Final draft [ESPN Insider]

Historical Perspective: USC has sent 446 players to the League via the draft. 42 have been picked in the 7 years since Pete Carroll arrived, including 11 in the first round.

No Rush: For four USC draft picks, an extra year in school may have rewarded them with a big payday. Gary Klein explains in Sunday's LA Times.

No Hype: An interesting forum post found that 10 first rounders in this draft were given two stars or fewer coming out of high school (by at least one of the top recruiting services).

The Trojans:

• Sedrick Ellis (DT) - New Orleans - 1st round, 7th pick
  • Times-Picayne's blog story
  • The Saints traded up to get Ellis
• Keith Rivers (OLB) - Cincinnati - 1st round, 9th pick
  • Enquirer article
  • Enquirer video interview
• Sam Baker (OT) - Atlanta - 1st round, 21st pick
  • Journal Constitution article
  • The Falcons traded up to get protection for new quarterback Matt Ryan
• Lawrence Jackson (DE) - Seattle - 1st round, 28th pick
  • Post-Intelligencer article
  • The Seahawks actually traded down from 25th
• Chilo Rachal (OG) - San Francisco - 2nd round, 8th pick (39th overall)
  • Chronicle article
  • Transcript of Chilo's conference call
  • Local reaction is that the 49ers had a boring draft
• Fred Davis (TE) - Washington - 2nd round, 17th pick (48th overall)
  • Post article
  • The Redskins got two receivers as well as pass-catching Davis
• Terrell Thomas (CB) - New York Giants - 2nd round, 32nd pick (63rd overall)
  • Post blurb (seriously, this was the best coverage we could find in the New York press)
• John David Booty (QB) - Minnesota - 5th round, 2nd pick (137th overall)
  • Star Tribune article
  • LA Times article
  • Booty slipped lower than some though he might, but the Vikings traded up in the 5th round and now it's a great match.
• Thomas Williams (OLB) - Jacksonville - 5th round, 20th pick (155th overall)
  • Times-Union article
• Chauncey Washington (RB) - Jacksonville - 7th round, 6th pick (213th overall)
  • Times-Union article

USC had a phenomenal draft. Nearly 13% of picks drafted in the first round were USC Trojans. USC owned 11% of picks through the end of the second round. USC had 10 draft picks overall, the most out of any school, including four in the first round (also the most out of any school). Here's the draft breakdown by Trojan player.

Sedrick Ellis - 1st round, 7th pick to the New Orleans, Saints.
Keith Rivers - 1st round, 9th pick, to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Sam Baker - 1st round, 21st pick - to the Atlanta Falcons
Lawrence Jackson - 1st round, 28th pick - Seattle Seahawks

Chilo Rachal - 2nd round, 8th pick - San Francisco, 49ers
Fred Davis - 2nd round, 17th pick - to the Washington Redskins
Terrell Thomas - New York Giants - 2nd round, 32nd pick (63rd overall)

John David Booty - 5th round, 2nd pick - Minnesota Vikings
Thomas Williams - 5th round, 20th pick - Jacksonville Jaguars

Chauncey Washington - 7th round, 6th pick Jacksonville Jaguars

With that many Trojan players on the field, it's going to be like a good old fashion USC football game.

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!

USC cornerback Terrell Thomas described the Illinois offense as “run, run, play-action pass” during Friday’s media day.  He admitted that he was probably oversimplifying things, but when you break down the numbers, he’s pretty much right on.  For the season, Illinois has run the ball on 66% of their snaps, or as Thomas said, two runs and a pass… continue

It was bad news bears, or Bruins rather, for UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell. He had hoped to go into the Coliseum and repeat last year's upset win over the Trojans. Instead he left the Coliseum with another loss, a 6-6 season, and a possible end to his UCLA coaching career.

Many critics had proclaimed this season to be the Fall of Troy. With the regular-season closing win over UCLA, USC improves to 10-2 for the season, clinches its 6th consecutive Pac-10 title, and secures its place at the BCS Rose Bowl. Not too shabby.

