It's been a while

...and it's time for my bowl preview, albeit one game into the bowl season. Good game between Navy and Utah tonight in San Diego, with the Utes surviving the scrappy Midshipmen, 35-32. Before I go into the actual matchups, here's the BCS games that I predicted/wanted to see:

BCS National Championship: LSU vs. Ohio State
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Arizona State
Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. Hawaii
Rose Bowl: Southern California vs. Missouri

That's a little better... Now it's time for some lists:

Top 5 Non-BCS games:

1. Capital One Bowl - Florida vs. Michigan
2. Cotton Bowl - Arkansas vs. Missouri
3. Holiday Bowl - Arizona State vs. Texas
4. Chick-fil-A Bowl - Clemson vs. Auburn
5. Outback Bowl - Tennessee vs. Wisconsin

Worse 5 Bowl Matchups

1. International Bowl - Rutgers vs. Ball State
   
2. New Mexico Bowl - New Mexico vs. Nevada
3. Motor City Bowl - Purdue vs. Central Michigan
4. Armed Forces Bowl - Air Force vs. California
5. Independence Bowl - Alabama vs. Colorado

BCS Games to Watch For:

1. BCS National Championship - LSU vs. Ohio State: Can the Buckeyes avoid a blowout like last year's 41-14 loss to Florida in the championship? A less spectacular offense will have trouble scoring on the Tiger defense, but Ohio State's D is their strength. LSU coach Les Miles gambled so many times this year, but will a fourth down gamble swing the game into the Buckeyes' favor? The winner becomes the first two-time BCS champion. I think the Tigers pull it out after Miles goes for the win late on fourth down. LSU (-4) 35, Ohio State 28
2. Allstate Sugar Bowl - Hawaii vs. Georgia: Will we have Boise State/Oklahoma part deux? The Warriors have the offensive firepower, but let's be honest, no defense they played this year can hold the Bulldog defense's jock. Georgia also features a solid running game which Hawaii has struggled to contain in the past. It will be another fun game, but even in a season full of upsets, Georgia will restore some order to the college football scene. Georgia (-7.5) 45, Hawaii 42
3. Tostitos Fiesta Bowl - Oklahoma vs. West Virginia: Probably the best team not playing in the national championship, the Sooners look to beat up on a Mountaineer team that went from being four quarters away from New Orleans to losing coach Rich Rodriguez to Michigan after a disappointing loss to Pittsburgh. Pat White has to do his best Vince Young impression, and Steve Slaton has to do his best Steve Slaton impression just to keep this one close. The balanced Oklahoma offensive attack and defense will keep West Virginia at bay. This would be lower, but even the Rose and Orange Bowls are less intriguing. Oklahoma (-6.5) 49, West Virginia 28
4. Rose Bowl - USC vs. Illinois: This game isn't higher than the Orange Bowl just because the Trojans are playing in it; I really don't see much in the VT/Kansas matchup. Also, the the Rose Bowl committee trying to preserve the Pac-10/Big-10 matchup, well what the hell happened in 2004, when Texas played Michigan as Cal watched from the sideline. The Rose Bowl had the first pick that year (USC played in the Orange Bowl for the national championship) and instead of tradition, they picked Texas. Ugh. And in 2002? They had the first pick (Ohio State played in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship) and again, instead of taking Iowa, who tied for first in the Big Ten, to play Washington State, they took Oklahoma, while the traditional matchup took place in the Orange Bowl. Fuck man. I would have enjoyed a USC/Missouri matchup (it seems like the Rose Bowl likes having the Big 12 as the at large replacement), especially after the Tigers beat the Illini earlier in the year. At least stay consistent with your decisions. A three loss Illinois team over the Big East champion West Virginia? Undefeated WAC champion Hawaii? The hottest team in the land Georgia? Two loss Missouri, who beat Illinois? Geez, no logic at all.
   Back to the game, USC is the biggest favorite of this bowl season at 14 points, but I have this weird feeling that Illinois will show up while the Trojans start sluggish. Then again, coach Pete Carroll coaches his team for this game every year. And Vince Young isn't playing for the Illini, though they do have a similar spread offense and a running QB in Juice Williams. It's always hard to figure out which USC team will come and play; the focused ones running on all cylinders like the one who played Nebraska, Washington State, and Arizona State, or the one that played Stanford, Arizona, and Washington. Here? First to 24 wins. USC (-13.5) 27, Illinois 17
5. FedEx Orange Bowl - Virginia Tech vs. Kansas: A picture is worth a thousand words? Here's mine...
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Kansas played well all year, but who have they played and beat? Central Michigan, I guess, who won the MAC championship. Texas A&M? Please. The Hokies, other than that 48-7 showing against LSU, played well, though their offensive struggles will have even more problems against the Jayhawks' solid defense. Virginia Tech (-3.5) 17, Kansas 13
   
   
   

Ugh, it's bowl season...

Well, the dust has settled and it's Ohio State against LSU in the BCS National Championship game. Fine. Sure, you could have made an argument that Oklahoma or Virginia Tech could have been in there, but as it is, I'm all right with the Buckeyes taking on the Tigers in New Orleans. Beats Kansas or Missouri against West Virginia. But the rest of the bowl games are pretty suspect. Other than the BCS conference champions and Hawaii, the three other BCS at large bids were literally up for grabs. The Sugar Bowl was the only one to get it right, probably because it used its last pick to select Hawaii and kept Georgia from the SEC, leading to another David/Goliath showdown like last year's Fiesta Bowl between Oklahoma and Boise State. Speaking of Oklahoma, they return to Tempe as Big 12 Champions to play the Big East champions, West Virginia, who choked their season away USC-style (circa 2006). That is also fine, but this is due to the fact that the Rose Bowl chose tradition over a great game. Sure, Illinois played out of their minds this year and handed Ohio State their only loss of the season. But it was a very down year in the Big Ten, where Michigan lost to Appalachian State, Illinois was the second best team ahead of a bunch of 7-5 or 6-6 teams, and Minnesota went 1-11. The Big Ten is a joke, as out of the FBS conferences, it is the only one where either the teams don't play each other nor do they have a conference championship. What a joke. That's how you got two 11-1 teams and a 12-0 team last year, as Wisconsin lost to Michigan, who lost to Ohio State. They did not deserve two BCS bids. Screw tradition Rose Bowl. Missouri says thanks for sending them to the Cotton Bowl, which I will get to next. Georgia is stuck in a no-win situation against Hawaii. And West Virginia plays a hot Oklahoma team. Again, thanks Rose Bowl committee, though we may be crashing in Pasadena next year for home games, which is another issue. And Kansas? With this guy:











somehow made it to a BCS game. So both Illinois and Kansas get into BCS games while Missouri, who beat both on neutral fields, gets the shaft and plays against a coachless Arkansas team in the Cotton Bowl. Bullshit! I know they got blown out by Oklahoma, but still, they were #1 last week, ranked higher than Illinois and Kansas this week, and won their division in the Big 12, and were left out of the BCS. Bullshit! And they were penalized heavily for losing a game most figured (including Vegas, where gambling is legal) that they would lose. Yet LSU, who lost last week to an unranked Arkansas team at home makes the leap from #7 to #2 in the BCS for beating a subpar Tennessee team that feasted on the weaker teams in the SEC. Bullshit! If anything, the Sooners deserved to be in the national championship over LSU. But I digress. How in the world did the Orange Bowl take Kansas over Missouri? I am dumbfounded. What else is bullshit? Hawaii started the season off ranked #23 in the AP, while Kansas was not on anyone's radars. Both teams got to 11-0, the difference is that Kansas was #2 in the polls; Hawaii was #12. Bullshit! You can't say Kansas played a tougher schedule than Hawaii. In fact, here's a comparison of the teams both played:

Kansas--------------------------------Hawaii
Missouri (11-2) - LOSS----------------Boise State (10-2)
Central Michigan (8-5, MAC Champs)--Fresno State (8-4)
Texas A&M (7-5)----------------------Nevada (6-6)
Oklahoma State (6-6)------------------Louisiana Tech (5-7)
Colorado (6-6)-------------------------San Jose State (5-7)
Nebraska (5-7)------------------------Washington (4-9)
Kansas State (5-7)----------------------New Mexico State (4-9)
Toledo (5-7)----------------------------UNLV (2-10)
Iowa State (3-9)------------------------Utah State (2-10)
Baylor (3-9)----------------------------Idaho (1-11)
Florida International (1-11)------------Charleston Southern (5-6, FCS)
SE Louisiana (3-8, FCS)----------------Northern Colorado (1-11, FCS)

Kansas' schedule was better, but not by much. And they lost to the best team they played. Plus, the records of the WAC teams are lower than the Big 12 teams because a lot of the WAC teams were scheduled as cupcakes for other teams, like Utah State against Oklahoma, Idaho against USC, Louisiana Tech against LSU, and Fresno State against Kansas State (oops! forgot about the highest ranked team that Kansas beat was beat by Fresno. Sorry about that.).

