(Watch around the 0:59 mark, he leads with his shoulder)
Sanchez interview after the game, such a class act...
GAME PREVIEW Rose Bowl News & Notes
Stanley Havili has been ruled out of the game due to academic issues. Havili is a vital part of our offense and we will miss his versatility. Tough break, but these are the things that happen in college football. Our depth will be severely tested because backup FB, Adam Goodman, is coming off knee surgery that was performed following the UCLA game. Goodman returned to practice this week, and I suspect he'll be utilized as our primary blocking back.
Tight end Rhett Ellison and freshman receiver DJ Shoemate have also been taking snaps at fullback this week. Their transition to a new position might be easier than you might think, when you consider that Stanley's role often entails him lining up as a receiver (out wide, or in the slot). It's worth pointing out that Havili was also nursing a bum ankle that may have kept him out of the game, even without his academic troubles.
Penn State coach legend, Joe Paterno, will be watching from above because of his ailing hip. Enjoy the view, Joe. I hear the San Gabriel's are beautiful this time of year.
Damian Williams announced his intention to return to the Trojans in 2009. In his first eligible year as a Trojan, Williams led the team in receptions (48) and yards (707), picking up 8 touchdowns in the process. That was only 2 TD's behind Patrick Turner's 10, who Damian is expected replace as our true #1 receiving target next year.
In what has turned into a seesaw of a position battle, Aaron Corp snagged the #2 quarterback spot from Mitch Mustain with some outstanding practices over the last couple weeks. More importantly, Scott Wolf reports that Mustain has no desire to transfer again, citing that he's moved around enough.
In our defensive secondary, we'll again be without Kevin Ellison (knee injury). It's a sad way to see his Trojan career end. See you in the NFL, Kevin. Will Harris takes over his spot at strong safety, next to "one-of-a-kind" athlete Taylor Mays.
Looking for a good read? The USA Today's David Leon Moore wrote a great article about Clay Matthews and his rise from a walk-on to a NFL prospect. Well deserved national attention, Clay.
In true Kirk Herbstreit fashion, here are the USC Blitz Keys to the Game:
1) Establish the run early to keep the time of possession in our favor. USC's defense may be one of the "best ever", but the last thing we need is for Mark to be throwing a couple first half picks. That could lead to defensive fatigue, which eliminates the biggest advantage we have in this game (our defense vs. anybody their offense).
2) Avoid stupid penalties. Unless it's going to make an awesome YouTube video.
3) Don't let Daryll Clark get comfortable. In my opinion, Clark is a better run-pass threat than a lot of the similar style QB's that we've seen in the past (like Terrelle Pryor). But his mediocre arm needs to be taken advantage of, and the first step in doing that is getting some pressure up the middle.
Unlike Kirk, I'm allowed to pick the game as well. So here are my predicted scores for the "real" Bowl season, which I define as any games played on or after January 1st. The International & GMAC Bowl games, played on January 3rd & 6th, are mere chinks in the armor of my theory.
Outback Bowl: South Carolina 24 Iowa 10 (RESULT: Iowa 31-10) Capital One Bowl: Georgia 35 Michigan State 17 (RESULT: Georgia 24-12) Gator Bowl: Nebraska 40 Clemson 30 (RESULT: Nebraska 26-21) Rose Bowl: Southern California 42 Penn State 14 (RESULT: Southern California 38-24) Orange Bowl: Cincinnati 10 Virginia Tech 13 (RESULT: Virginia Tech 20-7) Cotton Bowl: Ole Miss 28 Texas Tech 27 Liberty Bowl: Kentucky 24 East Carolina 20 Sugar Bowl: Utah 20 Alabama 34 Fiesta Bowl: Texas 50 Ohio State 31 National Championship Bowl: Florida 34 Oklahoma 20
Enjoy the final USC game of the year. I'll be here for the live blog at 4:30 EST, 1:30 PST.
In Trojans coaching news, Rocky Seto declined a defensive coordinator position with Steve Sarkisian at the University of Washington, and instead took a promotion from Carroll to "Assistant Defensive Head Coach". It sounds similar to the position that Sarkisian had when Lane Kiffin was offensive coordinator in 2005, following Steve's one year hiatus as QB coach in Oakland.
Yogi Roth also turned down a spot with Sarkisian at UW, but he is apparently headed for a job in the entertainment industry. Good luck Yogi! Justin Messa will be a new offensive graduate assistant next season, primarily working with the wide receivers.
