When in doubt, play defense. That seems to be the philosophy right now at USC, which has taken an offense with nine returning starters and the nation's best offensive line and driven it into a ditch for large stretches of this season. And so it was on the road Saturday, the USC Trojans steadily outplaying the Cal Bears on the way to a 30-3 victory.
Mirroring last week's performance against Washington State, USC came out firing offensively in building a 20-0 second-quarter lead, eventually cooled, and still cruised to victory behind yet another dominating defensive performance. Strange days considering that defense was one of the best of this era last year and graduated the bulk of its talent to the NFL.
Folks around USC are experiencing those classic feelings of relief Tuesday after senior back Stafon Johnson came out of surgery alive and with a good prognosis after his dramatic weight lifting incident Monday afternoon.
Johnson emerged from seven hours of complicated surgery conscious and cognizant, but unable to speak, communicating through writing and hand signals. He is expected to remain in the hospital for a while and will likely miss the rest of this season.
So, where does that leave his career? And how does USC move forward without its most effective short yardage runner since LenDale White? In the short term there's tremendous uncertainty for both although each has unusual resources at their disposal that could make for a special reunion if the parties can individually clear particular hurdles.
Crazy as it sounded but a few weeks ago, there is a chance neither Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy or Sam Bradford will win the 2009 Heisman Trophy. Maybe that's a good thing. Their journey of inevitability has taken on some water surprisingly early this year.
When BYU's Coleby Clawson slammed Bradford to the turf causing a shoulder injury, Bradford's repeat hopes were finished. He has still yet to play a down since then. Last Saturday against Kentucky, Tebow also sustained a concussion injury while being driven to the ground. It is unclear whether he will play Saturday against LSU in Florida's first real test this season.
Meanwhile, Colt McCoy already has five interceptions although he completed 80 percent of his passes Saturday against UTEP as the Longhorns appear to have turned a corner offensively in pouring 64 points on the Miners.
The embattled Ohio State football program -- losers of five straight against elite programs -- made its stand. Saturday night was going to be the place where they bucked history and reclaimed some former glory in toppling No. 3 USC. Over 106,000 fans, most in Ohio Stadium history, made life hell for the visitors from sunny California. The Buckeye defense made stop after stop, harassing the Trojan run game and freshman quarterback Matt Barkley over four solid quarters. They made their stand, but in soul-crushing fashion, they once again failed.
Trailing 15-10 and looking ready to wilt, USC mounted a 14-play, 86-yard, six minute touchdown drive to go ahead 18-15 with just over a minute left. Same. Old. Story. Not enough.
The buzz for USC heading into Saturday was true freshman quarterback Matt Barkley, but after the Trojans' 56-3 thrashing of San Jose State the men in the trenches proved to be the real show. After a shaky first quarter that saw the Trojans trailing 3-0 thanks to three punts and two turnovers, the offensive line took over creating massive lanes on the way to a 342 yard rushing effort (7.6 yards/carry). The line also pass blocked brilliantly, leaving Barkley nearly limitless time to throw.
On the other side of the ball the Trojans' defense logged a stunning 16 tackles for loss in limiting the Spartans to a meek 121 yards of total offense. There's no doubt Barkley is a talent and had his moments in an otherwise conservative passing game plan, but the Trojans' lines really got after it on Saturday in a manner that if it can be repeated next weekend against Ohio State will go a long way towards championship talk this season.
Joe McKnight will miss spring football for the second time in as many years, but this time at least its not his fault. USC is holding its mercury-like tailback out of spring ball as he recovers from the painful-sounding dislocation of four toes on his left foot suffered early in the Rose Bowl.
It's a Fox Sports Weekend, if you are a Pac Ten fan, as four of the five conference games are being broadcast on the NewsCorp-owned cable networks, bookended by the USC Trojans' visit to Autzen Stadium and the traditional 10:15 PM Eastern Pac Ten Game of the Week between undefeated Arizona State and former contender Cal Berkeley.
