know he's been elected legend status after a year and a half but there are some tea leaves that're reading 'this may not be as easy as ND nation would have you believe' out there. Should be fun to watch unfold. I know the rivalry has taken another level of interest.

The 60 Minutes Weis piece and the OSU loss...

2006-10-31T15:43:00.000-08:00

First off, SC was going to lose this year. At LEAST once, if not twice. The OSU loss was a long time coming. This is probably ridiculously optimistic thinking but if you turn the ball over 4 times on the road, don't get it back once (yet ANOTHER game where SC doesn't cause turnovers), and give up a horrible special teams td... you shouldn't have ANY chance of being in that game. Yet it still came down to the final play. Also, on the optimistic front... it sure seemed to me that SC discovered more about itself in this game than it had in the previous 2 or 3 wins. The playbook FINALLY opened up and JD Booty really rose to the challenge. He's becoming more and more a guy you can look at and go 'This is a guy we can depend on getting top play out of week in and week out'. Now if we can just get a DL to consistenly pressure the qb and DB's to make plays on the ball we might be fine (seriously, how many mediocre qb's has this D made look good this year? I actually like the "bend but don't break" D cuz i think it's a solid philosophy but we almost seem EAGER to bend.

If you ask me, Nick Holt and Lane Kiffin have been disasters as coordinators this year. Carroll turned over control of his D to Holt and we've seen all the aggressiveness and playmaking vanish into thin air. Holt is very very conservative... which is NOTHING like the typical Pete Carroll defense's of years past. Why he gave control to a guy like that I'll never know. Holt is fire and brimstone on the sidelines... but his defensive calls are all 'lets play it safe'. And its not as if Carroll didn't know what Holt was about. He was the SC LB coach 3 years ago before leaving to be the head coach at Idaho (where he promptly failed). I'd actually heard word that Holt was being groomed to succeed Carroll if he were to leave the program in the next few year. Good GOD I hope that's not the case.

Anyhow, 60 minutes ran a piece on Charlie Weis this weekend and I went into it thinking it was going to be a puff piece about how great a father he is despite the rigors of head coaching at Notre Dame. But i was very surprised, and pleasantly so, that it appeared to be a much more honest take on the coach. I was concerned that they'd go into the whole 'he's a legendary coach already and he's a super super guy! Look! He takes care of his daughter and his family! He turns tough home losses to USC into life lessons for his son! He's superdad AND supercoach!', but thankfully they stayed away from a lot of that stuff and they did cover the ugly side a bit... Like Weis' language and the way he talks to his coaches... his arrogance... the fact that he's never played football... his gut (they said he was "6'1" 300"... yeah RIGHT)... etc, etc... Honestly, i was most surprised how he talked to his coaches. In short... he's pretty much a prick. I know the other way of looking at it is that he demands excellence. And I realize that he's FAR from the only coach to behave this way on gameday (NFL films did a great bit a while ago after Tampa Bay won their Superbowl and they showed Chucky talkin to his staff and ranting like a maniac), but still... if the video is any measure, the guy talks down to just about everyone.

SC's Loss

2006-10-29T19:19:00.000-08:00

SC basically did everything they could to give that
game away on the road. Its kind of a miracle that SC
had a chance at the end seeing how they turned the
ball over 4 times and didn't get a single turnover of
their own. The weird thing about the "fallout" after
the game is that people were blaming booty and calling
for Sanchez to come in (which is straight up moronic).
Well Booty completed 62% of his passes, threw 3 td's
to 1 int and had over 400 yards. Can't do much better
than that. He's the reason we had a shot in the game
at all. It was crazy though... when SC got way down in
the game they FINALLY started calling some pass plays
down the field... shit that was wide open and it's
like 'uh, how come we haven't done some of this crap
all year?'. I think we'll see a lot more of that the
rest of the year. In a weird way there was more to be
encouraged about in this los than there has been in
the past two wins. Although the D STILL isn't causing
any turnovers (not even a caused fumble that's
recovered by the offense really), they did finally put
pressure on the qb (with blitzes)... oh and other than
the Arkansas and Arizona games i don't think we've
played against a qb who wasn't white hot against us
for at least part of the game. Frustrating year and
it's real frustrating listening to fans who're calling
for Booty's head like he's the problem and Sanchez is
the solution (the assumption is that it's addition by
subtraction but Booty is the reason SC's even in the
games).

-- SC Guy

He Said, Dude Said (He edition)...

2006-10-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest... i'm not that excited about the slate of games this weekend. Really until the end of the season starts hitting i'm probably not going to be excited about any weekend in particular. It also doesn't help that SC is on a bye this week. Although to be honest, i think it helps SC a GREAT deal that they're on a bye this week. This is a team that is beaten up and decimated by injuries. I think both the coaches and the players could use the extra week to get some of their shit together (particularly the playcalling and the DL). The word is SC's switching from a 3-4 to a 4-3 in order to generate more of a pass rush. I was a BIG fan of them switching to the 3-4 at the beginning of the year because i didn't think much of the SC DL's and the LB's are outstanding. Well it doesn't matter how outstanding your LB's are if you're giving qb's 7 seconds to throw routinely. I also figured we'd be more of a blitzing 3-4 than we have been (Holt's been surprisingly conservative), but even when we do our blitzing lber is getting picked up by the opposing OL pretty steadily and regularly. The modified 3-4 has been a failure IMO. I'm happy to hear that we'll be going to the 4-3. But this puts the pressure SQUARELY on the shoulders of Kyle Moore, Chris Barrett, Sedrick Ellis and Lawrence Jackson (particularly Moore and Jackson). Its time we got some pressure on these qb's and its time for the D to step up and carry this team. Anyway, on to the picks!...

No. 5 Texas at No. 17 Nebraska

Both teams are 6-1. Colt McCoy's numbers are great... against the soft underbelly that is the Big 12 schedule. The Big 12 I think gets a free pass from the media because southern fans are insane but this is a conference right on par with the Big East in terms of how bad most of the teams are. You may think it's ironic for a Pac10 fan to say that but the mediocre teams in the Pac10 (Washington State, Oregon State, Arizona State, Arizona, UCLA) are (IMO) far superior to the mediocre teams in the big 12 (Kansas, Iowa State, Colorado, Texas A&M Texas Tech, Kansas State... i mean freakin BAYLOR is in 3rd place in the Big 12 South!). Its pretty much a conference full of mediocre teams with (at best) two elite teams per year. This year Texas is the only chance at an elite team... and I'm not sold on em. I was at the beginning of the year (i predicted them to win against Ohio State) but i'm not as much anymore. I really don't think much of Bill Callahan at Nebraska. I think he's a good recruiter and he's got that program SLOWLY moving in the right direction but to me he's a guy who knows his team is a year away and he's playing it safe (he certainly did against SC). A win here would be a HUGE boost to Nebraska's profile. They could use it. I'm very tempted to call for an upset here but.... ah screw it, y'know what? I will call for the upset here. Nebraska to win!

Iowa at No. 2 Michigan

Iowa sucks. They lost to Indi-freakin-ana last week (btw: the Indiana coaches on field rant about how their program is moving up in the world and they're on their way to the top was the most heavy handed effort to trump up interest in a program i've ever seen. No way that guy believe what he was saying. Indiana football sucks. It always has and it always will. Why not just finish that interview with 'Please come here recruits! Please! We're going places!'). Anyhow, Drew Tate has been exposed as a big time Heisman pretender. The Michigan D is on top of its game and coach Ron English (just promoted this past year to DC) has to be one of the hotter coaches in college football (i for one hope he's not hired at ASU once Koetter gets fired because this guy has been recruiting the west coast effectively for years. You always hear his name on the lips of top west coast recruits.. which is rare, especially for a midwest guy). Oh and by the way Dirk Koetter is getting fired at the end of this year. The only one more sure to be fired is Larry Coker. Anyhow, on to the game. Michigan is tough on D, tough on O and Iowa is reeling. It may be closer than people think cuz Iowa does have pride and Ferentz is a good coach but I'd be shocked if Michigan lost this game. Michigan wins!

UCLA at No. 10 Notre Dame

This is the only game i'm really interested in this week... mostly because its SC's two biggest rivals. There's no winning and no losing for an SC fan here. One of our rivals WILL lose. It helps SC most if ND loses so i'll be pulling for UCLA (plus it would be nice for SOMEONE else in the Pac10 to do something decent on the national stage... and it'd sure be nice to keep Karl Dorrell coaching in Westwood as long as possible). Anyhow, i don't see anyway that UCLA pulls this win off. UCLA does have a pretty good D but they're going to be on the field ALL day. Even if this game is close through 3 quarters (i doubt it but that may happen) I see ND pulling away big time in the last quarter. UCLA's O is good but Cowan isn't very good. He's clearly a backup. Functional and if you had an Adrian Peterson and a great D you could probably do really well with him... but he's not going to bring you to the next level. He's a gamer (meaning he'll make the most of his abilities) but not a playmaker (meaning he'll make something out of nothing or bring his team to the next level). He's just not. There's no shame in it. ND meanwhile is as healthy as they've been all year (per the 2nd fattest coach in football Charlie Weis (sorry... Friedgen still has you beat big fella. Keep working at it)). And its time to start the Heisman push for ol Brady Quinn. Its statistic time. Watch how many pass plays are called when ND is up by 28 on the Bruins in the 4th quarter... thats for you Heisman voters. Long story short i see an ND blowout here and I don't see how, short of a HORRIBLE day full of turnovers by Quinn that UCLA stands a chance to pull this one out. ND by a lot.

SC vs. Bye

I've said it before and i'll say it again.. i'm not going to predict SC wins by a blowout versus ANYONE the rest of the year... including 'bye'. I say SC wins by 7.

-He

The Ultimate Debate...

2006-10-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

Notre Dame and UCLA play this weekend. Its both an SC fans dream and nightmare.

The Dream:

One of SC's biggest rivals is guaranteed to lose this weekend.

The Nightmare:

SC fans are forced to decide which team they want to root for... err, which team they want to root against more.

To me the argument is simple. Which teams loss helps SC more? And to me the answer is simple. Notre Dame's.

ND will make a BCS game EVERY year they lose 2 or less games. For ND to get knocked out of the BCS they HAVE to lose 3 games. SC may give them a game later this year but they could use another loss. One more BCS slot means more chances for SC to be in the BCS (if they suffer a loss that is).

UCLA losing doesn't really give much to USC. They're not in national title contention and this isn't a conference game, so there's really not much for SC to lose by UCLA winning. So to me the answer is clear. Root for UCLA, SC fans.

Now as far as what I THINK will happen, here goes...

ND will roll. I don't think it'll be close. UCLA's backup qb is functional but not spectacular. He can get the job done if he has all the elements working for him, but A. I don't think that'll happen and B. Notre Dame is as healthy as they've been this year. Its time for ND's big Quinn for Heisman push (against the soft underbelly of their schedule). The UCLA D is better but they've got their holes. I look for Quinn to throw for a ton of yards, for Szmaralksjdfalksfadfja to have a couple big plays (his ypc average has really come down this year... i don't think that'll continue), and for UCLA to turn the ball over quite a bit. Oh and Dorrell is overmatched as a coach 90% of the time he lines his players up and this game is no exception.

Notre Dame 42 UCLA 14

USC Song Girls video

2006-10-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

Now if we could only get our hands on some yell leader footage. Oh man, nothing like a bunch of frat guys in tight sweaters and shorts, wrappin' their lips around a megaphone.

Upset watch!

2006-10-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, so lets look at a quick smattering of the games this weekend and see how good my upset prediction skillz are...

No 19 Mizzouri vs Texas A&M

This is tempting in the way that Mizzou is playing above their level right now and A&M is usually a good team and they have the talent. Still, if you saw how A&M lost to Tech you'd probably agree with me that A&M is dead in the water and Franchione is gonna be shown the door. Verdict: No upset! Mizzouri wins

No 2 Florida vs. No 11 Auburn

I'm not sure you can call it an upset game when the 'underdog' is ranked 11th in the nation. Still, I don't think Auburn was really all they were cracked up to be. They've got a good D (called 'great' because the SEC offense's don't offer much in terms of creativity) but Kenny Irons has been a big disappointment this year... so much so that no one even talks about him being off the Heisman radar. I do really think that this is one of those "great" games that really isn't at the end of the day. Auburn was probably looking ahead to Florida and got caught by Arkansas... but i don't think it'll matter much cuz UF's got more on O for Auburn to keep up with. Verdict: No upset! Florida wins.

No 4 Michigan vs. Penn State

Boy if you read enough articles you start to think that losing just their starting WR means that Michigan is now an average team again. Uuuuh, hasn't SC lost Jarrett, Smith, 3 fullbacks, a handful of O and D linemen and their starting free safety? They get by. Michigan will to. Manningham is a great deep threat but Penn State isn't NEARLY the Penn State they were last year. This is a D you can move the ball against and they don't have the experience to hang. UM should walk here. Verdict: No upset! Michigan wins.

No 18 Oregon vs. UCLA

Oregon looked unbeatable vs. a reeling ASU team then got embarassed at Cal last week. UCLA looked brutal against UDub and functional last week vs Arizona. Oregon should be looking to bounce back and prove something after getting embarassed last week. UCLA's also got a backup qb playin for the next month or so. Oh but wait... its strength on strength and the UCLA D is underrated. Oregon is similar to many ASU teams of recent years. Great offensive stats but their D is weak and they'll crumble if you can pressure them (easier said than done with the mobile Dennis Dixon out there). Still, i think Cal provided the blueprint for how to both attack and defend against Oregon. A much improved UCLA D (headed by former SC defensive backs coach Dwayne Walker) i think holds the Oregon O in check, Pat Cowan (the capable but not spectacular Bruin backup QB) does enough to put up around 28 points and pulls out a victory here. Verdict: Upset time baby! UCLA wins.

Why I'm not concerned about USC's poll (heh heh) position...

2006-10-12T12:08:00.000-07:00

btw: Pole Position was a sweet video game. Why don't more cars drive like that? It's so simple. High gear and low gear. Get it together Detroit (errr Japan)!

Here's the deal... SC isn't that good. They'll very likely lose one game and likely lose two. Too many weaknesses have already been exposed and they're just going up against the weak part of the schedule. No big play leaves mediocre teams in with SC and SC doesn't have the dominant D or the dominant O to make up for it. So i'm not that concerned about it. IF SC were to run the table I think we'd have a great argument for making the NC game (and frankly the only other school that'd have an argument against us is Florida IF they run the table... have you seen Florida's schedule btw?) but the chances of UF and SC both going undefeated are pretty slim. In other words if that scenario rears its ugly head there'll be a lot to contemplate and discuss... but the chances are so slim its hardly worth thinking or worrying about (oh and there's always the chance that Ohio State could lose to Michigan AND Michigan could lose along the way so this whole thing could become a mess... resulting in some bullsh*t West Virginia - Notre Dame National Championship game).

The optimistic word out of SC is that there are a lot of injuries and they haven't opened up the playbook yet... and i'm sure with the injuries and youth there's an element of truth to that. There also hasn't been much of a pass rush and the D isn't causing turnovers like it normally does. Those last two things HAVE to improve and now. The playbook argument probably has some traction to it but lets be real here... if you're up by 7 in the 2nd half, you've got yourself a ballgame.... yeah, you can talk about strategy all you want (keeping your plays from your opponents who you'll be facing the rest of the year) but that won't amount to much if you don't win the CURRENT game. You'd call those plays right? For whatever reason those plays just aren't being called (when was the last time SC called a center screen? or a pass to the rb's in the flat? There seriously appears to be 15 plays in the USC playbook currently and we double that number by running then to the left and the right. Rollout passes to the te and wr (4... 2 to the left and 2 to the right). Step back and throw to the split end (2). Step back and throw to the slot wr who rolls out with the split end blocking down (2). Run inside the tackles (2). Run outside the tackles (2), fade route along the sideline (2). Quick slant (2). (yes this is oversimplified and not exactly true but its generally true). Where's the wheel route? Where's the screens? Where are the draws? What happens when the talent disparity between SC and their opponents isn't so wide? (as it was with Wazzu and UDub)

A loss is coming and SC fans know it. The O has looked anemic and unfortunately the 32 year old Offensive Coordinator is basically unfireable because he's Pete Carroll's mentors son (bummer). I'm not yet willing to write Lane Kiffin (the aforementioned 32 year old OC) off as a failure but the results haven't been spectacular thus far (last year was a free pass... my neice could've coordinated that team to 25 points a game) and he's got to get this O together.

Arizona State

2006-10-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

He Said, Dude Said (He version)...

2006-10-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

A buncha good games coming up this weekend. So much so that I've gotta chime in on em early...