On the recruiting trail, USC won a huge battle with the Bruins, Huskies, and Bears for a Hawaiian named Simione Vehikite. In his junior season he was hidden at a small school in Maui. He then transferred to Oahu and had an outstanding senior season playing linebacker:
119 tackles, 10 sacks and 12 tackles for losses as a linebacker
Pete likes him even more at fullback, which is where he'll play as a Trojan. You can see why:
he ran for 610 yards, averaging 10 yards a carry with 10 touchdowns
The one thing I really like about him is that our offer sparked an immediate commitment. Simione has followed the Trojans since he was young, and I'm sure USC was the dream scholarship he'd been waiting for. Some are hoping that he could hopefully be a stepping stone to more top notch Hawaiian prospects. We'll probably have to wait until February 4th to find out.
Jeff Byers thought the Rose Bowl was going to be his final game at USC. Instead the NCAA agreed to give him a 6th year of eligibility for the significant injury team he missed in the '05 and '06 seasons. Upon hearing the news, the MBA graduate student said he would return for 2009! The trend tradition continues; Trojan players maxing out their stay in Southern California.
You can bet your bottom dollar that Byers' announcement will have a large impact on whether Mark decides to return for his senior season or not. According to Scott Wolf, the NFL decisions of Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, and Colt McCoy will also factor into the process. Says Mark on the topic:
"Obviously it has to factor in. You want to know who is coming out just like I'd also want to know a year from now. I don't think it will totally make or break my decision"
My gut instinct continues to tell me that he'll stick around.
A look at the "real" bowl season, a Penn State preview, and more USC news is all up next.
Apologies for the lack of updates recently, I'm smack in the middle of exams (just like the Trojan players)
I tuned in last night to see which of the three musketeers (McCoy, Bradford, Tebow) was about to get more attention than they deserved win the Heisman.
To no surprise, Sam Bradford won by a small margin over Colt and Tim. He had a great statistical season (53 total touchdowns [48 passing], just 6 interceptions, and almost 4500 yards through the air) on a team in the national championship. That has proven to be a damn good recipe for winning the Heisman.
There were a couple other things that struck me upon seeing the results. First, Tebow got the most first-place votes but finished third overall. I know this year was kind of an anomaly, but think of it this way: If the Heisman committee would have told their voters to send in the one player who they thought was "the most outstanding player in college football", Tebow would have taken it down for the second year in a row...like I think he deserved. Instead, Sam won it mostly because of all the second place votes he received. (Screen capture courtesy of ESPN)
Diving into this further, 811 voters had Bradford in their top 1, 2, or 3. Whereas Tebow only had 750 voters who put him in their top 3. That's hard to believe for me.
Chances are, some of those non-Tebow votes were stolen by guys like Rey Maualuga, who received two first places votes to go along with one second and third. Seriously, who knew? With all due respect to the talent Rey has shown in his time as a Trojan, I didn't think he had a year as good as Clay Matthews or Brian Cushing. The Bednarik Award people also disagreed with me and named Rey the top defensive player in college football. Something that might have more to do with his achievements over the course of his college career and the Trojans #1 overall defense, than it has to do with recognizing the annual achievements of players.
Obviously Colt McCoy has an argument for the Heisman as well. If the Texas defense wouldn't have given up that 28-yard last second score to the Red Raiders (ie. if Colt had changed nothing), I think we could all agree that he would have been the one taking home the hardware last night. It's tough to swallow that this is "just the nature of things" when there are so many doors that open from winning it. Whoever is in charge of BCS reform might want to take a look a look at these postseason awards too.
In other news, Pete Carroll is the focus of a 60 Minutes interview tonight about his winning coaching style, and the great work he has done with A Better LA. Should be worth a watch, fight on Trojans!
Big day for the Trojans. Win and the Rose Bowl is ours, in a couple different ways. Lose and our streak of BCS bowls is done.
There has been a lot made of Pete Carroll's decision to re-ignite a tradition that hasn't been done since 1982: both the Bruins and Trojans will be wearing their home jerseys. USC will forfeit a timeout due to an illegal equipment penalty, but Neuheisel and his squad have elected to take a voluntary team timeout in the first half to even things up. Dumb NCAA Rule.
