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.
Coming up with a list of the best players in the Pac Ten conference is no easy task. It would be very easy just to go down the roster of the University of Southern California and pick at random and you'd probably come up with five players that are arguably among the best at their position. We tried to resist the urge...but came up short. Enjoy the list.
If the Heisman Trophy is going to return to the West Coast this year, it will be going to Trojan quarterback John David Booty. In his first year as a starter for the Men of Troy, Booty only led his team to a Pac Ten title and a win in the Rose Bowl. Not shabby, but not quite what Trojan fans have come to expect. If Booty hopes to finish his career with as few losses as his predecessor, he'll have to run the table and he just may.
Booty is not without his shortcomings, however. His mechanics mean that the Trojan signal caller has a low trajectory when he releases the ball--which can lead to some inopportune tipped balls in key situations, especially with a short field. What's more, Booty lost his two favorite targets--receivers Dwayne Jarrett and State Smith--to the NFL, meaning he'll have to earn every plaudit laid upon him in the 2007 season.
Expectations are high for the University of California's DeSean Jackson. Rivals.com and The Sporting News have him ranked as the nation's leading receiver and Rivals says he is the best special teams player in all the land. Jackson is on several watch lists for post-season honors, including the Belitnikoff and Randy Moss Awards--and something in the air in Berkeley has his name being touted as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate.
Last year, Jackson averaged 18 yards a catch on 59 receptions and was the lone bright spot in the Bears' loss to Arizona, with a career-long 62-yard touchdown catch and a 95-yard punt return en route to 285 all-purpose yards. Nearly one out of ever five times the ball is punted to Jackson, he returns it for a touchdown--making him a dual threat for the Golden Bears.
When the folks at Heritage Hall talk about USC's "Trojan Family," they aren't kidding. The latest recruit to the Men of Troy has special family ties to the program and it's legacy.
Yesterday 6'6" Jordan Cameron announced that he will be leaving behind his basketball scholarship at Brigham Young University to play tight end for the USC Trojans.
The 230-pound Cameron has a special relationship to the program that's about one tenth his weight. He's the uncle of Cole Cameron-Leinart, son of his sister Brynn and Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Matt Leinart.
If Cameron plans on getting any closer to a Heisman Trophy, it will have to belong to Joe McKnight, Mark Sanchez or Mitch Mustain, however, since he will redshirt this season.
Uber-recruit Joe McKnight out of Louisiana stunned a lot of people when he signed with USC this year. Apparently in the minds of some, he was property of the state and thus should have signed with LSU. Bolting for USC was no less than an act of treason.
"Are you familiar with Mardi Gras?" [McKnight's coach John] Curtis said. "The school band played at Mardi Gras. There were some jeers from the crowd. The band would say, '(Joe's) not in the band.'"
Yeah, that's the ticket! Take it out on the school and band! That'll make you feel better. I guess that's why Dodd wrote some LSU fans were "drunk on their own sense of entitlement".
First, the latest evidence: "USC Campus Invasion". A permtastic LSU fan (apparently a member of the golf team) swung by the USC campus with friends and took some pictures in front of USC's various championship wares as well as O.J. Simpson's Heisman Trophy. There were lots of middle fingers and the usual "murderer" stuff. Predictable anti-USC hate, really.
That might've been cute in 2003. Or 2004. Maaaybe 2005. Less so in 2006.
But it's now 2007. Doesn't the statute of limitations for that kind of behavior exhaust after a few years? By my shaky math we're now four full years past that tumultuous time.
Not content to recognize a shared title and bask in their own glory, LSU fans have continually sought ways to diminish USC. There was that OnePeat billboard mess. There was the LSUOverUSC blog. There were the histrionics over USC's signing of high school star Joe McKnight out of Louisiana. The madness only grows with time.
Why is this? Let's call it a tale of two schools. LSU has a rich football history. They've done some good things, winning two national championships and a Heisman Trophy. They basically created the equivalent of an earthquake one night. They've sent some players to the NFL. The school's football legacy is very much intact.
Sadly, I think there's a jealousy factor at work here. USC's won a great many more championships and Heisman Trophies than LSU. Worse, since that fateful January the teams have gone in different directions. Both programs had "repeat" expectations but LSU never came close in 2004 nearly losing their home opener to Oregon State before eventually losing three other games that season. Coach Nick Saban saw the writing on the wall and bolted town for the NFL's Miami Dolphins and the Tigers have been unable to sniff championship football since.
Meanwhile, USC won an outright championship in 2004 and was within 19 seconds of another title in 2005. If not for a stunning upset against UCLA last November they would have appeared in their fourth consecutive championship game. USC's built a lasting legacy beyond 2003's split championship and received a great deal of attention for it. Attention LSU fans have so badly wanted. That dichotomy has only deepened the wound for LSU fans, casting a great many of them further into the anti-USC fever swamps. And so we continue to see childish antics from otherwise rational people.
