My three least favorite college football teams are UCLA, Notre Dame and Cal. This week we play Cal and I hope we kill them. Saturday will make or break someone's season. The game however is overshadowed by terrible off the field injury.

Stafon Johnson is one of my favorite Trojans. On the field he is smooth, steady and always reliable for a big gain or a goal line score. Off the field he leads by example. He is the spiritual leader of team. When I heard the news I was shocked, then bummed, then worried and scared, then hopeful, and finally thankful and proud. Shocked because this is the type of injury you never hear about. It was a fluke accident. Bummed for Stafon because he has so much potential. He was on track to have a great year. I hoped all his hard work would payoff with an MVP caliber season followed by an early draft selection in the spring. Worried because holy sh*t he dropped 200 plus pounds on his neck. Can you die from that? Scared because I heard he was coughing up blood and had been in surgery for so many hours. Forget about football, this was now about survival. Hopeful because USC is a great institution that takes care of its players. If Stafon was in surgery, I knew the best doctors would be working on him. Thankful that the surgery went well and he was recovering. And proud for all the love and support he has been shown. If you wish to continue that love and support you can send notes of encouragement or anything you deem appropriate to:

Stafon Johnson
USC Football
Heritage Hall 203b
3501 Watt Way
Los Angeles, CA 90089

Or you can keep Stafon in your prayers.

Now on to Cal, last year the Trojans defense dominated Cal in the Coliseum. The final score was 17-3. The Trojans D held Jahvid Best to 30 yards on 13 carries. This year Best is averaging 116 yards per game. Look for the Trojans to stack the line again and force Kevin Riley to make plays. Riley has not thrown an interception this season. He has a streak dating back to last year of 115 pass attempts without an INT. The last time Riley faced USC he was 4 of 16 for 59 yards and an INT.

More Thoughts of the Day after the jump...

From ESPN.com:

Punter Matt Darr of Frontier (Bakersfield, Calif.), who averaged 46 yards as a junior, has committed to Southern California for the Class of 2010. 

Darr chose the Trojans over Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, LSU and Alabama. He also holds offers from Arizona State, Northwestern, Purdue, Baylor and UTEP, among others. 

He told ESPN affiliate Web site WeAreSC.com, "It was Sunday morning and we (My family) were talking about recruiting. I decided it was USC at that point. The only thing holding me back before was the possibility of taking a trip to Texas Tech. Once I looked at the schedule and saw that I couldn't make it, I decided to commit to USC." 

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound prospect also recorded 93 tackles and eight quarterback sacks while playing linebacker during 2008.

Heard about Matt briefly earlier in the year as being the elite punter in the country and someone SC would seriously pursue.  Brian Schneider is already paying dividends considering it's been a while since we've had an elite punter.

On an academic note, Matt has a near 4.0 GPA so there won't be any issues with qualifying.

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.

It’s tough, Tom Malone admits. And it has been for nearly two years since the punter from Lake Elsinore injured his right hip in summer workouts before his senior year at USC. It had been 16 months since he’d been in a game, Malone said, speaking from his hotel in rainy Berlin, eight time zones away, where he’s five games into the NFL Europa season… continue

Free Agent News [Scott Wolf inside USC]

Leinart recorded a 37 inch vertical. Nice.

Old commrades, Norm Chow and Pete Carrol talk shop.

Norm Chow and Jeff Fisher of the Tennesse Titans.

Reggie may have run the fastest time, but nobody got more applause than Deuce.

Other notes:
- Nobody could believe that a 320-pound man recorded a 39 inch vertical. Winston Justice baby.
- Darnell Bing was all-around impressive but he didnt run below his listed 4.5 in the 40.
- Hate to pick on LenDale because we love him, but he only did 15 reps on the bench. (Punter Tom Malone did 14 and cornerback Justin Wyatt did 16.)

Trojan Pro Day Report [USCFootball.com]
USC's Pro Day like 'mini-combine' for players [MSNBC]
Leinart, Bush work out for NFL coaches, scouts [FoxSports]

Desmond Reed was most impressive on offense--racking up 78 yards on just 5 carries. And had a 60-yard kickoff return.

Tom Malone shined for special teams. He got two ovations for his 60-yard and 55-yard punts. Even kicking into the wind, he sailed one 50-yards.

Playing middle linebacker, Saddleback JC transfer, Ryan Powdrell, made some big hits and was very strong against the run. Linebacker Keith Rivers led everyone with 9 tackles.

[UPDATE]: Leinart has pushed his decision back 24 hours. Annoucement will now come tomorrow (Friday, January 14th) at 2:30pm from Heritage Hall.

[UPDATE]: Matt Leinart will return to USC for his senior season.

Decision day awaits Leinart [Daily Trojan]