Other screwy bowls, Boise leaving the smurf turf and the Humanitarian Bowl to play in the Hawaii bowl, the highly anticipated UCLA/BYU rematch in the Vegas Bowl, and the best non-BCS game is not the Capital One Bowl between Florida and Michigan (Gators win big) but the Holiday Bowl, where the Fiesta Bowl snubbed Arizona State Sun Devils play the second best (oops, fourth best) team in the Big 12, Texas.

Also, the Pac-10 All-Conference team was named, and in the first time since before Carson Palmer, no USC QB made either team. In fact, Booty didn't even get honorable mention. But I can name at least two QBs better than Booty this year: Dennis Dixon, Oregon, Rudy Carpenter, Arizona State, Alex Brink, Washington State, Jake Locker, Washington, Tavita Prichard, Stanford (oh sorry, the QB who directed the biggest upset in college football history doesn't get any love here...). Here's the complete list of the All-Conference team:

Offensive Player of the Year: QB Dennis Dixon, Oregon
Defensive Player of the Year: DT Sedrick Ellis, USC
Freshman of the Year: QB Jake Locker, Washington
Coach of the Year: Dennis Erickson, Arizona State

First Team
QB Dennis Dixon, Oregon
RB Jonathan Stewart, Oregon
RB Justin Forsett, California
WR Mike Thomas, Arizona
WR Brandon Gibson, Washington State
TE Fred Davis, USC
OL Alex Mack, California
OL Max Unger, Oregon
OL Chilo Rachal, USC
OL Roy Schuening, Oregon State
OL Sam Baker, USC
OL Mike Pollack, Arizona State
DL Sedrick Ellis, USC
DL Lawrence Jackson, USC
DL Nick Reed, Oregon
DL Dorian Smith, Oregon State
LB Spencer Lawson, Arizona
LB Keith Rivers, USC
LB Robert James, Arizona State
LB Rey Maualuga, USC
DB Antoine Cason, Arizona
DB Patrick Chung, Oregon
DB Kevin Ellison, USC
DB Chris Horton, UCLA
PK Thomas Weber, Arizona State
P Keenyn Crier, Arizona
KR Matthew Slater, UCLA
PR Kyle Williams, Arizona State
ST Jahvid Best, California

Second Team
QB Alex Brink, Washington State
RB Yvenson Bernard, Oregon State
RB Louis Rankin, Washington
WR DeSean Jackson, California
WR Lavelle Hawkins, California
TE Jed Collins, Washington State
OL Geoff Schwartz, Oregon
OL Juan Garcia, Washington
OL Andy Levitre, Oregon State
OL Ebon Britton, Arizona
OL Alex Fletcher, Stanford
OL Fenuki Tupou, Oregon
DL Bruce Davis, UCLA
DL Dexter Davis, Arizona State
DL Lionel Dotson, Arizona
DL Jeff Van Orsow, Oregon State
LB Joey LaRocque, Oregon State
LB Alan Darlin, Oregon State
LB Derrick Doggett, Oregon State
LB Zach Follett, California
DB Terrell Thomas, USC
DB Justin Tryon, Arizona State
DB Brandon Hughes, Oregon State
DB Troy Nolan, Arizona State
PK Alexis Serna, Oregon State
P Jay Ottovegio, Stanford
KR Jonathan Stewart, Oregon
PR DeSean Jackson, California
ST Wopamo Osaisai, Stanford

Honorable Mention, USC: LB Brian Cushing, DE Everson Griffen, DB Cary Harris, DB Taylor Mays, RB/PR Joe McKnight, OL Drew Radovich, OL Matt Spanos, RB Chauncey Washington, LB Thomas Williams.

Few observations, I think that Thomas and Ellison should switch teams. Griffen was solid late, probably sealing his fate as an honorable mention. Tough for Chauncey to not make the second team, but those four RBs ahead of them were solid and were not stuck in a rotation. Nice to see Spanos and T-Will get some love as honorable mentions. Obvious picks for Dixon, Ellis, Locker, and Erickson. Ranking the coaches in order: Erickson, Riley, Bellotti, Harbaugh, Carroll, Stoops, Doba, Dorrell, Willingham, Tedford.

Oh well, maybe more ranting later. Beat the Illini!

Aw hamburgers...

What now? #1 Missouri lost (no surprise), as did #2 West Virginia (wha-wha-what?), leaving a huge mess in the BCS. It seems like #3 Ohio State should move up to #1 and into the national championship game, while #2 is up in the air? Me? I guess I have to go with LSU for now... And USC back in the national championship picture? Bleh... My top 25...

1. Ohio State (11-1)
2. Louisiana State (11-2)
3. Oklahoma (11-2)
4. Virginia Tech (11-2)
   
5. Georgia (10-2)
6. Southern California (10-2)
7. Hawaii (12-0)
8. Missouri (11-2)
   
9. Kansas (11-1)
10. Arizona State (10-2)
11. Florida (9-3)
12. West Virginia (10-2)
13. Illinois (9-3)
14. Wisconsin (9-3)
15. Brigham Young (10-2)
    
16. Texas (9-3)
17. Clemson (9-3)
18. Boston College (10-3)
19. Tennessee (9-4)
20. Boise State (10-2)
21. South Florida (9-3)
22. Cincinnati (9-3)
23. Central Florida (10-3)
24. Arkansas (8-4)
25. Auburn (8-4)
    

It's Senior Day...

#35 Joey Adewale, FB









#78 Sam Baker, OT









#10 John David Booty, QB









#50 Will Collins, SNP









#83 Fred Davis, TE









#34 Hershel Dennis, RB










#49 Sedrick Ellis, DT









#96 Lawrence Jackson, DE









#70 Alatini Malu, OG








#16 Michael McDonald, QB











#16 Chase McWhorter, S









#97 Alex Morrow, DE








#60 Drew Radovich, OG









#22 Desmond Reed, RB








#55 Keith Rivers, LB









#45 Brad Smith, PK









#69 Matt Spanos, C









#28 Terrell Thomas, CB








#89 Dale Thompson, TE








#48 Brad Walker, WR










#23 Chauncey Washington, RB









#41 Thomas Williams, LB







#29 Brent Yoshida, S

And don't forget the ones we've lost...







#54 Drean Rucker, LB








#19 Mario Danelo, PK

Its UCLA week...

Huge hit by Mualaga, er, Mooga, uh, Mawalaga, um, Maualawa, Moalega....


1999-2003 dominance of UCLA

Jimmy V

Beautiful...

Wow, the crazy season continues

The Trojans pull off their first upset since beating Michigan in last year's Rose Bowl, 44-24, over Arizona State on Thanksgiving Day. Here's a huge hit on Sun Devil QB Rudy Carpenter:


And then UCLA gave the Trojans an early Christmas present, a 16-0 shocker over the Oregon Ducks, putting the Trojans in the driver's seat for the Pac-10 championship and a Rose Bowl berth. To think, after losing to Stanford in October, the Rose Bowl never crossed my mind. Vegas would be fun I said, San Diego is still close to home. But a crazy series of results has left the Trojans one Bruin slaughter away from returning to the Rose Bowl for the 4th time in 5 years. I can't imagine how Pete could let the boys lose focus on this game. This is what they play for all year. After the Oregon loss, we needed the Ducks to lose twice and for Arizona State to lose a game not to us. Well, after Dennis Dixon went down with a gruesome knee injury, Arizona took down Oregon last week, then after Brady Leaf was injured today, UCLA (!) shut out (!) Oregon (!) to open the door for us. And before Dixon's injury, the Ducks beat Arizona State a couple of weeks back. It helps to have Cal lose 5 of their last 6 to fall out of the Pac-10 race.

