Perhaps Colorado coach Dan Hawkins somewhere internally knew his tenure was in trouble when he made the infamous 10-win prediction prior to this season.
That's what desperate coaches do to soothe a restless fan base. Smart ones just shut up and coach.
But two games into Hawkins' fourth season in Boulder, we're finding out Boise State isn't exactly the cradle of coaches and that it's time for the Hawkins experiment to end. The Buffaloes' latest embarrassment, a 54-38 drubbing at the hands of middle of the pact Mid-American Conference foe Toledo on Friday night at the Glass Bowl.
LOS ANGELES -- USC was picked to win the Pac-10 football title for the seventh consecutive year by the media, and yet the coaches from all nine competitors -- including Arizona's Mike Stoops (right) and even USC coach Pete Carroll -- touched on the uncertainty of the Trojans this season.
USC received 28 of the 32 votes with California receiving three while third-place Oregon collected one vote. The Trojans will be breaking in a new quarterback and several new defenders since 11 players were taken in the NFL Draft. Perhaps this is the year another school emerges and takes the crown out of Los Angeles, but they approached Thursday precariously and with respect. There were no declarations that USC is going down or the reign is over -- not even from UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel.
What had Neuheisel so upset is that Carroll voted against Neuheisel's proposal to allow coaches to have their children with them on the sidelines during games. Neuheisel explained on the video that the Pac-10 has a rule that children aren't permitted on the sidelines during games, but Neuheisel wanted a waiver for coaches' children, because he thinks fathers and sons can bond on the sidelines during games. Neuheisel said the proposal was put to a vote at a meeting of Pac-10 coaches, and that the vote was 9-1, with only Carroll opposed.
Two Seattle Times reporters have won one of journalism's most prestigious awards for documenting the dozens of crimes committed by Washington's 2001 Rose Bowl-winning team.
The reporters, Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry, were among the George Polk Award winners announced today. Armstrong and Perry wrote a four-part series that showed at least two dozen Washington players had been arrested, sometimes for violent felonies, while playing at Washington.
Sparring, because his father was a pugilist, get it? Good. In a bit of a red on red turned cardinal and gold on powder keg blue and gold moment, USC linebacker coach Ken Norton Jr. aired grievances this week with dear old alma mater UCLA. Reports the Los Angeles Times:
"If DeWayne leaves, I would consider several candidates for the defensive coordinator job. Kenny probably would have been among those considered, with no guarantees. However, his quotes in the paper say he is staying at USC, so we wish him well."
Translation: good luck ever getting hired by UCLA. Ahhh, catty man fights. Usually this stuff is so NFL.
This was a long-standing tradition in the 1960s and 1970s, when both teams played their home games in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It went away after UCLA moved to Pasadena and started playing home games in the Rose Bowl.
Since the NCAA has really stupid rules sometimes, USC is wearing the home cardinal and gold jerseys knowing that it will cost them a timeout in the game.
At the end of Brian's story, he expressed hope that UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel would even the score, so to speak, by burning a timeout of his own. In a refreshing nod to an old tradition, Neuheisel says the Bruins will do just that.
In addition, the Pac 10 Conference is going to pursue a change in that stupid uniform rule.
The Pac-10 also announced that it intends to again request the Football Rules Committee at its next meeting to eliminate the portion that says one team must wear white and simply have the rule state that the teams must wear jerseys of contrasting colors.
Wait. Contrasting colors? Does that mean we have to call in a fashion consultant before games for confirmation?
Prop Bets for the College Football Junkie is a weekly post that cares not for your silly point spreads. If you have the money and the gumption, we'll lay down a weekly gauntlet of propositions that'll take you from the penthouse to the outhouse faster than you can guess the number of times Lee Corso will say "not so fast my friend." As always, this is for entertainment purposes only.
$ With the big news of the week being the firing of Tommy Bowden at Clemson, the crew at ESPN will be sure to debate the thought process at Clemson. Lou Holtz will most certainly defend Bowden and Mark May will defend the administration. So we give you a straight up bet that Holtz will forget the camera is still rolling again this week and have some less than flattering words for Clemson. What the heck, +/-5 on the number of times he says "damn."