At least that's one interpretation of it. Sorry, No Photos
Few things awe people more than the act of speed. I sit here writing this while the Daytona 500 plays out on my television screen, cars ripping across asphalt at nearly 200 miles an hour. The main event at the Olympic games is the 100 meter dash. In college football, our fastest players have quite often been amongst the most celebrated.
Reggie Bush and Adrian Peterson came along and spent three seasons simply running right by defenders. They gave way to Ted Ginn who capped his career with a kick return touchdown that was Ohio State's lone highlight in January's BCS Championship Game.
But now that those guys are gone, who is left to fill the void as captivating speedster?
For players already on college rosters, Clemson has two of the zoom zoomiest around in receiver/returner Jacoby Ford and tailback CJ Spiller, both sophomores. There are other players out there yet to make their mark and we'll be on the lookout for them. One such burner is Jamere Holland, a redshirt freshman receiver at USC who clocked somewhere in the 10.3 range in the 100 meters in high school.
Florida sophomore receiver Percy Harvin is also a superb choice, weaving expertly through defenses any time he so much as has a step on a defender. West Virginia junior tailback Steve Slaton has excellent speed and is a worthy candidate. Junior Arkansas tailback and Heisman Trophy runner-up Darren McFadden is an obvious selection here. Finally, there is junior Texas tailback Jamaal Charles who ran somewhere in the 10.2 range in high school and owns several long touchdown runs to his name.
Among incoming recruits, many people have made comparisons between Louisiana's Joe McKnight (a USC signee) and Reggie Bush, but McKnight is probably a step slower with a personal best of 10.71. There are some reports of him having clocked a 10.4, but I have yet to find anything legitimate and official backing that up. He's definitely a playmaker but I'm not sure he's quite in that class of guy who simply runs right by college defenders as Peterson and Bush and Ginn were able to do.
My nominee among this year's incoming freshmen to fill the speed vacuum would be tailback Jahvid Best, a 10.41 runner who has signed with California.
Noble reader: now that you've seen my list, I ask you now who else should be under consideration as an impact player with awe-inspiring speed? Feel free to leave a comment below.
Let's try a little exercise for a moment here. Close your eyes and think of a 'crooked' college football program. What comes to mind? USC? Florida State? Ohio State? Alright now close your eyes and think of a 'clean' college football program. Now what comes to mind? Penn State probably tops that list what with Joe Paterno and all the talk of doing things the right way, right?
But is there really a significant ethical difference between many of these schools?
Let's take a closer look at Penn State for a moment. They've spent the greater part of four decades cultivating an image as college football's white picket fence and apple pie team. They are led by the amiable, cuddly and grandfatherly Joe Paterno, among the most respected coaches in the game's history. They wear simple blue and white uniforms without names on the backs. They play in gritty central Pennsylvania and graduate their players.
But beneath that veneer is just enough to make you wonder.
The big recruiting hoopla this week was over USC's alleged recruiting violation in pursuit of Joe McKnight. USC coach Pete Carroll allegedly had McKnight directly or indirectly speak with Reggie Bush, a no-no per NCAA rules as Bush and all former players are considered boosters.
Well guess what, Penn State is perhaps just as guilty of a similar violation. When the Nittany Lions hosted tailback Broderick Green a few weekends ago, he met at least two former Nittany Lion players: Larry Johnson Jr. and Tamba Hali.
Broderick Green took an official visit to Penn State two weeks ago and came back very excited about his time in Happy Valley. He got to speak with Larry Johnson Jr. and Tamba Hali as the two were in town for the weekend.
"He called me from Penn State and he was so excited," [Green's Mother Wilma] Mrs. Murdock told BWI. "When he wasn't calling me, I was calling him. He loved the place and fell in love with the players."
Exsqueeze me? Whistle blowing time here. Based on what we've learned from the Joe McKnight situation this sounds like a similar recruiting violation. Last I checked Hali and Johnson are big name former Nittany Lions who are clearly classified as Boosters in NCAA rulespeak.
Noticeably absent is the requisite media firestorm about this apparent violation.
Update: Several commenters add that for various technicalities this is in fact not a violation. Apparently booster contact is illegal, except when it isn't illegal. Iike I wrote yesterday, welcome to the hell that is NCAA bylaws.
If the Heisman Trophy is going to return to the West Coast this year, it will be going to Trojan quarterback John David Booty. In his first year as a starter for the Men of Troy, Booty only led his team to a Pac Ten title and a win in the Rose Bowl. Not shabby, but not quite what Trojan fans have come to expect. If Booty hopes to finish his career with as few losses as his predecessor, he'll have to run the table and he just may.
When the folks at Heritage Hall talk about USC's "Trojan Family," they aren't kidding. The latest recruit to the Men of Troy has special family ties to the program and it's legacy.
And I have a theory for it.
