Football

• Dennis Dodd wrapped up his series of position coach evaluations by naming Pete Carroll top head coach in the land. [CBS Sports]
• The Matt Barkley hype is up to another unprecedented level. USC's future quarterback is the first junior ever to be named high school athlete of the year -- out of all male sports. No pressure, kid! [LA Times]
• Thomas Williams inked his first NFL contract. [AP]
• Chilo Rachal signed as well. [RF365]
• Hey ladies! Taylor Mays is a football star, funny, and apparently single. Check out this interview. [Video on USCFootball.com]
• USC is an early 18 point favorite over Virginia. [Vegas Insider]

Hoops

• DeMar DeRozan is good to go. [LA Times]
• O.J. Mayo made the US Select team to prep for international competition. [AP]
• SI dubbed O.J. Mayo the #8 breakout freshman of 2007-08. [Sports Illustrated]
• Davon Jefferson says he has no regrets. [Riverside Press-Enterprise]

Elsewhere

• Another publication tried to re-rank the top school in all sports from last year. USC was seventh. [Sports Illustrated]
• A trio of Trojans made Sports Illustrated's gallery of best college photos from 2007-08: Desmond Reed, Vidal Hazelton, and Janessa Currier.

In what's become a great Rose Bowl tradition, a group of seniors led the Trojan Marching Band in several rounds of "Conquest" before walking off the field for the final time.

Desmond Reed (22) went first and was literally dancing on top of a ladder while holding the drum major's sword. It was the perfect follow-up to his spectacular end zone flip, but hopefully he didn't kick it up a notch by running with scissors in the locker room.

More shots of the Trojans' Conquest poses are after the jump.

We'll have a larger photo gallery with more sights from the Rose Bowl later tonight.

Probably the best moment of the game came when RB Hershel Dennis scored his last touchdown for the Trojans. Dennis, a 6th year senior who battled knee problems and an ever-growing line of 5 star running backs never gave up and ended his Trojan career on a good note. I know I wasn't the only USC Sports Talk contributor who had a tear in the eye when Hersh scored. If he had scored on the last play of the game, I might have erupted in tears in joy.

Fight On!

While the Washington Huskies will lie in bed thinking about the #1 that got away, the USC Trojans will spend the night thanking their lucky stars they escaped on top. Trojan fans everywhere woke up Sunday morning breathing a sigh of relief, after a penalty plagued USC team barely edged the Washington Huskies, 27-24.

A lot of people thought USC answered all the big questions after going to the air last week to take down the Cougars. There may not be many questions for this Trojan squad to answer at this early stage of the season, but there are some. These are nit-picky considering how embarrassingly good the team is, but still need to be asked ...

• Can anybody make the BIG play? Some people have started grumbling that Booty hasn't hit any deep bombs this year. Truth be told, nobody has busted out with any mind-numbing long play in the first three games. While there have been a few big, exciting gains, nobody has gone more than half the field in one down. The longest run of the year was a 50 yard rumble by Stanley Havili -- a fullback. The longest reception of the year was a 35 yard pickup by Fred Davis -- a tight end. The longest interception return was 24 yards by Kyle Moore -- a defensive end. Those are three positions you wouldn't expect to making the team's longest plays, especially considering the speed and talent USC has at their other positions. On special teams, Desmond Reed has a 44 yard punt return and a 14 yard punt return, both team highs. There haven't been any fumble recoveries run back to date. Will anybody make a Reggie Bush style highlight?
• Can USC turn around turnovers? About a month ago, Art from Trojan Football Analysis taught us about the significance of turnovers. So far, USC hasn't given him many more data points -- and the ones he has aren't pretty. With just four takeaways (3 interceptions, 1 fumble) to six giveaways (4 interceptions, 2 fumbles), the team is on pace for its first negative turnover margin in the Pete Carroll era. His teams have been legendary thanks to a +1.5 per game margin in his first five years. Last season, his sixth, it was a mere +0.3. This year, it's an ugly -0.7.
• Will the Trojans survive a game? Without injury, that is. It's a good thing this team is so deep, because their training room is stocked with more talent than many other teams have in their entire locker rooms. Football is a grinding, physical sport. But how many teams could lose 4 starters in their first three games and barely blink?
  
• Can Greg Woidneck punt? Does it matter? Nobody can fault this guy for wasting opportunities -- he's barely had any. He didn't get to take the field against Washington State and is averaging just two kicks per game. With a respectable 41.7 yard average, long of 51, and 33% inside the 20, he may be on pace for a decent season. A few years ago, lack of opportunity made Tom Malone ineligible for NCAA record books -- and derailed his faux Heisman Campaign.
• Is USC's schedule the toughest? People are starting to rethink the SEC hype. Here's another fact for your next debate with a Southerner:  Only five NCAA Division 1-A schools have never scheduled a lower-tier patsy since the divisions were established. Those schools are USC, Washington, UCLA, Notre Dame, and Michigan State.
• Will it rain? OK, maybe there aren't many questions! The answer to this one is yes. And USC is 20-21-2 all-time on rainy days. Things should even up this weekend.

The final score: USC 38, Idaho 10.

