2006 Notre Dame Edition - 11/26/06
Besides God, family, and country, what could possibly be a more tremendous reason for Thanksgiving than a fifth consecutive defeat of the Irish by USC?? Tis' the season, indeed! Here we go:
- There is nothing in college football I enjoy more than USC beating Notre Dame. There is also nothing I hate more than losing to UCLA. A victory over an out-manned UCLA team this coming weekend puts USC in the national championship game for the fourth year in a row. A loss puts us in the Rose Bowl. Any other coach on the planet, and I am worried sick about USC overlooking this Bruin squad. However, I know Carroll and company too well to think he will let that happen ...
- With all due respect to Domers, UCLA is probably as good of a team as Notre Dame anyways ... They both have awful secondary units, rather impressive run defenses, and schedules that are weak enough that you just can't figure out too much about them (though UCLA plays a Pac-10 schedule in between their Utah and Rice non-conference games; Notre Dame rounds the globe with service academies, and then acts surprised when they are out-quicked, out-coached, out-muscled, and out-played). Dame probably has a better all around offense than UCLA, but as their South Bend match-up showed, you could hardly say they were a far superior team. Given everything on the line, I am willing to bet UCLA puts up a better fight than Notre Dame did. I am not willing to bet that the outcome will be much different, but I am anything but over-confident about this game.
- A win next USC puts our streak over UCLA at 8, tying the streak UCLA had over USC from 1991-1998. Overall, the all-time record is still a resounding USC lead (41-27-7). Like UCLA's all-time record over USC in basketball, our record over them in football is not likely to be overcome.
- Pete Carroll is 3-1 inside the Rose Bowl (a resounding defeat of Bob Toledo in 2002 that sent him looking for a job, a huge win over Michigan in the 2003 Rose Bowl for an AP National Championship, an ugly win over UCLA in 2004, and the most heartbreaking loss in football history to Texas less than 11 months ago). He is 5-0 against UCLA, and 3-0 against Dorrell. Besides the 29-24 win in 2004, the other four victories have been ugly, lopsides affairs, with USC winning 221-86 (OUCH), and virtually all of those 86 Bruin points outside of 2004 being complete garbage time scoring ... I couldn't make up what has happened in recent history, as any objective Bruin would testify!
- Now for some real football analysis: I genuinely believe that this is the best UCLA run defense they have had in over ten years (though admittedly, that does not say much). If Booty has a tough time getting in sync with his all-star cast of receivers, and UCLA does a good job plugging the run, they can stay in the game. Honestly, though, I struggle to see where they will be able to rack up points themselves, but anything can happen. If USC gets into offensive gear as Oregon and WSU did, we could look at another 50-20 type win ... I have heard from numerous sources within Fox that Dorrell's job is safe regardless, but I have a hard time believing what happened last year will be allowed to happen again. On the other hand, playing to "not get blown out" is never a recipe for victory. Part of me wonders if, like Tollner and Smith vs. Notre Dame, Coach Dorrell is just in a pickle against USC. We shall see. Truthfully, I do not think Coach Dorrell is a very good coach, but I hesitate to say that because I am actually not talking trash at all ... My objective opinion is that he is a very nice man, who seems a bit unprepared for trying to lead a big-time program. I also wonder if, as long as they can get 6-8 wins each year, play in a low level bowl game, and not see players involved in felony arrests, UCLA will be content to keep him for years and years. It is possible ...
- I have evolved a great deal in my feelings towards UCLA since "the streak". Not only is my boss a Bruin, but several very close friends are as well. I do not respect the football program anymore now than I ever have, and I still am mystified at the lack of interest in football their student body and alumni have (I know NO ONE that goes to UCLA games with any regularity, and I know NO ONE who travels to away games, ever). But, with that said, civility and maturity are more present in me now than times past, and I truly hope for a competitive and enjoyable game this Saturday. I also hope to come back to a car after the game that has not been keyed and vandalized, or had my USC plates stolen ... =)
- I go back and forth between a counter-BCS system that amounts to a full-orbed playoff (at least 8 - possibly 16 teams), or even just returning to the old bowl system, with a "plus one" game attached (if necessary). Either way, I fear that the BCS is as grounded and in place as ever. Fans (including Trojans) who continue to obsess over all of the "this team/that team/computer point" scenarios play right into what they want, and the BCS is firmly arguing that their imperfect system has created more interest in college football than we have ever had (what do you think the ratings for the USC/Notre Dame game in the state of Michigan were last night??). I just wish one person could explain to me why college football has to be any different than any other sport, at any other level, including all other levels of football. High school, College Division 2, College Division 3, College Division 1-AA, and the NFL all seem to figure it out (not to mention every other sport on the planet), yet the one entity that can not do this right is Division 1-A football. It is maddening.
- Not one to look ahead, or to disrespect UCLA, I will hold off any comments on an Ohio State/USC match-up. One game at a time, right Coach?
- Wow- the state of Florida is in one football flush right now. This is the worst Seminole team I have seen since I was a child. The Hurricanes have fired a national championship winning coach as he has now overseen 12 losses in less than 3 seasons. The Gators are the best team in the state, and I doubt they are a top 6 team in the country. I think it will be very interesting to see what happens in these programs in the years to come. As long as Coach Carroll continues to pick off some of their best and brightest players (Mike Williams, Keith Rivers, etc.), I couldn't care less .... =)
- Notre Dame has 18 out of 22 starters graduating ... USC has 4. Even if you allow for 1 (possibly 2) underclassmen leaving for the NFL, it is hard to argue that USC ought to be even better next year. Indeed, my Inbox was full earlier in the year of people saying "USC will be lucky to win 8 games this year", and "Booty just can not play". Needless to say, I am not receiving emails from them these days. However, I have emailed Booty to congratulate him on far surpassing Matt Leinart's numbers in his first year. Everyone's an expert ... =)
- I am not an expert - just a passionate fan for the culture and competition and love of college football. With that said, it was heartbreaking to see a few professing Trojan fans and their behavior towards Domers yesterday. I have been to every stadium in the Pac-10 (besides WSU) numerous times, and I have traveled this country attending college football games. I have NEVER seen a place that comes close to mimicking the class, behavior, respect, and dignity of the Trojan fans. Booze or no booze; youth or not, it is simply despicable to watch bandwagon Trojans get up in the face of Domers, causing fights, etc. Admittedly, it happens everywhere, and is very rare, but I can not stand seeing someone wearing the Cardinal & Gold behave in such a way (frankly, I find booing 19-year old kids on the other team when they come out from the tunnel juvenille as well). I have never seen worse fans in a win or a loss than being at Cal, and I have rarely seen worse fans in our conference during a win than UCLA, but our standard needs to be far, far higher than a couple of the incidents I saw yesterday. Treat the opponent with respect, or do not come to the game. That is the essence of being a Trojan ...
Until we meet again,
DLB4USC