http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

And what a frustrating game watch it was! Stanford beat USC and it was mostly a pathetic performance from the QB John David. Granted that his finger was hurt some time during the game, but if that was the case why was he made to pass so much??

Oh how we missed Stafon Johnson! And maybe the broken finger is actually a blessing in disguise? Is Mark Sanchez the answer?

I really do not feel comfortable, as I have said several times (even after some good passing games), with John David leading this offense. And there was at least one tipped pass I saw today, besides the 4 INT’s and if there is any sort of report card for a QB, those items should say it all. Really. Ignore the yards passing, and ignore the TD.

One thing I must also add, to be very fair to the guy, is that the WR’s of this team are very overrated and inexperienced at the same time. Patrick Turner, Vidal Hazelton both dropped easy catches very early in the game. Of course, it should not impact a QB’s performance in the game overall.

It is sort of sad that the most dependable receiver in my eyes in the TE Fred Davis!

Anyway, on the side, I was sad to see Florida did not close the door on LSU later. I truly believe LSU will now go undefeated (unless they end up facing Florida again in the SEC title game, where it may be a toss up).

Also, it is also early in the season relatively speaking. USC still has quality opponents it can beat, to earn the respect back from the community.

Here’s hoping they get the credit where it is due!

John David Booty had a monster game passing the ball this past weekend against Wazzu, but I will repeat - I don’t think he is the guy I would put the ball with at the end of a tight game. I would rather draw up a nice run play with Stafon to bail us out.

JDB’s passes are so abrupt and even this past weekend they were tipped or batted down - something just not right there.

Another important game coming up this weekend at Washington … let’s see how our pass rush does against the phenom QB up in Seattle.

Sure did not seem like it in the first game. Idaho was an underdog by 46 points! And USC won 38-10. I would not say it was the most dominant performance, but on the other hand Sark was saying that they tried to keep the gameplan simple.

But even with a simple game plan, JDB did not inspire much and I do believe (at least at this point, and through the last year) that he is not the guy you would expect to bring you out of trouble. Yes, if the going is good he will carry forward with the momentum, but on 4th and 9 from the opponents 26-yard line, will JDB be able to make a 63-yard throw? I don’t think so.

But of course, I hope I am wrong and he wins the Heisman this year. :-)

Sigh, the LSU fans are bitter. Against USC. Again. They just could not swallow the fact that their prized recruit, #2 ranked in the country, was going to go to USC instead of LSU.

There was some noise recently about recruiting violations, that Reggie Bush got on the phone with Pete Carroll in trying to get Joe McKnight to come to USC.

And now, Pete Carroll who normally does not name names has openly stated that LSU fans are the ones creating such stupid rumors!

LSU fans, just remember - this recruiting business is a dirty game. Les Miles has probably done the same thing to many other coaches that Pete Carroll ended up doing with you and your team. Its all a fair game though not clean. Take what you have and play with it. You’ve got to watch out for Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, etc. before you dream of playing USC.

So shut it and move on! Oh yea, and act like adults, not freaking 5-year olds!

Leave it to Pete Carroll to finish strong. After a somewhat less-than-superb recruiting season, Pete Carroll and his buddies climbed up rapidly and now have what seems to be the second-best or the third best class in the country!

Who else thinks we have the deepest roster at running back? And will all of them get decent playing time? Is McKnight the next Reggie Bush?

What about fullbacks? Looks like Martin Coleman may be converted to fullback. With Lane Kiffin gone, I wonder if the fullback will have as big a role as it seemed to be this year. Maybe if there is a game-breaker like McKnight, the game plans may change?

Let’s see - can’t wait for the season to start!!

Details on the final rankings at MSNBC, among others.

So much USC’s rebuilding year. After losing a bunch (huge one!) of studs last year to the NFL, this year USC was supposed to hang in there and maybe go to some nice bowl.