As for the game itself, we haven't seen the passing game that fluent and successful since the Washington State and Notre Dame games. Of course, our running game suffered, but the way UCLA's offense is playing, all we need is to tack on 14 points and Pasadena here we come! John David Booty hasn't looked this sharp since dissecting the Cougars in September, and the defense showed up as well, knocking Sun Devils' QB Rudy Carpenter around. Special teams remains a problem, but when hasn't it been a problem at USC? Didn't get to watch the entire game, it was during Thanksgiving dinner, but will try to watch the complete game later. Great win, and one more to go to get to the Rose Bowl.

Missouri looked impressive against Kansas. That said, I still think that Oklahoma will beat the Tigers next week in the Big 12 Championship. A lot of talk up of Missouri, but Kansas really hadn't played anyone all year, and Oklahoma is still a tough team. And LSU dropping a second triple overtime game, knocking them out of the national championship picture. It was a great game, but Big Ball Les and the Tigers have finally run out of lives after winning so many close games. They will still be playing in New Orleans, though, just in the Sugar Bowl, unless Tennessee beats them in the SEC Championship, which I don't see happening with a pissed off Tigers squad. And with the crazy college football season, look who stands alone in the ranks of the undefeated: Hawaii, though a tough test stands in front of them, Jake Locker. I talked him up before the USC-UW game, and the Warriors should be ready for a hell of a game. Great win over Boise State, but it will be all for naught if they can't beat the Huskies next week.

Here's my top 25:

1. West Virginia (10-1)
2. Missouri (11-1)
3. Ohio State (11-1)
4. Louisiana State (10-2)
5. Georgia (10-2)
6. Virginia Tech (10-2)
7. Oklahoma (10-2)
8. Southern California (9-2)
9. Hawaii (11-0)
10. Kansas (11-1)
11. Florida (9-3)
12. Boston College (10-2)
13. Tennessee (9-3)
14. Arizona State (9-2)
15. Illinois (9-3)
16. Wisconsin (9-3)
17. Oregon (8-3)
18. Texas (9-3)
19. Clemson (9-3)
20. Brigham Young (9-3)
21. South Florida (9-3)
22. Boise State (10-2)
23. Cincinnati (9-3)
24. Auburn (8-4)
25. Arkansas (8-4)

BCS Bowl Predictions:
BCS Championship; New Orleans, Louisiana - BCS #1 vs. BCS #2
#1 Missouri vs. #2 West Virginia
Orange Bowl; Miami, Florida - ACC #1 vs. BCS at large
#6 Virginia Tech vs. #4 Georgia
Fiesta Bowl; Tempe, Arizona - Big 12 #1 vs. BCS at large
#5 Kansas vs. #11 Boston College
Sugar Bowl; New Orleans, Louisiana - SEC #1 vs. BCS at large
#7 Louisiana State vs. #12 Hawaii
Rose Bowl; Pasadena, California - Big 10 #1 vs. Pac-10 #1
#3 Ohio State vs. #8 Southern California

Not f****** Kansas!

Okay, last week I was like, cool, Ohio State isn't going to be in the National Championship again, where they would be throttled by LSU or Oregon or Oklahoma. Then Oregon lost to Arizona. Fine, now USC has a chance for the Pac-10 championship, and a Sugar Bowl rematch between Oklahoma and LSU for the National Championship would be fine by me. Then Oklahoma lost to Texas Tech. Fuck this shit. Not Kansas. Not fucking Kansas. Not with this guy:











No, not with Kansas as the Cinderella story. Hell, not even with Missouri as a potential Cinderella story. I wouldn't mind West Virginia being there, but it looks like the winner of next week's Kansas/Missouri game has the inside track to the BCS National Championship game. WTF!!! I like parity and upsets like the next guy, but see what happens when you root for too many upsets! You get fucked up shit like Kansas/Missouri in the title game. I just hope that LSU wins out, cause there is no way that Kansas/Missouri beats the Tigers in New Orleans. Damn, who knew, the game of the year is Kansas vs. Missouri. And coaching the Jayhawks is this guy:











Aw shit.

And even the best of teams fall when they lose their leader, the quarterback. USC lost to Oregon (that Stanford loss was inexcusable) with their backup Mark Sanchez at the helm. It happened twice this week. Oklahoma lost to Texas Tech after Sam Bradford went out with a concussion, as the Sooners fell behind 34-13 and couldn't climb out of that hole. Oregon lost to Arizona (again) after Dennis Dixon went down with a gruesome knee injury. Speaking of Arizona, third straight year the Wildcats have been mediocre to average in the season but pulls of a monumental upset. Here's Mike Stoops' work in recent years:

11/26/04 - Arizona (3-8) 34, #20 Arizona State (8-3) 27

11/05/05 - Arizona (3-6) 52, #7 UCLA (9-1) 14

11/11/06 - Arizona (5-5) 24, #8 California (8-2) 20

11/15/07 - Arizona (5-6) 34, #2 Oregon (8-2) 27

And in the last two wins, Arizona has helped USC win a share of the Pac-10 championship (assuming USC wins out this year). With Thanksgiving coming up, the Trojans should be very thankful that the Fighting Stoops beat Cal last year and Oregon this year, keeping USC's Rose Bowl hopes alive. Oh well. Here's my top 25 for the Thanksgiving weekend...

1. Louisiana State (10-1)
2. West Virginia (9-1)
3. Kansas (11-0)
4. Missouri (10-1)
5. Ohio State (11-1)
6. Georgia (9-2)
7. Virginia Tech (9-2)
8. Oregon (8-2)
   
9. Arizona State (9-1)
10. Oklahoma (9-2)
    
11. Southern California (8-2)
12. Boise State (10-1)
13. Texas (9-2)
14. Hawaii (10-0)
15. Florida (8-3)
16. Virginia (9-2)
17. Boston College (9-2)
18. Illinois (9-3)
19. Tennessee (8-3)
20. Wisconsin (9-3)
21. Clemson (8-3)
22. Connecticut (9-2)
23. Brigham Young (8-2)
24. South Florida (8-3)
    
25. Air Force (9-3)

The Rose Bowl Streak

The streak of teams that wear white, or road uniforms, to the Rose Bowl game:

2007 - USC 32, Michigan 18
















2006 - Texas 41, USC 38

















2005 - Texas 39, Michigan 38






















2004 - USC 28, Michigan 14


















2003 - Oklahoma 34, Washington State 14
















2002 - Miami (Florida) 37, Nebraska 14

Trojans win Rain Bowl

What a wonderful night for a football game, but the Trojans prevailed in terrible conditions on the back of Chauncey Washington to win 24-17. Here's the highlights:

Maybe more on the game later, but as always, my top 25 (tOSU, Michigan losses before their big game open the door for Hawaii...)