Oklahoma vs. Texas

Aaah. The Red River shootout. This game doesn't have the national championship implications of years past but there's still a bunch of talent on both sides of the field in this game. This could be Adrian Peterson's biiiiiiiig step into the heisman limelight. Big games IN big games is what he'll need and to continue to even BE in big games Peterson needs to dominate here and OU needs to win. I personally think that UT has more talent on their side of the ball and that their D is far superior (something is up with the OU D. They've had some mediocre offensive teams (cough UDub cough) move the ball on them). Colt McCoy didn't really do much in the Ohio State game and when he was called upon to do so he didn't exactly light it up. He's gotten healthy by beating up on the embarassing schedule of also-rans that UT has faced this year, but that's really the only thing keeping me from being 100% confident in UT winning this game (well that and the fact that just a couple years ago OU absolutely had UT's number). Anyhow, I think UT's simply got too much on D and that Paul Thompson isn't going to be able to get it done when it matters. I'll go Texas 24 Oklahoma 17

LSU vs. Florida

Aaaah. Another SEC game with "great" defenses. I love the "great defense" SEC argument. How about how poor and predictable the offenses are in this conference? Yes there are great athletes but the offenses are straight up predictable and boring. Somehow most people (at least media members) buy in an see 10-7 games as defensive battles and 'wars'. Not displays of offensive ineptitude and boring football. Oh well. That ain't gonna change soon cuz all the bubba's in the south LOOOOOVE them their football and whatever brand they play surely is the best. Anyhow, on to game analysis. I think Florida is a paper tiger. I think they have the look of a team waiting to be exposed by a talented opponent. I think one of the few things they have to their advantage in this game is that its at home. I think Chris Leak has underperformed compared to his ridiculous potential when he came in. I think the cries of "put Tebow in!" are both unjustified and stupid... but I also think they'll get louder after this game. LSU does have a legit D (my point isn't to say that the SEC D's aren't REAL good (some are) but that their statistical grade is VASTLY overrated because of all the mediocre to poor offenses they face). Jamarcus Russell is a pretty good qb. He's not Vince Young but he's pretty damn good in his own right. I think LSU marches in there and pushes Florida around. I think unless Wynn is healthy UF won't be able to run the ball and I think that Leak is gonna have to play out of his head to win this game. If he does he's a legit heisman candidate and UF may have a decent chance (even w/their tough schedule) to run the table. I doubt that all happens and i think LSU wins... in SEC style... LSU 17 Florida 14

Oregon vs. Cal

Honestly, this is the most interesting game of the week to me. Two REAL good looking teams (IMO the two best looking ones in the Pac 10). Two really good coaches and programs. A ton of great athletes on O in this game. Jaison Williams emerged as a big time playmaker last week vs ASU for Oregon (a guy SC missed out on for sure). Cal's got Desean Jackson (another guy SC missed out on big time) and it looks like Longshore and Dixon have both come into their own. Neither has REALLY been tested in a big pac10 game IMO as the guy who had to carry the load but Dixon's been asked to do a bit more than Longshore in his short experience. I think there's a slight edge in Oregon's favor there. Both teams have defensive issues and both teams have great running backs. Its really a close call. I give Cal a SLIGHT edge here since the game is at home and i think their D is better than Oregon's. UO looked like they were out to prove something vs ASU and they just stepped on their necks. I think we'll see a similar attitude next Saturday in Berkeley. I really think this game could end up being like a great heavyweight match between two highly motivated fighters. We're gonna see the football equivalent of haymaker after haymaker being thrown in this game. I think it'll be a real high scoring affair. And as a result the final score may not make it look as close as it really is. Cal 42 Oregon 30

USC vs. Washington

Well I thought i knew what i thought i knew last week. Turns out the SC D isn't as good as I thought. This is blatant homer perspective but i think a game like the Wazzu game is just what this team needed and is a fantastic learning opportunity for a young team. The SC db's hadn't been tested and to be honest it made me nervous because there are a lot of really good passing teams coming up who WERE going to test the Trojans secondary (i still can't believe nebraska didn't even try). Anyhow, from what i hear the SC coaching staff definitely respects this UDub team. The word is that UDub is well coached, doesn't take enormous risks but they're steady and a decent team. Not the pushover of the Gilbertson era (or even last year). On talent alone this is a blowout. I'd love to see a win where SC wasn't sweating it in the 4th quarter personally. SC has reason to be nervous since UDub had a better time in Tucson than SC did, played Oklahoma tough, and came back vs a decent UCLA team (and whats looking like a good UCLA D) to win convincingly. This is a team that believes in itself. Those teams are always tough cuz they'll keep fighting no matter what. This isn't a team that SC can break off a 21 point lead on in the 1st half then go to sleep on.

What i look for on the SC side is for them to start opening up the playbook a bit more and for SC to take a few more shots down the field for the big play. Dwayne Jarrett again may not play so look for Fred Davis and Steve Smith to get more receptions. I'd also look for another freshman to get in the mix and start making an impact on offense. The smart money is on Emmanuel Moody again, but don't be surprised if CJ Gable, Travon Patterson, Anthony McCoy or my personal favorite Vidal Hazelton step up in this game. Again Patrick Turner will be relied upon in the passing game to make something happen. There is a LOT of growth going on with this team as they come into their own (on both sides of the ball). Fred Davis has GOT to start beating the first tackler that comes up to him. He's routinely getting taken down by cornerbacks he outweighs by 60 lbs. He's gotta master the stiff arm or some jukes... and if/when he does his yards per catch average will shoot up about 6 yards a clip. Patrick Turner HAS to start becoming a threat down the field. Why jump balls aren't being tossed his way i'll never know (i know booty doesn't exactly throw balls with a high arc but c'mon. the kid is 6'5" throw a couple floaters his way and he'll make you look good). Booty i have to say is the story of the year for SC so far. The biggest question mark heading into the season and as of the Wazzu game he's now the most reliable aspect to this team. The running game has had issues, the defense has had a bunch of issues, but Booty's been steady. I think his stats are 10tds and 1 int. and he's connecting at around 65% or something. His yards per pass has to go up and it will when the big play starts to hit but so far i couldn't be much more pleased with his performance.

One last general note about the team before i get into the game... This SC team will lose 1-2 games this year and the reason is the DL. The mark of a good D is good pressure. The mark of a dominant D is consistently good pressure. SC got almost NO pressure vs. Wazzu. Blitz or no blitz WSU protected the qb and gave him days to throw... and that was a rebuilt OLine missing a ton of starters. That tells me all i really need to know about this D. The DL play will improve but what we're looking at is a problem of personnel. Its not like these guys will become great pass rushers over night. This is the team we have right now. Lawrence Jackson is a good DL and a good passrusher but he's yet to really get it done yet. Not even in terms of QB pressures. The turnover with DL coaches and injuries have hurt but there's really no excuse for their performance vs WSU. I don't care how good the db's are (they're good.. the PI penalties were a technique issue but they were RIGHT there with WSU's exceptional WR's) if you give a good D1 qb 7 seconds to throw he's going to find an open WR. That's what WSU did and that's what Alex Brink did. ND/Oregon/Cal will tear our D apart if we do that. I was hoping that our D was a massive strength this year. It looks to me like they're a strength but not the dominant unit I was hoping for... and the reason to me is the DL. Hopefully this means that SC will bring in some TOP DL recruits this coming year (Marvin Austin, Everson Griffin and Da'John Harris... i'm looking at you) cuz the personnell is (IMO) the issue.

Okay, now to the game. I think Booty has another good game... maybe even going for over 300 yards for the first time. I think Smith continues to show why he's SUCH a good WR. I think we see another frosh emerge for SC. I think we see Isaiah Stanback give our D fits (SC has a hard time with mobile qb's), I think we see the SC D bounce back and shut down the UDub run game (save for some Stanback scrambles) and I think we see the home crowd lift up the men of Troy and SC wins. SC 35 UDub 14

He said, Dude said...

2006-09-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

USC at Washington State
4pm

Yes, the USC offense has struggled the past two weeks. Yes the playcalling left something to be desired this past week. Yes Jarrett is likely out for this game and yes, if not for a muffed punt SC wouldn't have even scored 20 last week. Yes, yes, yes... In all the fallout amongst the SC fans following the Arizona 17 point win, what seemed to have been forgotten was the outstanding defensive play. Arizona wasn't even one-dimensional versus USC. The run was completely stuffed but they also couldn't pass. There was nowhere for them to go. The SC defenders were flying around the field. Now the O does need some work. The passing game is very conservative and teams don't respect SC's ability to go deep (mostly because we don't try to go deep very often and the few times we have this year we haven't connected... although we've been close). It was really good to see Moody breakout as a star at running back. That kid runs like he weighs 20 lbs more than he really does (he moves the pile which you don't find in many 190lb rbs). He also is one heck of a tackle breaker and his open field cuts are a thing to behold. Now i do definitely see a fumble problem coming for this kid down the line (i really don't like how loose he carries the ball), but all the signs are there that this kid is going to be our RB (along with Chauncey Washington).

I see the matchup with WSU as a breakout game for the O. The Wazzu D is aggressive and they've got pass rushers but I don't think they can hang with our WR's. It'll be on Booty to see the opportunities, be aggressive and go for it when he sees the chance. I think the SC D will be ALL over Alex Brink and not to be a jerk about a prediction but i wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Brink got knocked out of this game. The Wazzu OLine is decimated with injuries and Brink has been known to get rattled under pressure. I think Carroll will throw the house at Wazzu a few times in the first half and see if he can't disrupt their rhythm. I see yet another great game for the SC LB's and hopefully Lawrence Jackson will get his first sack. I hope that Chauncey Washington has a breakout game (i really do feel one is coming), and i think Fred Davis could emerge as Booty's go to guy in Jarrett's absence. One thing i love about this game from the SC perspective is that it'll give Patrick Turner, Chris McFoy and Vidal Hazelton opportunities to emerge in the passing game. These are 3 guys we're going to be relying on heaviliy next year. Patrick Turner especially needs to start stepping up and delivering on his enormous promise. He's 6'5" 230 and fast. He should dominate smaller corners. Hopefully this is his week to show what he can really do when he's given the opportunity. I think SC wins fairly heavily in this one. I'll even go so far as to say the SC offense puts up a good amount of points. USC 37 Wazzu 14

Ohio State at Iowa
5pm

This is probably the game of the week. Truth be told there aren't that many interesting games this week. Its a good weekend to spend some time with your girlfriend to cash in as many points as you'll need when the real interesting games start happening the second half of the season. Anyhow, this is probably Ohio State's last real test. I personally think Iowa is overrated right now, but Kirk Ferentz is a very very good coach. I'll be very surprised if he doesn't jump to the NFL in the next 5 years (or possibly to a huge program like Miami... not that Iowa isn't a good place but I could see him taking a shot at the next level). Drew Tate is a very good, accurate and efficient qb. Ohio State's D is talented but i'm still not sold on them. I could see Iowa putting up a good amount of points in this game. However I don't think Iowa's going to be able to slow Ohio State down. I think Troy Smith is still in his heisman groove despite last weeks letdown performance and I see him connecting w/his WR's with regularity in this game. I'd guess OSU will win by 7-10 points in this one. Its the interesting game of the week if you ask me.

Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech
12:30pm

Honestly, i don't care about this game. Its the only ranked matchup of the week too. Ugh. Georgia Tech has an interesting defensive scheme and Calvin Johnson is the best WR in the nation if you ask me. Reggie Ball seems like he's been playing college ball for 8 years. That said, Virginia Tech is rolling right now. Its a typical Frank Beamer team. Good D. Outstanding special teams. Enough offense. I could see VA Tech being a dark horse in the ACC yet again. One of these years this team is actually going to be OVERrated. I see VA Tech winning pretty handily here. Lets say by 14 or more.

Shows what I know: Tuesday edition...

2006-09-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

Looks like I had my smartest week of the season. The only game i seemed to be off on was the ND/MSU game. I said that ND'd find their run game and use it to set up the pass. Not so much. They still can't run. MSU and John L Smith still choke and can't figure out how to play with a big lead. ND's getting love for winning that game but they didn't win it. MSU lost it. Pretty funny that ND fans are falling all over themselves to pat themselves and their team on the back for a "comeback win for the ages" cept it wasn't really a comeback... it was a collapse. Its just more comforting to have the opposite lable when you're an ND fan. I guess Brady Quinn is back in the Heisman picture and if ND runs the table they may end up in a significant bowl game. They play a bunch of scrubs other than SC so they should finish the year with at worst 2 losses. These next few weeks are stat padding weeks for Quinn. It'll be interesting to see if ND can find a running game. Darius Walker's been pretty brutal so far this year. Oh and the D still gave up 31 points in one half of play. That's lost in the mix of the 'great' comeback. This is still a BAD defense. Hopefully SC has its O together by the time they face ND so we can have fun with the track meet. Otherwise it's going to be a game of strength (SC D) on strength (ND O) and weakness (ND D) on weakness (SC O). Oh and its good to see ASU exposed. Koetter's going to be on his way out of town soon if he doesn't right the ship. ASU's in trouble.

2006-09-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

Wisconsin at #6 Michigan
9:00am

Here's the deal with Michigan. They're "They're back" rep is based largely on their ND win. Actually make that almost entirely on their ND win. That was an impressive and surprising win, but UM isn't as good as they are being made out to be the same way ND isn't as bad as they're being made out to be (Weis isn't Willingham people. Weis can recruit... key difference). UM still has a lot to prove in my eyes. They underperformed in the passing game up until the ND game. Which UM offense shows up? The one that struggled to pass in weeks 1 & 2 or the one that lit up the weak Irish secondary? I think Wisconsin is a good team and UM MAY suffer a bit of a letdown (i also dont' have much faith in Lloyd Carr), but ultimately i can't go against UM. Not at home. I say they roll.

#24 Penn State at #1 Ohio State
12:30pm

*Yawn* This is NOT a big game. God I wish we could take one of last weeks games and put em in this week cuz there really isn't a big game out there. This is similar to the 5 or 6 SEC or ACC games that're propped up to be "big" games every year simply cuz the rankings aren't accurate yet. Penn State lost a LOT people. Morelli will probably be a good qb in a year, but he's gonna have to go through some growing pains along the way. This is one of them. Ohio State should pretty much roll through their schedule. UM may be an upset landmine cuz rivalry games are always tricky but I don't think i'll be picking against OSU the rest of the way. Tressel may sink the ship with his conservatism but so far so good. This OSU team is somewhat similar to SC last year. Explosive offense that's really hiding some serious issues on D so i could see their O having and off day along the way and their D not being able to save them... but i doubt it. This game is in Columbus (like it seems almost all OSU games are (have they ever played more than two out of conference opponents away?) so it seems to me to be a slam dunk for OSU.

Iowa State at #7 Texas
12:30pm

I'm like the Dude on this one... i don't care who wins this one either. Texas will win but I really don't care that much. UT will win this and I think their O is coming together so I think they'll put up a lot of points... so i kinda disagree with the Dude in that respect.

#22 Arizona State at #21 Cal
12:30pm

ASU is soft. They're always the same. The names change but they're the same team every year under Koetter. Flashy stats. Big passing numbers. No running game when it counts. No defense. Cal meanwhile I think is underrated at #21. Marshawn Lynch is, in my view, the best running back in college football not named Adrian Peterson. Cal should roll. I just don't believe in ASU this year. They've got some interesting and talented players, particularly on offense but under Koetter i've never seen them put it together. Interesting stat i've heard more than a couple times this week: ASU is 0-10 in Pac10 play in California under Koetter. Okay, i can see losing to Cal and SC... but that includes Stanford. Yikes. Cal wins.

#13 Notre Dame at Michigan State
5:00pm

Ho-hum. ND has to play at Michigan State. This is being built up as an important game. A "big" game for Weis to win and prove his genius status is deserve (its not). But MSU isn't even ranked. John L. Smith is a good offensive coach but MSU doesn't play great D. NFL draft nuts will like this game cuz it features the top two QB's that'll be in the draft next year and maybe even the top two prospects for the draft in Drew Stanton and Brady Quinn. ND should have a chip on their shoulder in this game. Hopefully that chip isn't so heavy that it slows down the already slow Irish secondary. Zbikowski needs all the speed he can spare... oh wait, he's a golden glove boxer so i guess it doesn't matter that he can't run. He's tough! haha. Anyhow, ND I think wins and recovers some dignity here. Could be a high scoring affair. It is interesting that the game is in East Lansing... that could give MSU a shot but in the end I think the Irish discover their ground game again and use it to set up the pass and pull out the win.

