Oregon's Not Done Yet

I was surprised to see them win after allowing the Cougs to shoot a mere 53% from the field while getting outrebounded. But, when you force twice as many turnovers as you commit and hit twice as many threes, its not as surprising. Aaron Brooks wasn't very sharp, but Tajuan Porter came up big yet again with 21 points and four three-pointers. Oregon needed the win to show their season wasn't over yet, while WSU needed it to show the selection committee they are a 2 seed. And now we know WSU isn't a 2 seed. In less important but still interesting games, Wazzu eventually beat the Beavers and Oregon outlasted the Huskies. Both SoCal teams swept the NorCal teams and the Wildcats barely topped the Sun Devils.

WSU gets a chance to redeem themselves this week with games against USC and UCLA, easily the best games of the week in the Pac-10.

Big games in Eugene and Los Angeles tonight. The Trojans and Cardinal fight for third place in the Pac-10, while the Cougs come to McArthur to see if the Ducks can shake out of their slump. You know, now that I think about it, Oregon's basketball struggles this season seem eerily parallel to their football problems too. Win a few games early (one of which is a close game against one of the best teams in the country), get ranked pretty high and look like a great team, then watch it all crumble as their supposed "leaders" (Dixon and Brooks) play terribly and lose lots of conference games down the stretch. What is in Eugene's water???

Ohio St and Florida both won yesterday, which means the Bruins probably won't get a chance to break into the top 3 this week.

Sad But True

Still smarting over the USC loss to Arizona State. I only caught the last few minutes of the game, but wow what an embarrassing loss for the Trojans. ASU had lost 15 in a row and were 0-14 in conference play and USC was coming off a big win in Tucson. Then USC goes and loses to a team that barely breaks the top-200 in the Sagarin Ratings. Bravo, USC. Bravo. But, since Florida lost on Saturday and Wisconsin followed that up with a loss on Tuesday, it almost doesn't hurt as much. Then again, the Gators and Badgers didn't lose to one of the worst teams in the country. So it looks like USC still has something to prove in the conference tourney.

In other Pac-10 news, the Cougs went cradle robbing and got a verbal commitment from a 14 year old. Now they only have to wait four or five years for that investment to pay off. You would think a top-ten team would be able to at least recruit upperclassmen.

Weekly Recap

Rough week for Arizona, losing to both USC and UCLA at home, after already losing both games they played in LA in January. Hell, it has been a rough 2007 for the Wildcats, who are only 6-8 since the calendar turned. This is a team that was as high as #7 before they began their tumble in the standings. But since beating then #20 Washington to start the new year, Arizona has gone 1-6 against ranked teams with their other two losses coming against the now ranked Cougar and Trojan squads. They have three games left and a chance to hit 20 regular season wins, but they'll have to knock off the suddenly impressive Cardinal on the road in their season finale to do it.

Speaking of Stanford, they are now fourth in the conference, ahead of both Oregon and Arizona, after a nice win against the Ducks. Brook Lopez had another nice game for the Cardinal with 26 points and 9 boards as Oregon continued their collapse. Aaron Brooks finally returned to form with 25 points on 10 of 19 shooting, after making less than 30% of his shots in the last five games. But he didn't get much help as Tajuan Porter was the only other Duck in double figures and the bench didn't contribute a single point. Just like Arizona, Oregon got as high as #7 in the polls, only to go 2-6 in their last eight games and may even fall out of the top 25 in this week's polls.

And finally, congratulations to Vandy for knocking off Florida. Gotta love it when an unranked team takes out the #1 team in all the land, especially when it's an SEC team. Congrats also to the Washington Huskies, who managed to lose to two top-ten teams by exactly the same score this week, 65-61. I am impressed by that consistency, but I would be more impressed if you actually ended this disappointing season with 20 wins. Of course, that means running the table and beating Oregon, USC and UCLA in the next two weeks. Impress me, I dare you.

Looks Like USC Is In A Little Trouble...

So not only is the Reggie Bush house donation saga still continuing, now he may be improperly talking to potential recruits, specifically one Joe McKnight. Thanks, Reggie. Even if the NCAA does hand down a punishment upon USC, it evidently won't be very severe. Add to that the fact that basketball recruit OJ Mayo just got suspended three games for bumping a ref, and USC's recruiting is not looking too good this week. Fight on?