1. Louisiana State (9-1)
2. Oregon (8-1)
3. Oklahoma (9-1)
4. West Virginia (8-1)
5. Kansas (10-0)
6. Missouri (9-1)
7. Ohio State (10-1)
8. Georgia (8-2)
9. Arizona State (9-1)
10. Virginia Tech (8-2)
11. Southern California (8-2)
12. Hawaii (9-0)
13. Boise State (9-1)
14. Texas (8-2)
15. Florida (7-3)
16. Clemson (8-2)
17. Virginia (9-2)
    
18. Boston College (8-2)
19. Illinois (8-3)
    
20. Tennessee (7-3)
21. Cincinnati (8-2)
22. Penn State (8-3)
23. Wisconsin (8-3)
24. Michigan (8-3)
25. Kentucky (7-3)

BCS Bowl Projections (based on current BCS standings)
BCS National Championship - #1 Louisiana State (SEC Champ) vs. #2 Oregon (Pac-10 Champ)
AllState Sugar Bowl - #9 Georgia (BCS at large) vs. #14 Virginia (BCS at large)
FedEx Orange Bowl - #10 Virginia Tech (ACC Champ) vs. #6 West Virginia (Big East Champ)
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl - #3 Kansas (Big 12 Champ) vs. #8 Arizona State (BCS at large)
Rose Bowl Presented by Citi - #7 Ohio State (Big Ten Champ) vs. #4 Oklahoma (BCS at large)

EDIT (1/28/08): Looking back at the game, it was probably the most fun I've ever had at a football game. First, it wasn't at home, meaning we were in hostile territory where the fans didn't take it too lightly when we were cheering Chauncey's running on the final scoring drive. Second, it was a great game overall, regardless of the rain, though the conditions did lead to it being such a memorable game. Third, after the game, we were singing along to Conquest and Tusk as the student section was walking by, and they were not pleased with the results as well as being soaking wet. And finally, the rain. Wow. Usually, you don't know how the players feel when they are playing. But watching the game in the same downpour that the players were experiencing really was a great feeling. The funny part, the day before and day after the game were nice and sunny. Oh well, had to do it once. I had been to rain games before, 2004 Notre Dame and 2007 Washington State, but the rain was not as relentless as it was that night. I'm not sure if that game will leave me for a while. Even though it wasn't the game of the year that it was billed to be before the season, all of the conditions surrounding the game makes it the best I've been to.

So that's how our defense is supposed to be

Damn, the offense still sucks, but the defense showed their true colors today in a 24-3 win over Oregon State. The offense was playing not to turn the ball over in the second half while the defense took the 21 point run from the offense and stifled the Beavers, holding them to only 3 points, which resulted from bad position after a turnover. Nice to see the shotgun being integrated into the offense, but overall, we still need more momentum on the offensive side, more fluidity, more consistency. A reeling Cal team awaits the Trojans for USC's weekender, as the final stretch of USC's season starts. Nice way to start off November

1. Ohio State (10-0)
2. Oregon (8-1)
3. Louisiana State (8-1)
4. Oklahoma (8-1)
5. West Virginia (7-1)
6. Kansas (9-0)
7. Missouri (8-1)
8. Arizona State (8-1)
9. Boston College (8-1)
10. Michigan (8-2)
11. Georgia (7-2)
12. Virginia Tech (7-2)
13. Southern California (7-2)
14. Connecticut (8-1)
    
15. Hawaii (8-0)
16. Boise State (8-1)
17. Texas (7-2)
18. Auburn (7-3)
19. Florida (6-3)
20. Alabama (6-3)
21. Clemson (7-2)
22. Tennessee (6-3)
23. Kentucky (6-3)
24. Virginia (8-2)
25. Penn State (7-3)
    

Dennis Dixon and the Ducks are good

The Trojans reign in the Pac-10 appears to be over. Even though Cal and USC shared the Pac-10 championship with 2 losses last year, Arizona State looks great, and the winner of next week's game between the Sun Devils and Ducks looks to be for a berth in the Rose Bowl, if not to have the better track to the National Championship. As for USC, they appear to be on track for another loss on Thanksgiving and finish 9-3 at best, and that's with us winning on the road against Cal and the Jekyll/Hyde known as UCLA (ugh, wtf, losing to Wazzu...). Anyway, assuming Arizona State and Hawaii win the late games, here's my top 25...

1. Ohio State (9-0)
2. Oregon (7-1)
3. Boston College (8-0)
4. Arizona State (8-0)
   
5. Louisiana State (7-1)
6. Oklahoma (7-1)
7. West Virginia (7-1)
8. Missouri (7-1)
9. Kansas (8-0)
10. Georgia (6-2)
11. Michigan (7-2)
12. Virginia Tech (6-2)
13. Hawaii (8-0)
14. Boise State (7-1)
15. Connecticut (7-1)
16. Southern California (6-2)
17. Texas (6-2)
18. Alabama (6-2)
    
19. Auburn (6-3)
    
20. Florida (5-3)
21. Wake Forest (6-2)
22. South Florida (6-2)
    
23. Troy (6-2)
24. Wisconsin (7-2)
25. Kentucky (6-3)
    

Irish no match for Trojans

Wow, I guess Notre Dame is really that bad. The Trojans haven't mishandled a team like this all season. I know the Irish offense was bad, but damn, their defense looked slow when we got our position players into open space, especially with Joe McKnight on his first career touchdown run. But a really great game by the Trojans on all fronts, gaining 462 to 165 yards on offense, winning the turnover battle (3-1) and of course, pitching the shutout. Other thoughts from the weekend:

• Big Balls Les at it again. What a call on third down with time running out, a timeout in his pocket, and in field goal range while trailing by one at home to go to the air for the touchdown. And like in the Florida game, his gamble paid off with a huge play to down Auburn 30-24. A second loss would have been devastating to the Tigers; now with a season of upsets, they are still alive.
• Cal dropped another Pac-10 game, with UCLA returning a pick-6 to seal the game and win 30-21. Now, Cal looks like the fourth best team in the Pac-10 behind Oregon, Arizona State, and USC/UCLA.
• I called the Rutgers win over South Florida, but was pretty shocked by South Carolina's loss to Vandy.

And here's USC still haunting Brady Quinn...


And my top 25...

1. Ohio State (8-0)
2. Louisiana State (6-1)
3. Oregon (6-1)
4. Oklahoma (6-1)
5. Boston College (7-0)
6. Arizona State (7-0)
7. West Virginia (6-1)
8. Virginia Tech (6-1)
9. Missouri (6-1)
10. South Florida (6-1)
11. Florida (5-2)
12. Southern California (6-1)
13. Kansas (7-0)
14. Kentucky (6-2)
15. Hawaii (7-0)
16. Michigan (6-2)
17. Alabama (6-2)
18. California (6-2)
    
19. Boise State (6-1)
20. Georgia (5-2)
21. Virginia (7-1)
    
22. Texas (6-2)
    
23. South Carolina (6-2)
24. Penn State (6-2)
    
25. Connecticut (6-1)

Another crazy weekend in college football

The top 2 teams in the nation lose as the favorites fall from the top of the rankings. I know I've had a while since the end of the game to post my feelings on the Trojans 20-13 win over Arizona, which had its moments, but I'll wait til tomorrow so I can sleep on my feelings. Here's my uninfluenced rankings for week 8 (damn!):

1. Ohio State (7-0)
2. Louisiana State (6-1)
3. South Florida (6-0)
   
4. Oklahoma (6-1)
5. Oregon (5-1)
6. Kentucky (6-1)
   
7. Boston College (7-0)
8. South Carolina (6-1)
9. West Virginia (5-1)
   
10. California (5-1)
11. Arizona State (7-0)
12. Virginia Tech (6-1)
13. Florida (4-2)
14. Missouri (6-1)
15. Southern California (5-1)
16. Kansas (6-0)
17. Hawaii (7-0)
18. Auburn (5-2)
19. Texas Tech (6-1)
20. Michigan (5-2)
21. Cincinnati (6-1)
    
22. Georgia (5-2)
23. Alabama (5-2)
24. Virginia (6-1)
25. Boise State (4-1)

Here's the highlights...

We Believe...

Thanks: sec13forSC (Wearesc.com boards)

Now, I have the right to pull this if we lose to Arizona... Hopefully Sanchez will get a shot to show what he's got. We can't be babying him anymore, he's been in the program for almost 3 years. And the boys better come out fired up, proving that they are worth the hype and the preseason #1 ranking everyone gave them. But we (and I) believe that the Trojans still have a shot to make this season special. With all of the upsets occurring so far, anythings is possible. But it all starts with beating Arizona. Don't worry about Notre Dame. Or Oregon. Or Oregon State. Or Cal. Or Arizona State. Or UCLA. It's all about taking care of them Wildcats, cause if you think we were embarrassed last week, wait and see if we drop this game as well.

Wheres...

Stanford 24, #2 Southern California 23

Wheres... what's missing from this team? What happened where a team riding a home field advantage that led to a 35 game home win streak blew a 9 point lead? I'm still trying to piece things together, as I'm wondering where things went wrong.

