2006 Arizona Edition - 9/25/06

Another week; another round of fantastic football ...  This is the reason we have the other eight months of the year: to live through these four!

 

(reply with an "unsubscribe" if you wish not receive my weekly musings; I provide an objective look, with Trojan emphasis, at the greatest sport on the planet week by week - college football) ...

• I am not generally overly negative, or overly positive, when it comes to USC football, but try to do my very best to be objective and realistic.  I am struggling to believe this team can go undefeated with its present offensive execution, and of course, the ongoing injuries.  That is not to say the execution will not improve, but we are not showing either the running game or passing game we need to (yet) in order to win a national championship.
• All of these highly ranked teams won yesterday despite looking very shaky (if not downright ugly): Ohio State, USC, Georgia, Notre Dame, and Florida.  This is a hard sport to play.
• My apologies to my Bruin friends whom I emailed from my Blackberry with congratulations early in the game.  I walked into a sports bar in Washington D.C. and watched the beginning of what looked like would become a 54-0 UCLA victory.  I didn't see what happened once the USC game began, but I do wonder if the Pac-10 engraving office needs to begin work on a "Coach of the Year" trophy for Ty Willingham?
• Dear Stanford Fans: Not only would John Elway have won the Heisman and Rose Bowl if he had picked USC, but you would have a chance of winning a game this year if the CURRENT John Elway had any eligibility left ....  Wow.  This team is BAD.  Maybe the band wasn't always a curse?
• Speaking of the Stanford band and curses, Cal was impressive in their tromping of ASU.  If USC beats ASU (at the Coliseum), I expect Dick Koetter will be fired at year-end ...
• As a Trojan, I confess to being very grateful USC plays ASU, Oregon, Cal, and Notre Dame at the Coliseum this year!!
• Most encouraging thing of the USC/Arizona game: Emmanuel Moody. 
• The defense is monstrous, and may very well be what leads USC to the Rose Bowl (or BCS Championship) this year.  But, we surely have limit (somewhere) to our depth, and the major injuries we have incurred this year already would de-rail any other team I have seen (which is most of the Division I football teams in the nation).
• The SEC's offenses that mare managing to score from 3 to 17 points on one another would really, really, really struggle to score AT ALL against USC's defense.  The same could potentially be said about USC's offense against LSU and Auburn ...
• I need two more games to elaborate on John David Booty.  He looks so calm and precise at times, and so not calm and not precise at others.
• Just think about this if you're an Ohio State fan:  Three and a half years ago Maurice Clarett was the MVP of the national championship Buckeyes, and had three years of eligibility remaining.  Today he could be the starting tailback of the undefeated #1 team in the nation (so ranked, even without him), possibly on track to be one of the finest teams of all time (it is scary to think of their offense if they had him).  This whole scenario presupposes a redshirt year in 2003 for his suspension.  Well, instead, he is now going to jail for 3 1/2 years, and will likely never play football again.  It is tragic.  It also reinforces how brutally wise it is to try and leave early for the NFL, to hang with parasites of human beings, and to break federal and state laws repeatedly, despite your high profile.  Maurice should have stayed two more years, and divorced himself from all friends he did not know to be the cream of the crop in character, motivation, and heart.  If you don't believe me, ask Ryan Leaf and Darrell Russell. 
• I don't care if the [NFL] Tennessee Titans go 0-16, Norm Chow is better off there than he would be at Stanford.  $1 million per year goes a lot further in Nashville than it does in the Bay Area, and a doughnut in the win column sucks in both places ...
• No comments necessary on Notre Dame this week.  Michigan State's coach should be fired today, and forced to pay back part of his salary (with punitive damages).  I am being totally serious.  He should be fired, and replaced with a tandem of Paul Hackett and Bob Toledo, which would still be an improvement.  Horrific.  Oh yeah, congratulations Notre Dame!  You guys are the best team I have EVER seen, and Charlie Weis is god !!  You really looked awesome ...

Fight on,

DLB4USC

aka

David L. Bahnsen