Weekly Musings - Washington Edition

Sorry to be a couple days late this week - priorities and all that jazz - but it is great to be back in town and just a few days away from an opportunity for a history-making game for the Trojans.There is no question that the Triple OT loss to Stanford hurts, knowing we had the game won and knowing that we may not have lost it "fair and square", as they say. But the team's first two games since that heartbreaking loss have been impressive, albeit against lesser teams, and anyone paying attention can see that since USC's victory vs. Arizona about seven weeks ago this has been a whole different team. The defense has played at a completely new level, and the Monte Kiffin-haters out there are noticeably quiet. The offense has had some ups and downs, but really they have had a lot more uos than downs, and Trojans can not help but feel a certain pullback to the early parts of Carroll's reign where you just felt like some things were about to happen. Look, I have no idea if we are going to beat Oregon or not. Oregon is insanely fast and they still have a few hyper-special players (this LeMichael James being a talent I have not seen since the Trojans former #5). The game is in Autzen Stadium, which I can say having been to every single away stadium in the conference besides Washington State is the loudest and most unfriendly stadium to visiting teams the Pac-12 has. This will not be easy, but it is winnable, and I believe. More on the Oregon game in a moment, but first, Washington.- What can I say? The punter was the MVP. Actually, CLK was, who has got to be enjoying this as week by week, and without media-fabricated controversy, is showing up his critics and establishing himself as a brilliant play-caller and future titan in college football. Kiffin's fake punt call was one of the extraordinary plays of the season, and it was executed BRILLIANTLY. Old school football. I love it.- I don't know if we are going to be able to keep Coach Baxter. Somewhere in the NFL there has got to be a GM paying attention to the punt returns, the Kickoff returns, the blocked PAT's, the blocked FG's, and all the other special teams magic this Trojan squad has going. I can recall it not being this way at USC, if you catch my drift. Coach Baxter is, again, one of CLK's finest accomplishments. Let's pay this guy.- As impressive of a coach as he is, and as well as our players have executed the things we are trying to do on special teams, a lot of this in all seriousness does have to be credited to CLK - special teams excellence starts with a PHILOSOPHY about special teams that says this facet of the game can win and lose football games. I think this is even more true at the college level than the pro level.- I am concerned for Robert Woods' health. His blocking is at an NFL-level right now, and the problem is that his heavy use in the offense, combined with his incredible exertion when involved blocking, combined with his involvement in special teams, appears to have worn him out a bit. There also is a sense where some opposing defenses are just saying, "we don't mind losing, but we prefer to not lose to him", so more power to those folks. But I would love to see Woody really, really rested for this game.- Does anyone else remember 2002, when Carson Palmer led the Trojans to a win over Auburn and Colorado (who was good back then), and had some good things in conference play, when we had to go to Autzen Stadium for a game against a highly-touted Oregon team? That Oregon team had a trio of special wide receivers, especially if you ask them. They were so special, in fact, that the Nike-led marketing department at Oregon decided to take out billboard space in downtown Los Angeles touting their three Wide Receivers (doing some obnoxious stance, arm gesture thing - real gangsta). USC went up there and pummeled Oregon in their stadium, setting Carson on track to win the Heisman, USC to win the Orange Bowl, and college football to observe the greatest dynasty that the sport has ever seen. Is this Matt Barkley's moment?- Matt is a incredibly special player. He mis-threw a couple balls on Saturday, but he continues to show poise, wisdom, and control, and his TD-to-INT ratio this year is really something to marvel at. I can not wait to see what it will be next year.- He tweeted me back in response to my article, "An Open Letter to Matt Barkley", and I am encouraged ... "Thank you, sir. Only God knows what I will be doing a year from now." I think God wants him back at USC. -)- Who knows what will happen. Between Matt Kalil and Barkley on offense, and Nick Perry and TJ Macdonald on defense, I think we have four guys who could ALL come back, and we have four guys who could ALL leave. I suppose the odds say that at least two of them do go, but you never know. CLK explained in an answer to a question I asked him at MMQB that both Perry and TJ are in a weird spot because the NFL GM's and scouts put a ton of weight into some of the various drills/tests, and these guys score real high in those kinds of things (combine stuff). Matt Kalil has a brother who is currently the highest paid center in the history of the NFL. And we know Barkley's story. I believe all of them should come back except Kalil. And I want Kalil to come back too.- The NCAA is a corrupt and evil organization, and if I ever had to answer if their incompetence or their damaged moral compass were more severe, I do not believe I would be able to answer. That has nothing to do with my weekly musings; I just felt inspired to interject.- The Oregon game against Stanford may not have taken the Heisman from Andrew Luck, whom the media had given it to before a single down of football had been played this year. It also does not help things that the kid I really thought deserved strong consideration (the QB at Boise) also lost at HOME to a not-so-good TCU team (even though it was Boise's defense that lost that game). But Luck looked positively pedestrian on Saturday against Oregon, and I have a hunch the Heisman race may get tighter than people think.- Chip Kelly is not a football genius, per se, but before his program ends up on a three-year probation for rank cheating and violating of NCAA recruiting rules (you know, the kind of things where violators ACTUALLY get some type of ADVANTAGE), he is doing one thing exceptionally well: Leveraging and Utilizing the gift of SPEED. His teams are FAST - really, really fast. For USC to win, I think we need to force two turnovers and possibly get lucky in picking up another. 2-3 turnovers by Oregon and USC is in this thing. The formula LSU had for beating Oregon was simple: Have a true freshman on Oregon who has never played a snap of college football put the ball on the carpet twice. You don't get that lucky very often.- Alabama fans should be screaming for USC in unison on Saturday. If the season ended with Oklahoma State, Oregon, and Alabama all having just one loss, I can not fathom how Alabama would get to play LSU again (assuming they hold on against Arkansas and Georgia) over Oregon. Alabama scored six points against LSU in OVER 60 minutes of football, in Tuscaloosa; Oregon scored over 30 against them (in a loss). But USC can keep Oregon out of this conversation on Saturday, and that is all I care about. Plus, I don't really think Oklahoma will beat Oklahoma State. But you never know.- Is anyone else trying to figure out how in the world Texas Tech beat Oklahoma?- Remember when Florida State was in the national conversation earlier in the year, and before that in 1997?- Does Notre Dame have a chance against Stanford in Palo Alto? Stanford is still playing for a BcS berth (Fiesta Bowl?), and they are better than Notre Dame. But Notre Dame did much better last year in the second half of the season than the first. That will be an interesting one. Always remember - in 2011, USC said in clear English to the Irish: "No BcS for you". Awesome.- Ummmmm, Coach Erickson, Washington State? Really?- If USC ends up beating both Oregon and UCLA we will win the Pac-12 south and a second place team will have to be selected to go play in the first ever Pac-12 championship game. This alone makes the joy of potentially beating Oregon too good to be true. The conference situation is so screwed up. UCLA just got blown off the field by Utah, Arizona State, whom UCLA was pretty happy to have beaten ("best win in a decade"), lost to Washington State, and now things don't look so good. I think UCLA beats Colorado, and then I think Neuheisel has one game to save or not save his job. Anyone who believes that Neuheisel could still be fired if he were to beat USC does not have a clue as to the nature of the ^*&%# envy that exists over there.I will leave it there for now. Go Trojans, beat the Ducks, and thank you for getting this thing on the right track CLK. Fight on.