From the mouth of an SEC fan (Everyday Should Be Saturday and SB Nation's Spencer Hall), a little respect for the Pac-10:
Q is for Quorum. The minimum number of people needed to seat a body of oversight, or what is lacked across the board in the SEC right now in terms of quality teams. Talent abounds, but turnover has taken a hard bite out of the coaching ranks and talent pool, leaving the SEC in a state of flux. Even Alabama and Florida, the titans of the league right now, clearly have serious issues resulting from the loss of offensive players to the draft and graduation. I am as blatant an SEC homer as exists, but this year there are other conferences putting together a more complete menu in terms of teams with depth and cohesion. That conference, for the moment, is the Pac-10. Now I'm going to hide in a bombproof bunker and wait for a while until I hear the bombshells stop landing.
The gravity of those words cannot be understated, especially when you consider that he may get banished from the South permanently for committing such words to paper/screen. People who actually watch football know what's up -- after a rough 2008, the Pac-10 is where it's at in 2009.
Except, of course, for lowly Wazzu and UCLA. Those guys are still terrible.
The offense got off to a strong start, but they were inconsistent and fumbled more than they should have, but on the bright side, coaches opened up the playbook and allowed Matt Barkley to complete some deep passes. However this offense, and the receiving game in particular, needs to play better. Trojan fans eagerly await the return of the fastest receiver, Ronald Johnson, who suffered a shoulder injury in the scrimmage game in August.
This defense is impressive. They almost held the Cougars to a shutout if it were not for Aaron Corp's fumble late in the game. Defensive back Marshall Jones and defensive tackle Hebron Fangupo each suffered season ending injuries in this game. Injuries are part of the game, and this is why it never hurts to have depth like USC does. Pete Carroll and coaching staff "stockpile" talent, and given the current waves of injuries, this is when the depth is tested.
What a surprise! USC had another post-big game letdown entering Pac10 play.
Don't go into hibernation just yet; there are positives to be taken away from this game shown in the highlights.
Joe McKnight rushed for 100 yards on 11 carries, upping his current season total rush yards to 305. Could he be the first Trojan since Reggie Bush to rush for over 1000 yards in a season?
The offense struggled with the passing game, but there were some great runs by Stanley Havili, Stafon Johnson, and Allen Bradford.
USC's young defense did a great job containing Jake Locker and holding the Huskies to 16 points. If only the offense would have scored another touchdown or two. Sophomore Jurrell Casey and redshirt freshman Nick Perry set up camp in the Huskies' backfield.
So! College football is back, and if the opening game is any indication, it's going to be a boring, sloppy season. But the real intrigue was on the sidelines. Trust me, I hate covering this as much as you. But when the kickoff to college football season is being clearly overshadowed in terms of interest, I don't have much... more »
What’s up, Trojan Fans! Welcome to the first ever TrojanWire Running Game Diary. The 901 Bar and Grill was gracious enough to let me watch the game here, since the VS channel isn’t available with the university housing cable package ($50,000 a year and I can’t even watch all the away games???).
Once again, the fate of this great nation of America comes down to...you guessed it...FOOTBALL! Republican Presidential candidate John McCain and Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama gave one final good 'ol college try on the eve of the election, during a half-time interview with Monday Night Footbal's Chris Berman. For any of you voting-age Americans who are still sitting on the fence, among the hot-button issues discussed were abolishing the BCS and eliminating the use of steroids in professional sports.
McCain: "[A McCain administration would] take significant action to prevent the spread and use of performance-enhancing substances...[T]here is somebody in a laboratory right now trying to develop some type of substance that can't be detected and we've got to stay ahead of it. It's not good for the athletes. It's not good for the sports. It's very bad for those who don't do it, and I think it can attack the very integrity of all sports going all the way down to high school."
Obama: "I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football. I'm fed up with these computer rankings and this and that and the other. Get eight teams - the top eight teams right at the end. You got a playoff. Decide on a National Champion."
PAC 10 FOOTBALL CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP. The mike’s all yours, gorgeous. Somehow stunning and craptacular at the same time. The only possible explanation for UCLA coming back–excluding Tennessee’s sphincter-seizure and the grand folly that was the Clawfense–is this: Norm Chow mind bolts and the extremely low resting heart rate of Kevin Craft. Nothing else explains throwing four picks in... more »
A number of USC's marquee players played little in Thursday's mock game at the Coliseum. Most importantly for the Trojans, nobody was hurt and everything seemed to go smoothly. Despite some setbacks earlier this month, Coach Pete Carroll said, "I don't think we've ever been this healthy at this time of year." The headline injury in training camp was... more »
Michael David Smith of PRO FOOTBALL TALK has a nugget from the NASHVILLE TENNESSEAN which sums up the acumen of football *fans* north of Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. Vince Young, who is back in school at Texas (we’re sure his mom had nothing to do with that) , on how he has been received by classmates: “The kids,... more »
I arrived in Lincoln on Monday. I didn’t see my first USC fan until Wednesday night. The game was on Saturday. In the intervening time, to anyone who would listen, I explained my presence with an emphatic repetition of the first sentence above: “I’ve been here since Monday.” Judging by local reactions it was an effective way to evoke... more »
Why is Pete Carroll jotting down notes at your six-year old brother's pee wee football game? Why is Carroll carousing the maternity ward, clocking just how fast the newborn baby makes it through the birth canal? Why, you ask?...Because it's never too early to start recruiting for 2025.
Okay. It's not that extreme but Carroll is making waves with his early recruiting tactics, locking in power-recruits before anyone else can get their hands on them. Carroll, along with his recruiting coordinator (and eldest son - Brennan), are sweeping up big talent from all around Southern California, already landing early-bird recruits for 2009.
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