What has ended up happening is an unbelievable thing (well, believable nowadays of course). USC is a lock for one BCS Bowl, the Rose Bowl which takes the Pac-10 champion.

USC is the Pac-10 champion already.

USC can beat ucla and stake a claim to go to the BCS National Championship.

USC “survived” the year with one loss so far, with one game to go.

USC took the majority of All Pac-10 team honors, including the Pac-10 coach of the year for Pete Carroll.

With two games remaining in the schedule, USC knew the worst it could do is go to the Rose Bowl and if they won the last two, they could possibly go to the National Championship game. To lock up the Pac-10 title with two games to go is a fantastic feat.

USC went unbeaten at home this season.

Yea, this is the rebuilding year. They have only 4 senior starters. Provided they don’t lose too many juniors to the NFL draft, it is going to be much more experienced next year and I can’t imagine what they would be able to achieve next year.

Seeing the game yesterday made me very happy, but at the same time I started thinking, is Notre Dame really as good as it was made out to be? If yes, then it makes USC even better than what it has been made out to be.

But what if Notre Dame was really overrated and its boosters had just unjustifiably made them ranked so high at the beginning? What if Notre Dame was not that good?

I don’t care at the end, of course. USC beat one of its biggest rivals and that too handily. If not for Booty’s 2 INT’s, the blocked punt and that one freakish run by Brady Quinn, this would have been a flawless night.

The offense did seem like it was working like a well-oiled machine, the defense has really come up in the last few games and the special teams showed up too (way to go, Cushing!).

Ok, so now it is down to the last regular season game with another big rival who is doing not that well. ucla in Pasadena. I am not as tense as I was for the Notre Dame game, but I just hope there is no over confidence and complacency in the USC team and the “looking ahead” mentality. They do need to win this one and then start the chatter.

I was a little bit unsure of how the game was going in the first half, but after seeing the defense step it up big time today, I feel a lot better in general about the health of the team at this point in the season.

The offense is sputtering, and JDB still seems to telegraph his passes, but we have huge playmakers in the team in DJ, Steve Smith and in this game CJ Gable. How cool was the catch for the first down by DJ jumping high in the air just beyond the marker? How cool was Steve Smith’s 4th and 2 conversion to a TD? How cool was CJ Gable in his monster runs at various points in the game? Awesome.

I was not willing to quote the turnover margin that USC had against Stanford because hey, it is after all only Stanford. But to create so many in one game against a team like Cal is worth noting.

USC kept the 35 points per game Cal to a miserly 9 and that says a lot. The defense deserves a huge pat on the back for doing that to Cal. Good stuff.

There is a reason to feel upbeat for USC Trojans.

Of course, next week is going to be a different game. So we’ll keep the celebration limited to tonight only. :-)

Another bad trend that USC has fallen into this year: start the second half with a punt (or a turnover) instead of coming out and scoring a TD, which was almost a certainty last season.

Lack of turnovers forced, INT on first possession of game, punt/turnover on first possession of second half … how can they keep winning like last few years?

Once again USC has started their first offensive drive with a freaking INT! What’s going on???

Also, what’s the deal with the 4-5 3rd down conversions given up in Oregon’s first offensive drive? Of course, it was a good defensive stand at 4th and 1 to stop the Ducks.

I do not intend to live blog the game but just some initial thoughts.

USC chopped the Stanford tree, but the game itself felt more like USC struggled to make a statement. USC was in total control, no doubt, and Stanford had some things going for them, but in general, I think there were a lot of times in the game where USC had to put away the drive or create a turnover and they did not.

But of course, I am happy that they shut out a team, does not matter that it was lowly Stanford with a 10.4 points average so far (last in NCAA). It was good to see some long passes actually being caught and it was also good to see some turnovers.

What seems to be the problem (or at least one of them!) is that JDB is a little too mellow. I know it is good to be calm and collected but I think JDB is just too calm. There seems to be a lack of killer instinct in him which I think Leinart had a lot of. And the calmness sort of turns into complacency and carelessness. Which in turn could explain the high number of turnovers.