#3 USC at Arizona
5:00pm

Aaaah the SC Pac10 opener is finally here. SC always seems to struggle in their opener in the Pac10. Particularly when its a road opener. Prior to this season Arizona looked like they may give SC a scare... but then LSU happened. LSU probably has a better D than SC and yes Tuitama started off that game by getting a concussion, but there's enough evidence there to think that SC could turn in a similar performance defensively. Zona will likely be made into a one-dimensional team. Arizona does have some really good db's so this'll be a good test for Booty. I think he'll probably throw his first int in this game. Zona however ISN"T good on run D. I think a runner from SC will likely have his first breakout game of the year in this game. If Chauncey Washington's hamstrings are still bugging him, (and CJ Gable is having groin problems) then I think the odds on favorite to have that big game is Emmanuel Moody. He's shown some flashes heading into this game and this may be his opportunity to break out. I think it'll happen for SOME USC runner in the next few games and there's a fair chance that it could be Moody in this game. Just a guess but i could see it happening. In my mind SC should win this one by two touchdowns but may struggle til the 2nd half.

-SC Guy

For shame Nebraska...

2006-09-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

...you too Bob Stoops (more on that later).

I've seen a team give up effort wise. I've seen a team show up not ready to play and unwilling to do what's necessary from an effort standpoint to win, but I don't think i've ever seen a team give up strategy wise. That's what Callahan did at SC this past weekend. Throwing 16 times against an unproven secondary that at times had THREE new starters on it? For shame. Callahan played like a coach who was afraid his team'd get embarassed and wouldn't be able to recover. He called plays like a coach who was looking to get experience vs. SC this year and hoping they can give a REAL effort next year when they're at home. For shame.

16 passes? With a senior QB? An accurate QB? C'mon! And those moronic sweep plays on 3rd and short vs a REAL fast defense? Where'd this guy learn how to playcall? If i were a Nebraska fan i'd be outraged. Give the kids a chance. So you lose by 30 to a dynasty at their house. Thats not the worst thing that could happen. I think its far worse to show your kids that you don't believe in them enough to give them a shot to win. You could tell during the game commentary and particularly during the post-game commentary that the announcers (Kirk Herbstreit in particular) were perplexed about Nebraska's gameplan. Why not try? Why not put forth the effort? Why call run after run when its not working? Why run the clock out with over 2 minutes and 70 yards to go to paydirt? Why not take a few chances? I couldn't believe SC's good fortune that Nebraska didn't take these chances. Its one thing for the players to roll and die, but for the coach to do it? Shame on him. He should know better.

Is there any disputing that the whiner of the week is Bob Stoops? What a bitch. Yes, there were two bad calls that probably cost you the ball game. There was also a blocked fg that cost you the game. Yes you deserved to win that game and you're allowed a few moments to moan and groan about how bad the officiating is. I think the pac10 and the ref in question in particular have gone WELL beyond what is required of them showing that they're sorry and that they made a mistake (going too far IMO to the point of appeasers). But OU just won't let it go. You had your moment to complain. It's past. They keep harping on these calls like they're what cost them their entire season. I guess its a lot easier to point the finger at some pac10 refs than it is to point it at your QB who took money eh? Oh and now the lil baby doesn't want to play against UDub in a couple years unless the pac10 changes their policy to have Pac10 refs call their home games. Hmmm... well A. You don't dictate Pac10 policy just cuz you got screwed once. and B. Am I the only one who' s noticed that the Big12 has the exact same policy? Bad calls happen OU nation. Deal with it and quit crying like a baby who just lost his bottle.

Show's What I Know: Tuesday Edition...

2006-09-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

What a weekend for college football. I had to go to the SC game cuz, well its the home opener and you can't miss the home opener. But what a good weekend it WOULD have been to skip seeing the game live and instead watch from the comfort of the couch. A lot of interesting if not "really good" games on Saturday. Lets run through a few of em...

Tennessee v. Florida...

Florida has a brutal road SEC schedule so i'm glad they won and put the UT love-fest to rest. Florida is an up and comer if you ask me. They've got a lot of talent and I still think Urban Meyer made the right call two years ago by heading to Jacksonville over South Bend. UF had (and has) more physical talent, and is a better opportunity. ND can recruit nationally better than UF but UF just has more. And with Coker overseeing a talent atrophe in Miami and FSU unable to fire Bowden despite clear long-standing problems there, its a golden opportunity for Meyer (and anyone else looking to invade Florida for talent). If Meyer has a good year this year they may be #1 next year. I should also mention that i'm a fan of Chris Leak's. I think the kid has been robbed of a stellar career by a coaching carousel. Similar to what Carson Palmer went through at SC. The kid can toss the rock. Now that Deshawn Wynn is running it effectively and Percy Harvin is giving highlight performances one after another (btw: SC came THIS close to landing Harvin this past recruiting season... he was my personal favorite offensive recruit in that class. No surprise that he's already lighting it up) UF is looking tough. UT's a good team but UF's got a lot of ability. Next to LSU i'd say they were probably the SEC team with the most pure athletes out there (sorry Auburn). Anyhow, i'd get into game analysis but i didn't see the game. Just glad that UF won and that Leak and Co staged a comeback in Knoxville (no small feat).

LSU v. Auburn

This is what you've gotta love and gotta hate about SEC football. Two teams loaded with athletes and star players. They ram into each other for four quarters in a remarkable display of athleticism... and whats the result? 7-3? Really? That's it? I don't care what you call it, great defense, amazing athleticism, two brilliant coaches locked in a spassky/fischer level chess match, whatever... 7-3 games aren't that interesting. Call it a "war" Kirk Herbstreit. Call it whatever you want. 7-3 games are boring. Sure there may've been some great hitting and some big stops. Heck, with that score i'd say there were a BUNCH of big stops. But this isn't a great GAME. There may've been excellent performances, excellent athletes but the game itself was not excellent. This is typical SEC football though... tough D (both as a result of good athletes all over the field and because there really aren't any inventive offenses in the SEC outside of Meyer at Florida. Everything is pretty much Vanilla. Some is Vanilla with sprinkles, some are vanilla with oreo's, but in the end almost every offense in the SEC is just straight up vanilla). I've been tired for years about hearing the SEC crow about how there's no D in the Pac10 and a 35-42 game is just cuz we don't know how to play D yet they'll prop up a 9-6 game as 'great' because it was a 'battle'. I dunno about other fans of the game of football but to me watching a field goal battle is akin to watching a 1-0 baseball game where the teams don't really get anyone into scoring position and once they do it becomes a battle of sacrifice bunts. BOOOOOOOOOOOO-RIIIIINNNNGG!

ND v Michigan

Wow. Put me in the 'i'm definitely surprised' camp on this one. I can't say that I felt flawed in my logic heading into this game. UM hadn't passed on anyone. ND didn't look like they had much of a pass D but UM couldn't pass against lesser programs so it seems reasonable to assume that ND would do just the same and UM's passing ineptitude would continue. Guess not. ND's suspect secondary looked pathetic. Not even of D1 caliber. Chad Henne threw a lot of accurate deep balls and the UM D took advantage of some real opportunities. But the big story to come out of this game is this... Charlie Weis is not the genius he's been given credit as being. ND wanted to believe it. NBC wanted to believe it. ESPN even bought in. They gave him a 10 year contract. This was THE guy to lead them back to the promised land. There's so much invested already in Charlie Weis being a genius that if you say it enough times it becomes truth. The recruits buy it. The press buys it. The opponents buy it. Its a self-fulfilling myth. Just one thing... Charlie Weis hadn't really proven that much yet. Will he be Tyrone Willingham? No. Willingham isn't a good recruiter. He's a decent coach in most facets but not a great one in any facet. Charlie Weis is a great offensive coach. But as a head coach? I think the rest of America is starting to see the chinks in the false armor that NBC and ND have put out there. Lets remember that this UM team that blew out ND AT ND isn't really a great team. This is a team that lost 5 games last year. This is a team with question marks in the passing game, and on D. This isn't a fast team either. Oh and lastly... this is a team coached by Lloyd Carr.

There probably isn't a more predictable big time Division 1 coach than Lloyd Carr. You know whats coming when you play Lloyd Carr. You know what his team will be made up of and you can count on certain things. Charlie Weis got blown out at home by a coach who really doesn't have a creative bone in his body. He wasn't surprised. He wasn't gimmic'd or tricked. No one pulled a fast one. He didn't have some new or amazing scheme that outsmarted or outflanked everything ND tried. ND simply got their asses beat... at home... to Michigan... by a Lloyd Carr coached team. How the national media hasn't jumped on the Brady Quinn may not be a heisman candidate bandwagon is beyond me. You know he'll be on it in 6 weeks after they play the also-rans of their schedule (til SC), so why not voice the words of disappointment that his preseason hype deserves right now? I do give credit to Weis for admitting that his team got its ass kicked. Smart move. But really was there anything else for him to say? They got killed at home by a team thats only pretty good. The National Championship hunt is over IMO. You can lose one game and get to the NC. What you can't do is get blown out at home. ND's not going to drop like most teams would, because of the "UM is a great team" spin (they're not a great team btw). But they're going to have to be better than a lot of other 1 loss teams and those other teams are going to have to do worse than getting destroyed at home. Their opponents will have to be worse, the score may have to be worse and (and this is an important advantage in ND's favor) their loss will have to come late in the season. If you wanna make a NC and you have a loss... hope that loss happens early in the year.

On the plus side for ND is the fact that they play SC late. That'll give them a boost. The voters have short memories but even if they kill SC at the Coliseum (unlikely) they'll still have that big phat pot mark on their schedule. What if UF has one loss to say LSU and its a close game? LSU's better than UM. It likely won't be a blowout at home and UF will have run the table through the rest of the SEC (no small feat). ND will have beat UCLA, Purdue, Army, Navy, Air Force (what? was the Coast Guard unavailable?) and UNC... not exactly a lot of big time opponents there. Meh, whatever. They're out of the NC discussion as far as I'm concerned. I don't think SC will be in the NC discussion after about 5 weeks either but that's another story.

Oh and one last note...

Oklahoma v. Oregon

Yeah, Oklahoma got screwed. The onsides kick call was botched. The pass interference was botched. It happens. It all seemed to happen in a quick stretch which magnified things. But lets talk about the insane reaction from the Oklahoma side... death threats on the ref? The OU president calling for an apology? Asking for the loss to be stricken from the record? Quit whining. Bad calls happen. Its part of the game. Let it go. No one is going to take the loss off the record. You got your kick blocked in the final seconds. Your coach didn't run the clock out enough, you had a horribly blown coverage in the final seconds (inexcusible) and yes some calls went against you. Oh and lets not forget how bad the OU D played against Oregon. Isn't Stoops supposed to be a defensive guru? Uh, what happened? Horrible calls and misplays aside, the ending to that OU-UO game was about as exciting as it gets. I'm sure the whines from Sooner nation will continue, and if they drop a few more games it'll be all blamed on the corrupt pac10 refs (who've been suspended which only appeases the complainers and further encourages the criticism) and not their subpar D or the Rhett Bomar situation or whatnot. In the end as a football fan, that was a very exciting ending to a game. It doesn't appear that most Sooner fans are ready to come to grips with that just yet (the same way those idiot Ohio State fans weren't able to come to grips w/the fact that their team had lost to Texas... and called in death threats to their OWN player (the TE... who remains on the team)). Ugh. College football fans... get a grip already.

"A Choad's Guide to USC Football" is featured on NCAA's official blog

2006-09-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

SC Guy brings you his 3 Keys to Winning the Nebraska game

The Dude weighs in with his 3 Keys:

There are three keys to a Trojan victory over the Cornhuskers.

First, it's a safe bet that Callahan's gonna want his QB to light up the LA sky with as many pigskin rockets as possible. This is what he was hired for and he knows a big chunka the college football world'll be watchin' this game. This is the scenario the USC defense should expect, and should adjust accordin'ly.

Second, Booty'll hafta answer - with Jarrett bein' the exclamation point. Once it's clear that Jarrett has double coverage, look for Smith (the asterisk) and Turner (the semicolon).

Third, the USC runnin' backs should all expect some serious mileage. The greatest advantage Pete Carroll has over his opponents is that with so many new players, no one but him and his staff (and Arkansas) know what they can do. All the Trojan RBs are gonna rotate and run different routs.

It's clear after the Arkansas game that Pete Carroll's lookin' to apply what he was learned from the Rose Bowl. His team will be tight, then loose (and not the other way around). Expect for him to go for many short gains, many first downs, and more than one field goal. But don't worry, I ain't talkin' Tresselball here.

- The Dude

Injuries, Injuries, more Injuries...

2006-09-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

Jesus.

From the start of fall practice we've lost...

Brandon Hancock
Sedrick Ellis
Oscar Lua
Chauncey Washington
Josh Pinkard
Kevin Thomas
and now maybe Kevin Ellison

all for some period of time

What... the... F*ck!?

The Ellis injury sounds like the biggest fluke of them all. He was WALKING in the back of the end zone, not even doing any contact or a drill or anything. Just walking and he goes down with a knee injury that puts him out for a couple weeks.

One game in and the D's thinning out. Ellis in particular hurts because the USC DL, especially on the interior, is a question mark. Its time for guys like Fili Moala, Chris Barrett and Averell Spicer to step up and contribute and make things happen.

Ellison (if he's out for the Nebraska game) is also worrisome because he's the only experienced safety we have out there now. We could be looking at starting THREE new defensive backs from the Arkansas game to the Nebraska game. Kevin Thomas is nursing a high ankle sprain, Josh Pinkard is out for the year, and now Ellison goes down in practice. That means we'll have probably Cary Harris, Terrell Thomas, Mozique McCurtis and Taylor Mays in our defensive backfield. We do have SOME depth there but yikes. That's a lot of injuries for being one game into the season.

Ugh. Anyhow, hopefully Thomas gets healthy and the Ellison injury is nothing but a nick but i swear this stuff has happened a ton over the past few years at SC. Ugh. Very frustrating. Hopefully the O gets it done so the DL doesn't have to carry the load vs. Nebraska but this is going to make this game even more of a test than we originally thought. I hate it when the injury bug hits this hard all at once.

Shows what I know Week 2 edition...

2006-09-11T15:19:00.000-07:00

well ND and PSU pretty much went exactly how i expected (including the media's follow up about how great the ND D has become). Still not much heat on Brady Quinn for not really lighting it up yet. I will say this though. The ND OL looks really really good. They gave Quinn a day and a half to throw most times. Thats their key. Pressure Quinn and you've got a good shot vs ND. Don't and you're going to be chasing their receivers all over the field.

The UT/OSU game however didn't go like i thought how it'd go. Props to Tressel for opening up the offense. The OSU D played PRETTY good but they really were getting sucked off by the ESPN guys after the game for being great. No matter how high quality the opponent is, if you know they can't pass the ball effectively they become a LOT easier to defend. If you gave UT a slightly above average qb in this game I still think they win. UT was running ALL over OSU for a while (even into the 2nd half) and OSU knew UT couldn't pass but they still moved the ball. Colt McCoy just wasn't ready for that big of a game and those kinds of athletes. They did as good as they could but ultimately UT didn't have enough.

Oh and the ref's were doing EVERYTHING to help UT out. That helmet to helmet penalty they called on the OSU DL who nailed McCoy was one of the worst calls i've ever seen period. The refs basically gave UT 4 points with that call. A brutal, brutal call.

Since the game has ended Mack Brown has come out lambasting the new clock rules (which do suck) that cut down on game time and total plays. Now its getting lost in the muck of all the people saying that Brown is "blaming" the new rules for UT losing vs OSU (which i don't think any reasonable person would do and not what i think Brown is doing), but these new rules do suck. Sure it cuts down on game time and it makes the game move faster but we're saving what? 15 minutes? And IMO you can definitely see the drop in quality. Its not like this is basketball and the last minute takes 25 minutes to play out. I really really REALLY hope that they move the time rules back to what they used to be. Oh and while they're at it, move the hash mark width back to being the same width as the uprights. I dunno why they do this in college. Its not like that in the pros. Is there any reason for it? Ugh.

Anyhow, it looks like i was right on about ND and way off on the UT game. I figured the home crowd would be good for about 10 points, but I was wrong. Good luck to OSU the rest of the way. They've got a pretty smooth road to the championship game. The Big Ten doesn't look INCREDIBLE this year and IMO it's likely that they'll face either SC, ND, West Virginia or the SEC champ.

Darin Erstad wore a bright red "BEAT SC" T-shirt

2006-09-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

Fire Joe Morgan:

Hello, friends.

All full-time editors of FJM were either on mini-vacations or else extremely busy this past week. But we're back now, and will return to our regular, sporadic posting as soon as we get around to it.

Thanks for bearing with us. As a reward for your loyalty, here is a note from the L.A. Times about the Anaheim Angels, a professional baseball team:

Nebraska plays USC next week, so Darin Erstad wore a bright red "BEAT SC" T-shirt in the clubhouse Saturday. Erstad was the punter for Nebraska's 1994 national championship team.

