Weekly Musings - Opening Weekend Edition 2011

I began doing my weekly college football musings as a basic email distribution in 2004 or so, and I signed off on each one as "the biggest college football lover of all time" ... Since then, I have had three kids,, worked roughly 3,000 hours per year, been on over 150 business trips, moved houses, changed companies, changed churches, and joined two country clubs. Every year I fear that life's busy-ness (and the overall phase of life I am in) will require me to abandon the title, "the biggest college football lover of all time". And every year I become convinced that it is more true than ever! This year is no exception, and I can not wait to present my first weekly musings of the 2011 football season. One thing this weekend proved to me is that all of the craziness of my daily life routine has not in any way, shape, or form dampened my love of this sport. It is a religion in Americana, and it is actually a pretty good one. A lot is going on with our sport, and I will write about some of that in a moment, but at its root, college football contains more drama, more passion, more love, more athleticism, more excitement, more mystery, and more rivalry than any sport at any level on the planet. It is culturally iconic, it is humanly dramatic, and at the end of the day, it is the sport I love more than anyone could ever love a sport.I am going to do three things in this week's musings: (1) Talk about the state of college football after this last off-season, (2) Get into my beloved USC Trojans and where we are after that Minnesota game, and (3) Do a tour around the country to survey the national landscape.Some have said that it was one of the worst off-seasons in NCAA history, and they may be right. Scandals at Ohio State and Miami dominated ESPN coverage, as did stories of bar fights (LSU), driving infractions (Oregon), and a host of other unseemly incidents. I would say that the most scandalous event that took place this off-season, the event that has done the most damage to the integrity of college football in its present structure, is the denial of the USC appeal for their outlandish sanctions handed down by the NCAA over a year ago. It is rare that you talk to anyone these days who either isn't a UCLA fan or who doesn't have an IQ below 80 who does not admit how absurd the NCAA punishment of USC was. The national scene is now riddled with problems of infractions pertaining to getting kids to come play at a certain school (Oregon, Ohio State, Auburn, etc.), and yet the strictest punishment in the modern era of college football was given to USC for supposedly not monitoring the actions of someone trying to LEAVE USC enough. It is niot really worth taking seriously. USC teed up a golden out for the NCAA - they agreed to take a one-year bowl ban (which was already brutally excessive), and meet in the middle of scholarship restrictions. The NCAA refused to back off, and now 85 kids who were 12 years old when Reggie Bush got a night of hotel paid for and his parents didn't pay rent on their house have to go another year without a bowl, and the football program faces a few years of scholarship limitations that obviously will have SOME effect on our future prospects. It is deeply immoral, but worse, it is intellectually absurd. Now, as far as the various issues at Oregon, Miami, Ohio State, etc., I refuse to stoop to the level of people that piled on USC for its traffic tickets just because they are now being accused of felonies. I think college football is worse off without Jim Tressel. And I suspect Miami is now facing a massive punishment that will affect innocent parties far more than it will the perpetrators. The abundant discussions over what to do about all this have been an exercise in futility, and are being led by the most disingenuous idiots I have ever seen in my life. I believe the long term solution towards bringing down the cartel that is the NCAA and the utter failure that is the BCS is likely found in the continued development of these so-called "super conferences". If we can end up with four super-conferences, I think we can bypass the BCS altogether. The NCAA will only die when they are shown to be impotent, hypocritical, self-serving fools. That time is coming. In the meantime, my prayer for the sport is that the media focus on the games themselves, that the coaches recruit good people, and that a self-regulating system unfold that is vastly superior to the power-centered system we have now that lacks proportion, perspective, or sense. Do I want Oregon and Ohio State and Miami to suffer? No, I do not. Did they commit worse infractions than USC did? Of course - it is not even in the same universe. Is there one single school in America where a player has not received some minor benefit from an agent? No, there is not. Should the student-athletes be better taken care of? Yes. Will the NFL ever agree to better cooperation with the NCAA, particularly as it pertains to actions against agents and players that break the rules? No, they will not. So there you go. The system is really not improvable in its present form. But none of this changes the fact that when those young men put on their helmets on Saturday afternoons, college football becomes the very most exciting sporing event on the planet. Therein lies my focus. The NCAA will one day be in the ash-heap of history where it belongs, alongside socialism in Eastern Europe and MSNBC here in America.Now, on to my Trojans. It was a disappointing weekend for the uSC family in one sense, though I suppose we should be grateful to have gotten out of the Coliseum with a win. Here is my perspective:- The first half was mostly fun to watch. Barkley and Woods could end up being the best QB/WR combos in football, and they sure looked like it Saturday afternoon. The passing game was crisp, and besides Kiffin's cartoonishly stupid two-point conversion tries, it was a mostly enjoyable first half.- But the story sure changed in that second half. I went from wondering if I would see TWO back-up USC qb's get to play to seeing Barkley have to fight it out to the very last possession. The personal fouls were brutal. The snap over Matt's head was a 14-point turnaround (or should I say, a "13 point" turnaround). The defense played well but again gave up key third down (and one fourth and seven) conversions. It was ugly.