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)