Oregon
Hanging with a bunch of Cal grads at a bachelor party this weekend. Go Beavers. Sign up with BetUS... they've got our game.
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Washington St (+33) over Arizona
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Oregon St (+7) over Cal
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USC (-11.5) over Arizona St
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Washington St (+33) over Arizona
Oregon St (+7) over Cal
USC (-11.5) over Arizona St
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The Trojan football program is venturing down a road it has avoided for a very long time. Since 2002, USC has always followed up a loss with a string of victories to continue the Trojans unmatched success for the past seven years. However, USC has not suffered a loss of this magnitude in the Pete Carroll era. The 47-20 loss to Oregon was the first time the mighty Trojans got severely outplayed and out-coached in all phases of the game.
In the past, one could review the game and say the Trojans were just unlucky or if they played with a little more discipline they would have won. Not this time. If anything, the amount of injuries the Trojans suffered on the defensive side of the ball is a clear indication of how manhandled they were by the Oregon offense.
Saturday's game against Arizona State will provide great insight into the psyche of both the coaching staff and the players. Was the Oregon game just a set of unfortunate circumstances they can easily put behind them and continue Pete Carroll's perfect November record and put themselves in contention for a BCS bowl game? Will the Trojans fight though injury issues like they have in years past and put together a great performance or will the shaken confidence of a defense that has given up over 1500 yards of offense in 3 games lead to a debacle in Tempe?
Arizona State is not going to make it easy on the Trojans. They are led by the best defense in the Pac-10 and are fighting for Head Coach Dennis Erickson's job. This is also the second of back-to-back road games for the Trojans which are always tough.
However, this is a game the Trojans should win and be able to gain some confidence and swagger back on the defensive side of the ball. ASU has one of the worst offenses in the Pac-10 and doesn't possess a game-breaker close to the ability of Jacquizz Rogers, James Rogers or LaMichael James.
Keys to the game...
1-Trojans need to pass to set up the run: Cal Quarterback Kevin Riley threw for 351 yards last week in a narrow 23-21 victory over ASU. ASU does a great job of applying pressure and making it difficult to run with one of the best run defense's in the country. The Trojans should come out throwing the ball to send an early message to ASU's secondary which is susceptible to mid-range throws.
Once ASU's defense is worried about the pass, the Trojans should have success running the ball with McKnight and especially Bradford provided his knee is okay. Bradford fits the mold of Stanford tailback Toby Gerhart who ran for 125 yards against ASU.
More keys after the jump plus an injury update...
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This is nothing new, but we came across these renderings on architectural firm RTKL's site.
RTKL made its name in sports by helping HOK Sport (now Populous) fit Camden Yards into inner-city Baltimore in the early 1990s, but since 1999 they've been cooking up the master plans behind LA LIVE, which reaches its completion in early 2010 with the opening of a 54-story building that houses a JW Marriott Hotel, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel, The Ritz-Carlton Residences and a 14-screen Regal Cinemas.
Back to the LA Coliseum... besides the NFL logos we can't help but see how this would be a drastic improvement to our Trojan sanctuary.
First there is respect for the original structure. The oversize jumbotrons plopped atop the Peristyle have been removed and replaced with jumbotrons exhibiting a more modern screen. The Miller Lite game clock removed to bare the Olympic rings. AT&T, Muscle Milk, and other garbage banners hanging from the colonnade are non-existent.
The roof canopy can provide shade to those in the bleeders and channel the awesomeness that is the noise of 93,607 down onto the field. Works for those fuckers up in Oregon.
The luxury boxes, eh... it's not really college football. But Ohio State's Horseshoe is a magnificent stadium. And it has suites and does a great job of balancing the modern with the classical, specifically the outer facade with the modern interior. Additionally, luxury boxes could open the way to bring booze back to the Coliseum. There's already booze at events that rent out the space below the Peristyle and just like the Founders Room at Galen Center, money would buy access to influence. And everyone lucky enough to know someone could go there at halftime and get back under the influence.
One more image of the improved Coliseum after the jump.
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"We messed it up," Carroll said. "We probably tried too hard. Our guys, mentally, were bottled up...
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