First off, you cannot blame any of this on injuries. Or if you do, you cannot say we've been having the top 5 recruiting classes in the past 5 years or that Pete Carroll preaches competition, because the people that have replaced the injured have not held their own. Start with the offensive line, going back to the Washington game, where C Kris O'Dowd and G Chilo Rachal went down on the same play. On the next offensive series, O'Dowd's replacement, C Matt Spanos, who came into the season as the starter, and QB John David Booty had a bad snap exchange which led to a turnover. Now go to the Stanford game. The unit gave up 4 sacks as well a blocked PAT which was the difference in the game. They couldn't hold the Cardinal defense to let RB Chauncey Washington score from the one yard line before the end of the first half. The line let the Trojans rush for only 95 yards, not even for half of our season average. But I guess it is hard to stay motivated to give Booty enough time to throw when all he does is miss receivers or throw interceptions.

More on injuries? What about the running backs? We started off with 10 of them. Emmaunel Moody went to Florida. Fine. Marc Tyler and Broderick Green are redshirting. Good. C.J. Gable had season ending surgery on his groin on Saturday. Whatever. Stafon Johnson hurt his foot. Geez. So that leaves us with Chauncey Washington, Hershel Dennis (!), Joe McKnight, Allen Bradford, and Desmond Reed. Washington had 23 carries against Stanford. Where was McKnight or Bradford? Why was Dennis getting cruch time carries? Bradford is a much better back than Dennis right now, and with his physical running, he had a better chance to score before the half. And we couldn't use McKnight as a change of pace back? When Chauncey is running for 3 or fewer yards on every down, we need something to keep the defense off balance. We did on one play with Ronald Johnson on a sweep. But come on. With five healthy and capable backs, why does one get more than 90% of the touches? Especially on a night where Chauncey was not able to break one. It just show's Pete's stubbornness. Here was a situation where a guy like Bradford or McKnight could have really shown their worth. If you're going to blow their redshirt to give them a chance to play, why aren't you doing so? Another back, FB Stanley Havili was again nonexistent in the offense, other than as the intended receiver on Booty's pick 6.

Further into injuries? What happened to the depth of our defense? That our third string linebackers could start at any other FBS school? And our corners may not be the best in the country, but the way they are taught to play, go for the big hits or face guard the receiver, we are never going to get any interceptions or stop a more accurate passer, like Dixon or Longshore. The coverage on the final touchdown was horrible. Did Mozique McCurtis even know where the ball was? And honestly, it seemed like we were more worried about Stanford QB Tavita Prichard running more than anything. But on 4th and 20, giving that up was inexplicable. Why are we blitzing there? First, our blitzes haven't worked since the 2004 Rose Bowl where John Navarre was a sitting duck the entire game. Now, teams have learned to have a blocking back to slow down the corners or outside linebackers just enough to burn us for blitzing. What did all of the blitzing cause? One sack. The other three were by Sedrick Ellis, and that was just by pure talent. I mean come on. What happened to the best defense in college football (supposedly)? They gave up 17 points. In the fourth quarter. To Stanford. Give me a break. Our defense may have talent, but they do not have a nose for the ball. 106th in turnover margin? Geez. We're not going anywhere if we can't get a QB starting his first game ever to only throw one pick. We should be at 2 losses right now, as if Jake Locker could have hit on a couple of more passes, the Huskies could have won last week. Did our defensive mentality leave with Coach O, like our offense did with Norm Chow? Even in the games we have won, it wasn't because of forcing turnovers, it was because the other team was intimidated by us.

Back to the offensive side, when is Patrick Turner going to step up? I think the entire Trojan fan base is still waiting to live up to his potential. A possession receiver cannot drop 3 passes like he did. It seems like he is always in cruise control, never giving his all. If I'm wrong about that, prove it PT. Earn that #1 jersey that you are wearing. Cause right now, you are putting that number to shame. And did we really depend so much on Dwyane Jarrett and Steve Smith last year to the point that Vidal Hazelton, David Ausberry, and co. could not develop? If we are not going to give them playing time, why are we burning up their redshirts? Same with Stafon Johnson. Unless you're playing like Kris O'Dowd, who is my offensive MVP of the season so far, and with other guys already as established stars and backups, please leave them on the bench. If a guy like Stafon only gets 3 touches, that is not worth blowing a year of eligibility over. But the receivers, Hazelton and Ausberry didn't make an impression last year, but they still went through their redshirt years. Now? Where's the impact? Where's the effects of their playing time? Not one receiver is stepping up. It's time to see more of Ronald Johnson out there. He stretched the field on his touchdown, but why aren't we seeing more of that? When we take shots down field, it seems to be with slower guys, like Fred Davis (no offense), Turner, and Havili, when we just need someone to run down the field and beat teams that are stacking the line against us. Why wasn't RoJo in on the final drive? All we needed was 30 yards. It seems like Sark has gone really conservative with us. I guess it wasn't Kiffen that was making all fo the bad calls last year. I can't believe this.

Booty, what the hell man. I understand wanting to play through an injury, but if that injury is clearly affecting your play, which was evident to me, you need to man up and let someone more capable to play, like Mark Sanchez. I'm not saying that Sanchez is going to lead us to New Orleans, but if Carroll had so much confidence going into the game that we'd walk right over Stanford, why not give your backup QB a chance? Of any game this season, why not this one? Just more of Carroll being a stubborn mule here. But not all of it was on Booty. Where are the bootlegs? Is Booty hurting somewhere else? If the O-line cannot hold the pocket, get Booty out on the move to give him more time and more options. Get Havili more touches. If Turner is going to drop balls, look more to RoJo or BFD. But Booty does need to make better decisions, like on his pick 6. Then again, our timing routes don't work with undependable receivers. Come on.

But it comes back around to our savior, Pete Carroll. A lot was missing from this game. The first half was fine, we only had 9 points, but Stanford couldn't get a first down if their life depended on it. But after that, all hell broke loose. An uninspired three and out followed by Booty's pick 6, followed by another interception before BFD took it upon himself to score his TD. The entire second half, I felt nervous every time we had the ball, and I put that on the shoulders of Booty and Sark. But even with the offense struggling, you'd hope that the defense would hold their own. And they did. For three quarters. Then Stanford got a drink of magic water and score three times on the vaunted Trojans defense for the win. But something was missing for me. And that was heart. We really lacked it on Saturday. There was no desire to win. We didn't want to take the game away from Stanford, we just waited for them to finally fold. And you cannot blame the crowd for that, it was the loudest I have ever heard the Coliseum since the Cal game four years ago. The Trojans just seemed to give up. They were faced with adversity and folded, unlike LSU, who converted 5 (!) fourth downs in their win over Florida, where they were down 10 entering the fourth quarter. It was like USC felt the game was over at halftime. But where was Pete, with his gotta win the turnover battle (lost 5-1)? Win the fourth quarter (lost 17-7)? Maybe Harbaugh was right, Pete probably has one foot out the door and the other in San Diego, cause I did not see any fire in him last night.

This was by far the most disappointing loss, no question. I've only endured four other losses in my time at USC. I'll rank them from least to most disappointng:

1. Oregon State 33, USC 31. Here, it turned out that it was a wake up call for the team. They were down 33-10 and could have folded like a cheap tent, but the team rallied behind Booty (!) to close to the final margin. Even though this game was filled with mistakes and poor play, they showed a lot of heart to come back and put themselves in a position to win the game. And it was on the road.
2. California 34, USC 31, 3 O/T. I wasn't as disappointed only because it was our fourth game ever with a new quarterback and I wasn't as die hard a Trojan fan yet. USC fell behind 21-7 to tie the game 24-24 heading into overtime. Three more periods and two missed field goals later, the Trojans were upset. But here, with an inexperienced team, QB Matt Leinart was making only his 4th start, the running backs were led by Hershel Dennis (!), they still stuck it out in a hostile environment before K Ryan Killeen's field goal was blocked in the third overtime. And it was on the road.
3. 2006 BCS Championship Texas 41, USC 38. Even though it was heartbreaking to see Vince Young trot his way into the endzone with seconds remaining, neither team played horribly. USC was up by 12 in the fourth, but Young did his best Superman impression to lead the Longhorns back. And even though we were favored to win the game (when haven't we been favored?), Texas was a great team, and they beat us playing at their best when we were playing great. They deserved to win that game. We didn't give up that one was much as they wanted to win it. And it was on the road (not at the Coliseum).
4. UCLA 13, USC 9. This one hurt. Win one from the crosstown rivals and we're headed to Tempe. But it was not to be. The Trojans rushed for less than 3 yards per carry as the offense never got any momentum as the Bruins held USC scoreless in the second half. The only reason why this isn't lower is because of the Stanford game. And it was on the road.
5. Stanford 24, USC 23. Because of everything said above. And it was at home...