In any case, it is now on to the final stretch. First up is Oregon. Oregon has shown some weakness in the last two games which of course they have been able to cover up quickly in the second halves of those games and win well. USC has its work cut out big time and I think the game should start out as evens, without a clear favorite.

Can’t wait for next Saturday! Fight On!

USC’s multiple streaks ended. And sadly, in a loss that I can only term as bullshit. There were so many chances that the Beavers gave the Trojans to stay in the game, and so many (plus more) chances that the Trojans gave up. Forget about blowing away opponents in the recent past after a bye week, forget about having a great October/November under Pete Carroll, this team plain sucked today.

I feel so bad that the loss did not come against a worthy opponent, no offense Beavers. Losing to Cal or to Oregon or even ND would have been sort of digestible. This loss against a “gimme” opponent is just pathetic.

How about those bloody turnovers! Chauncey was supposed to have a breakout game here but he was one of the culprits. And forget about the final stats for JDB, but his unfortunate INT at the top of the first quarter after a quick strike by the Beavers was probably a very costly turnover. If USC had made the scores even, it would have made OSU slight overwhelmed but instead the INT gave them more confidence and they just did not let up.

Anyway, I hope USC is not the answer to Stanford’s winless season so far, next week!

3rd game in a row where USC won by touchdown or less. And this one did not look close at the beginning. The first quarter or so, USC seemed to be on track like the last season and much better overall compared to earlier games from this season.

Then what happened? I don’t know, because I stopped watching because we went to someone’s house after the end of the first half. All I saw was the bloody interception which was returned for a touchdown to even the score at 21.

After seeing 21 points in just over a quarter I thought it was going to be a nice win like one of the big ones last year. But looks like the offense just went to sleep and the defense also started slipping against the ASU offense. Rudy Carpenter stepped it up and some of the dropped catches and stuff from the first quarter disappeared.

Whatever the case, this USC team is not going to get any style points. Maybe there is a case to make for USC that they do end up on the winning side rather than on the losing side, but at the same time, the closeness of these last few games gives the opposition some confidence and makes them believe they have a chance. It was not the case last year and it made a few opponents wilt before they should have, and handed the victory to USC.

But for the wins, I would be tempted to say that USC is loving to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Thankfully, I don’t have to say that. Not yet, at least :-)

Some YouTube stuff for your viewing pleasure … not sure how long they will last online, but for now, they are available. Enjoy!

Matt Leinart

[youtube www.youtube.com/watch

Another escape from the jaws of a loss this weekend. This time it was Washington. After today’s performance, and the upset loss at Auburn by Arkansas, the polls are going to undergo some shakeup. Unfortunately, with the missing style points (where are the 40+ points days??) and some SEC wins by Florida means that USC may still be #3. Who cares? As long as USC is on track to win the Pac-10, it is good.

Now that Oregon lost to Cal, and that too badly, it clearly shows that Cal and not USC is the team to beat in the Pac-10. It is better to reset expectations at this point in the season - USC is not only rebuilding from the loss of Leinart, Bush, White but also banged up at a lot of places. The fact that they are surviving some close games just goes to show that they are lucky as well as resilient (in that order, if you ask me).

As for the game itself, it was great offense in the first quarter and some. It seemed like USC was finally getting to where it was last year - throwing at will, running long plays at will, and generally dictating the pace. The defense was suspect because Washington was also able to march down the field quite easily.

Of course, the trickulation for the field goal attempt was good and welcome at the point.

The second half was quite the opposite. The offense started sputtering and the defense stepped up. The defense should have had at least 4 INT’s, which went abegging. As a result, USC has been dropping in the turnover margin numbers. JDB had an INT and there were no turnovers forced by USC.

