The bowl selection show on Fox isn't for a couple more hours but Ted Miller over at ESPN is reporting that USC will play Boston College (8-4) in the Emerald Bowl on December 26th.
The Eagles finished second in the ACC Atlantic, led mostly by a strong defense and a non-conference schedule that reads Northeastern, Kent State, and Central Michigan.
USC (8-4) will meet Boston College (8-4) in the Emerald Bowl game at AT&T Park on Dec. 26 at 8 p.m. EST on ESPN.
Quote from Trojans coach Pete Carroll:
"There are a lot of things to look forward to with this game. We're playing a team with a strong tradition and it looks like it's a good matchup across the board. I know (Boston College coach) Frank Spaziani and he's done a nice job with that program. Congratulations to him, his staff and his players. Also, we get to stay in California, and that's good for our fans, as it will be easy for them to get to the game. Most of all, we get to play one more game this year. We're disappointed with the way we played the last half of this season, so the Emerald Bowl gives us a chance to finish the year on a positive note. We'll work hard to send our seniors out in the fashion they deserve. And it'll give our younger players some extra practice time that will pay off in the future."
Raise your hand if you predicted the Emerald Bowl for USC in the preseason?
You are not alone -- the Trojans surely didn't see this for themselves either after seven consecutive BCS bowl games as Pac-10 champions.
A four-loss season feels bad around Heritage Hall, but a five-loss one would feel worse, and that could happen if the Trojans take the Golden Eagles lightly.
BC can play D. It ranks 23rd in the nation in total defense and 18th in scoring, giving up just 19 points per game. It held Notre Dame to just 20 points in a loss.
USC's defense has played well at times, and the Eagles don't have much of an offense, ranking 71st in scoring and 97th in total offense.
Quarterback Dave Shinskie threw two interceptions in the first five games. He threw 11 in the next seven, including four in a loss to North Carolina.
Of course, Trojans freshman quarterback Matt Barkley faded badly late in the season, and the USC offense was decidedly mediocre by most measures over the final five games.
The most important element might be who wants it more. This is a long trip for BC, but it likely will be excited to test USC. Hard to say if the Trojans will match that excitement.
(USC Blitz Photo Collaboration: AP Photos/Jae C. Hong and Chris Carlson)
In the 7 seasons before this last one, Pete Carroll's Trojans lost only 9 times including bowl games. That's 82 wins. A simply astounding record. After Saturday afternoon's loss in the Coliseum, USC finished with a regular season record of 8-4. I think that helps to put the disappointment of most Trojan fans in perspective.
During the game yesterday, I doubt I'm the only one that noticed a lack of energy from both the USC players and fans. The effort was there, don't get me wrong. I'm not accusing any Trojans of dogging it. But there was just a lack of energy. It permeated throughout the stadium as well, the crowd was barely heard for most of the game. It seems just the natural result of a high expectation team. High expectation fans. The fans understood that, beyond a win being a win, yesterday's battle didn't really mean much in the way of satisfying their expectations.
As of right now, the likely bowl destination appears to be the Poinsetta Bowl in San Diego on December 23rd. If not there, the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco on December 26th is USC's next likely destination. Either way, Pete Carroll will again face difficulty in motivating a group that surely needs it.
USC and Arizona play at 12:30 PM on ABC. The game will be broadcast nationally, but I expect numbers will be down for ABC, because the Florida-Alabama SEC Championship kickoff is on CBS a half hour later at 1 PM.
If you're looking for football before that, like I probably will be, then tune in for #5 Cincinnati @ #15 Pittsburgh on ABC at 9 AM. In other Pac-10 action, California will visit Washington on FSN at 3:30 PM. To cap off the day, ABC has Texas and Nebraska in the Big-12 Championship at 5 PM, and ESPN has Georgia Tech and Clemson in the ACC Championship at the same time. Whew, that's a lot of good football. Enjoy it!
(And if you can't get near a TV or you don't have any of those channels, check out the sports section of Justin.tv for some live streaming from generous viewers)
I don't think this was a rivalry week that the Bruins and their fans are going to soon forget. The nastiness started even before kickoff, when the Bruin bear statue was defamed in cardinal and gold:
(Photo Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
...which, of course, was in retaliation for a similar prank on Tommy Trojan last year. And as you might expect, the pranksters had both schools on guard for the rest of the week:
(Photo Collaboration: Hans Gutknecht, David Crane - LA Daily News/USC Blitz)
As for the game, I thought it was ugly football. Both teams appeared to be playing nowhere near their potential and USC was lucky to escape with a win over their archrival.