You're effing kidding me. Erstad? Was a football player?!

--The Nerdhater

he wasn't a football player. he was a punter.

-- SC Guy

Auuuu-burn!

SC Guy's Weekly Picks...

2006-09-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

Texas v. Ohio State 5pm

A very intriguing matchup. It got more intriguing this week when it was revealed that Jim Tressel (who claimed to have voted Texas the #1 team in the nation) was caught in a lie and had actually voted for his own team. Nice posturing dumbass. You look pretty stupid when it blows up in your face. D'oh! I love it though. All coaches do that crap but its fun to see it blow up in at least one of their faces. Even better that its Tressel and even better that its game week. I just feel bad for the poor schlub who had to pretend he changed Tressel's ballot at the last second without Tressels knowledge (why would anyone do that?). I mean who did they expect to believe this crap? The only thing dumber than this coverup plan by the OSU administration are the OSU fans. Morons, the lot of em. Ok, on to some game analysis...

Texas has a LOT of talent. I know there's the whole "Vince Young was their savior!" thing, but this team has a SHITLOAD of talent. Look at the starting roster from teh Rose Bowl last year. They have a ton of that talent and experience back. They won last year AT Ohio State. This year it's at Texas. Ohio State's #1 is based VERY heavily on the fact that they've got a ton of talent on the offensive side of the ball (which they do and, i'm surprised to say, Tressel has actually figured out how to get the ball to Ted Ginn early in the year. wow). Now the biggest mismatch of the game is going to be Ginn on whichever corner Texas starts for the first time. So that's significantly in OSU's favor (not to mention that Ginn isn't exactly their only really good wideout). This could also be a coming out game for all everything Freshman RB Chris Wells. Now, the OSU D is bad. Sure Colt McCoy is a largely unproven commodity but if UT can run on OSU with even some of the effectiveness that Northern Illinois did then McCoy isn't going to be asked to do much. OSU can score a fair amount (and maybe they will) but i don't think the OSU D is equippped to do much to stop UT. I know its not the typical move to pick the freshman QB starting against the top team in the nation, but it's a home game, the OSU D isn't really proven (and didn't really quiet the doubters againsts No. Illinois) , UT has a lot of weapons and they probably won't have to lean on McCoy to carry the load. I'll say UT by about 7.

Notre Dame v. Penn State 12:30pm

Sorry to say this but ND is going to wax Penn State. PSU is way overrated IMO (similar to ND's "impressive" win against tennessee last year. PSU isn't that good of a team IMO). A lot of youth on Penn State's team. If you ask me Penn State's freshman qb Anthony Morelli is going to wilt under the bright lights of his first big college game. He's good for a couple turnovers in this game which will give the national media a few things to go off on... ND's Defensive "resurgence" (which i'm guessing will actually be Morelli's poor decision making) and ND's offense getting back to form (which will probably be half true coupled with a few PSU turnovers leading to more ND points). Penn State definitely has some weapons so they're to be respected if not feared. And Paulzualkasdky is a great LB, but the ND O isn't going to lay in wait for two straight games. They'll explode in this game and everyone will again be jizzing themselves about how great ND is. Thank GOD for the OSU/Texas game or this ND game'd be getting so over-publicized and analyzed it'd be ridiculous. ND by 14.

Lessons learned...

2006-09-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

Lessons learned over the weekend...

You don't know shit til you know shit. The top 25 should be fluid early on in the year. Notre Dame should drop a ton since they may've been one failed qb draw short of losing to an opponent who shouldn't have even been in the game with them (oh and that late hit on Reggie Ball that wasn't called was bullshit).
Cal choked. They're looking very overrated. I can't believe how bad their OL played . They've had arguably the best OL in the Pac10 for 3 years now. The red flags should've gone up when Longshore didn't convincingly beat out Ayoob. Boy he looked lost out there. Tedford's status as a qb guru may be up in the air if he's not able to develop a qb for Cal over the next year or two.
The concerns about Ohio State's D are valid. Northern Illinois ran all over them. That's not good. Texas actually has a top quality Oline and top quality RB's to run behind it. If Colt McCoy doesn't kill them they're going to have a very good shot in this game. Its at Texas so i'll be picking Texas. And speaking of Ohio State....
Jim Tressel deserves some credit for opening up the playbook and discovering Ted Ginn before November. The kid is a phenomenal athlete. Props to Tressel for going with what works even if its opposite of his defense first philosophy.
Heartbreak can happen early on in the year. Both Josh Pinkard (SC's starting safety) and Michael Bush (Louisville's starting RB and dark horse Heisman candidate) were lost for the year after opening game knee injuries. How heartbreaking. Bush is a stud and would likely be a top pick in the draft if he had the year many expected from him this year. Pinkard has long been a steady and valuable performer for SC over the past few years and this was his year to shine. Pete Carroll had called him one of the best football players on the team and I for one was going to enjoy him proving that this year.
The SEC owns the Pac10. I hate to admit it but its true. SC's the only school that REALLY gets respect on a regular basis out of the Pac10 and this weekend is why. Everyone's favorite non-SC pick out of the Pac to go far this year Cal had a massive choke job vs. Tennessee. Wazzu put up about 10 minutes of fight against Auburn before getting blown out. And while not in the SEC Arizona SQUEEEEKED out a win vs. BYU.
The teams of the week (outside of SC who's getting all the pac10 pub) are UCLA and Oregon though. Stanford can't run the ball. Oregon FINALLY can and Jonathan Stewart is a star on the rise. Oregon is going to be a tough team to beat this year. UCLA performed well and it appears that very few of the national media have caught on. Ben Olson had a great 1st game. He spread the ball around, he had great numbers and he didn't have the luxury of either a top receiver carrying him and getting a ton of RAC yards or a great running game keeping the heat off him, yet he wasn't ever close to getting intercepted. And its not as if he's playing West Lafayette University. Utah is a decent team and program.
Dan Hawkins has a WAYS to go at Colorado. Wow. Talk about laying an egg. Dan Hawkins brought some excitement to Colorado from Boise State... and he should've. That program has preformed well over the past few years. With what you'd think would be superior athletes at Colorado his team played horribly. I'm not sure whats been going on at Colorado since Bill "promise keeper" McCartney left (he of the daughter who had kids with two of his players. yikes. talk about a family in need of some serious therapy) but they're pretty much cursed.
Why isn't anyone talking about the shady deal of Arkansas offensive coordinator just HAPPENING to be from the highschool where Arkansas landed like what? 4 recruits? ESPN REALLY danced around this topic on Saturday. Sure if you're paying attention you know what conclusions to draw... but there's a clear question that should be being asked here. A hs head coach is hired to be an SEC's offensive coordinator? That's big enough news in and of itself. But he ALSO happens to be the coach of one of the best WR AND QB recruits in the nation and they just HAPPEN to follow him to the same university that hired him? Something is rotten in Denmark.
And lastly props the the great ESPN announcing crew that worked the SC game. They did their homework, were fair and made the right calls. Holly Rowe also had that tidbit after Mitch Mustain came in and led Arkansas on their td drive about how when he returned to the bench none of the qb's even acknowledged him. You RARELY see that kind of quality sideline reporting. That was actual insight. It wasn't just 'the trainers looked at the ankle and they played with it and he squirmed in pain. more later joe!' kinda crap. You're there on the sideline... give us a sideline report! Thanks for reminding us of how valuable that sideline perspective can be Holly. I for one almost forgot.

Why do people jizz over the FSU/Miami game anymore?

2006-09-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well i finally got SOMETHING right about the weekend. That FSU/Miami game was all I said it would be a display of awesome athletes on D and horrible offenses. How do the OC's at these respective universities keep their jobs? How can FSU not run the ball? Sure, Lorenzo Booker isn't Earl Campbell but the guy isn't a slouch either (btw: he's pretty close to a bust. Sure he's played but for "#1 recruit in the nation" status... he's been a disappointment. Adrian Peterson... now THERE is a #1 recruit in the nation). Anyhow, how boring is this matchup becoming? Sure the games are always close but good lord. Its more about which offense sucks the least and which D can put its offense in a position where it absolutely CAN'T screw up. They might as well just have a fg kicking contest and save everyone the trouble.

I will say this. That Ken Phillips is the next great Miami safety. That kid is just a baller. He's the kind of player you get when you combine a great athlete with a great instinctual football player. The rarest of the rare. He'll be an early 1st rounder in 2 years if he doesn't get injured.

I'm still not sure why people get into this matchup anymore though. The hype matches how close the game is but does it match the quality of the game? I certainly don't think so.

Shows what I know (Sunday edition)...

2006-09-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

Well I was dead on about Ohio State/Northern Illinois and just about nothing else.

Cal/Tennessee:

Cal... wow. What a disappointment. I clearly forgot the rule of the early football season... you never know as much as you think you know. SEC venues are still tough places to play. Tennessee came out fighting, had their pride on the line and just wanted it more. They had 2 or 3 big plays that were all about them wanting it more.

Notre Dame/Georgia Tech:

The media just REFUSES not to find a way to jerk off Charlie Weis and ND even after a disappointing game where their offense looked very pedestrian vs. inferior athletes and supposedly an inferior scheme. Now its the ND D is faster and better than we thought! Uh, what about the offense not being as good as everyone thought? Brady Quinn, the heisman darling didn't do much of anything, Charlie Weis made some VERY risky calls (two qb draws which he's a big fan of) and one of these days he's going to get caught in and look like a fool. Calvin Johnson ate the Irish up when he had the ball in his hands. He's an incredible athlete but ND should have destroyed this team. Its a disappointment that they didn't, but heading into PSU it probably works in the Irish's favor. THey've got plenty to work on and i fully expect them to have a big game vs PSU and put up something in the realm of 35 on the PSU D. (oh and you gotta love the ND apologist on sportscenter who said something to the effect of "charlie weis is concealing his playbook early in the year with all these tough teams coming up". Right. Cuz he's not going to use his REALLY good plays vs Georgia Tech with a win in the balance cuz they've got Michigan and Penn State next. God i hate most announcers/analysts.

SC/Arkansas:

So much for this being a close game (although that had to be the most methodical 50 point drubbing i've ever seen. was there an offensive play over 25 yards the whole game?). Some interesting things on both sides of the ball. SC had a tailback by committee... a BIG committee. 5 different rb's ran the ball. SC i don't think KNOWS what it has on O just yet. Jarrett didn't get many looks. Booty did look a LITTLE paniced at times but for the most part he commanded the offense well. The offensive line played GREAT. Fred Davis is a star in the making at TE, Patrick Turner is coming into his own at WR (he laid an awesome block on CJ Gables first td taking out two razorbacks then going looking for a 3rd), the D is REAL REAL fast and Sedrick Ellis may be the biggest find along the DL (he had a great game). Also, special props go to Troy Van Blarcom for kicking just about every kick out of the end zone. Looks like that kick competition with new addition David Buehler really has paid off. With how SC has struggled with kick coverage this is no small accomplishment to put the opposition at the 20 time and time again. It'll be interesting to see how SC goes about discovering which RB's to focus on cuz no way that many rb's get carries in every game. I think Washington is the most likely player to get a lot of PT. Something about Gable tells me he's not going to be 'the guy'. He looks like a good change of pace/situational/slasher back. I like what he did and his numbers were nice but he's not an every down back if you ask me. Best revelation of the night had to be John David Booty looking confident and comfortable moving the offense. He's got great playmakers around him and he doesn't have to make every throw perfect. His td to Turner from about 15 yards away was a thing of beauty (special props to turner for running a 20 yard route that left him in a position to be the only guy to make a play on the ball) and his toss in the back of the end zone to Fred Davis were both great passes. I love his accuracy and can't wait to see what he's got next for us.

Florida State/Miami:

Florida State is gonna win this unless Jeff Bowden screws it up. Miami's got great athletes but they've regressed every year under Coker. I will say this though... Playing at Miami will be tough and UCLA's win over Utah proves that you can hire a nearly completely new coaching staff and play well in your opener so Miami has a chance (last year the Miami ad's went to Coker and said 'make changes or you're gone' and like most coaches he said 'uh, i'll go with changes'). Still, I say Drew Weatherford is the superior qb and FSU's D is the better unit (not by much though). Lorenzo Booker is a weapon. I do believe it'll be another one of those close "defensive battles" that's more about offensive ineptitude than it is about defensive excellence but you've got to love any Florida/Florida State/Miami matchup cuz there are ridiculous athletes flying around the field with bad intentions. Unfortunately the excellence of the schemes and organization of the offense/defense/special teams doesn't match the quality of the athlete but you can always count on some bodies flying around like crazy and some hurtin goin on. I still say FSU in a close one. Which, if my record this weekend stacks up, you should bet heavy on Miami and the over.

He Said, Dude Said 2...

2006-09-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

Games to watch this Saturday:

Northern Illinois at #1 Ohio State12:30pm

Shocker. OSU opens with a scrub out of conference opponent. That’s weird. I miss last year when every media analyst fell over themselves to blow the Luckeyes for finally playing someone good out of conference in Texas. Good for them. As for the Dude’s take on Texas OSU… Texas is gonna beat this OSU team this year. Sure Vince Young isn’t back… but neither are 9 of the defensive starters from OSU. And the game is at UT. As for this game do I even need to make a prediction? OSU’s gonna walk. Troy Smith will look good. Tressel may even figure out that Ted Ginn is a big play threat before November. A yawner. OSU by a lot.

#9 Cal at #23 Tennessee2:30pm

This, similar to Nebraskas game vs SC in 3 weeks, is a previously good teams chance to make it back on the national landscape. UT’s gonna be very motivated for this one. Winning it gets them instant respect and erases a lot of the doubts from their brutal year last year. Problem is a lot of those doubts are valid. Cal’s pretty loaded and even though Tennessee is a tough place to play Cal’s just got the horses. I’m personally hoping that Marshawn Lynch has an enormous game and puts himself into heisman contention early on. He’s that good. The only hiccup I can see is if Cal doesn’t get good qb play out of Longshore. He’s got back problems and that joke Ayoob is his backup so if he struggles Cal may be in trouble. I doubt that happens and I think Cal will win by a td or more.

#2 Notre Dame at Georgia Tech5:00pm

Just what ND needs… an enormous media jerkoff leading up to a game where now people are pretending Tech can win only so the ND accomplishment after they win looks that much better. Sure Tech has one of the best WR’s in the nation in Calvin Johnson and sure Reggie Ball is a good qb, but what else do they have? The ENTIRE argument for ND losing this game points to ND’s weak secondary not being able to handle Johnson. Well how the heck is Tech going to slow down ND? Anyone cover that? This is gonna be a laugher. ND gets to start off the season with 3 overrated opponents. Good for them. I’m sure the media jerkoff will be at a fever pitch by mid season. The only question ESPN will have for its viewers in 4 weeks will be “Can Charlie Weis get inducted to the hall of fame while he’s still coaching or is it still to early after only coaching 16 college games?” ND’s going to blow Tech out and the Quinn heisman bj will start off with a deepthroat.

#6 USC at Arkansas5:45pm

Arkansas has a hs coach running its O. SC has Pete Carroll. Nuff said. This’ll probably be close though. There are a LOT of new cogs in the SC system. A high possibility for stalled drives, fumbles, int’s, miscommunications, etc… The SC D should be flying around the filed but Arkansas will probably run the ball on SC a fair amount.

(bonus)
#11 Florida State at #12 Miami5:00pm MONDAY

Wide right. Weatherford’s the better qb right now. FSU has the better D. Coker’s been overseeing a regression for years and I expect that trend to continue… too bad too cuz Kyle Wright would probably be a great qb in the right system. Oh, one caveat… Bowden’s kid is still a crap OC so there’s a chance he could blow it. Still, I’d say FSU wins in an overhyped “defensive struggle” (which is ACC/SEC code for “our offenses suck so we’ll just say that our D’s are that athletic”) probably some boring score like 21-14.

- He

Middle Linebacker...

2006-08-31T11:08:00.000-07:00

So there's been this "battle" going on between Oscar Lua and Rey Maualuga for the MLB spot at SC all fall camp. Well it appears that Rey's been getting all the 1st team reps since the outset. Carrolls reasoning has been because they know what Lua can do and they want Rey to get caught up on the mental side of the game (or his "stuff" as Carroll tends to put things when he's talkin to the media). Further complicating matters is the fact that Oscar was named a captain by his peers. How do you not start one of your captains? But here we are, 2 days from kickoff in arkansas and Rey's still getting the first team reps. What i'm pretty sure the party line is going to be on this is that they'll "rotate" and "continue to compete" as the season progresses. And when it becomes apparent that Rey can make plays on teh field because he's just a flat out better athlete than Lua then the decision will be pretty much made. Its unfortuante that its playing out this way but SC has about 6 really REALLY good LB's on their squad and they have at least one 3rd team LB who'd probably start on most of the other pac10 teams out there. Guys like Luther Brown and Thomas Williams won't see the field much as LB's but they'll still have an impact both on the practice field and on special teams.