Ugh, if we lose to Arizona on Saturday, I'm out. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Not because the Wildcats are a bad team, its if we lose at home for the second straight game, all bets are off. We are still in control of our destiny, if we win out, we can do no worse than the Rose Bowl (and probably playing Michigan again). But another loss, and hello Sun Bowl! Hello Las Vegas Bowl! Don't screw the fans Pete. Get the boys fired up and make them play like there is no tomorrow, because there is none. Lose and we'd be bigger disappointments than Michigan. Seriously.

Long live the Trees

Ugh, I'll update with my feelings on the game later, but here's my top 25 (not influenced by the actual ballots...):

1. Louisiana State (6-0)
2. Ohio State (6-0)
3. California (5-0)
4. South Florida (5-0)
5. Boston College (6-0)
6. Oklahoma (5-1)
7. Oregon (4-1)
8. South Carolina (5-1)
9. West Virginia (5-1)
   
10. Missouri (5-0)
11. Virginia Tech (5-1)
12. Kentucky (5-1)
13. Florida (4-2)
14. Wisconsin (5-1)
15. Southern California (4-1)
16. Hawaii (6-0)
17. Arizona State (6-0)
18. Cincinnati (6-0)
19. Illinois (5-1)
20. Auburn (4-2)
    
21. Florida State (4-1)
22. Kansas (5-0)
23. Colorado (4-2)
24. Connecticut (5-0)
25. Texas A&M (5-1)

And for the picks...

Straight up: 11-7 (117-30/79.6% overall)
Against the spread: 6-12 (49-69-5 overall)

Beat the farm!

Returning home after a very sloppy performance against Washington, the Trojans look to clean up their mistakes as the Stanford Cardinal arrive in Los Angeles for their weekender. The Cardinal, as will hopefully teams around the Pac-10, will have their thoughts and prayers with Stanford QB T.C. Ostrander, who suffered a seizure on Sunday and will not play. In place of Ostrander will be redshirt sophomore Tavita Prichard, who has thrown only three passes in his career. Stanford comes into the game 1-3 on the season, but 0-3 in conference play after 3 home games, and things do not get easier for them with road games against USC and Cal still on their plate. In their first road game of the year, I honestly don't think Stanford has a chance of even crossing midfield against the Trojan defense. But if we commit 16 penalties, give up 3 turnovers, miss a field goal and have a punt blocked, anything can happen. The last time USC has lost a home game was to Stanford in 2001, but this matchup looks as lopsided as last years. Poor Stanford getting the Trojans a week after a dismal performance two years in a row; last year we played them after losing to Oregon State 33-31, now they have us in a game where we have something to prove. The result? USC (-40) 38, Stanford 0 (I said nothing about covering the spread...)

As for the rest of the games this week, including two huge matchups in SEC play:

Thursday, October 4th
#11 South Carolina (-3.5) 31, #8 Kentucky 28

Saturday, October 6th
#1 Louisiana State (-8.5) 35, #9 Florida 24
#2 Southern California (-40) 38, Stanford 0
#4 Ohio State (-7) 31, #23 Purdue 18
Illinois (+3) 28, #5 Wisconsin 24
#6 South Florida (-16.5) 35, Florida Atlantic 10
#7 Boston College (-20.5) 31, Bowling Green 14
#10 Oklahoma (-11.5) 42, #19 Texas 17
#12 Georgia (+1) 33, Tennessee 28
#13 West Virginia (-26.5) 56, Syracuse 17
#22 Clemson (-6) 24, #15 Virginia Tech 21
#16 Hawaii (-39) 63, Utah State 21
#17 Missouri (-7) 49, #25 Nebraska 38
#18 Arizona State (-8) 42, Washington State 25
#21 Rutgers (-3.5) 35, #20 Cincinnati 20
#24 Kansas State (-3) 42, Kansas 28
Arizona (+4) 21, Oregon State 16
UCLA (-20.5) 31, Notre Dame 24

Recap from a wild weekend

Highlights from this game...


Yeah, a lot of shuffling in my top 25. Well, I guess I have to talk about the USC-UW game sometime, right?

Well, I guess I should lead off with the positives. The defense played lights out on Saturday, allowing only 190 yards (90 passing) and forcing a turnover. You could say that they only allowed 165 yards, as the two touchdown drives they gave up were on short fields. The first was after the mishandled exchange between QB John David Booty and C Matt Spanos, who stepped in to replace an injured C Kris O'Dowd, which gave the ball to the Huskies on the 15 yard line. Two plays later, UW QB Jake Locker dashed 10 yards into the endzone to give the Huskies a 7-0 lead. The second time the defense had to play on a short field was after P Greg Woidneck's punt was blocked and returned to the USC 10 yard line. Three plays later, Locker ran 1 yard into the endzone for the game's final score. But in between, the Huskies could not do anything on offense, with Locker misfiring on a lot of passes and the run game being stuffed by the dominant Trojan defensive line.

The other positive from the night was to see our run game still clicking after O'Dowd and G Chilo Rachal went down to injuries. RBs Chauncey Washington and Stafon Johnson both finished with over 100 yards and a TD each, and both had big runs which led to scores. The only thing I can complain about with the run is that Johnson needs to get more carries, as right now Washington has about a 2-1 ratio on carries, and rotating them on every play may even help if one is struggling. It was also nice to see Desmond Reed more involved in the offense on third downs as a pass blocking back who catches some passes out of the backfield. But whenever he's in the game, it screams to the defense that we are going to pass, almost like when WR Brad Walker is in, we run the ball almost 90% of the time.

Now for the bad. I can't really say that Booty played a bad game. But it seemed he was missing receivers all game, including several passes that if thrown on target, would have led to touchdowns. In his defense, the field did seem a little slick, especially on the play where Booty was almost intercepted in the end zone, the receiver (I think David Ausberry) slipped on the timing route. And FB Stanley Havili probably played the worst game of his life, with several drops, including the one which led to the interception returned for a touchdown. Havili wasn't the only one with drops in the game, but hopefully this problem gets resolved in the next three games before we play Oregon. The one thing you can say that is Booty is getting a lot of time to throw, which is credit to the offensive line. And that he threw for the longest touchdown pass of the season (23 yards to Patrick Turner).

The penalties almost killed the team. At least for the offense anyway. Any rhythm that the offense had going were killed by penalties, especially the false starts on G Alatini Malu, who had to replace Rachal after the injury. The personal fouls on the defense didn't hurt them, as they still held their own and gave up only a field goal on Washington's sustained drives, but that was due to two questionable pass interference calls. But whenever you have almost more penalty yards (166) that yards you allow (190), that's a problem.

Special teams was also a disapointment. K David Buehler missed a 33 yarder on our first drive, which kept UW in the game. Though I felt like that was a "Big Balls Pete" moment, with fourth and short after a long third down play by Desmond Reed and a field goal only giving us a 6 point lead. But that was still a very makeable kick. And the blocked punt at the end... it was a protection breakdown, and we were very lucky they didn't return it for a touchdown which would have made the upset bid more realistic. But the good, we had good kick coverage all game long. And CB Terrell Thomas had a hell of a game on special teams. First forcing the fumble on the punt return which set up our second field goal. And on the onside kick, he recovered, sealing the win for USC. Not to mention he played good defense.