However, the win was hardly the story, thanks to a firestorm of controversy that surrounded the end of the game. When the Trojans had the ball in good field position with under a minute, leading by two scores, most people, including myself, thought the game was over. Barkley took a knee on first down, but UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel chose to take a timeout. And fair enough, crazy things happen. I wouldn't stop fighting either. On the other side of the fight was Pete Carroll. And in this scenario, Pete correctly determined that his best strategy was a surprise play action pass to his best receiver. Barkley rainbowed a beautiful pass into Damian's hands for the game's final score:
Is that a lack of sportsmanship? According to some, yes. To me, that's basically like saying that one team can try at the end of a game and the other can't. Remember, it was Carroll who was willing to end the game at 21-7. By kneeling, Pete was basically saying, "we won't try anymore if you don't". But Neuheisel's subsequent timeout clearly indicated that his team wasn't done yet. And again, that's fair. But perhaps Neuheisel should consider Newton's third law before he takes a similar timeout in the future:
"To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction"
Getting embarrassingly scored on in the final minute was the equal and opposite reaction of his timeout. Defensive effort yields offensive effort. Much like UCLA folks hated seeing the scoreboard read 28 instead of 21 (even though they are both losses), USC folks hated the notion of seeing the scoreboard read 14 instead of 7 (again, even though they are both wins).
I strongly feel like Pete's decision was not unsportsmanlike and it's a decision that I hope he makes again. FIGHT ON TROJANS!
While Toby Gerhart rampaged through the Southern California defense in an awfully quiet Coliseum, the star tailback and his Cardinal teammates flattened a bunch of recent college football certainties as well.
USC's streaks of seven straight BCS bowls, 11-win seasons and top-four AP poll finishes? Those are all finished.
The Trojans' Pac-10 dominance over the past seven years? It's all but over after Stanford paved the way for a new West Coast champion.
Gerhart took time on the Coliseum field to savor the moment after rushing for 178 yards and three touchdowns in Stanford's (Not rated BCS, No. 25 AP) 55-21 victory Saturday over the Trojans (No. 9 BCS, No. 11 AP), who allowed the most points in school history.
"To do that against a storied program, a perennial power, it's the greatest feeling in the world," said the Pac-10 rushing leader, whose Heisman Trophy hopes are gaining momentum. "It was just will. The offensive line just moved people. We got after them and got downhill, and it was just a good offensive day." Read more
Will Harris returned an interception 55 yards for a touchdown -- one of four turnovers forced by the Trojans -- and No. 12 USC held on for a shaky 14-9 victory over Arizona State on Saturday night.
A week ago, the Trojans' once-proud defense conceded 47 points to Oregon in the worst loss in the Carroll era. The defense regrouped against an ASU team with relatively little firepower.
"That last game against Oregon, it made us realize that we've got to come back and do things right, and that's what we did," said Harris, who also picked off a desperation pass in the end zone as time expired.
USC hadn't lost back-to-back games since a four-game skid in Carroll's first year, 2001.
As the T-shirts worn in Oregon's student section proclaimed, it was Fright Night at Autzen Stadium.
It certainly was for USC.
Jeremiah Masoli threw for 222 yards and a touchdown and ran for 164 more yards with another score and the 10th-ranked Ducks trampled Southern California (No. 5 BCS, No. 4 AP) 47-20 Saturday night, the Trojans' worst loss since 1997.
"I don't know if we made a statement, this is just what we planned on doing," Masoli said. "If it makes a statement it makes a statement. That's just Oregon football and how we roll."
Redshirt freshman LaMichael James ran for 183 yards and a score as the Ducks (7-1, 5-0 Pac-10) racked up 391 yards on the ground against the Trojans, who came into the game with the fifth-best rush defense in the nation (79.9 yards a game).
USC's defense yielded a total of 613 yards to Oregon.
"It was a real mess for us tonight," said Pete Carroll, who was handed his worst loss as coach of the Trojans. "Oregon did everything that they wanted to do." Read more
Oregon State speedster Jacquizz Rodgers averaged over 5.5 yards per carry on Saturday night vs. USC and scored two touchdowns. James Rodgers, his brother, had over 190 all purpose yards and also had a score. Beaver quarterback Sean Canfield had the game of his life. He tallied up 329 yards on 30 of 43 passing, which included 3 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Meanwhile on defense, the Beavers forced true freshman quarterback Matt Barkley into two interceptions. And despite a pass defense that ranked 114th in the nation coming into the week, OSU managed to hold the Trojans to just 202 yards through the air.
Hard to ask for much more if you're Oregon State coach Mike Riley.
But all of that just wasn't enough to take down a resilient Trojan team. Not this year. Not at the Coliseum.
Allen Bradford led the way for USC on offense, collecting 147 rushing yards and two scores. No surprise, then, that he was named the Pac-10 offensive player of the week. This type of performance was inevitable for him. He just needed the opportunity.