The one really good thing about having so many top lb's is that our kick coverage (which we struggled with mightily last year) should be much improved because we'll have that many more good, "disposable" athletes to march out on the field to lay the wood on special teams.

One of my favorite LB's who's not starting is Kaluka Maiava. This kid is probably the best non-starting LB in the nation. Its amazing that he's not starting. All the reports about this kid are that he's incredible. In fact if we were starting LB's based on athleticism we'd have Kaluka, Keith Rivers, Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing if you ask me (Luther Brown would probably come close as well but lesser athletes who've got the D down way better (like Oscar Lua and Dallas Sartz)). Either way this is both the most talented and the deepest LB corps in the nation. They're going to make the only decent DL in front of them look real good.

IF the DL gets a good push consistently this year this D is going to take off. The LB's certainly won't be the thing that holds this D back.

An honest, no-holds-barred take on Arkansas...

2006-08-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

To start, my prediction for this season is that SC loses 2 games. I think we lose once at home too... most likely to Cal or ND (i know no one likes hearing that). That's just how i see this season playing out. I also don't subscribe to the theory that if we don't lose early we won't lose. Frankly we don't know what Booty or the freshmen RB's will offer and we really don't know how our depth at OL and DL will pan out (plus it appears that a lot of people are putting stock into the defensive backfield being amazing this year. we've got great athletes but NOT a lot of snaps back there).

Ok, enough preamble...

As many have already said Arkansas will not be the pushover they were last year. We'll likely have a fight on our hands. This is going to be one motivated squad we're going up against. This is one of many teams we'll be facing this year that have something to prove (Arkansas, Nebraska, ND, Oregon, Cal, UCLA, Zona... all have something to prove and a good showing in their game against us will "prove" that). So let me do an overview of what i think will play out...

SC O vs Ark D...

This is where i think we struggle. Arkansas has a good D. Last year we BROKE them. Just destroyed their spirits in the first quarter. This team basically quit early on but they do have athletes and they WON'T show like they did last year. They're going to be in front of their home fans and their pride will be on the line. I fully expect a fight when our O goes against their D. All the talk has been 'Well SC still has a ton of talent. Arkansas will be improved but SC's just has all this talent sitting around.' which i think will be turned into arrogance when Arkansas players, coaches and fans talk about it. "SC thinks they can come in here with a starting QB, TE and a fullback who's never taken a significant snap, and star a freshman RB and push us around?!?! WTF!!?!?!"

Booty i think struggles in this game and we'll be fanning the flames of the booty haters and Sanchez lovers by this time next week. I think SC scores probably around 28 points in this game but I think we're going to see an uneven performance out of Booty. Probably moments of brilliance followed by moments that make you scratch your head. He's got the horses around him to get the ball to but the RB's in particular are very inexperienced. There's going to be a pretty fair amount of inexperience in that huddle. I think the best thing that can happen in this game is that Booty's teammates help him out by making some good plays/catches and help get the guy into a rhythm. HOPEFULLY SarKiffin do a good job of playcalling and help get the guy some confidence early on. I'd love to see a couple swing passes early on to get Booty some confidence and get him into that rhythm. Remove the weight on his shoulders of how 'bad' his performance is going to look. Just give him a few completions early on and then open it up a bit.
Unfortunately, i don't think we'll be doing that effectively and i think the away environment will be a bit intimidating to this team. Our top players last year were battle tested. ASU game 3 years ago. The Oregon game last year. The Stanford game two years ago. The Rose Bowl 3 years ago. The ND game last year. The Orange Bowl 2 years ago. The Oregon State game 2 years ago. These were BATTLES. This team looked each other in the eye and they stepped up. Now the playmakers from those teams are gone. The spirit isn't but the confidence in thsoe playmakers has to be in question. We don't have Bush to pull out victories for us single handedly anymore. Will we get lazy and play down to our teams ability like we had a tendency to do in 1st halfs last year? Point being, we've sortof hit the reset button on this years team and we don't know how they'll perform when tested. The "character" of this team has yet to be defined and won't be until we face a test like this. Then we'll know who steps up and who crumbles.

Ark O vs. USC D...

This i think is a clear win for SC. We'll be running a new D so there'll be some hiccups. Arkansas DEFINITELY has good rb's but SC's run D is gonna be daaaamn good. I could go into the individual players on D and why SC is going to be so improved on D this year and how fast they're going to be and why and blah blah blah (truth be told the '07 USC Defense is going to be the REAL killer. SC'll likely only lose two starters on D heading into next year and people are already talking about this D being one of the best in the nation (which, as i said before, i think is premature). If that comes to fruition though?... YIKES!). Anyhow, i'm rambling but the point is that i could go on and on about these things but it boils down to this...
Arkansas has a high school coach performing as their offensive coordinator for the first time against a USC defense.

Its been much publicized that Mitch Mustain's (the uber-qb recruit) head coach in highschool was hired on to be the Arkansas OC right around the same time that it appeared that Mustain's commitment was waivering. I'm not saying anything but i think its pretty obvious what the math adds up to here. Me thinks Houston Nutt has seen Johnny B. Goode one too many times. Anyhow, this guy is going to be calling plays and coaching in a real college game for the first time ever... and he's facing a good (and very fast) USC defense. Sure he can try the ol 'use their speed against them, run counters and screens and hope they overrun stuff' tricks but c'mon... that's not going to work over the entire course of a game (if it even works at all). This is the equivalent of being a first year litigator at a major firm and having to present evidence in front of the supreme court. You're going to make mistakes. They're going to be obvious and everyone is going to see them. You're just overmatched. Even if what you've got in your briefcase is the equal to your opponent you're still not going to know how to lay out the argument the best way. Its just a matter of experience. Sure Arkansas got the top QB recruit and they DO have offensive talent (their mobile qb Robert Johnson makes me nervous in particular... Carroll's defense's have always had troubles with mobile qb's) but this is not a setup that equates to a victory for Arkansas in my opinion (i expect at least two tunovers from Arkansas) And unless SC shoots itself in the foot big time i think SC wins by 2 td's.

Final score: USC 28 Arkansas 14

Chauncey Washington...

2006-08-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

Its looking more and more like Washington isn't gonna be ready for the Arkansas game. If you ask me there's no way unless he's able to go full bore in practice today (Tuesday) and be 100% by the end of the week that they'll start him against Arkansas. Even Washington himself has said he may lay off it and give himself an extra 2 weeks to recover and be ready for Nebraska. From the sounds of it, its a pretty serious hammy pull. When it takes you weeks to recover, you think you need two MORE weeks to get it together its in trouble. A lot of people saw this coming when Washington reported hearing a "pop" when he first hurt it. "Pops" and hamstrings don't go well together.

The good news is this...

CJ Gable has the confidence of the offensive staff and Allen Bradford has all the makings of a top flight RB... once he gets the playbook down that is. People say he's a great cross between Bush and Lendale... but all that says to me is that he's faster than Lendale and bigger than Bush. What he can do with the rock in his hands is what matters. If you ask me he could develop into a very exciting every down type back. The ONLY downside to Bradford emerging is how it'll affect recruiting. SC currently has two public commitments from Marc Tyler (6'1" 220) and Broderick Green (6'1" 230) both big backs. There've been whispers for a while that Green will decommit and look at Arkansas or some other schools in SEC territory (where he's from). So that wouldn't be a surprise if it happened. Bradford is a similar type back to those two so if he blows up this year look for at least Green to decommit. In the beginning though look for a RB by committee type set from our backs until the SC coaches figure it all out. A lot of options and a lot of questions to be answered early in the year. Many think once SC gets rolling they'll be unbeatable this year but they also face the majority of their tough opponents later in the year so while that makes sense if you look at SC (and their inexperience) in a vaccum, the schedule tells a different story.

Matt Leinart to be a daddy

2006-08-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

Deadspin:

Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Matt Leinart and USC women's basketball player Brynn Cameron of Newbury Park are expecting a baby boy in November, according to sources. ... Neither Leinart nor Cameron could be reached for comment.

The #1 game this season is...

2006-08-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

USC vs. ND

By the way, two other USC games made the top 15 (vs. Cal and vs. Nebraska).

I'm convinced, I mean I'm muthaf*kin' convinced, that if USC does well
this season they'll pretty much own the resta this decade.

- The Dude

No more Yell leaders

2006-08-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well at least now there'll be chicks WITH the
yell leaders. No word on whether they'll still do that
cheesy 'hey look i'm surfing a guy!' move...

After failing in their quest for a third straight
National Championship, USC football was obviously in
need of a change. The change came this week with an
overhaul of the team's spirit lineup. Yell Leaders
will be replaced by Team Trojan, a group of 14 men and
women who will run around the stadium cheering on the
team. New cheers are also in the works and the USC
marching band will move to a new spot behind the east
end zone. Now, I'm not saying that all these moves
won't help, but perhaps the team should have a more
football-related plan to make up for the losses of
Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart.

AP Poll

2006-08-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

Another poll, this time the AP preseason poll. USC is #6.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2554075

--Burbank

I love that ND is #2. Theres really only one way to go
from there.

--DJP

Basically the AP's sayin' "If Auburn and West Virginia go undefeated, they play for the championship...not undefeated USC." Although when USC exposes ND (if they're not already exposed by then) I could see a jump above UWV. All things being equal Auburn'll stay aheada USC (revenge for 2004). That'd be nice if USC plays Auburn and humiliates them again.

"Awww...Buuuurrrn!"

- The Dude

Reggie

2006-08-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

I truly believe that had USC won the Rose Bowl, there'd be more
attention on this and the NC'd be stripped.

There was the story about 2005 Heisman winner Reggie Bush's family
allegedly living rent-free or at a reduced rate in a nice house in
greater L.A., supposedly financed by a would-be agent. (Update: A
joint Pac-10/NCAA investigation is crawling onward, but ultimately
might lead nowhere. Word is the involved parties haven't been overly
helpful with the NCAA, and they cannot be compelled to cooperate. If
the NCAA ultimately is able to determine that its rules were broken,
the Trojans could be stripped of some of their glory accrued during
Bush's college career.)

- The Dude

Reggie modeling sweaters

Minor USC stuff

2006-08-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

So it looks like Brandon Hancock (our much injured
fullback) may be injured and out for the year (his
last year). He MAY be able to apply for a rare 6th
year of eligibility but who knows. All we know right
now is that his knee popped and best case its a knee
sprain but he thinks it may be an MCL tear. This kid
runs a pretty great blog at Brandonhancock.com. He's a
pretty smart dude (who looks like a complete
meathead). He graduated in 3 years and he's using his
last year of eligibility to get his MBA. Anyhow, it
sucks if he's out for the year cuz he's been injured
off and on his entire career and he's a pretty sweet
weapon on offense. Damn.

In other news Allen Bradford continues to shine in
practice. There's a kid named Cary Harris who's a true
sophmore cornerback who's starting to assert himself
at corner while the starter Kevin Thomas is out. We're
gonna have a pretty damn good defensive backfield this
year i think. LB's and DB's are gonna be strong units.

It seems like its becoming clearer and clearer that
the ceiling of the team this year will rest on only a
few factors... will the freshmen RB's be able to
perform at a high level consistently? will the DL be
able to get consistent pressure and a push on the
opposing OL? and the big one... will the QB be able to
perform at a high level. If we get positive answers to
eeven two of those questions then SC will likely push
for a NC this year. If we don't (especially if the qb
struggles) then we could be facing a 3 loss year. The
QB situation seems to be setting the ceiling for how
well we do this year. I really do wish we had Norm
Chow back because that guy could mentor a qb. The two
guys we have now are good but they're young and don't
have Chow's pedigree. The one thing i'd change about
our coaching staff would be to have an established and
strong OC running the show. SC's better than to have
two 31 year old OC's with no coordinating experience
handling the reigns of their Offense. Ultimately its
Pete Carroll's choice and Sarkisian and Kiffin deserve
their opportunity to prove themselves but there are
safer bets in the world. This is sacrelig to say as or
to an SC fan but I can't help but think that Chow was
pushed out and SarKiffin (as they've been dubbed by
the fans) pushed in partially (or in large part)
because of Pete Carroll's ego. When the O did well it
was always 'Norm Chow's offense' not 'Pete Carroll's
offense' or even 'The USC offense'. Chow got a lot of
credit and deservedly so... but he did steal the
spotlight away from Carroll a bit. Anyhow, i wish we
did have a top experienced OC running the show right
now. The good news is this... SC has SO much offensive
talent that if SarKiffin falters in the next year or
two (don't look for Carroll to fire Kiffin as he's the
son of his mentor Monte Kiffin, the longtime DC in
Tampa Bay) SC should have no problems courting a top
OC to come in and run the show... IF Carroll is
willing to do that.

SarKiffin have to be two of the hottest young up and
comers in terms of the next generation of coaches
goes. They've been around SC coaching the O while SC's
had some of the best players to ever come through
here. They'll be given their own head man gigs down
the line for sure. Just not sure where or when. I
personally think Sarkisian is the more well equipped
coach to be a head man. He's actually got some
charisma and personality. Plus he mentored under Chow
for a couple years (and has a year of NFL experience
w/the Raiders). Kiffin has almost no personality and
has more than a couple clashes with players over the
years.

Anyhow, the talent level at SC seems to have never
been higher. SC's a recruiting juggernaut and as long
as Pete Carroll is around i don't think that's going
to change. The ND/SC game this year is going to be
EPIC. I can't wait for that one.

Allen Bradford to RB

2006-08-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

The big news of the weekend/week is that SC has
switched top safety/lb prospect Allen Bradford to RB.
SC's in questionable territory for its two bigger
power back types in Chauncey Washington (injured w/a
hamstring that went 'pop') and Michael Coleman (slowly
recovering from hip surgery). Bradford wanted to play
D pretty bad.. so much so that it became a public
issue during recruiting. Well he's been moved over to
offense and he appears to be saying all the right
things about how its a good move and he wants to help
the team and whatnot. The reviews from practice are
very positive though. They say he's a LITTLE smaller
Lendale w/better speed (he wears Lendale's #21 as
well). I guess he's just been punishing tacklers.
Anyhow, I don't think he's going to get moved back
unless Washington or Coleman come back and start
tearing it up. He may be one of our biggest weapons on
O when its all said and done. In 3 years people will
probably be going 'did you know that Allen Bradford
started off at safety when he came to SC?' like its a
trivia item cuz this kid has special written all over
him.

Oh and there was a scrimmage over the weekend (i think
yesterday) and the run game did REAL well. The passing
game is a lil behind i guess, and some fans are
flipping out that its because Booty isn't that
good/isn't tall enough/isn't a leader/etc... but they
also did the scrimmage w/out their first team WR's and
TE.

Anyhow, the team is a bit banged up cuz its camp and
its two a days and guys get injured but things are
starting to come together. there'll be a lot of
learning done on the field for the qb (or maybe even
qb's) this year and SC may lose a few games but this
is going to be a REAL talented team. Going into next
year our D and our running game should be REAL nice.

D

That was the suckiest SC update ever. "We may lose a few games?"

- The Dude

if Allen Bradford is as big a deal as people are makin
out this is a significant time in SC history and
you'll be THANKING me for pointing it out!

-DJP

SC in the NFL and Freshmen Standouts

2006-08-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

You see Lendale got in a fight at practice, spit in some dudes face
then got clocked in the head?

--jbox

yeah. and leinart is the last 1st round pick holdout
and apparently reggie kicked the shit out of some
c-list rapper dude who used to date his girlfriend
(bush is dating nia long.... used to be hot, but she's
got a kid. c'mon Reg!) and Frostee Rucker is under
investigation for assault on some chick while he was a
player at SC. not a good start to the NFL careers for
a buncha SC guys.

The good news about SC football is this. I've never
ever ever heard about a freshman class at USC being
talked about in such glowing terms. The freshmen are
getting RAVES about how well they're doing.

Some early names to pay attention to...

WR Vidal Hazelton (he's the big phenom this year.
people are comparing his early impact to reggie's when
he came in. i guess the kid is a highlight reel. He's
THE breakout star of the frosh so far... and amazingly
may even challenge Patrick Turner for the #3 WR spot
this year (leapfrogging a 5th year senior who's also
pretty damn good))

WR Travon Patterson (he was literally the lowest rated
player we had coming in this year... and he's torn it
up. He's a speed burner and he's had a pretty big
impact so far. He's not a big guy but he's fast and
has really good hands. He's a weapon we haven't had
since Kareem Kelly. Look for him to be our punt
returner)

RB Stafon Johnson (he's done well in practices but in
a recent scrimmage he had 119 yards on 13 carries vs
the 1st team D (which is also getting raves)

RB CJ Gable (he's done REAL well in practices. He's a
bit undersized (around 185) but he's a slasher and a
good cutback runner apparently. He's also pretty good
at catching the ball out of the backfield.