- As I texted my brother Saturday night, though, I can't think of a particular area that is making me say, "we are in for a long year". The passing game was great. We had a couple bad drops that could have really opened the game up. The Offensive Line had some unfortunate penalties but they didn't give up a sack. Matt did not throw a pick. Robert Woods is a bona fide star. DJ Morgan showed some promise of being a really instinctive and gutty runner. The pressure our D put on their QB was great. Basically, the game just looked ugly because I think Lane had some boneheaded play calls, we failed to convert on a lot of third downs, we had a bad turnover, and their back-up QB came in and was five times better than their starting QB (if I had a nickel). I am not being overly optimistic, or looking through rose-colored glasses, but this was a first game, and I just don't think I know enough yet to say much more.- One thing USC may potentially have in their favor is that our first three games are all at home, and against Minnesota, Utah, and Syracuse. Assuming we are not as bad of a team as we looked in the second half on Saturday, we have time to pull it together.- I want to see Dillon Baxter get some snaps, but I also believe the coaching staff is going to play the kids that give us the best chance to win. I am pulling for him, but I agree with Lane: "It is up to him"- I am in the minority here, but I do not care if Marc Tyler comes back or not. We probably do need him in our running game, but I grew tired of his antics this off-season, and I think the beauty of recruiting the athletes we do to USC is that we should not have to put up with stuff like that. It is Marc's future. These guys need to learn the way the world works. If Lane determines he can come back, I will support it, but I would hope they have a ZERO tolerance policy with him the rest of the year.- The offense is going to be an interesting deal this year. Defenses will take one of two approaches to us: They will either determine to shut down Robert Woods with double and triple coverage, thereby giving our play-callers, our QB, our running game, and our other receivers, the chance to shine; OR they will play Woods one on one, and basically sink or swim on how he does in that match-up. I think the offense can win in either scenario, and I expect that when Robert Woods leave USC at the end of the 2012 Pac-12 championship season, he will leave as the greatest wide receiver in USC history. And you all know how much I love Keyshawn ...- I believe Coach Garza left for personal reasons, and not because of a ridiculous over-reaction by Pat Haden about Garza having known Lyles before he was ever even at Tennessee. But that is all I will say about it.- I was disappointed in how Holmes and Kalil played up front. The offensive line is the biggest mystery of the season, as I see it. If they come together, we could be a really good team.- I really, really want Armstead back, not just because I think it makes for one of the most formidable defensive fronts in the country, but because I want this young man to be healthy and to experience the blessing of wearing the cardinal and gold.- Not only is the September schedule good for USC, but really the whole year is pretty favorable (unless we are a lot worse than I think). Oregon on the road is certainly the toughest game (on paper), but the conference overall looks to be a real mess. Washington beat the mighty Eastern Washington by 3 points. Utah struggled mightily with Montana State - at home. Cal did not look impressive in beating Fresno State. Oregon State lost to, ummm, Sacramento State. Oregon lost to a good LSU team. Colorado lost to Hawaii. UCLA lost to Houston. We struggled with Minnesota. Overall, it was an atrocious weekend for the Pac-12.- The new 150 foot high def jumbotron at the Coliseum is a thing of beauty, as is everything about that monument to college football. The Coliseum was absolutely fantastic, and I can not wait to get back next weekend.- Okay, around the country. If one were going to place a foolish bet after one week of college football action as to who the two best teams in the country are, I would be pretty comfortable saying Oklahoma and Alabama. But the whole beauty of this sport is that such predictions in early September very rarely, if ever, work out.- Texas A&M seems to have some good things going on, as does Florida State. I am not so convinced about LSU because, first of all, their coach is Les Miles, and second of all, even in beating Oregon 40-20(+7), they were out-gained in yardage by Oregon. You can not count on your opponent to give up the ball to you every week. I expect LSU to lose 2, 3, or 4 games this year. I expect Les Miles to say 2, 3, or 4 stupid things per week.- Notre Dame fans must feel absolutely sick this week. They lost by 3 points but gave up the ball THREE times IN THE RED ZONE. Ay yi yi. This year's Notre Dame game will be particularly special for me as it will be my first time bringing my oldest son (who is 6). Counting the days to the greatest rivalry in college football ...- UCLA lost to a weak non-conference team and their quarterback got hurt. Now, guess what year this line was first used in a weekly musings?- Auburn's payroll went way down this year, as my friend Dave Lowman texted, and they were down by 10 points with 3 minutes left in the game tio Utah State (at home). They got a win, but count me in amongst the people who anticipate a losing record for the defending national champions. Oh yeah, and note to the NCAA investigators - how is Cam's dad's church doing financially these days? If only Reggie Bush's step-dad were a pastor, eh?- Of all the things Petros is wrong about, and it is most things that come out of his mouth, his Boise State disrespect is the area where he has probably made the biggest fool of himself. I will tell you right now that Boise State would be the #3 team (if not better) in the SEC, and the victims they have left behind in their 6-0 streak of beating ranked non-conference teams is absolutely historical.- Sacramento State?????- I can not believe how good the ESPN Game Day team is. That chemistry and programming quality has been a thing of beauty to see develop, and I commend the mothership for adding to the staple of American autumn life that is Saturday morning Game Day.I will sign out from here. I apologize for going a bit long this week but anticipate doing it every week this season. I will see my Trojan family in the Coliseum next Saturday, where we will welcome back Norm Chow. Should anything warrant a mid-week special edition, I will be prepared. In the meantime, fight on, and welcome back to the greatest time of year there is ...