More injury news from USC - Steve Smith the superstar from the Wazzu game hurt himself and did not play much of the second half (if at all). What’s the deal with the USC athletes??? Man, I really hope USC is at full strength soon because the bigger games are coming up soon!

USC survived another Saturday away from home. It was quite a night for Steve Smith, who seemed like finally the #1 receiver on the team! He is one of the most underrated receivers USC has had, if not the country, and it was the perfect time for him to prove that he is legit.

Forget the final stats, his catches up the middle knowing a crunching hit is coming up, some of them for 3rd downs and 4th downs to keep drives alive, were fantastic.

I think the reason it was so close was because of the lack of penetration on 1st down runs. Last year, the first down runs (either by Reggie or by Lendale) gave USC 5 yards or so, if not more. That made 2nd downs short and 3rd downs rare. Last night, and pretty much all season so far, the breaks on 1st downs have been missing. The running backs have been rotated quite frequently, and they have not yet gotten the rhythm.

Chauncey Washington seems to have enough to replace the power running of Lendale White. He does have the capability to muscle through the middle. But unlike Lendale, Chauncey has fumbled the ball a few times, and that could get costly.

Even if there is no Reggie-like breakthroughs, USC does need a running game which can consistently break runs of 4-6 yards on 1st or 2nd downs. What that does, is open up the passing game and the play action game. Then, the long passes can burn the opposition. Once the long passes make up significant ground, and points are put on the board fast, the opposition is forced to be one dimensional. Then, they start making mistakes and then USC’s defense contributes some points.

The way they are playing today, with the run game essentially useless (except the one or two long runs, which tend to skew post-game stats), USC is in fact becoming one dimensional as opposed to forcing the opposition to be that way.

With Oregon and Cal destroying their Pac-10 opposition in the last couple of weeks, USC has its work cut out for going to the Rose Bowl. I don’t think USC the way it is playing today, has a chance of competing in the National Championship, even if the make it there. But Pete Carroll’s goal has always been winning the Pac-10 and that is not going to be possible if Oregon and Cal play like they are today, and USC does not improve.

Once again, I think the USC offense sputtered through a grinding win. Thanks to the defense, the win overshadowed some critical mistakes and lack of rhythm on the offensive side of the ball.

Dwayne Jarrett dropped at least 3 balls which he would routinely have caught and run for at least 5 yards after the catch. One was a sure TD, and the other two were first down gains. I hope it was because of his shoulder or something, because it was just not his typical day. I don’t know the latest on his injury but we sure need him to be healthy quickly.

The running backs rotation EVERY PLAY is probably causing more loss of rhythm than anything else. Yes, they are getting good, fresh legs every play, and yes, the coaches are able to evaluate the guys more and more, but in that effort there ends up being one or two simple but costly mistakes which against a better team could be game-ending mistakes.

Hopefully the freshmen running backs are enthusiastic enough to learn from all the small (and big) mistakes made and rectify them and become stronger for the next game.

And what’s up with the full back position this year? Seems like it is jinxed … Brandon Hancock and Ryan Powdrell are both out for the season. Last night, Stanley Havili walked off - and I don’t have the latest update on his situation, but I sure hope he is healthy enough to come back next week.

USC managed to somehow win the game against Nebraska. Yes, the score was 28-10 but at least early on, it was much closer than the score suggests. Chauncey’s miracle pickup of the big fumble by JDB was one good example of how fortunate USC was that day.

Of course, the defense was solid, but my concern was with the offense. We lost Powdrell right off the bat, and without a good FB, it could get a bit difficult for power running. JDB’s passes were not as accurate as I thought they could/should be, but I would give him this game as it was his first home game as a starter and the nerves could get to him.

DJ bounced back big time after a lackluster game against Arkansas and after being pulled up by his offensive coordinators.

In general a ‘W’ is good, but this was the game to make a statement, but I guess it is even more important to hold the serve and wait for the big ones that will be coming up soon.

Meanwhile, what a surprise Michigan threw against ND! Wow!