$ Jim Harbaugh and Rick Neuheisel are both known for taking jabs at opposing teams and coaches in the week leading up to the game. As both have been quiet this week, we're sure they are saving everything for the post game handshake when Stanford plays at UCLA. The conversation will most certainly revolve around the post-game speech Neuheisel gave after the Tennessee game. Straight up, one of two thing will be said depending on the outcome of the game. Neuheisel-"Jim, I'd love to stand here and talk, but I've got a speech to give. Better luck next year, loser." Or, Harbaugh-"Doesn't look like anyone stuck around for your speech tonight. You guys got any games left on the schedule you think you can win?"
$ When Mississippi State travels to Tennessee, we'll be seeing the 103rd and 104th worst offenses in the country. So we'll put the over and under on the closeups of each team's offensive coordinator at +/-10. Because if someone is going to go, these guys are going to get the boot first.
God bless you, Week 3. Finally, it's time for football with outcomes less predictable than Al Davis' wardrobe or what happens when you leave PJ Hill alone with a Twinkie. Here's 10 games to watch other than Ohio State-USC.
Kansas vs. South Florida, Friday 8PM Why We're Watching: Velour. Please, Mark Mangino, bring back the velour. We'll plant a velour tree, write velour ballads and pray to a velour god who wears gold chains and sleeps on a circular bed (Which is probably James Caan).
Then there's the football, as two previously not-ready-for-primetime teams meet on national television in a game that's as much about this season as a dipstick on the state of two climbing programs. Quarterbacks Matt Grothe andTodd Reesing are the constants from last year's teams, but both the Bulls and Jayhawks have to prove that they've successfully rebuilt key areas of their teams. South Florida lost two four-year starters at cornerback to the NFL draft and replaced them with Jerome Murphy and Tyller Roberts, two players with two career starts entering the season. Kansas lost its leading rusher and its leading receiver, but seems to have no problem filling the holes with Brandon Anderson-styled powerback Angus Quigley and an array of receivers (Reesing has completed passes to 11 different players).
But the matchup of the game will be South Florida's George Selvie against red-shirt freshman lineman Jeff Spikes. Selvie led the nation in sacks last year, but hasn't had the chance to so much as touch a quarterback inappropriately this season. He's due, which should alone send a shiver down Bulls' fans like they just hired Isiah Thomas to run the team. And if that doesn't strike enough fear, consider this: When he was a kid, George Selvie had a Buick fall on his head. If you think that doesn't make you an unstoppable badass, ponder it some more with the entire Wisconsin offensive line sitting on your head to add to the realism.
If South Florida wins, they likely won't play another ranked team this season until they meet West Virginia in December. [ Ed. Note -- The Bulls edged out Kansas on a dramatic last-second field goal. ]
Well, at least, those are somebody's words, and he's in the picture doing that Urban Meyer pointy thing. At right is what appeared in yesterday's Los Angeles Times. Notice the big, bold, capital OVER. Now technically this isn't so much a shot across the bow as a call to an end to USC's hegemonic grip on football success in Los Angeles. But we all know the other message implied here: I'm coming for you, USC. Cue the High Noon audio.
Bold. And idiotic. Pete Carroll being Pete Carroll, he'll laugh this off in public and promptly save it for bulletin board material at suitable leisure. It's not that the ad is wrong in anyway, as the mandate for any football coach at UCLA is to achieve parity with and if possible exceed USC. But one can't laugh at how ridiculous it sounds given the position USC is in, having gone places UCLA simply can only imagine in its football history.
As a USC alum it is assumed I should be typing the obligatory IT.IS.ON. But that's not how we roll, UCLA's the irritating kid brother when it comes to football. This is quiet reflection and amusement time. Then its off to the memory hole to be recalled sometime around early December before the ritual stomping. At least, we hope.
As FanHouse previews each BCS conference, the college football songbook will cast an unflattering light on each conference in the only way we know how. We're looking at you Pac 10.
Perhaps Colorado coach Dan Hawkins somewhere internally knew his tenure was in trouble when he made the infamous 10-win prediction prior to this season.
LOS ANGELES -- USC was picked to win the Pac-10 football title for the seventh consecutive year by the media, and yet the coaches from all nine competitors -- including Arizona's Mike Stoops (right) and even USC coach 
For the last month, a video was available on 
Two Seattle Times reporters have won one of journalism's most prestigious awards for documenting the dozens of crimes committed by Washington's 2001 Rose Bowl-winning team.
Sparring, because his father was a pugilist, get it? Good. In a bit of a red on red turned cardinal and gold on powder keg blue and gold moment, USC linebacker coach 
Tuesday, our own Brian Grummell told you of 
Well, at least, those are somebody's words, and he's in the picture doing that 
