2008 Oregon Edition - 10/5/08
What a difference a week makes. Four top ten teams lose last weekend alone, and not a single one loses this weekend. Such is the nature of college football - the sheer unpredictability of it all is part of the fun. And this coming weekend promises to be lots of fun as well, so let's get right into it.
- USC is so frequently the night time game of the week on ABC (often nationally; almost always regionally), that 5:00 pm games have become the routine when we are at the Coliseum. To actually have a 12:30 pm game this weekend will be kind of fun. Arizona State has had a really tough time with USC for a decade now, and they are having a God-awful season. Nothing would fix both of those two things than an upset of the Trojans (ask the Beavers). USC should be up for the challenge.
- I am now as convinced as anything that no team will finish the season undefeated. Alabama had one total offensive touchdown all day against Kentucky. Vanderbilt is supposedly one of the better teams in the SEC (huh???). Oklahoma and Texas play each other. LSU lost twice last year to mediocre teams and ended up in the championship game. Missouri plays Oklahoma and the Big-12 conference championship game. I just don't believe anyone can avoid what happened to USC last week (an upset at the hands of an inferior team), or what Georgia experienced last week (a loss to a team that is just plain better than them). There is a lot of parity, and this sport is hard to play 12 weeks in a row. I expect the two teams that face off to be two one-loss teams.
- I doubt if even the most myopic and brain-dead of SEC loyalists could possibly claim that their conference is stronger than the Big-12 this year. I suspect that if the Big-12 and SEC were merged, the best four teams would be (in no order) Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and Texas Tech. In other words, the Big-12's top half is so much better right now, it is not even funny. By the way, Tennessee won this week!!! (A 13-9 win over Northern Illinois). Sorry, UCLA.
- I like Alabama, though, but I suspect this schedule is going to work against them. They were playing their best ball of the season a week and two weeks ago. They were positively dormant offensively yesterday, and now have a bye week, and two of the worst teams on the conference schedule (Ole Miss and Tenn). I think they need a confidence boosting game going into LSU in early November and I don't see where they get that between now and then.
- Musings readers are well aware of my own biases, but I am actually more convinced than ever that USC is likely the best team in the country. They sure didn't play like it in the first half of the Oregon State game, but they really haven't given up a touchdown drive since the first half of the Beaver game (Oregon State's only second half touchdown came from the two-yard line, and Oregon yesterday got one only after a field goal was taken off the board). Truth be told, yesterday's game against the Ducks, who were averaging about 60 points per game coming in, could have easily been 55-0. Besides a mildly slow and sloppy start, we just didn't do much wrong at all. This team has rushed for 200 yards per game, and without our best defensive player even in uniform, they couldn't rush for 50. We had nearly 600 yards of offense, and lit them up in the air, on the ground, and any way we wanted to. That first half against Oregon State may be unforgivable to certain internet refugees, but the fact of the matter is that when one objectively looks at this USC team, the more rational (if not convenient) interpretation is that it was a fluke.
- Of course, flukes have consequences, and we will have to live what those are. The other reality is that flukes can happen more than once. I am praying daily that this one will not be repeated as it was in 2006.
- USC's receiving corps (playing without arguably one of the better receivers in the country in Vidal Hazelton) is just stellar. What a contrast to last year where they were the weakness of the Rose Bowl-championship team. I still do not like the three-back rotation, but at least all three backs are gems. The word from the coaches is that Allen Bradford did not play because of "hip soreness". I am sure it had nothing to do with him bitching about playing time to the LA Times.
- I see Stefan and Gable as a good way to alternate touches, with Joe in a versatile roll. I do not like Joe as a multiple carry traditional back yet, and even if I did, I don't like it more than I like Stefan and Gable. What a problem to have!
- Around the conference, ASU's loss to UNLV looks less and less like a fluke, and Cal's loss to Maryland looks more and more like one.
- In all seriousness about the Big-12, I expect Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri to each have one or two losses at the end of the year, but they are all good. My pick: Mizzou (if those star players stay healthy)
- Speaking of staying healthy, Mark Sanchez's continued health is a prerequisite to USC keeping this going. He is just playing remarkable football, and has brought the long ball back to USC in a way that neither Booty nor Leinart ever did.
- Patrick Turner is perhaps the most improved player on the team, though Ronald Johnson is up there. RoJo is remarkably confident right now. And Damian Williams is probably playing the best on the team (of the receiving corps).
- The internet hacks who were yelling about Sark's play calling last week are now praising him, and explaining how he must have listened to their advice. These people are hysterical. Now in their 8th career attempt and 3rd marriage, I guess most of them have figured how to coach a nationally prominent college football team. I am glad that this year it just entertains me; in past years it upset me.
- UCLA is now 2-3 with a win over what I am hearing will be the worst team in the history of the Pac-10. I am sad to hear that, because Washington State is one of the only teams in the Pac-10 I do not hate. I hope they can turn it around. As for their cross-state rival, I don't care if they ever turn it around or not. =) And Ty is surely going to be gone - soon.
- The Notre Dame train keeps on rolling. =) Perhaps the worst 4-1 team in the history, Notre Dame fans do not feel any better about their situation than if they were the 2-3 they probably should be. But seeing Notre Dame and Stanford brawl after the game en route to the locker room was the most entertaining thing I have seen in a while. "My football coach can eat your football coach." Something like that.
I will leave it there for now. I hope I am right that USC has right the shipped. I hope I am right that they will come to play each week (and not wait until the second half at that). We have the best coach in the country, hands down. We have a QB who is certainly in the top 5. We might have the three best tailbacks. We have young guys on the O-line and D-line, but they are insanely deep, and very well coached. Just as I refuse to boo 19-year old kids when the opposing team runs on the Coliseum field, I refuse to rip my own team's 19-year old kids as well. I believe that first half at Oregon State was the exception, not the rule. Here's to hoping I am right. One thing you can count on, though - if I am NOT, I will not join the bandwagoner tools who jump on and off like a devil in the high wind. Let there be no ambiguity as to where I stand - I am a Trojan, at 3-9, or 12-0. Let's get it going, and beat the Sun Devils. Fight on.