Welcome back, Carson Palmer. Some other folks from USC are taking the spotlight nowadays, but I do believe he is a stud and if his knee holds up, this Bengals team can go deep into the playoffs.

It was great to see him playing well and tossing TD’s at will. Very very heartening to see him get up in a blink after getting thrown down on the field.

Good luck, Carson.

I watched pretty much the entire game (except for a little bit of the 1st quarter) today - Dallas was kicking butt big time, and San Antonio, the champions that they are, came back fighting and got it to the last possession in regulation.

So many things I think could have been done just slightly differently to send the Mavs packing - worst of all was the foul on Dirk at the end to give him a 3-point play. If not for that, there was a good chance the 1-point differential would have sealed the deal for the Spurs.

Oh well, all the coulda-woulda-shoulda just reminds me of not too long ago in the Rose Bowl where we Trojan fans keep thinking … if not for x, if we could just do y, etc. Ultimately, we had to accept that it was over.

Similarly, the NBA season is over for me. I do not care much about the Eastern Conference, and I know now that Detroit has a clear path to the finals and will beat whoever remains from the Western Conference. Dallas has a chance to finally make it to the Finals, and most likely will.

A Detroit-Dallas finals matchup is the perfect opportunity for me to catch up on some reading - Da Vinci Code, some work-related books, etc.

Herschel Dennis, the projected starting running back has been injured and is out of the 2006 season.

USC has lost its Heisman-winning quarterback.
USC has lost its Heisman-winning running back.
USC has lost its leading TD scoring running back.

Then, add the projected starting quarterback getting his back injured and getting out of the spring training.

The defense was young last year and will show some improvement.

Besides the stud wide receivers, the offense is questionable.

I may be a pessimist, but I don’t think USC should be ranked in the pre-season. Let them prove themselves and come up the rankings.

I forgot to post about our weekend last weekend in Los Angeles. We had so much fun .. Friday night we went to The Standard hotel after dinner and it was quite a nice place to just hang out. We sat at one of the lounges there - the music was great, the drinks were great and we generally had a great time. We were absolutely the last people to get out of the place. And that too, we were in no mood to leave - apparently it is the law to get everyone out of the place by 2am and we were out of the place by 2am. Came home and chatted some more before finally sleeping at about 4am! When was the last time we did that? Not sure. Not in a long long time!

Anyway, Saturday was lunch at one of the Thali places in Cerritos. Oh my goodness - we had so much to eat! We were bloody full by the end of lunch. I met with a few USC friends for dinner and then went to this party, but did not get a chance to get in. So the rest of the people were going to hang out with, came out and we ended up going to be a British pub in Santa Monica. Once again, it was almost the end of the night when we left from there. Another fun-filled (except for the waiting in the biting cold) night.

Sunday brunch was at The Grove Farmer’s Market. It was a beautiful day to be there - sunny, warm and pleasant. It was Mardi Gras celebration pretty much everywhere there, and it was just a happy feeling all over. Good to be there to soak all that happiness.

And Sunday evening, the wife and some cousins flew out and I stayed back and drove back to work on Monday morning.

The biggest part of this trip was the non-visit to the USC Bookstore.

From USCDynasty.com:

The USC alum received a letter from the PRIVATE company …

As you are aware, we have been bombarded with threats of vandalism if this board goes up in the Baton Rouge Market. Emails have even referenced burning the structure. Other emails have discussed climbing the structure and ripping the copy down.

This campaign has switched gears from a college rivalry to a public safety issue. With this in mind, I am making a decision to not accept this contract.

Thanks,
Garth Roberts
Vice President & General Manager
Lamar Advertising - Baton Rouge

ESPN.com - NCF - Mike Williams files for reinstatement with NCAA

Now, keeping fingers crossed so that he can be reinstated. It will be good for college football if he can come back to USC.

National Championship retained? Who knows. Don’t want to woof it ;-)