RB Emanuelle Moody (another slasher type runner. He's
fast. Coach McNair (rb coach) said "he's got a little
Reggie Bush in him" He's done real well as well.)

FS Taylor Mays (a BIIIIIG safety prospect. like 6'4"
230 big. That's one of the hugest free safeties in the
nation and the guys a true frosh. He's drawing raves
from practice for having great ball skills and for
mixing it up w/the hitting... and the "word" on him
coming in was that he played "soft")

K David Buehler (this guy signed REAL late (as in a
month ago) but apparently he has a HUUUUUUUGE leg. I
guess he's been booming his kickoffs through the
uprights. Thats how big his leg is. Apparently he's
also a good enough athlete to give us some depth at
safety as well. Insane).

There are a few others i could/should mention as well
but thats all for now. Looks like our db depth has
been shored up BIG TIME, our D is going to be scary
fast (the only question marks are the DL... the DT's
in particular) and our linebackers are the best and
deepest in the nation. The QB's have been good and
there are a lot of RB's getting carries as the coaches
try to figure it all out, so its a pretty exciting
time... nervous for some fans but exciting too.

D

SC Recruiting update...

2006-08-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

So SC landed a commitment from the top OL from Florida
today. His name is James Wilson and he's a great
prospect. He's 6'4" 310 and he'll likely play guard at
SC when he gets here. SC is going to put together
probably the best OL and DL classes in the nation this
year. They're bringing in some REAL good players.
There's a chance that the DL class could be one for
the ages (even though, publicly they don't have any DL
commits). Their other OL commit is this guy Martin
Coleman who people are comparing to Winston Justice.
He has only played football for like 2 years but he's
got a ton of potential. he's already a very good OL
but he's got a great OL body and he's going to grow
and learn and develop exponentially over the next few
years. He won't come in as field-ready as Justice did
(who started his true frosh year which is a real
rarity for a true frosh OL in any bigtime Division 1
program), but he may end up being better or as good.

Wilson is a perfect guard prospect and the coaches
want him coming in at the exact same weight he's at
now (310) which is a really good sign. A lot of OL
prospects need to put on like 40 lbs and 'fill out'.
Not Wilson. He's fast and has really quick feet...
which is a rare combo for a guy that size. Anyhow, SC
won this battle with ND which is another key victory.
SC vs. ND is turning out to be quite the national
recruiting battle and will probably rage on as long as
Weis and Carroll are around.

Next up on the OL target list is a guy named
Kristopher O'Dowd. The best OL prospect in Arizona and
another top guard prospect. He and Wilson would be
pretty close to field-ready when they came in and both
those kids would be PLOWERS for our RB's. HOPEFULLY SC
will bring in an OL class of Coleman, Wilson, O'Dowd
and a center prospect like Justin Cheadle (they also
have this kid Michael Reardon who'll likely end up a
tackle as well... but he's one of those proverbial
'has to add 40 lbs to play OL' guys. Good prospect
though).

But looking at this class we may bring in 2 or
POSSIBLY 3 top RB's (3 is a longshot. we have two
GREAT ones in Broderick Green (who's kinda wavering
and is in the MIDDLE of SEC country) and Marc Tyler.
and the 3rd is this Reggie Bush-type in Joe McKnight
who's the best prospect in Louisiana... he's a great
talent and a very impressive kid. He's near LSU though
and LSU does some crazy voodoo to keep their local
kids local sometimes so even though the signs are
really good for SC that one ain't gonna be over til
the letter is signed and sent to Heritage Hall.
Anyhow, looking at a GREAT OL class, 2 good QB's and
up to 3 GREAT RB's in this class... it's a VERY
exciting recruiting class already. The future's really
bright for SC.

you tube

2006-07-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

here's a youtube highlight reel of SC dominating
UCLA over the past few years. Fun times...

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeexcellent....

2006-07-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

UCLA just extended their head coach Karl Dorrell's
contract for 5 years. Thank you Dan Guerrerro (he's
the AD at UCLA). ha ha ha.

How will UCLA do this year?...

I think they're going to be around 4th in the pac10
this year. I really have a hard time believing in a
coach and a program that went 10-2 the way that UCLA
did last year... their O carried them and the key
players from that O are now gone and i don't think
UCLA's stocked their system with enough depth to not
miss a step. On top of that they had a LOT of close
victories and come from behind wins. That to me is
what makes that 10-2 record deceiving and it makes
them a paper tiger of sorts. Also their two losses
were BAAAD losses. Good teams or teams on the brink
don't get blown out like that. Anyhow, I really don't
think its bias on my part to say that UCLA could be
looking at a tough season this year.

A new qb, few proven playmakers on O, a pourous D from
last year... although they do return a fair amount of
players so the D should improve (and their run defense
has nowhere to go but up). There are some players that
i do like a lot like Dennis Keyes and Chris Markey
who'll likely make a big step up to all pac10 levels
this year and the LB's should be better than i think
the conventional wisdom is but i just don't think
there's enough.

IMO for UCLA to have a good year and not take a step
back to the middle of the Pac10 Ben Olson is going to
have to be a real REAL good qb and right away. That's
a lot to put on that guys shoulders. I know he was the
top qb the year he came out of hs and i know he's
mature and a big kid who has some really good skills
but he's also been away from the game for a while... i
think even ucla fans would have to admit that they
didn't get Ben NEARLY enough live action snaps last
year and he's coming into this year probably not with
a TON of rust since he's been able to practice w/the
team and learn the playbook, but he hasn't started a
live game in what? 4 years? 5? Put on top of that that
their success or lack of success this year rests
largely on his shoulders and I don't see the
likelyhood being that UCLA has a big year this year.

This circumstance to me is what makes the extension
Dorrell just got kindof stupid. IMO it's one of those
unwinnable situations for Guerrerro though... Dorrell
just went 10-2, exceeded expectations for the year and
is making some inroads in recruiting. He has the signs
of getting better and growing into the job a bit. The
exterior signs i think are there... at least the stuff
you can put on a 'why i deserve a raise' bulletpoint
sheet and make your case plausibly... so it was time
to evaluate and give the guy his contractual due.

Now i think this 5 year deal could be like the
'extensions' that Toledo kept signing all the way
until the year before he got fired... they don't mean
THAT much in the end. If KD keeps losing to SC he's
not going to be around for 5 years no matter what his
contract says.

Now back to Guerrero... I think if he REALLY had his
way (if he thought like me at least) he'd want to wait
at least one more year. UCLA's kindof a team in flux.
They had a lot of upperclassmen who came through last
year but Drew Olson was much like Carson his senior
year... he didn't really put it together til his last
year. Difference being w/carson that he had about 3
different offensive systems to learn while he was at
SC. UCLA i don't think has had the influx in talent
that SC had after Carsons year. SC was also 'in flux'
at that time but there were some really good reasons
to be optimistic for the future. Carroll had just
signed a class that included Lendale White, Lawrence
Jackson, Whitney Lewis, Chauncey Washington and Reggie
Bush. I don't see the same reason for optimism at
UCLA.

I think it's quite reasonable to think that UCLA will
take a step back this year... maybe a small one.
Possibly a major one. They may put it together again,
but for lack of a better word a season like they had
last year was largely based on luck. Now i don't mean
to say that they didn't have a lot of quality players
and they didn't deserve to win the games they did...
teams that come back like they did in those games show
a lot of heart and tenacity. I really respect teams
that don't give up the fight and can win when the
chips are stacked against them... its rare that a team
can do that as often as the Bruins did. That said, a
few things go differently in a few games and that team
is losing 4 games last year (maybe 5).

For these reasons, i don't think UCLA's looking likely
to have a really good year this coming year and i
think the extension Dorrell just got has a decent
chance to look like a mistake in a years time. Maybe
it won't be the case and maybe Dorrell has grown into
the job and learned... i think he has started to show
signs of figuring out recruiting. He's won a couple
battles here and there and i think he's starting to
get it. Maybe he's come into his own and the time he
was afforded to put his mark on the program and
develop players is finally bearing fruit but i just
don't see enough signs to bet on that. I don't see
enough talent in the program for that to be the
case... maybe i'm wrong on that but I just don't see
UCLA having much better than a 3rd in the pac10 year
this year... and if i had to bet on it i'd put money
on them finishing in 4th or lower.

More Pre-Season Picks

2006-07-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

fucking a. i wrote out a whole long response to this
complete with my preseason picks and when i hit send i
got a message that said i was automatically logged out
of yahoo mail... and i couldn't get my email back.
sucks.

anyhow, with no explanation here were my picks...

Big East: Louisville

Big 12: Texas

Big 10: Ohio State (Michigan is my darkhorse despite
the "Lloyd Carr is a chump" factor)

Pac 10: USC

SEC: LSU

ACC: Florida State

Ind: ND'll get a major media jerkoff this year til
they lose a game. I'll buy in to the "ND will win the
NC!" hype when it looks like Weis has learned how to
coach a defense. Brady Quinn i think is the CLEAR
heisman favorite though. ND may have to lose 2+ games
for him NOT to win it.

A Choad's pre-season picks

2006-07-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

Sure, we got several weeks until college football playoffs begin (read: game 1), but now's a good time as any to make a few solid predictions based upon nothin'. Here's "The Dude's Few Broods with the Goods."

Last year I only got two conference champs right (I'd chosen Louisville, Texas, Iowa, USC, Florida, and Miami). Clearly I suck at this. Maybe if I parlay...

This year I'm gonna go with:

Big East: West Virginia

These guys played way too well in the "Sugar Bowl" against Georgia to overlook this time 'round. Louisville will be a challenge, but fool me once...

Big-12: Oklahoma

Texas was not a team last year. Texas was one player (with some help from the refs), and that player is gone. For a "big" conference, there really isn't that much parity. Oklahoma'll suck less this season and that'll be all it takes.

Big-10: Ohio State

These guys will beat Texas and from there their #1 rankin'll be locked. Look for Wisconsin to knock 'em down, but then they'll stumble elsewhere and back goes OSU to "a" BCS game (not "the" game). They may even get a Heisman.

Pac-10: USC

So what if they're not #1 anymore, they're still the team to beat in the Pac-10 and everyone'll be gunnin' for 'em. Good. I bet the new recruits are stoked.

SEC: Auburn

This conference doesn't have any standouts, and I gut burned by Florida last year so I'll go with these guys. They still won't make the championship game no matter what their record. Suckas.

ACC: Virginia Tech

If I were Michael Vick, I'd be royally pissed at my little brother. L'il punk shoulda went to a different school like Manning or Palmer. Then you can piss away "your" school/career if you want. Anyways, Va Tech shoulda had the ACC title last year but they pissed that away as well. Somehow I think they'll get their act together this time around.

ND will go to a BCS bowl as an at-large. They will lose twice (to Penn State and USC).

Here's a previewa all the teams from SI if you want.

- The Dude

Band gets moved to the Sun Deck

2006-07-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

Gotta admit, this'll take some gettin' used to.

- The Dude

Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

One more reason why being in the band sucks. Not that I can get to the choice seats any time soon, but it would be nice not to see those fucking tuba players doing that damn tuba strut down on the field.

--BFA

I like that USC is pretending that this is a move to
help people hear the band better. Who do they think
they're fooling w/that bs?

if we go back to mediocrity i'm guessing the band'll
move riiiight back.

--DJP

The student section just got much better.

-White Asian

If SC stays really good, it won't be long until the student section gets pushed further and further away from the prime sections. So far, SC has moved faculty seats and the Band to upgrade season ticket holders. hmmm, who's next.

--BFA

I 100% agree that the students are next to be f'd. They already are with regards to the Galen Center.

--The Dude

ND Blues?

2006-06-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

I'm sure nothin'll coma this.

- The Dude

A league source with intimate knowledge of the applicable NCAA regulations tells us that Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis might have rendered quarterback Brady Quinn and other incoming seniors ineligible if, as ProFootballTalk.com previously has reported, Weis has directed the seniors with designs on pro football to pick their agents before the start of the 2006 season.
-- profootballtalk.com

NOTHING will come of that. unless they sign something
they can mentally 'pick' whoever they want. maybe
there's some rule about a coach instructing players to
do that but at ND that wouldn't amount to more than a
slap on the wrist. ND is too good for college
football... no way the NCAA is going to come down on
them hard unless the violations are just ridiculously
blatant. hell phil fulmer has been getting away
w/shady shit at Tennessee for a decade and he hasn't
been caught and UT (while a good program) is nothing
compared to ND.

-- DJP

USC Recruiting continued

2006-06-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

We just picked up a commitment from the top safety on
the west coast. This kid Marshall Jones is 6'1" 190
and runs a 4.5 40. Runs like a corner, hits like a
safety. Good player. The ONLY question mark w/him (the
same as it is with Marc Tyler the RB we just landed...
they play at the same school) is the level of
competition they go up against. They play in a REAL
low division of football. Still, they've gone up
against top kids before, just not on a regular basis.
Anyhow the kid is a 4 star out of 5 and is another big
addition to this class. It's funny that we land a
safety after we've landed a few RB's and the top LB on
the west... those are three positions where we're
absolutely STACKED with top young talent right now. Up
next? The O and D lines. The one position where we
might not bring anyone in is TE. We missed out on a
couple of the top guys and the dropoff is pretty
significant (at least that's the perception).

I tell you what though, if we pull a couple OL's from
out of state and land this Joe McKnight guy (the rb
kid looks a lot like Reggie Bush, but he's from the
Bayou and thats a tough place to get kids to leave
LSU) then this may be the best recruiting class we'll
have had in a couple years (which is saying a lot cuz
our recruiting classes have been fucking SICK these
past few years... like our 'sleepers' are 4 star studs
that have 20 offers but we waited til the last second
to offer cuz we wanted the 5 star stud who had 60
offers). Good times to be a USC fan (and a fan of
recruiting) right now. Funny thing is some UCLA fans
keep proclaiming that they're beating us in recruiting
cuz they got some QB that SC wanted (we did, but we
wanted the guys we got just as much. and they have one
DL that we'd like to have but other than that they
(again) don't have a single player that we'd want. I
think they just landed a 190 pound linebacker
(seriously)). hahaha.

-- DJP

USC Football recruiting UPDATE...

2006-06-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

So SC got two committments today. One is from this guy
Mike Reardon who blew up at the SC lineman camp this
past weekend and got himself an offer from the SC
staff. The guy is 6'6" 260 and he runs a 4.7 40.
That's fast.

Word is he likes DE but he'll likely grow a LOT (just
seeing the kid he looks like he could fill out a ton).
Looks like he's slated to play OL. The OL class for SC
this year is going to be epic. They're just getting
started. We've already got a commitment from one of
the best OL prospects in the nation in Martin Coleman.
This kid is a Winston Justice level prospect... and he
ain't gonna be the only one we bring in. Anyhow,
Reardon is a big athletic dude... a 4 star out of 5
(we now have, get this, 5 5 star players and 2 4 star
players. Thats riiiidiculous).

The 2nd commit was this kid Marc Tyler. He's the RB on
the same team that the top qb in the nation (Jimmy
Clausen) plays on. He's a VERY good player. A Lendale
White type. 6'1" 225 4.55 40. Good rb. THe knock on
him is that he hasn't played against the best
competition but he's coming in while SC has a LOT of
rb's and is already bringing in another top back in
this class (broderick green... who admittedly his
commitment may not stick til feb). Anyhow, Tyler is
the best RB in the nation according to most of the
recruiting services. He and Chris Galippo will
probably end up being the two big 'prestige' recruits
from this class, if we don't land this guy Marvin
Austin (the top DT in the nation from Washington DC,
who, the word is that SC has a very good shot at).

Whats funny is that Carroll has said that recruiting
actually got EASIER after the Rose Bowl loss if you
believe that. We don't normally take early season
public commits this year (w/some of the off the field
troubles maybe it was a PR move to counter some of the
negativity). Anyhow, this recruiting class is coming
into shape and its already looking freakin great.
Can't wait to see how the DT and OL classes shake up.

Up next is likely Marshall Jones (the safety from
Tyler's same school. kid runs like a cb and hits like
a safety. probably in the top 3 (if not THE top)
safety in the nation). After that we should see some
OL and DL's comin in (and this is a real good year for
OL's on the west coast (which is another brilliant
stroke of the SC coaching staff... they look ahead
year to year to assess if they should take a lot at
one position or wait til the next year if its a
position of strength coming up). Goooooood times.

USC Recruiting update....