From a recruiting point of view, this is the game that determines who has reign over the best high school players in the Los Angeles area. Pete owns and has owned the territory, virtually since he arrived at Southern California in 2000. Tricky Ricky has made it clear that he wants to even things up a little bit. However, if USC walks out of the Rose Bowl with a decisive victory, Neuheisel will find it as hard as ever to land a kid who simulataneously has an offer from their cross-town rival.
As for the rest of today's games, it looks like this Saturday is setup to be a dandy. Enjoy it, because you'll be in withdrawal next week. Here are my (straight up) picks for the biggies today...
Pittsburgh over Connecticut Why: Talented RB, LeSean McCoy is averaging 5.0 yards a carry and he has 20 touchdowns on the season (Donald Brown on the other side of the field is a great back too). Combine that with a pretty underrated defense and I think the Panthers roll over UConn.
Boston College over Virginia Tech Why: Normally Hokie-ball entails a lot of non-offensive touchdowns but, BC actually leads the nation in that category this season. It's never good when the other team is better than you at what you do best.
USC over UCLA Why: Need I say why?
Alabama over Florida Why: I've had the Gators winning this game in my head for about 2 months now. But I'm picking Bama for the simple fact that I think Percy Harvin is as important to that Gator offense as Tim Tebow is. And since Percy is expected to miss the game, I foresee Nick Saban's team winning an exciting SEC Championship, where John Parker Wilson plays a crucial role in the final minutes.
Oklahoma over Missouri Why: The Tigers are tempting here, but Oklahoma is playing better and possesses more talent. Keeping that in mind, Chase Daniel is a terrific quarterback who should have a chip on his shoulder this week. We've seen some crazy upsets in the Big-12 championship games of years past. Lots of offense expected in this one.
I'll be here later in the afternoon for some live blogging during UCLA-USC.
The latest BCS rankings have the college football world in an uproar. Bob Stoops' Sooners defied conventional logic and leapfrogged Mack Brown's Texas Longhorns to snag the #2 spot.
And when I say conventional logic, I'm specifically referring to the idea that observation should be the primary tool when comparing two teams.
Observation means that you get team A (Texas), you get team B (Oklahoma), you put them on a neutral field (Cotton Bowl) and the winner (Texas: 45-35) can claim dominance over the loser, all other things being equal (like, say, their win-loss record).
However, secondary forms of comparison, like strength of schedule, and common opponent results (vs. Texas Tech) were used to give Oklahoma the edge. Pete and I think "that's wrong".
So what about the Trojans, do they have any shot at breaking up this Big-12 vs. SEC party?
The short answer, in my opinion, is no.
I wrote about USC's dream BCS scenario approximately three weeks ago, and everything has (almost) gone as planned so far; the SEC teams won out, Oklahoma beat Texas Tech, and the Big-12 south teams are stuck in a 1-loss comparison loop.
The problem for us came because Oklahoma won by too much. That put them in position to leap Texas in the final week when they were playing a ranked opponent in primetime. If the Longhorns had advanced to the Big-12 championship and lost to Missouri, USC could have realistically received the nod over Oklahoma (because they didn't win their conference). But now I can't imagine a voter snubbing Texas twice.
The reality is that if we beat UCLA, the Rose Bowl is our only choice (vs. Penn State). And like Conquest Chronicles, I'm not sure which game I'd be more excited to watch. The additions of (slimy) Neuheisel and (former USC offensive coordinator) Norm Chow add intrigue to a game and rivalry that could use it.
Speaking of former USC offensive coordinators, congratulations goes out to Lane Kiffin for landing the Tennessee head-coaching job. He'll be expected to develop young quarterback Jonathan Crompton into a Matt Leinart-like mold. Tennessee has a ways to go before they can compete with the upper echelons of that conference.
I'll have more on the UCLA game later in the week.
Irish quarterback, Jimmy Clausen, hasn't lived up to the enormous expectations he set for himself coming out of Oaks Christian High School. If Clausen had lived up to the hype, Notre Dame would be undefeated right now and Jimmy would be taking home Heisman two of four at the end of this year. That hasn't happened and to be frank, I'm not a fan of him and his faux-bravodo, cocky attitude.
I somehow remain worried about the possibility of Jimmy "breaking out" vs. the Trojans. This is an away game for the Irish, but it's just another trip back home to SoCal for Clausen. The national spotlight, the nice football weather, old teammates; It should all feel familiar to Jimmy on Saturday night.