...............And We're Back

I apologize for the lack of updates, life has been busy lately. Anyways, football came back into the fold for one day, and it was once again important for USC. They signed ESPN's #1, #2 and #3 players in RB Joe McKnight, LB Chris Galippo and RB Marc Tyler and came away with yet another "recruiting title" from ESPN. Plus USC pulled it out without the services of recruiting czar Lane Kiffin, who is keeping himself busy trying to gain Randy Moss' respect, easily my favorite subplot of the offseason. The fine folks over at Rivals nearly agreed, as USC gets second place in their rankings behind the National Champion Florida Gators. Other Pac-10 teams didn't fare so well. The only other team in ESPN's Top 25 was Oregon at #23. Rivals put Oregon at #11 and Cal at #22. The SEC wins the conference recruiting title, as USC, Notre Dame and Texas are the only teams to make Rivals top 10 that are not from the SEC. ESPN only puts five SEC schools in their top 10. Either way you slice it, the SEC puts on a show when it comes to signing day.

Nice to see no 5-star players going to any Pac-10 school besides USC. And while I love seeing USC get great players, I just don't see how all of them figure they are going to play. I mean the Trojans had one of the great RB hauls in recent memory last year with Emmanuel Moody, Stafon Johnson, and CJ Gable and now they add the two best running backs in the country to the mix? I am guessing that means at least two backs have to transfer before the season starts and I'll put my money on Johnson transferring to UNLV, following in the footsteps of Eric Wright and Rocky Hinds. Seriously though, USC now has McKnight, Tyler, Moody, Johnson, Gable, Michael Coleman, Desmond Reed, Chauncey Washington and a few more guys you've never heard of. Plus, there are two other high schoolers (Malcolm Smith and Broderick Green) who accepted scholarships to be running backs this year. Does the rest of the conference combined even have this much RB talent? Which begs another question: how stupid are all the running backs at USC if they all think they're going to start? Good luck with that, Pete.

And It All Comes To An End...

Well, with the Gators finally winning the long awaited national championship game, the football season comes to a close. USC ends the season #4, Cal at #14, and Oregon State at #21. Oregon and ASU were huge disappointments, OSU was a big surprise and USC and Cal finished just a little lower than expected. Now it's prepare for the draft season for all the graduating players, as well as underclassmen Marshawn Lynch, Dwayne Jarrett, Zach Miller and Chris Henry, who have all declared their intent to play in the NFL next season.

In addition to losing Jarrett, USC could potentially lose Pete Carroll as well. While on vacation in Costa Rica, Carroll met with Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga. He didn't take the job, which says something because Huizenga is willing to "do anything" to make the Dolphins win. He says he's not leaving now, but we have already heard that from Bobby Petrino and Nick Saban in the last couple of weeks. Huizenga is one of the few owners who would give Carroll total control over the team, but what has Carroll done to deserve that? He proved before that he's a mediocre NFL head coach and now he's suddenly qualified to draft players and work within the salary cap? Don't go pro yet Pete. You can still win a couple more national titles and go back to the NFL later to prove you weren't that bad. Besides, all the teams with head coaching vacancies aren't as close to a title as your Trojans.

In other news, Dirk Koetter has moved on. Now he's planning on continuing his run of mediocrity with a mediocre NFL team, as the offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Koetter takes over for former USC coach, Carl Smith. Koetter could have filled the same position at the University of Miami, but evidently the lure of the NFL is too strong, even for an unremarkable coach like Dirk.

R.I.P. Mario Danelo

I was going to write something about the UCLA-Oregon game (How do they beat the #1 Bruins at home and lose to unranked USC at home?), but this story about Mario Danelo is more important. In the wake of the Denver Broncos losing Darrent Williams, tragedy now comes to the USC family. Danelo apparently fell from a rocky cliff and died earlier Saturday. Our condolences go out to the Danelo family.