Sigh. Anyway, time for the game balls:

Offense - Stafon Johnson, though he only had 9 touches, still kept the offense going while Booty struggled. I would say Chauncey could get it, but Stafon really lit a torch in the offense when he was in the game.

Defense - Keith Rivers played his assignment on Locker down to a tee, collecting 10 tackles in the process and continuing to build his draft stock. Other nominees were Rey Maualuga, who helped Rivers contain Locker, and Sedrick Ellis, who continues to give opposing O-lines fits.

Special Teams - Terrell Thomas played one hell of a game, forcing and recovering a fumble on a punt return and recovering the onside kick to end the game.

A rundown of other games from the weekend:

• LSU played sluggish in the first half against Tulane, holding only a 10-9 lead, but really showed up in the second half to pull away, 34-9. Their ability to put teams away is why I have them #1.
• Oklahoma, who had been blowing teams away by a margin of 50 points, let Colorado close the game with a 20-0 run to lose 27-24 in one of the more shockers of the day. Most of the time a team like the Sooners goes up by 17 points, they put a team like the Buffaloes away. But not on a day filled with upsets.
• Florida lost to Auburn for the second straight year, this time on a last second field goal to fall 20-17. I guess Tommy Tuberville has Urban Myers' number, but at least the Gators rallied from a 17-3 hole to tie the game before falling late.
• West Virginia failed to get any offense going in losing to South Florida, 21-13 in Tampa.The Mountaineers lost QB Pat White in the first half and never recovered. It looks like the Big East is now South Florida's the lose.
• Cal held off a late rally by Oregon 31-24, after Ducks' receiver Cameron Colvin fumbled the ball out of the end zone before crossing the goal line with less than 10 seconds remaining. It was a great effort by both teams, and I didn't penalize Oregon for losing to my #3 team in the nation, as Cal went into a hostile Auzten Stadium to pull out the win. I'm still terrified by both teams, especially since USC has to play both on the road.
• Texas got blown out at home by Kansas State 41-21. I thought the Longhorns would enter this game focused after their national title hopes were ended in Manhattan, KS, but I guess Mack Brown couldn't get his troops up for the game. I wasn't surprised by the result, though, as Texas has struggled in all of its games this year.
• Rutgers also lost at home, this time to a Maryland team that was coming off a stunning loss to Wake Forest. I wasn't able to watch the game, but I guess Ray Rice and the Scarlet Knights were never able to get the ball rolling. With the three favorites (Louisville, West Virginia, Rutgers) each having one loss in conference play, the Bulls from South Florida look poised to capture the BCS berth (bowl game predictions later...)

I tried to break down my top 25 into four tiers, the national championship contenders (upper level undefeated teams), the one loss teams with the talent to win (and waiting for any of the undefeateds to fall), the lower level undefeated teams, and the lower level one loss teams. At this point in the season, no 2 loss teams will sniff my top 25 until much later in the year.

And for how I did this week (upsets hurt...)

Straight up: 15-9 (106-23/82.2% overall)
Against the spread: 10-12-1 (43-57-5 overall)

USC can't give away win to Huskies

Well, I've been pretty disgusted with the Trojans' performance on Saturday. I still can't bring myself to write about what went wrong, that will probably happen either Monday or Tuesday night. For now, with all the top 25 upsets/losses this weekend, there was a lot of shuffling in my top 25, but the top 2 is the same, for now. Cal and tOSU are really making a case to play in New Orleans, though it looks like the November 10th matchup in Berkeley looks like for a spot in the national championship game. I'll also talk about the games from the weekend, but for now, and since I need to go to sleep, here's my top 25:

1. Louisiana State (5-0)
2. Southern California (4-0)
3. California (5-0)
4. Ohio State (5-0)
5. Wisconsin (5-0)
6. South Florida (4-0)
7. Kentucky (5-0)
8. Boston College (5-0)
9. Oklahoma (4-1)
10. Florida (4-1)
11. Oregon (4-1)
12. Virginia Tech (4-1)
13. West Virginia (4-1)
    
14. South Carolina (4-1)
15. Georgia (4-1)
    
16. Hawaii (5-0)
17. Arizona State (5-0)
18. Missouri (4-0)
19. Cincinnati (5-0)
20. Purdue (5-0)
21. Rutgers (3-1)
22. Nebraska (4-1)
    
23. Texas (4-1)
24. Clemson (4-1)
25. Miami (Florida) (4-1)
    

Jake Locker - USC's worst nightmare?

Ever since Vince Young ran all over the Trojan defense in the 2006 Rose Bowl, I have been terrified of running quarterbacks, especially ones with talent. Just last year, USC faced two in conference foes, Washington and Oregon, who featured dual threat QBs in Isaiah Stanback and Dennis Dixon. Stanback gave us fits in a game where we benefited from the clock changes, as the Huskies were marching down field as time expired in a 26-20 USC win. Dixon was able to lead the Ducks offense between the 20s, but Oregon's offense, like other spread sets, struggled to produce in the red zone as the Trojans romped Oregon, 35-10. This year, our first dual-threat QB will be Washington's redshirt freshman Jake Locker, who is touted as the West Coast Tim Tebow. Locker lacks the surrounding talent that Tebow has, but he still has the qualities that make him a great leader as just a freshman. Even though they lost their last two games, Locker was able to lead the Huskies to a halftime lead against Ohio State, and led 3 impressive drives in the fourth quarter against UCLA. Hopefully, Coach Pete Carroll has learned how to play against a running quarterback, with QB Mitch Mustain emulating Locker in practice this week. I like Carroll's move of LB Keith Rivers to the strong side to help stop Locker from running, as he has a very impressive 6.6 yards per carry. If the Huskies other offensive weapons can step up, the Trojans will have trouble stopping Washington. I think if Locker is forced to pass the ball, we're in pretty good shape since the Huskies do not have receivers that pose a threat to us.

Can't forget about when we have the ball. I really like how our passing game developed in the last game against Wazzu. QB John David Booty threw for 4 touchdowns, but he still needs to eliminate the interceptions and other mistakes he's making, like the tipped passes. OC Steve Sarksian called a really good game to help the passing game along, as he knew that if we could run the ball on Nebraska, running against Wazzu would be no problem, at it wasn't; we surprisingly ran for over 200 yards in the game. Washington had trouble stopping the run against UCLA in the fourth quarter, and they even knew that the Huskies were running because the Bruins had a walkon at QB who's job was the turn around and hand off to a running back. Now imagine our offense with Booty finally on track and our 5 headed moster of Chauncey Washington, Stafon Johnson, C.J. Gable, Joe McKnight, and Allen Bradford at running back and probably the best dual threat fullback in the nation with Stanley Havili. Our offensive line only gets stronger with the return of Matt Spanos, but Kris O'Dowd, Jeff Byers, and Sam Baker have been opening up some gaping holes for the backs to run through while keeping Booty off his booty (sorry, couldn't resist). As for the prediction, I'm fairly confident USC will win, and from the rundown I just gave, you would think that I expect USC to cover, but I think 21 points is a lot to give up to Washington in Seattle. But it seems that Carroll finally has the guys jacked up for every game of the season after last year's debacles against Wazzu, UW, ASU, Oregon State, and UCLA. If the Trojans come out focused like they were against the Cougars, then expect a rout. But if we come out sluggish like in our past Pac-10 road openers, the Huskies have a chance for the upset. My prediction, USC (-21) 42, Washington 17

Here are the rest of my picks for this week:

Friday, September 28th
#5 West Virginia (-7.5) 42, #18 South Florida 31

Saturday, September 29th
#1 Southern California (-21) 42, Washington 17
#2 Louisiana State (-41.5) 45, Tulane 0
#3 Oklahoma (-24) 56, Colorado 21
#4 Florida (-18) 35, Auburn 14
#11 Oregon (-6.5) 42, #6 California 35
#7 Texas (-15) 38, Kansas State 14
#8 Ohio State (-24) 38, Minnesota 7
#9 Wisconsin (-7.5) 21, Michigan State 17
#10 Rutgers (-18) 42, Maryland 10
#12 Boston College (OFF) 42, Massachusetts 3
#13 Clemson (-3) 34, Georgia Tech 24
#14 Kentucky (-24) 49, Florida Atlantic 31
#15 Georgia (-15) 31, Mississippi 10
#16 South Carolina (-17) 31, Mississippi State 17
#17 Virginia Tech (-17) 42, North Carolina 14
#19 Hawaii (-25) 66, Idaho 28
Illinois (+3.5) 28, #21 Penn State 24
#22 Alabama (+3) 24, Florida State 16
#23 Arizona State (-14.5) 42, Stanford 21
#24 Cincinnati (-15) 42, San Diego State 13
#25 Nebraska (-21) 49, Iowa State 35
Washington State (+3) 28, Arizona 17
UCLA (-2) 15, Oregon State 10