2006-06-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

Don't worry. this isn't going to be a novel (not that
anyone reads the novels)...

So Scout and Rivals (the two main recruiting sites)
released their rankings today. There's usually some
outrage from the west coast that these services are
biased against west coast kids and this year is no
exception. I guess the main gripe is that there are
only 8 CA players in the top 100 on one of the sites
(i forget which one). Which is kinda silly... but it
doesn't really matter in the end. Fans LOVE to kick
around recruiting and star rankings like they matter
and get into these heated debates about how much
better their 4 star is than this other teams 5 star
and blah blah blah...

Anyhow, according to the scout rankings USC in JUST
the 5 (actually 6 as of today cuz we got some JC
kicker dude) commitments we have ALREADY has 4 5 stars
(LB Chris Galippo (the #1 LB in the nation), RB
Brockerick Green, QB Aaron Corp and OL Martin Coleman)
and 1 4 star (QB Samson Szckacky (or some shit)) For
most schools this is already a great class. For SC
we're just getting started. I should mention that we
MAY end up losing out on Green cuz he's from Arkansas
and he's gonna get a LOT of instate pressure and he's
already given indications that he may open his
recruitment up a bit but as of now he's still
committed. The really great news is that Marc Tyler
(who's a similar back to Green) may come instead (or
as well) and he's an even higher rated RB than Green.

The kicker we got as of today is some kickoff
specialist type who boots the ball an average of 75
yards on the kickoff. Thats touchback city.

Anyhow, shits goin good.

--DJP

not-so-dirty Sanchez

2006-06-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

Booty better watch his booty.

Sanchez won't face sex assault rap

- The Dude

Not so fast.... That was the criminal investigation. USC Student Conduct could still "press charges" on the assault and do all sorts of things like suspension, etc. In fact, they usually wait for the criminal side to decide what to do before they make their move. And, lets remember that the standard of proof is a lot less in a USC investigation. Just because the criminal charges did not stick, does not mean that USC cant find him responsible. (think OJ 1 and OJ 2)

That being said, it will be very hard for USC to explain how it found Sanchez responsible when the LAPD could not find the evidence to even bring a trial... Thus, I think USC drops it with a big sigh of relief.

-BFA esquire

word is the chick who's doin the accusing didn't
exactly have a consistent story and her timeline
didn't match up with witness testimony. the funny
thing is that if you asked me before this incident who
the last person on the team i'd think would ever be
involved in this kinda legal trouble, i'd have said
Mark Sanchez.

Supposedly he's gonna get a 2 game 'punishment' from
Carroll. Nothing official, just him being 3rd on the
depth chart or something. I think what HAS been proven
is that he was drinking and using a fake id. Maybe
student conduct can get in the mix on that but i'm
guessing this'll be left up to Carroll to doll out the
punishment.

Booty has already beat Sanchez out so it's all good in
terms of the depth chart (assuming that Booty doesn't
get hurt while Sanchez is being punished).

--DJP

USC Football recruiting...

2006-05-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

So at this time of year there's always a bunch of
optimism when it comes to recruiting. Everyone thinks
we're going to get every kid and a lot of these kids
aren't quite savvy to the game of recruiting yet so
they're flattered by interest by 'name' programs so
you get a lot of 'oh yeah, i'd definitely love to go
there!' kinda talk that doesn't really have much
substance. That all said, SC is doing as well early on
in recruiting as I've seen them do since Carroll
arrived (which is saying a lot since he's had 3
recruiting classes ranked in the top 3 (and two ranked
#1)). Anyhow, this year is going to be a class that
has a lot of OL and DL in it. Its kindof exciting cuz
we have some big time studs on both sides of the line
who're looking at us pretty seriously. The top guy is
probably this dude named Marvin Austin who hails from
Washington D.C. The word is that he's reeeeal high on
SC but he's also got like 40 scholarship offers from
everyone (plus he's from the east coast) so we'll have
to see. Early on though, things look pretty good. I
know the staff is all over him.

As far as RB's go the word is that we've already
landed a commit from this guy Marc Tyler. He's
basically Lendale White with a bit more speed. The kid
is pretty big time. He and this other guy safety
Marshall Jones (along with Jimmy Clausen the
uber-recruit qb who just committed to ND) are two of
the top guys at their respective positions are looking
very likely to come to SC. There's another commit that
we have on the books from a kid named Broderick Green
who's a big bruiser type runner, but he's from
Arkansas and the word is he's getting a ton of local
pressure to stay at home. He's still 'committed' but
this is a kid we're going to have to fight til LOI day
to keep. It is interesting if we bring both Tyler and
Green in during the same year because they're kinda
similar big back types. Tyler's a little smaller and
faster but Green believe it or not has better hands
and may be the more versatile one. Tyler's about 6'0"
220 and Green is about 6'1" 235.

We've already landed the top LB (and probably the top
defensive player on the west coast) in Chris Galippo.
He may be the best LB nation-wide. This kid is just
SICK on film. The only worry is that he'll grow to DE
size by the time he gets to SC. He hails from this hs
(Servite) that's about to have a BUNCH of guys that
get fed to SC. His sophmore teammate DJ Shoemate has
already committed to SC (the earliest commit in the PC
era) and Ryan Kalil (SC's starting center for the past
4 years) has a younger brouther who plays there and
there's another kid or two who may be top prospects
who'll also likely look SC's way when the time comes.

Like i told you before our QB recruiting is basically
done. This Aaron Corp kid is a pretty good looking
prospect. We're looking at a few years before he's
field ready though. A. he's gotta add a bunch of
weight and B. he doesn't exactly have a canon. He's
got very nice accuracy, but he's gonna be one of those
guys (similar to Leinart) who functions well within
the system. Hopefully he's got leinarts head and his
quick decision making ability. He's not a total wimp
and he's got a good arm... just not a great one. He's
also a pretty good runner for a big guy. Once he adds
the right amount of bulk we'll see that go away but
he's a good but not great prospect. The other kid is
this Samson Szakacsy kid who's got a biiiiig ol
whiteboy fro. He seems like a good enough kid but he's
a notch below Corp if you ask me. To be honest, this
is a pretty great year for QB's and i think we're
settling a bit. The kid that UCLA got (Chris Forcier
from SD) i think is a notch above Corp and no way
should we be losing out on QB's to UCLA. Things MAY
change if UCLA goes in the tank this year but we have
two commits from local kids currently so we'll see.

As for WR's we're kinda stacked in that department
right now but the top target is a Dwayne Jarrett clone
named Terrance Tolliver from Texas. He's 6'4" 185...
skinny fucker, but according to Carroll he's the best
WR in the nation. We're in the running for him but
he's got another team ahead of us right now (not sure
which one. ND possibly?) so we'll have to see how it
all plays out. There's another guy that ND is in on
named Arrilious (or something like that) Benn. ND
already has a commit from one of the best WR's out
there (a kid named Duval Kamara) so it stands to
reason that we'd have a shot w/either of these kids if
ND takes either one (word is Benn is leaning ND's way
currently. we'll have to see though).

There are also a couple local kids that look REAL good
as well. A couple burners as always from Long Beach
Poly (which is just a hs football factory), a kid
named Malachi Lewis who's one of the fastest kids in
the state and he weighs 210 lbs. And another guy named
Markques Simas who doesn't have an offer from SC but i
think will end up with one when its all said and done.
(the staff is famously stingy with early season
offers... only offering the cream of the crop)

TE is still up in the air. No news there yet.

On OL we only have one commit from a guy named Michael
Coleman who's only played football for a couple years
but he has VERY good physical skills. A few scouts
have compared him, in physical ability, to Winston
Justice. The consensus on him is that once he learns
proper technique the sky is the limit with him. Oh to
be 6'6" 295 and 17 years old. Frankly, we're going to
clean up in OL and likely DL recruiting this year. I'd
run off the list of names and their abilities but it'd
make this already long email even longer. Fact is
we're looking very good for a bunch of top OL's. I
think our biggest problem this year will be deciding
which ones are the right ones to focus on. Luckily its
a good year for OL's in the west so its a good year to
be in need (and UCLA frankly did better than us with
OL recruits last year...nows the year to blow them the
f out of the water).

Just a quick rundown of the D...

DL: Marvin Austin as i've mentioned before is the main
target at DT. He's a flat out stud. I believe he ran
somewhere in the 4.6-4.7 40 range at a recent camp.
The kid is 17 years old and he's 6'3" 300lbs.

Kenny Rowe is the brother of a kid we just brought in
in this past class named Alfred. He's probably the top
in-state DE and I think most would be surprised if he
didn't come to SC.

Da'John Harris is a DT who's likely already committed
to SC. He's a very good one. Not a superstud but a
very good one.

Everson Griffin is a HELL of a player and he's
probably one of the top 2 or 3 DE's nationwide. He's
from Arizona and believe it or not this is probably
going to be a battle with the Wildcats to land him.
Still, i like SC's chances. He along with Austin, Rowe
and the following player would make an absolutely SICK
DL class (likely won't happen but who knows).

Joseph Barksdale. He hails from Michigan so guess
where he's likely to go? Yeah. Probably UM. But he's
still a VERY nice DT prospect (6'5" 320) so SC'll
pursue him. No early word yet on if SC's got a legit
shot or not. I know he likes SC and he thinks of him
(like all 17 year olds do nowadays) as if they're the
power they've been the past few years like they've
been that way forever. But we'll see. I wouldn't place
our chances very high though.

Luther Davis. Top DE. From Louisiana. Which probably
means LSU but he may be looking to get out of the
south since Katrina y'know... fucked all that shit up.

There's this other LB that i believe SC is either
close to offering or who has already offered who has
this looong ass hawaiian name that's got too many
vowels to even mention. Anyhow, he's probably the #2
LB in the state behind Galippo and if SC lands him
this'd be like the 3rd or 4th straight class when SC
has taken the best LB's the state has to offer.
hahaha.

At DB it all starts with Donovan Warren. He's likely
to come to SC and he's a GREAT looking corner
prospect. After that it gets interesting. I already
mentioned Jones as a possible safety recruit. Well
Steve Smith's brother Malcolm Smith may also come in
as a LB/Safety type as well. There's another top local
kid named Antwoine Baker who's yet to get an SC offer
but he looks like another top corner prospect. I just
hope we aren't waiting around for him and it pisses
him off y'know? cuz that kid can play.

After that there are a couple names. Oh and this all
goes w/out addressing JC recruiting (we've offered a
couple guys this early (a wr i know is one of them)...
which is kinda rare for us). Also, I could see us
bringing in a punter in this class since we'll be
using a walk-on this year who's inconsistent at
best..and just doesn't have Malone's enormous leg.

There y'go. That's all the SC recruiting news thats
fit to email. I hope at least one of you made it
through all this. Peace.

Recondoooooooooo!!

Mark Sanchez or John David Booty?

2006-03-08T09:11:00.000-08:00

The latest from SI.

4. Mark Sanchez or John David Booty?

USC has had just two starting quarterbacks in Pete Carroll's five seasons -- Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart -- and both won Heisman trophies. Needless to say, there's more than a little interest in L.A. as to who inherits the reins next. Offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin and quarterbacks coach Steve Sarkisian have both said they'd like to name a starter by the end of spring. Booty, who graduated from high school a year early only to sit behind Leinart for three seasons, has the clear edge in experience over redshirt freshman Sanchez, but practice observers last season were blown away by the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Sanchez's arm strength and delivery. The guess here is that Booty will emerge from spring as the starter but will be constantly looking over his shoulder should he struggle in the slightest next fall (which is entirely possible considering the amount of attrition on the Trojans' O-line).

I think it'd be a major surprise if Booty didn't start
the first game next year. Sanchez will probably give
him a run for his money and may overtake him at some
point but Booty's no slouch. IMO he's going to throw a
LOT more pics than we've seen since Carson was a
junior.

Booty's bulked up a bit though. He's about 210 now (he
looked like he was 190 last year when i saw him...
real lean. And Sanchez is now 6'4" 225 (he's got HUGE
fuckin hands. I met him at the Cal game... man what a
big young dude).

DJP

Surprise

2006-03-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

Geez, just one "star" returner. I guess soon we'll see if the recent recruitin' classes are really as high as people thought.

- The Dude

The biggest surprise subtraction this year was Fred
Matua leaving early for the draft. Not many saw that
coming. The OL will have to be rebuilt a little but
there isn't going to be NEARLY the depth we had this
past year (which is fine cuz we had a TON of depth
this year). The good news is that we have two VERY
good OL's ready to step in (Byers and Rachal) and
another two pretty good ones (Williams and Radovich).
After that though... it gets a little dicey on the
'players who can contribute and excel' front.

WR is stacked. RB has a lot of talent (not like with
Bush and White of course) so there'll be some figuring
out of who's gonna be the man there but thats a spot
we should be more than fine at just by virtue of there
being SO many good candidates to fill the void.

TE i think is a sleeper position to be really good
this year.

And of course QB is the big question mark. I think
Booty's going to be good but I also think we're going
to see a lot more int's out of him than we've seen out
of an SC qb in about 5 years.

The D will be improved but there are big concerns
about DT. We don't have much top of the line talent at
DT and we don't really have a lot of depth. This is
probably our biggest weakness on our football team...
and after having Cody and Patterson for so many years
it's a pretty glaring weakness. We've just missed out
on a lot of top DT's and on top of that we've had some
'slow to develop' guys in the program. We've got some
warm bodies who're athletic but they're just not at
the 'you can count on them' stage yet.

DE is going to be interesting. It's time for Jeff
Schweiger to step up and assert himself as a force. If
he doesn't then it's likely going to be Kyle Moore and
Lawrence Jackson (who i think is going to have a HUGE
year) at the ends.

LB is going to be awesome. This is by far our
strongest and deepest position on D and probably on
the team. We have SO many great athletes here it's
sick. It almost makes you want to run a 6 lb set just
to get all these studs on the field.

CB will be improved this year. Kevin Thomas is going
to emerge as a good corner, Terrell Thomas will
hopefully be back and there are a slew of other DB's
who'll contribute.

Safety is going to be young and inexperienced but
athletic as shit. Taylor Mays may be the best athlete
we brought in in the past recruiting class he's a 6'4"
220lb track level athlete. Antwine Perez (already in
school and going through workouts with the team) is
the name to remember if you ask me. Then on top of
that we've got guys like Allen Bradford (the west
coasts top recruit this past year... and a FIERCE
hitter.. a lil lacking in fundamentals but an insane
athlete) Will Harris, Kevin Ellison (who started last
year before getting injured), etc, etc...

Safety, like RB is one of those spots where we dont'
know the answers yet, we do know that there'll be a
satisfactory answer simply because there are so many
great candidates for the spots.

Punter is interesting because it looks like we'll be
using a walkon from last year. I guess this kid is
pretty good so we'll see. SC passed on offering a
punter this past year and hopefully Van Blarcom (the
PK we recruited last year) is over being an alcoholic
and is ready to step it up. It's a shame that we gave
a kid a scholie and he was just a kickoff guy. We need
him to handle the placekicking as well.

--DJP

Perez is the next Ronnie Lott

2006-03-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

This Perez kid (in the article below) is supposed to
be 'the next ronnie lott'. If you see his hs highlight
tapes you see why. He fuckin destroys guys. The only
thing is that he's a bit undersized (he's not 200
lbs... he WAS about 180 and he's already up to 195 AND
faster than he was in hs cuz our strength and
conditioning coach Chris Carlisle (one of SC's secret
weapons) is one of the best in the business). Anyhow,
this guy could very likely be one of our starting
safeties next year as a true frosh... bein here in
spring ball is definitely an advantage.

--DJP

Hangover Hazelton

2006-02-24T08:17:00.000-08:00

The story is out about that Hazleton kid. USC got him.
He's comin. He's the "highest ranked" player in the
class and he's considered 'a more talented, more
athletic version of steve smith'. I believe he's
regarded as the 2nd best WR in the nation. If he had
blazing speed he'd probably be the #1 recruit in the
nation. He's a real polished kid. May even contribute
his first year in what is looking to be a pretty
stacked WR spot. We'll see. A good pickup for the SC
program for sure though.

--DJP

I'm sure it helped that the weather here's been gorgeous lately (while it's all like blizzards on the east coast). And when the weather's gorgeous, this campus is gorgeous...if you know what I'm sayin' (elbow).

So USC's gonna own the Pac-10 for another coupla years, right? That's what I'm hearin'?

- The Dude

Yeah, SC should own the pac10 for the forseeable
future. You never know how our qb's will pan out
though so we might not be #1 every year. but we should
be #1 or #2.

Speakina the weather supposedly Carroll and one of the
other coaches took a picture of the skyline a week or
so ago when it was just gorgeous out and sent it to
the kid in an email titled 'Los Angeles in February'.
I guess the kid flipped out. It's gotta be nice seein
how they're goin through a hellish cold front. Thanks
LA weather. Muhahahaha!