Today's matchup pits the nation's second-best offense against the third best defense in the country and features two one-loss, top-ten teams. The winner controls their destiny. The loser starts to think about how many more ganes they'd have to lose to go to the Hawaii Bowl instead of the Sun Bowl. Vitals, TV Info and Pregame Notes after the jump . . .
The USC Trojans opened up their quest for a sixth consecutive Pac Ten title on Saturday, hosting the Washington State Cougars to a wet but spirited Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Just like the last two Trojangames, we were there to bring you the full pageantry of the day--and some insights on the game.
Heisman Candidate John David Booty lived up to the reputation, distributing the ball evenly among nine receivers while throwing for 279 yards and four touchdowns with just one interception. That tight end Fred Davis was his leading receiver shows that Booty was able to make progressions and check off receivers--something he seemingly had failed to do in previous games.
The Trojan running game was slowed a little compared to their 313-yard performance against Nebraska, rushing for but 215 yards. Nonetheless, USC was able to work in both Freshman Joe McKnight and sixth-year Senior Hershel Dennis late in the game and neither disappointed.
Sunday College Football Hangover is a (hopefully) regular feature from a groggy FanHouse writer recovering from 16+ hours of watching as much college football as humanly possible. The Big Story
What else but perhaps the greatest upset in college football (sports?) history. As our own Ryan Ferguson wrote, Appalachian State is a very good lower division football team. They're the defending I-AA national champs, in fact. But Michigan's loss is absolutely inexcuseable and mind-bending in its implications.
A I-AA team beat Michigan. This shakes the foundation of my comprehension of the world to such a vastly greater extent than any upset, sighting, conspiracy theory, apparition, miracle or act of nature I could possibly cite. This is frogs raining from heaven. This is physically impossible
Indeed. I don't know whether this is a good or a bad thing for the sport. On one hand, we have a celebration of the underdog and further proof of why style and scheme matters so much in college football. The NFL is a robotic operation with 32 teams all doing the same thing over and over again with people paying them hand over fist to see it. College football's got soul, though, and it's expressed in Appalachian State's defensive effort and utilization of overlooked athletes.
On the other hand, this is clearly the story of the season. How does college football come down from this? There is simply nothing that can happen in the next 14 or so weeks that will come close to matching this upset. Nothing. USC could lose nine times and yet the event everyone will first recall from this season is Appalachian State's upset of Michigan.
While looking at the Pac-10 impact freshmen category, it would have been simple enough to take the top 5 or so USC recruits and simply list them below. But, obviously that's the easy way out. While USC has the two best frosh to hit the field for '07, there actually are other programs with young talent that will be on display this fall. Without further delay, check out FanHouse's view of the top impact freshmen of the upcoming season:
A lightning-fast recruit plucked from Louisiana, and much to the angst of the LSU faithful, McKnight is everything you'd want out of a young star at tailback. Excellent speed, outstanding moves, great vision to avoid would-be tacklers and even some power to go along with everything else, McKnight is the complete package. Some have compared him to a young Reggie Bush, but that might be a little premature. The college football world will be watching when he takes the stage in the season opener vs. Idaho. The fastest new recruit to come into the Pac-10, McKnight is the top impact frosh in the conference for 2007.
When in doubt, play defense. That seems to be the philosophy right now at USC, which has taken an offense with nine returning starters and the nation's best offensive line and driven it into a ditch for large stretches of this season. And so it was on the road Saturday, the USC Trojans steadily outplaying the Cal Bears on the way to a 30-3 victory.
Folks around USC are experiencing those classic feelings of relief Tuesday after senior back 
Crazy as it sounded but a few weeks ago, there is a chance neither 
The buzz for USC heading into Saturday was true freshman quarterback 
Joe McKnight will miss spring football for the second time in as many years, but this time at least its not his fault. 