The USC Trojans were dominant throughout Saturday's season opener, beating a better than expected Idaho Vandals.

It wasn't the trouncing everyone had expected from a number one team. Still USC dominated both sides of the line throughout Saturday's opener at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, hoisting the Trojans' home-game win streak to 34.

And Desmond Reed, as expected, will get the call on punt returns with Ronald Johnson also getting his shot there, Carroll announced at the end of practice.

Frequently touted as "Tailback-U" for the blue-chip crowded backfield, USC has taken yet another hit at the position with leading rusher Chauncey Washington side-lined with a sprained shoulder. A fifth-year senior, Washington lead the Trojans with 744 yards rushing last season. The injury occurred during the Trojans' final summer scrimmage, in which Washington rushed for 74 yards and 1 TD on only three carries.

Top of the depth chart, this injury puts him in question for the season opener against Idaho. Multiple sources are already reporting that Washington will have to sit out the first game. Chauncey Washington, however, is more optimistic. As reported by the Los Angeles Times:

...after watching the Trojans' one-hour workout with his right arm in a sling, Washington said, "I'm thinking a week. I'm day to day."

Of missing the opener, he said, "I won't believe it till it happens."

Washington's injury puts another kink in what the media has championed as an everlasting pipeline of blue-chip recruits. Couple the Washington sprain with the transfer of USC's second leading rusher Emanuel Moody, and the (temporary?) injury related side-linings of CJ Gable, Hershel Dennis and Allen Bradford, and it's starting to look like USC's depth at tailback isn't as infallible as everyone had predicted.

But what does this mean for the season opener?

Watched the scrimmage today and these are the things that jumped out at me:

• Best Player:  Stafon Johnson
  
  • I was going to say a tie between Stafon and Chauncey, but I really liked the way Stafon hit the holes.  When Stafon scored his 2nd TD, you saw a little bit of everything:  setting up a block, nice cut/burst, and great vision.  Credit to C.J. Gable for his performance last season, but in my mind, Stafon is clearly the #2 tailback. 

• Biggest Surprise:  Brandon Carswell
  
  • Ran very nice routes and showed great hands on a few catches. 

• Biggest Disappointment:  Patrick Turner, Fred Davis, and JDB
  
  • Patrick Turner was nonexistent the entire scrimmage.  I saw him suited up and on the field, but I don't recall him being in any play. 
  • Fred Davis dropped a few balls that hit him square in the chest.  To me that's disappointing considering he's an All-American candidate and starting senior. 
  • I know Coach Carroll praised JDB's performance and his stats look good on paper, but his incompletions were all balls that could have been intercepted.  He had one pass where he nearly the WR/TE in the back.  He rushed another pass to Anthony McCoy.  He forced a throw on a post route to David Ausberry that would have been intercepted by an above-average CB.  Am I saying JDB is a bad QB?  No, but I still think he's an average QB when pass protection is anything less than par.

• Play of the Game:  Allen Bradford's 30 Yard Run
  • Yeah, I know Stafon's run where he sped down the sideline and cutback to the middle was exciting, and I also know Vidal's TD catch where he had to readjust and make a leaping grab was great as well, but none of them came against the 1st team defense.  The way Allen made Rey miss in the backfield and then turned it up a gear and sped past Keith Rivers for a 30 yard gain was outstanding. 

• Overlooked Play of the Game:  Taylor Mays closing the gap on Allen Bradford
  
  • I've seen no mention of this play.  Allen took the handoff going left and made a great cut in the opposite direction that literally opened up an entire side of the field.  As he sped past the outside DE/LB, Taylor Mays came racing in, cut the angle, and took Allen down.  I think Allen gained less than 10 yards on that play, but it should have been a 15+ yard run.

• Most Embarrassing Play of the Game:  Ronald Johnson's Kick Return
  • So RoJo hesitates and drops the ball but luckily it doesn't get away from him.  He then runs laterally and shows nice burst up the middle and towards the sideline.  All that stood before RoJo and the end zone was Joe Houston and Thomas Williams (same team).  Instead of racing away from Joe by continuing up the sideline, he decides to cut back towards the middle of the field, which confuses Thomas Williams causing him to run right by Joe and he ends up being tackled.  If you didn't know already, Joe Houston is a KICKER. 

• Straight Beastin':  Sedrick Ellis
  
  • Did his usual job of clogging the middle, but what really impressed me was his ability to run down Allen Bradford and prevent him from turning up field.  You could see the two jawing at each other from the several run-ins.

• Other Random Thoughts:
  • Desmond Reed should be the punt returner.
  • I'm not sold on Vincent Joseph being the kick returner.  Yes, he averaged 20+ yards on his returns, but he also made several bad decisions (e.g. choosing to try and leap frog Cary Harris and nearly coughing up the ball in the process). 
  • Shareece Wright would have had the hit of the day, if he was allowed to hit the QB. 
  • At the moment, I think Josh Pinkard deserves to start over Taylor Mays.  He showed great coverage one-on-one. 

Overall, I came away impressed with the team.  I don't think we'll be as dominant as some people are claiming, but we are definitely NC caliber.