So, will Jimmy and the Irish be able to escape LA with a win. (Pencil in hand) "Not so fast, my friend!" I think the Trojans will keep their slim title hopes alive tonight. Here are the rest of my picks (straight up) for this Thanksgiving Saturday...
GEORGIA over Georgia Tech
South Carolina over CLEMSON
VIRGINIA TECH over Virginia
MISSOURI over Kansas
Florida over FLORIDA STATE
BOSTON COLLEGE over Maryland
ALABAMA over Auburn
TEXAS TECH over Baylor
Oregon over OREGON STATE
USC over Notre Dame
OKLAHOMA STATE over Oklahoma
Home teams are in CAPS. The spreads are courtesy of Covers.com:
LOUISVILLE (+7) over West Virginia
OHIO STATE (-20.5) over Michigan
VIRGINIA (+3) over Clemson
VANDERBILT (-3.5) over Tennessee
Washington (-7) over WASHINGTON STATE
Stanford (+8) over CALIFORNIA
NORTHWESTERN (+3) over Illinois
LSU (-3.5) over Ole Miss
Boston College (+2.5) over WAKE FOREST
PENN STATE (-15) over Michigan State
Air Force (+20) over TCU
BYU (+6.5) over UTAH
CINCINNATI (-6) over Pittsburgh
ARIZONA (-3) over Oregon State
Florida State (-2) over MARYLAND
OKLAHOMA (-6.5) over Texas Tech
Connecticut (+3) over SOUTH FLORIDA
While the future appears bright for USC's football program as a whole, Carroll's Trojans will have some major reloading to do on defense if they hope to sustain this success. Here's a list of our defensive starters who are expected to be gone in '09...
Losing 10 starters on either side of the ball could be disastrous for any team. However, don't fret Trojan fans...coach Carroll to the rescue! This weekend, the USC coaching staff will be scoured all over the country, gawking at the best and brightest from the high school football world.
Way back in May, I gave you four names to watch out for in this year's recruiting class; Matt Barkley (verbal commit), Devon Kennard, Manti Te'o, and Vontaze Burfict (verbal commit).
Barkley struggled early in his senior season, but he has managed find his groove again. Kennard, meanwhile, suffered a season ending knee injury in September. He'll be in LA on December 12th for one of his official visits. As for linebackers Manti Te'o and Vontaze Burfict, they have been nothing short of spectacular.
Today, I present you with four more "gotta have 'em" recruits...
1. Frankie Telfort - LB/S
Watching tape on Frankie, his instincts and aggressiveness remind me of Kevin Ellison. He's undersized, at 5'11, 200 pounds, meaning that college coaches will probably put him at strong safety. Telfort reportedly gave a high rating when asked about his visit to USC earlier this year. Considering: USC, Florida, LSU, Duke, Stanford
2. Jarvis Jones - LB
Jones, an outside 'backer from Georgia, has everything the scouts are looking for; a big frame (6'3, 225 pounds), a good football IQ, tremendous speed, quick lateral movement, and a passion for destroying the ball carrier. Like Telfort, he loved his visit to USC. Considering: USC, Florida, Georgia, Miami, LSU, Texas
3. Jawanza Starling - FS
Starling is a hard-hitting free safety from Lincoln High School in Tallahassee (FL). If that rings a bell, it's because freshman TJ Bryant went to that same high school; which is normally a breeding ground for Gator and Seminole recruits. Jawanza would be another big out-of-state steal. Considering: Florida State, Georgia, USC, Florida, Oregon, Alabama, California
4. Tyler Gaffney - TB/FB
Tyler is a production machine down in San Diego. In his senior season, he's had over 1500 yards on the ground, 30 touchdowns, and a 10+ yds/carry average. Most schools are recruiting him as a tailback, but I think USC views this kid in a similar fashion to the way they saw fullback Stanley Havili. Considering: USC, Stanford, Notre Dame
(RESULT: Iowa 31-10)
(RESULT: Georgia 24-12)
I tuned in last night to see which of the three musketeers (McCoy, Bradford, Tebow) was about to 
The latest BCS rankings have the college football world in an uproar. Bob Stoops' Sooners defied conventional logic and leapfrogged Mack Brown's Texas Longhorns to snag the #2 spot.