Bowl Day in Review

What a great day for college football, probably for Boise State more than anyone else. I still can’t believe they how they won the Fiesta Bowl. The hook and ladder to tie the game was one thing, but the Statue of Liberty to beat Oklahoma was simply amazing. I rewound the game about five times looking at how they pulled that off. Congratulations to the Broncos for pulling that win off. Their undefeated season will likely add more fuel to the fire over getting a playoff system in the “Bowl Subdivision,” though I can't imagine a mid-major would ever be good enough to win a playoff.

The Gator Bowl between Georgia Tech and West Virginia was another great game. Calvin Johnson really put on a show in the first half with 100-some receiving yards and a pair of TD catches to help give GT a 28-17 lead at the break. Of course, GT blew it all later when they allowed WVU to score 21 unanswered points in the third after opening the quarter with a TD drive. The Mountaineers scored their first TD on a a trick play where none of their offensive linemen moved after the snap. Of course, every GT defender was confused and Pat White found a wide open receiver for a 50 yard score. And naturally, after scoring more than 70 points in the first three quarters, no one scored in the fourth and WVU won.

So the Gator Bowl was exciting, through the first three quarters, and the Fiesta Bowl ended up being incredible, but the Rose Bowl was the game that most people were looking forward to watching. If you were a USC fan or Michigan hater, the Rose Bowl sure didn’t disappoint.

USC 32, Michigan 18
Just a dreadful start to this game. Neither team could score or move the ball in the first half and it was only 3-3 going into the third quarter. That was when the light went on for USC. Given how good the Michigan run defense had been, they abandoned the run and went balls to the wall with passes. Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith took over from that point and embarrassed the Wolverine secondary. Leon Hall was one of the better corners in college football this year and Jarrett made him look like a little girl with 205 receiving yards and a pair of TD catches. When Jarrett is healthy, he's the best receiver in the country not named Calvin Johnson. After watching Johnson have a monster game earlier in the day, it was nice to see Jarrett follow suit with the biggest game of his of his career. Now it looks like Jarrett can leave USC and compete with Johnson to be the first receiver taken, though Johnson will likely win that competition easily. (Note to Matt Millen and Detroit: Don't draft another receiver, even if it is someone as good as Johnson or Jarrett.) Smith also went over 100 yards with a TD and John David Booty ended up with almost 400 yards and four TDs. Of course, these kind of numbers are only possible if your O-line gives the quarterback time to throw. Sam Baker and Kyle Williams looked nothing like the tackles they were against UCLA, choosing this week to keep LaMarr Woodley and Co. at bay, which was the key to winning this game.

Aside from giving the Michigan defense a real pounding, USC's defense also made Mike Hart look ordinary. For the first time all year, he was held below 90 rushing yards and never had an impact on the game. He finished with only 47 yards and didn't make it to the end zone. But, the Wolverines did get some offense from Chad Henne, who threw for more than 300 yards for the first time all season and almost made the game interesting in the fourth quarter. But he and Steve Breaston proved to be too little, too late and Michigan couldn't come back from a 21 point deficit. The Trojan defense harassed Henne all day, with Brian Cushing leading the charge with a couple sacks and a forced fumble.

The Rose Bowl also wrapped up the bowl season for the Pac-10, which finished with a 3-3 record. Thankfully, our three best teams this season all won their games. Even though it was weak to watch Oregon, ASU and UCLA all lose by at least 17 points, Cal and USC were dominant in their games, while the Beavers won one of the more exciting bowl games with the gutsy 2 point conversion call. Not a horrible showing for the Pac-10, but it should have been better.

All in all, a very nice rebound from the December disappointment at the Rose Bowl. It also kept alive USC's streak of not losing back-to-back games for the last five years. A great season for the Trojans; we lost two Heisman Trophy winners and nine others to the NFL, watched our fullbacks get stricken with Ken Griffey/Fred Taylor disease, played the toughest schedule in the country and throttled a team in the Rose Bowl that many thought had earned a spot in the national championship game. Now, it's likely that USC will be ranked #1 to start next season. Fight on!

Happy New Year!!!

Everyone have a great start to '07. Enjoy all the bowl games, the Rose Bowl in particular. Best stat I think I have heard all year: USC hasn't allowed a TD play of more than 10 yards this season. Let's hope that continues today. Fight On!!!