--DJP

Vidal Hazelton's Jerk Dad

2006-02-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

DJP, any word on this guy?

- The Dude

Vidal Hazelton, the highly coveted 6-foot-3, 200-pound wide receiver considered a top-10 national prospect by most recruiting services, will choose between Penn State and Southern Cal today. Hazelton committed orally to Southern Cal in late December and signed a letter of intent with the Trojans on Feb. 1, but the elder Hazelton would not co-sign the form, saying his son was under too much pressure. His father, Dexter, has made no secret of his preference for Penn State.

The word is that he's leanin SC's way but who knows.
Things didn't look good about a week and a half ago
when the dad convinced his kid to go on a visit with
him to Penn State. Everyone expected Hazleton to
commit there on the trip but he didn't (Penn St fans
and 'insiders' were real confident going into the
trip)... but after the trip the 'momentum' has seemed
to turn in SC's favor. I think the kid just wants to
go to SC real real bad and his dad's being a pain in
the ass. If he comes to SC this 18 year old kid
basically told his pops 'fuck off. i'm doin what i
want'. cuz his dad CLEARLY wants him to go to Penn St
(it's stupid too cuz he's all peeved that the 'family
wasn't recruited along with Vidal' and it's like 'well
A. they've been recruiting your kid for a year. i
think at some point they've talked to you. B. Vidal
the player/student is the one who's going to be
attending school and the one who's being recruited. C.
get the fuck over yourself. sorry your fragile ego
can't handle the fact that you yourself isn't being
'recruited'. and D. how about instead of worrying how
much luv you're getting from a coaching staff you just
make the extra effort to learn about the
school/players/coaches themselves. this guy's such a
dick. Anyhow, if you ask me right now i'm gonna say
that his kid is comin to SC. I guess Carroll and
Dexter (Vidal's dad) have smoothed things over a bit.
We'll see though. You never know.

--DJP

USC Recruiting Wrap Up

2006-02-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, so here it is...

USC cleaned up. This is probably the strongest class
SC has ever brought in from top to bottom. There just
isn't a weak link or a 'sleeper' in the entire class.
Even the guys we offered late (this QB Garrett Green
and this other RB Ken Ashley) were coveted by other
programs (UCLA was hot after Green and he had to
decide between SC, UCLA and Harvard)... and are top
character guys even if they're likely not going to end
up ever starting or carrying the load at SC. Ken
Ashley is a 4 star RB... which is basically like
saying he's a star and a potential superstar. SC
didn't even really look this kids way til a week ago
and they stole him from Mississippi State by offering
him at the last moment. We had other guys rated higher
and the staff is straight up w/these kids and they
tell em and the kids can choose to be bitter about it
or not. Most, surprisingly, aren't.

One other sidenote: We already landed the top junior
defensive player in CA who's already a 5 star (Chris
Galippo is his name. He's a LB from Servite)... which
is special because they don't rank ANYONE but the 5
star's at this point. He's projected to be a LB in
college and he's a FIERCE mofo. I'm shocked we locked
up a kid this big time this early. He's going to be
sick. ND was trying to get in on him but they got the
stiff arm. Sorry dudes. Oh and there are two other top
juniors in CA who are also all but locks for SC.
Donovan Warren (a 5'11" cb from Poly) who's probably
the best corner to ever come out of that program...
he's a 3 year starter in a program where even STUDS
sometimes only start for a year. And then we're also
all but guaranteed to get this guy Kenny Rowe who's
the younger brother of one of the guys we got in this
class. He's a 5 star DE. Just for reference there are
about 12 5 star players so far for next year and these
are all guys who're just so good that everyone KNOWS
that they're going to be recruited by everyone. SC's
set to get 3 of them already. Look at this years
classes and there are top 20 classes that have 1 or
ZERO 5 stars. That's how dominant SC is in recruiting
right now. It's ridiculous.

Anyhow, w/out further ado here's the breakdown player
by player...

Jamere Holland
(William Howard Taft HS)
Woodland Hills, CA 6-1/180/4.40

This guy is a BURNER. He's a great addition to SC's
team because he's something we haven't had since
Kareem Kelly graduated... a wr with track speed who
can get deep. He's not GREAT in open space but he's
the CA HS champ in the 100 and 200 meter dashes so
yeah, super fast. Good hands. He was worried we'd move
him to db and some people think that if he were a db
he'd be an NFL talent in 2 years but the kid likes WR
so that's where he stays... plus SC has some good db's
comin in (more on that in a sec).

Garrett Green
(Notre Dame HS)
Sherman Oaks, CA 6-1/190/4.50

A big character kid. Good grades. Picked SC over UCLA
and Harvard. He got injured this year but the kid is a
winner and a top quality guy. He might get moved to
safety at some point and IMO won't end up ever playing
at QB unless there are a bunch of injuries.

RB 69 Kenny Ashley
(Venice Senior HS)
Los Angeles, CA 5-8/200/4.50

Good moves. If he were a little faster he'd be a 5
star. He's VERY underrated, especially for a 4 star
but he's good. He had a very impressive CaliFlorida
game (it's an allstar game for the top California vs.
the top Florida kids). He's probably Hershel Dennis
for this team (good but not a star) and a pretty good
pickup... especially being able to string the kid
along and ask him in the last minute to commit.

LB 34 Mike Morgan
(Skyline HS)
Dallas, TX 6-3/185/4.60

This kid coming to SC was a COMPLETE surprise. NO ONE
had him on their radar. He visited SC and the word was
that he wasn't going to be coming to SC cuz he didn't
seem all that impressed on his visit... then he
commits after no one really thinking that SC had a
shot (even the coaches i'm told were surprised) and he
cites the visit and the connection he felt w/the
coaches and players as the reason. He's safety size
right now but he's going to be a LB. He's got a good
frame to add a lot of weight. He'll likely always be a
lean LB, but he's SUPER fast and he gets upfield
really fast (so much so that some people project him
as a DE but to be a DE at SC he'll have to add like 70
lbs).

LB 46 Alfred Rowe
(Polytechnic HS)
Long Beach, CA 6-1/205

To be honest, i'm not all THAT stoked with this
signing. SC has a TON of safeties and some great lb's
already in and coming in this class. Rowe is alright,
but nothing special. He'll be a special teamer at
most. The REALLY good news is that his younger brother
is a 5 star DE for next year and we'll need him since
our DL recruiting could use a lil boost (we got some
good guys this year but we didn't land that dominant
DE this year).

CB 47 Vincent Joseph
(Polytechnic HS)
Long Beach, CA 5-9.5/185/4.40

This guy is a midget but if he were 4 inches taller
EVERYONE would want him. He's a fighter and most
people thought that he was the best pure corner
regardless of size in CA this year. The only real
knock on him is his height. He's got everything else.
Seems like a good kid too.

RB 2 Stafon Johnson
(Susan Miller Dorsey HS)
Los Angeles, CA 6-0/200/4.45

Likely the star of this class. He'd be a 5 star as a
safety or a rb. He's going to be a White/Bush combo
type back and he can likely carry the load as a RB for
SC. This is the kid that most people have REALLY high
hopes for. He's not bush fast but he is fast. A
potential gamebreaker. IMO he's going to be the most
fun to watch develop over the next couple years.

WR 26 Travon Patterson
(Polytechnic HS)
Long Beach, CA 5-10/170/4.50

Another speedster. He's a lil slight of frame and he's
faster than that 4.50 40 indicates. He'll be good but
I don't think he'll ever be great. He'll likely be a
special teams contributor and a role playing type WR
(like Chris McFoy's been for us this year).

S 4 C.J. Gable
(Sylmar Senior HS)
Sylmar, CA 6-1/190/4.50

Another 5 star. He doesn't have AMAZING measurables
but you have to watch this kid play to appreciate him.
He's a hard nosed motherfucker. He hits hard both on O
and D. He's coming in as an athlete which is another
way of saying 'he'll play RB if we don't ahve enough
rb's or he'll play corner or safety if we get short
there.' He'll likely start off as a corner. Some have
speculated that he might not have the quickness to
stay at corner and is likely to be a safety but IMO
he'll stay at corner. SC has more top young safety
talent than anyone in the nation right now. Gable is a
tough, hard nosed, humble, hard working kid... you
don't find many 5 stars that you can say that about.
He could play for SC as a RB but he'll play on D most
likely. He's that good of an athlete.

RB 16 Stanley Havili
(Cottonwood HS)
Salt Lake City, UT 6-1/215/4.55

An offensive fullback in the David Kirtman mold. This
guys going to be really good. Maybe not RIGHT off the
bat but he is going to be a good fullback. SC doesn't
take many big fullback types very often so when they
do they usually feel really good about the guy. Havili
is a mormon who's skipping going on his mission so he
can play at SC. A hard nosed kid.

LB 4 Allen Bradford
(Colton HS)
Colton, CA 6-0/222/4.55

Top player on the west coast and top 5 in the nation.
He's an INCREDIBLE athelte. He'd be a superstar RB if
he wanted to play offense, but he doesn't. Instead
he's likely going to be a safety at SC (or possibly a
LB). He's a VERY hard hitter. The one thing i'll say
about him though is that he doesn't have a lot of
discipline as a player and seems to me to be a bit of
a trash talker. He's a good kid from what i can tell
but in the games i saw him play he was a bit of a
headhunter. He'd get to teh play and in the right
position SUPER fast but then he'd try going for some
highlight hit and he wouldn't wrap the guy up and the
offensive player would wiggle out and get a few extra
yards or he'd kinda miss on the tackle. He'll get that
coached out of him of course and it's better to have
all the athletic ability that he DOES have but he does
need a lil work. A GREAT athlete and a SICK hitter
though. This guy's going to the NFL if he keeps his
head on straight.

WR 6 David Ausberry
(Lemoore HS)
Lemoore, CA 6-4/215/4.65

A MASSIVE WR. He's like Mike Williams. He's a lil raw
but once he figures out how to use his body there are
going to be a lot of DB's who'll have NO CLUE how to
cover this guy. He's 6'4" and he's muscular. Faster
than you'd think but not a burner. He's got good hands
but he just needs to learn a lot of the nuances of the
position. If he works hard he could be just like Mike
Williams in a couple years.

RB 11 Emmanuel Moody
(Coppell HS)
Coppell, TX 5-11/190/4.55

Good RB. Hard worker. Is a high rated kid but IMO he's
a few steps behind Stafon Johnson and maybe a step
ahead of Ashley (but not by much) he's got good moves
and stuff but I just don't see this guy being one of
those spectacular playmaker types. He'll catch a ball
out of the backfield and he'll make a guy or two miss
but he's not going to make anyone forget Reggie Bush.
He's another Hershel Dennis IMO. A good RB who'll give
you something but not the type that's SUCH a threat
that he'll scare the other team.

OL 11 Butch Lewis
(Regis Jesuit HS)
Aurora, CO 6-5/280/5.20

I'm real stoked on this guy. He could be a DL or an OL
for SC (since SC whiffed on a bunch of top OL talent
he may get moved over there for depth reasons but to
start he's a DL). He's got long arms and a good
athletic body. IF he stays at DE he's just going to
have to get faster. He'll probably end up as a DT if
he stays on D just cuz he's not REALLY fast and he's
got some room to grow. It's amazing when you see 6'5"
280 guys who's arms just aren't that big yet. Once
Coach Carlisle (the famous USC strength and
conditioning coach) gets ahold of him and some other
guys in this class they'll really take it to the next
level.

CB 12 Shareece Wright
(Colton HS)
Colton, CA 5-11/185/4.50

Love, love, love this kid. A hard hitting, athletic,
fast corner. He plays corner like a safety and that's
JUST Carroll's style. He's going to be awesome. The
best corner prospect in the west and he could see PT
very early on at SC if he works hard and everything
'clicks' for him.

WR 1 Vidal Hazelton
(Hargrave Military Academy)
Chatham, VA 6-2/200/4.50

This kid is drama. Technically he's not IN the class
yet. He needs his parents to sign his LOI and his dad
is going on some anti-SC tirade in the press right now
that's pissing a lot of people off. Hes saying that he
doesn't like how SC approached recruiting of his
STEPson by going to his stepson directly instead of
starting with the family (whatever you fucking
egomaniac, it's about your kid, not you). He's pushing
for Penn State pretty hard and claiming the reason he
didn't sign the LOI is because he wants to "take more
time to get to know the coaches"... this is the
coaches vacation time and all the coaches have been
recruiting these kids for at LEAST a year if not
longer. His kid is pretty pissed with him apparently
but the only reason we don't have this awesome awesome
player (he's a better, more athletic, bigger version
of Steve Smith) is because of Dexter Hazelton.
Fucking dumbass parents.

DE 23 Alex Parsons
(Woodbridge HS)
Irvine, CA 6-4/260/4.80

This guy actually played LB in hs. He's going to
likely end up at DT in college. He hasn't played DT
before (DE a lil) so there'll be a learning curve but
he did play it in the CaliFlorida game and he was
pretty dominant. He's going to have a big learning
curve and i don't expect an impact from him for a year
or two but he's got the potential for SURE.

LB 7 Josh Tatum
(McClymonds Senior HS)
Oakland, CA 6-2/220/4.50

Yawn. Another 5 star LB. This kid is awesome... BUT he
had season ending injuries both his soph and his jr
years. He's real fast, hard nosed and has a real knack
for cutting through traffic and rocking the
ballcarrier. A good smart kid too. If he stays healthy
the sky is the limit.

TE 5 Anthony McCoy
(Bullard HS)
Fresno, CA 6-4/220/4.60

This kid wasn't rated as high by the services (ONLY a
4 star) but the coaches rated him above some 5 stars.
He's going to start off as a WR if that gives you any
indication of how athletic this kid is. He could
easily be Dominique Byrd by his soph year... and yeah,
that's high praise. He COULD even end up as a big WR.
Either way he's very agile for his size and mass and
he should be a big time contributor for this school.
Those inside the program I guess are as excited about
McCoy coming to SC as they are anyone else in this
class.

S 5 Antwine Perez
(Woodrow Wilson HS)
Camden, NJ 6-2/200/4.50

This is one of the guys i'm most excited about in this
class (him and Stafon Johnson). He's just a HARD HARD
hitter. He's already drawing comparisons to Ronnie
Lott. He's enrolled at SC already and he's going to
participate in spring ball which is a huge leg up for
a frosh. He's really going to be something IMO and
he's also got a GREAT shot at getting early pt. He's a
frosh who i think many expect to come in and have an
impact... even if its just on special teams. He's
going to really impress people though. He throws his
ENTIRE body into his hits. If he had Taylor Mays' size
(the guy who's next on the list) they'd ban him from
football. It's a blessing that he's only 200 lbs. cuz
he freakin ROCKS guys.

S 2 Taylor Mays
(O'Dea HS)
Seattle, WA 6-3/220/4.50

Great athlete. A track stud at that size (and that's
legit size. in his highlight clips he looks like
godzilla chasing down chinese). He's fast but he's
kindof a pussy when it comes to hitting. He may get
switched to TE or WR. He's 'the top safety prospect on
the west coast' and some say the best in the nation
(he and Perez are both in the top 3 in the nation) but
i think he can be a LITTLE slow of foot and despite
having the size, he doesn't love to hit.

DT 11 Derek Simmons
(Armijo HS)
Fairfield, CA 6-5/272/4.80

This guy everyone thought was a sleeper but then he
just absolutely BLEW UP the CaliFlorida game and
everyone went 'fuckin-a. SC does it again.' This guys
been in the SC camp for a whjile and people were
puzzled at first cuz he's not that highly rated... but
as he continued to play all year long everyone could
start to see why SC pulled the trigger on this kid.
He's got real long arms and IMO could be a prototype
DE if he retains his speed as he bulks up (He sure
doesn't play like a 4.8 guy to me.. he looks like a
4.6 guy). Anyhow, he's an animal. May need to refine
his game w/some savy passrush moves and whatnot but he
and Parsons both have great motors and should be very
very good players.

OL 36 Zack Heberer
(San Pedro Senior HS)
San Pedro, CA 6-4/275/5.10

Very good OL prospect. Bulky and tough. Not many OL's
in this class so he's a big deal to us. Not the TOP
lineman in the west but one of the best. Next year OL
will be a huge priority.

TE JC Gerald Washington
(Chaffey)
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 6-5/253/4.60

This guy was in the service and one guy who's REALLY
athletic but also REALLY raw. Many were and i think
are still surprised that SC offered him. He's a top
character guy and seems to be VERY serious. We'll see
if he develops. It doesn't appear that effort or
character will be an issue with him.

There y'go dudes. I hope you read even half of that.

Peace,

D