2006 Cal Edition - 11/21/06
I would like to start off this week's edition by publicly congratulating my beloved USC Trojan coaching staff for an all-time record FIFTH consecutive Pac-10 championship. If this is not living in the midst of a dynasty, I just do not know what is ... As there are lovers of college football from all over the country on this distribution list, and from many other programs than just USC, if anyone else is familiar with a team that has won their conference five years in a row, played in five BCS bowl games in a row (three and possibly four of them being national championship games, and two, possibly three, of those being successful ones), produced three Heisman winners in four years, and won 46 out of 49 games overall, please advise. I am just historically blown away at what I am living in, and of course, so proud to be a Trojan!
A few takeaways from this weekend:
- Florida's 62-0 win over Western Carolina shows beyond a shadow of a doubt why they of all teams do not deserve to be discussed in all the annoying BCS discussions. These games are why the SEC gets no love from me. Play somebody out of conference, or shut up. Period. This is as non-partisan and non-controversial as it gets.
- Well, most of us thought that big powerhouse from the state of Ohio would be too much for Rutgers; we were just thinking it would be Ohio St., not Cincinnati, that put an end to all the silly discussion that has been circulating ...
- If Darren McFadden is not the runner-up to Troy Smith for the Heisman, it will be a travesty ... Arkansas's true sophomore stud tailback has been nothing short of incredible this year, and will be (deservedly so) the Heisman leader entering the season. If he can avoid kicking a curb in a 3am bar fight this off season (hence, avoiding a broken foot), he will really stack the odds in his favor.
- I missed the Michigan/Ohio State game Saturday as I sat for my CFP exam, but I did not see enough highlights and commentary to understand what happened. It really was about what I expected: the better team won, but a very good Michigan team kept it respectable. My suspicion is that the margin would be double digits if they played again.
- I can't stand entering the BCS fray before USC has played Notre Dame AND UCLA, but I will say that I am sympathetic to those who feel that a one-loss Michigan team (losing to Ohio State) deserves a nod over a one-loss USC team (losing to Oregon State). However, I also see the point that a second place conference team shouldn't play in a "national championship". I have a great idea how to solve this mystifying controversy: A ^r%&vbdxING playoff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Seriously, it is hard to argue that if USC does beat #6 Notre Dame and conference rival UCLA, they should be left out, when you consider that their non-conference schedule included wins over SEC champ Arkansas, and Big-12 champ, Nebraska ... The 2-point loss in Corvalis was and is a big deal, but I think that as long as we have to be subjected to a system as repugnant as the BCS, I really can't see how SC gets left out IF (and that is a big IF) they can run this table.
- Congratulations to many of the sweetheart people who have emailed me this season, Lou Holtz, Steve Hartman, and Lee Corso, for their predictions regarding the USC/Cal game. Yes, the Cal offense was far too powerful for USC, and yes, three-loss Cal is the greatest team in the country, Lee. I actually think Lee Corso is funny, and I don't really care how stupid he is, but I do think it is a sad commentary about American culture that complete horses asses like Jerry Springer, Jim Cramer, and Lee Corso command seven-figure salaries to be complete clowns (and brutally wrong in their respective fields about nearly everything they say, while they act like clowns), week in and week out. Mark May and Kirk Herbstreit are somewhat intelligent football minds. Lou Holtz should be committed (not to the old folks home - to a mental asylum).
- As for USC's win over Cal, it was their best defensive game of the year. Suffocating pressure on the QB, more than sufficient shut down of the run, and kept ME-Sean Jackson to only two catches (three catches in the last two years), with ZERO positive punt return yards.
- I have to share what Pete Carroll said at lunch yesterday when asked about how the talking of the Cal players may have affected the game, because I think it was a true reflection of the kind of man Pete is, and the kind of program he is running. When asked if the extensive trash-talking (both in the press, and on the field) of the Cal players provided an extra motivation to USC, he said that he surely hoped not. "You have to understand that my guys simply are not allowed to yap like that. I am not saying we will not have guys that say some things and try to get into someone's head, but we are doing something totally different here. You won't here our guys pop off in the media, and they don't get into those kind of things on the field here. We are not about that." Five Pac-10 championships in a row, and I think I was MORE proud of that sentence than anything else. But he is right - you do NOT see USC players in the Carroll area get themselves notoriety in the media for excessive trash-talking, and you barely see anything on the field. You CERTAINLY do not see guys who caught two passes all game and got their heads ripped off their head in the most ferocious hit of the year cussing out players as they run off the field. So with that, congratulations to ME-Sean Jackson, for changing my mind about him being one of the ONLY players in the Pac-10 I actually wished was on USC's team ...
- Can USC beat Notre Dame? Yes. Will Sizzler's lunch buffet on Figueroa open early Saturday with Charlie Weis in town? Only if they adjust their pricing ...
- I love Notre Dame week. It means my favorite holiday of the year is here, and the greatest rivalry in college football is here. Last year's game was the greatest I have ever been to. The three consecutive 31-point wins over Dame that preceded it were among my favorite days of all time (indeed, I enjoyed those more than the even worse blowouts of UCLA I have seen in the last several years). But everything is thrown out the window coming into this game, and I know Brady Quinn and Coach Weis want this think as badly as anything one could want (well, at least as badly as anything Brady Quinn could want). I suspect that our defense is peaking at the right time, and that our receivers our healthy at the right time, and that JD Booty is flowing at the right time, and that CJ Gable is erupting at the right time, all to the tune of a USC team that will be adequately prepared for the esteemed Irish coming into town. What I do know is this: A five-time consecutive Pac-10 champion coach is leading the way, and that is reason enough for Thanksgiving !! =)
I will close with this: Brady Quinn and John David Booty die on the same day, and go to heaven. They meet God, and he begins touring them around heaven. They come across a beautiful green condo, with Notre Dame flags, flat-screens showing Notre Dame games, and a first class PA playing the Notre Dame fight song. Brady Quinn is blown away, and God tells him, "this is your condo, Brady. Pretty sweet, huh?" They keep walking, and come across the biggest mansion you have ever seen. It is three blocks long, has sidewalks paved with cardinal and gold, and USC flags everywhere. There are USC song girls, USC videos, and USC décor everywhere you look. The mansion is just breathtaking. Over the sounds of the USC fight song, Brady Quinn looks at God and says, "I love my condo, but why does John David Booty get this unbelievable place?????" God looks at him and says, "This is not John David Booty's house. This one is MINE".