USC tames Cougars

#1 Southern California 47, Washington State 14

Finally, for the first time in a while, the Trojans played a complete game, dominating on both sides of the ball, with the offense clicking in both the passing and running aspects of the game and the defense shutting down the run and more or less preventing the big play. Offensive coordinator called 25 pass plays in the first half to get QB John David Booty going, which worked, as he threw for 279 yards and 4 touchdowns, though it still seems the threat of the deep ball is still missing, which may develop as WRs Vidal Hazelton and David Ausberry grow into their roles. But TE Fred Davis had a monster game, catching 9 balls for 124 yards and 2 scores. The run game seemed to be absent in the first half, but we still managed to gain over 200 yards on the ground. The offensive line again was dominant, and there were also a couple of surprises in the backfield. RB Hershel Dennis had a nice cameo at running back, but it was really nice to see Joe McKnight get some touches and be productive with them, and it was exciting to see the potential we have in the punt return game with his long return in the second half. No real complaints from me on the offense here.

The defense gave up two long drives to start each half, surrendering a touchdown on both. But between that, the Trojans locked down the Cougars, especially in the second half, when they forced 6 straight three-and-outs or turnovers, including a gift from Wazzu P Darryl Blunt, who mishandled a snap which resulted in a field goal for USC. LB Keith Rivers was all over the field, getting 13 tackles. The D-line again dominated, and they held the Cougs to 64 yards on 27 rushes. The pass defense again was a little suspect, especially on the 50 yard bomb they gave up on the first drive, but more or less, they held strong all game long. DE Kyle Moore picked off another pass as teams look for the slant, they have to think twice and look to see if Moore has dropped back into zone coverage. And it was nice to see that Wazzu did not score garbage time touchdowns like Nebraska did last week. Special teams was solid, if not spectacular, but Joe McKnight looked great on his punt return.

And now for the game balls:

Offense - It was nice to see Booty open up (kinda) in the pass game, but the benefactor, TE Fred Davis, really broke out today with 9 receptions for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Defense - The front seven all played solid tonight, but WLB Keith Rivers was all over the field, collecting 14 tackles, including 9 solo and 2.5 for loss. He really is earning that #55 jersey he got as a freshman.

Special Teams - No real star here, but RB Allen Bradford had a couple of crushing hits on kickoff coverage. If his return would have stood, McKnight would get the ball here.

Some quick thoughts:

• Man, Louisville got stunned by Syracuse this week. Even though most knew the Cardinals' defense was suspect, Syracuse? Really? It seems like no team the Big East plays defense.
• Michigan has officially bounced back and could be a favorite to play in the Rose Bowl. I didn't see a lot of the game, but I felt that Penn State had a shot to win the Big Ten this year. But now, if Chad Henne is healthy in time for the Ohio State game, and Mike Hart hasn't broken down after carrying the ball 500 times in the next 7 games, they have a shot. The Big Ten looks really bad right now, as Wisconsin again struggled to put away a weaker opponent, though Ohio State finally got the fast start they needed against a hapless Northwestern team.
• Man, the ACC is screwed up. I think there are two teams at 3-0 in conference play, while there are other teams that haven't even played a conference game yet. Boston College and Clemson have to be the favorites right now, but nice comeback win by Wake Forest to shock Maryland.
• Pac-10 roundup, California outruns Arizona 45-27, Arizona State rallies from 19 down in the first quarter to defeat Oregon State 44-32, Oregon struggles in the first half against Stanford before pulling away 55-31, and UCLA won 44-31, but I am critical of the Bruins after they beat us last year, and well they've got quarterback issues. And allowing 21 fourth quarter points doesn't help their defense either.

And how my picks fared (I should give up;;;):

Straight up: 20-4 (91-14/86.7% overall)
Against the spread: 9-12 (33-45-4 overall)

And my top 25 after week 4

1. Louisiana State (4-0)
2. Southern California (3-0)
3. Oklahoma (4-0)
4. Florida (4-0)
5. West Virginia (4-0)
6. Ohio State (4-0)
7. California (4-0)
8. Texas (4-0)
9. Oregon (4-0)
   
10. Rutgers (3-0)
11. Boston College (4-0)
12. Wisconsin (4-0)
13. Clemson (4-0)
14. Virginia Tech (3-1)
15. Kentucky (4-0)
16. Penn State (3-1)
17. Hawaii (4-0)
    
18. South Carolina (3-1)
19. Missouri (4-0)
20. South Florida (3-0)
21. Georgia (3-1)
22. Arizona State (4-0)
23. Nebraska (3-1)
24. Alabama (3-1)
25. Cincinnati (4-0)
    

Time to win the Pac-10

Well, week 4 in the college football season is here, and boy how time flies. In the young season, we have seen the mighty fall (Michigan, Notre Dame) while the contenders are starting to build their resumes for the push for New Orleans. This week, the Trojans host the Washington State Cougars in the Pac-10 opener for both schools. The Cougars are 2-1 on the season, but only played impressively against Wisconsin, though with the Badgers recent struggles against UNLV and the Citadel, that game is looking less impressive. They beat San Diego State, but the Aztecs aren't going anywhere, and they beat Idaho by 17 points. QB Alex Brink leads a scrappy Wazzu squad that played the Trojans tough last year, falling when S Taylor Mays picked off Brink on the game's final game This year, USC looks to improve their performance in Pac-10 play, where they played in 5 games that were decided by 7 points or less (WSU, UW, ASU, OSU, UCLA) and none, other than Stanford, were decided until the fourth quarter. Hopefully we'll face the Cougars of old, with Bill Doba going for an onside kick to start the game and trying to survive the first half without falling behind by 28. With our offense being dominant on the ground and sluggish in the air, SC really needs to get the offense moving in their home games, with tough road matchups coming up. In this one, I say that DT Sedrick Ellis and DE Lawrence Jackson dominate the line on defense, while C Kris O'Dowd and G Jeff Byers hold on offense, and that the Trojans (-25.5) win 38-17.

Here are the rest of my picks, including for last night's game between Texas A&M and Miami.

Thursday, September 20th
Miami (Florida) (-3) 34, #20 Texas A&M 17

Friday, September 21st
#4 Oklahoma (-24.5) 42, Tulsa 25

Saturday, September 22nd
#1 Southern California (-25.5) 38, Washington State 17
#2 Louisiana State (-18.5) 42, #12 South Carolina 10
#3 Florida (-24) 63, Mississippi 7
#5 West Virginia (-24.5) 31, East Carolina 10
#6 California (-14) 35, Arizona 14
#7 Texas (-38) 38, Rice 14
#8 Ohio State (-23.5) 35, Northwestern 7
#9 Wisconsin (-7.5) 14, Iowa 3
Michigan (+3) 21, #10 Penn State 17
#13 Oregon (-17.5) 42, Stanford 18
#14 Boston College (-27) 49, Army 10
#15 Clemson (-7.5) 31, North Carolina State 13
#16 Alabama (-3.5) 23, #22 Georgia 17
#17 Virginia Tech (OFF) 31, William & Mary 0
#18 Louisville (-37) 70, Syracuse 31
#19 Hawaii (OFF) 63, Charleston Southern 21
Arkansas (-7) 24, #21 Kentucky 21
#23 South Florida (-13.5) 34, North Carolina 19
#24 Nebraska (-23.5) 42, Ball State 10
#25 Missouri (OFF) 45, Southern Illinois 0
Arizona State (-11.5) 24, Oregon State 7
Washington (+6) 27, UCLA 20