Everson Griffen, Michael Morgan, and Malik Jackson all added a sack to their season totals. However, the pressure on Canfield lacked consistency and he was able to find a rhythm in the pocket.
One observation I have of this year's defensive group is that it doesn't seem they can be leaned on to win a game by themselves. Perhaps I'm just spoiled after last year's crop of NFL'ers, but as a fan, I know I am much more worried of games where our offense struggles than I have been in previous years.
There is a significant difference between a solid defensive group (like the Trojans have now [ranked 16th out of 120 in total defense]) and a group that can simply take over a game (like the Trojans had last year [ranked 2nd out of 120 in total defense]).
As per usual, here are my picks for this week along with a score prediction in brackets. Home teams are in CAPS. Take these picks for what they are. I'm no pro. In fact, I'd love to be wrong about the top 3 teams in the BCS this week:
(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
#2 ALABAMA over Tennessee (27-14) Final: 12-10
#5 CINCINNATI over Louisville (34-10) Final: 41-10
#10 MIAMI over Clemson (28-26) Final: 40-37 OT
WASHINGTON over #11 Oregon (33-30) Final: 43-19
#13 Penn State over MICHIGAN (24-13) Final: 35-10
Oklahoma over #25 KANSAS (35-23) Final: 35-13
NOTRE DAME over Boston College (24-20) Final: 20-16
#22 ARIZONA over UCLA (31-17) Final: 27-13
#6 Iowa over MICHIGAN STATE (19-9) Final: 15-13
#24 SOUTH CAROLINA over Vanderbilt (29-17) Final: 14-10
#1 Florida over MISSISSIPPI STATE (33-13) Final: 29-19
#16 BRIGHAM YOUNG over #8 TCU (27-21) Final: 38-7
#9 LSU over Auburn (34-24) Final: 31-10
#3 Texas over MISSOURI (32-20) Final: 41-7
#7 USC over Oregon State (28-13) Final: 42-36
STANFORD over Arizona State (37-23) Final: 33-14
USC quarterback Matt Barkley put on a spectacular aerial show in his first rivalry game against the Irish on Saturday afternoon. He completed 19 of 29 pass attempts for 380 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Trojan defense, meanwhile, performed admirably throughout most of the game, surrending only 14 points with under 12 minutes to play in the 4th quarter. Seven of those points came after the Irish did the old 'hide-a-player-near-your-sideline-and-throw-to-him' trick on a 4th down field goal fake. (Update: Pac-10 Coordinator of Officials says the play should have been penalized and called back)
The other seven points came on a drive that was aided by a ridiculous unsportsmanlike penalty, called against Everson Griffen. He celebrated a sack on Jimmy Clausen, one of three on the night, by flexing his guns to the crowd. And apparently that's a good enough reason to the give the Irish 15 yards and a first down. Were it not for the penalty, Notre Dame would have been facing 2nd and long inside their 20. Three plays after that call, Clausen connected with Golden Tate for the first touchdown allowed through the air vs. SC's defense this season.
(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Barkley's only mistake came on an interception that sailed high off the fingertips of Ronald Johnson in the 4th quarter. Irish middle linebacker Brian Smith blitzed on the play and hurdled over a low Joe McKnight block. That allowed Smith to hit Matt as he threw, and that seemed to affect the pass. Barkley's interception, only his third on the year, came at a costly time, as it allowed Notre Dame to sneak back within 7 points.
That lead would have been 6 points if Armond Armstead wouldn't have blocked an Irish extra point early in the 4th quarter. That obviously proved to be valuable because Jimmy Clausen's offense got plenty of chances to tie it up on their final drive.
T.J. Bryant had perhaps the most important of those final plays when he leaped high into the air to tip away a Clausen fade pass with under ten seconds left in the game. The pass was intended for TE Kyle Rudolph in the endzone, who by the way, is listed at six feet six inches tall. T.J. Bryant's bio, meanwhile, reads only six feet one inch. Kudos to the sophomore for making a huge play in the clutch.
Matt Barkley is getting better each week and there are very few people who still doubt Pete's decision to start the freshman. South Bend was a hostile environment, but like his game in Columbus, Barkley maintained his focus, leadership, and calm in the face of adversity. That allowed him to deliver some NFL-quality throws versus Notre Dame's secondary. Trojan Wire put together a terrific highlight reel of his night. Throws like the ones at :47 and 1:57 are part of the reason why scouts salivate over #7...
More on the game, USC's BCS ranking, and a preview of Oregon State later in the week. Until then, checkout the USC Blitz recommended reading at the top of the page. FIGHT ON Trojans!
Final: 12-10
Final: 40-37 OT