Senior Terrell Thomas will be running out of the Coliseum tunnel Saturday for the last time, and he’ll have a little extra inspiration with him. Drean Rucker, his good friend and would-be roommate, will be there in spirit. “I’ve got his No. 54 tattooed on my arm,” Thomas said. Rucker, a high school All-American linebacker at Moreno Valley Canyon Springs, drowned off Huntington Beach the day before he was to report to USC in the summer of 2003… continune

It was wet and wild, here's the review:

Positive - Establishing the Running Game

• It was nice to see the SC offense go back to the basics and just pound the ball; to Chauncey's credit, he did a fantastic job fighting for yards after the initial hit.  Establishing the run game also seemed to help JDB play calm and loose.  Apart from the fumbled snaps, I thought JDB played one of his best games of the year, considering the weather conditions.  My jaw literally dropped when he scrambled for about 9 yards; he also made a great play on the "illegal forward pass", which was a questionable call.  The offensive play-calling was straight-forward and simple and I think it actually benefited our offense.  Maybe it's something to consider for the future...
  

Negative - Penalties

• We continue to shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties and they seem to come at the worst times.  A holding call on Matt Spanos nullified a long pass to Patrick Turner, but thankfully JDB followed it up with a strike to Fred Davis.  We can't expect to get away with so many penalties against elite teams.  I'm still unsure what is going on and why Coach Carroll can't get a hold of this problem. 

Player of the Game - Chauncey Washington

• Chauncey picked a great night to have a career game; he finished with 220 yards on 29 carries for an average of 7.6 ypc and 1 TD.  It is also notable that many of those yards were hard-earned as CW consistently picked up 3-4 extra yards by muscling through tackles.
  

Play of the Game - Terrell Thomas' Interception

• With Cal driving to tie up the game and coming off a big 34 yard run to the USC 36 by Justin Forsett, Terrell Thomas came up with a giant interception off a poorly thrown ball from Nate Longshore.  Yes, Terrell didn't have to do more than make a routine catch over his head, but it was a huge momentum shifting play that pretty much sealed the game for SC and kept our Rose Bowl chances alive. 
  

Final Thoughts - RoJo on Kick-Returns

• RoJo (Ronald Johnson) hasn't gotten much pub, but has there been a more unsung hero on our team?  The guy consistently puts us in good field position off kick returns and you just know he's due to break one the entire way.  Thought I should give some props to a player who I rarely see get mentioned. 

Well it will be a shortened bye week with the ASU game scheduled next Thursday.  It's obviously going to be a tough atmosphere to play in, but I like the momentum we're building.  With Oregon in a very good position to make it into the NC game, having a chance at the Rose Bowl should be great motivation for the team to get it done.   

It was a dark and stormy night. Rain drenched the 72,516 sell-out crowd. The ball was water-logged. Fumbles were lost. Tackles were slipped. The field was slick. And Cal's defense again and again saw a dark figure pounding out of the backfield. Guess who?

For the Bear-D the game went a little something like this: See Chauncey Washington. See Chauncey Washington run. See Chauncey Washington run past you. Wave goodbye to Chauncey Washington. Step and Repeat.

#12 USC Drowned #24 CAL, 24-17

Here's the update:

• John David Booty - Threw with a glove today and looked better than expected.  Could possibly play this Saturday but will likely play a back-up role. 

• Rey Maualuga - Listed as doubtful due to hip pointer.  Thomas Williams would start in place of Rey. 

• Brian Cushing - Coaches are playing it cautious in bringing Cush back due to him reaggravating his ankle injury already.  Likely won't start but might put in some minutes on Saturday. 

• Stafon Johnson - Listed as day-to-day for a sprained foot. 

• Shareece Wright - Practiced today and stated he'll play on Saturday.  Shareece will back-up Terrell Thomas who also has a hamstring injury. 

• Sam Baker - Stated he wants to play on Saturday, but is listed as doubtful due to hamstring injury.

• Chilo Rachal - Expected back today, but is likely day-to-day.   

And amazingly that's the short-list...