Shelly, make sure you pay close attention to the last one. Obviously, others have noticed.

What would the world be like without sore losers? We pay these guys off for twenty years, and nothing.

Finally we have a team that can go over .500 all by itself and we get a few good calls, and the world starts to whine. It is our turn; get over it.

This is USC's birthright; whine away, we'll get you some cheese.

See somebody in Pasadena on January 4.

P.S. This guy's stature is slightly below the Austin sportswriter.

OK Shell, you can lie to your wife. You can lie to the IRS, but never ever lie to yourself. USC has been lionized in a way that we haven't seen since the unbeatable 'Canes who lost to that mediocre team with a brand new coach from the Big Ten. At some point, the man comes around.

It's OK. Every dynasty needs to be knocked on their ass once in a while. It teaches us humility.

You're right; all good things come to an end, and, indeed, USC's streak will as well.

None of us have forgotten what happened in Berkeley two years ago. I, myself, was within shouting distance of the stadium, but decided it wasn't worth leaving the Sonoma Inn and giving up a day of golf to see a routine bashing of the Bears. Turned out the Bears bashed back. But, they had a great QB that year, a far cry from what we're looking at this year. Nonetheless, it cost one-half of the National Championship.

Carroll regularly reminds the team of it. I'll bet he mentioned it at halftime last week. I'll bet he has to do so again.

But, my point is simply that they have the horses. Like every Carroll team, they are superbly conditioned and they are so deep that they platoon and just beat the other team on sheer staying power. Check out their games, most are blowouts in the second half.

So yes, we're used to getting a little behind in the first half these days while the other teams burn off their adrenaline, but in the end, talent and conditioning pay off.

As Vince Lombardi was fond of saying "The harder I work, the luckier I get".

Don't bet the house against USC this year.

USC is indeed a powerhouse and has been the best team in football for at least one and a half seasons. But I would have loved to see them play LSU two seasons ago, the way LSU was playing at the end of that year it would have been hard to beat them.
The big problem with USC is that they play in a poof conference. Even as good as they are if they had to take the regular pounding of an SEC,ACC,or big twelve schedule chances are they would have lost at least one game a season, possibly two.

Kyle, you may be right, but I think Oklahoma has had just about enough of that "poof" conference for a while.

Just ask the Sooners and Boomers how soft it is in Southern California.

I don't buy the conference inferiority thing. The worst thing about BCS is that it ended the Big 10 Pac 10 century of tradition of sending their best teams to the Rose Bowl on New Years day.

Well, well, well. We finally find something to agree upon in the realm of the pigskin. The Pac 10 and the Big 10 caved in; they are the losers; it is much more fun to go to Pasadena EVERY year, than to have to go to different bowls. Although, it was fun in Miami in January, at least for the poofs from the Pac 10.

By the way, what ever happened to Woody Hayes' model of not throwing the ball because three things can happen and two of them are bad?

I'm always confused by this argument that the Pc 10 is a weak conference. Four teams in the conference are rank this week in the AP and USA Today polls. And Oregon was ranked until they played USC (and they still recieved votes). So, someone explain to me please, how a conference with almost half of it's members in the top 25 is weak?

And yeah, I miss the old format - and not just in regards to the Rose Bowl.

You two need to pay attention. In your case KG, it's called West Coast Bias. The sportswriters would rather hang in Cali the center of the universe, than in Ottumwa. Who can blame them? It worked the same for Miami. Think about it. Where do you want to work a game this weekend, or interview a coach, or hang with Jessica and Nick? Well, I might rifle her underwear drawers in search of homebrew porn to post.

As for Woody, Jim Tressel is a protege. You clearly have not paid attention to OSU. There is a thing called "Tresselball". The dictates of which are; powerful defense, time management, field position, get a lead and sit on it.

Tressel is an artist. You know how the CW is always, "One game at a time"? Tressel maps the entire season, and only shows as much offense as he needs to win. Passing is a component of the offense, and not the lifeblood.

It can be irritating to watch, but his formula of success has been dramatic. Four national championships in a dozen years at Youngstown State, and one in his first year at Ohio State.

His dad coached at Baldwin Wallace in Cleveland, and was a football fixture in NE Ohio. He was the guest speaker at my high school football banquet each year, and one hell of a guy. Jim looks and acts like an accountant, never swears, never says anything that he doesn't want either his team, or the opposition to know. It's the same way he runs his offense, very controlled, lots of discipline.

Now I'm drooling for a chance to play OSU.

I just changed my rooting, and I will be rooting for USU to win every game and Texas to lose, just so the Trojans can take the Bucks to the woodshed.

It is now a dream match.

Go Buckeyes; get to Pasadena!

I agree. Go watch the Ohio State v Texas game. Vince Young was shut down. Buckeyes dominated in every way, and led until the last moments of the game when the officials put Texas back in it.

Ohio State v USC would be the battle of the best defense against the best offense. The dirty little secret is that Ohio State has a great offense too. Jim Tressel spends a lot of time and effort hiding it.

Yeah, he hid it from Texas, right?

I sometimes wish more teams would bring back the wishbone, Nothing is as exciting as some good running. Back in the early nineties I used to love to watch texas A&M play Nebraska, no wussie throwing in those games!

That's right Shelly, he did, but if you watched the game, then you saw it. Quit being a punk.

You're right Kyle, but you'll never see it because wishbone backs have no future in the NFL, so any school running that offense won't be able to recruit the best talent, or so the thinking goes.

Here are my picks for tomorrow:

Michigan State over U of M. State's giving 5.5 pts, but they're playing at Spartan Stadium, and this is their year. (These guys whomped Notre Dame in overtime). Lloyd Carr will be lucky if it isn't five touchdowns they lose by. BTW, Stanton is the REAL Heisman QB in this country.

Minnesota giving 2.5 over Penn State. Perdue was supposed to be the powerhouse of the big 10 until they lost to Glenn Mason's Gophers last week. Northwestern has returned to doormat status, and proved it by losing to this Penn State team. Even though it's an evening game in Happy Valley, take the gophers and give the pts.

Finally, I'm sitting here watching Knute Rockne All American, plus Perdue is coming off the Minnesotta loss last week and still a 3 pt favorite over the Irish. Ya gotta be kidding me! Bet against Notre Dame? Are you fucking NUTS? Bet the moneyline and as Anni would say, "Laugh at the suckers later." This Weis guy is the real deal, and he aint losin' to Perdue. Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame...

Casca goes with some safe bets; I especially like N.D. to beat up on the Boilermakers (better than "Perdue").

Didn't mention that OSU cannot possibly lose this week as they further hide their offense.

USC, on the other hand does not hide their offense. It is so strong and balanced that they can go at you with stuff you know is coming and still be successful. Look for them to beat the stuffing out of the Sun Devils today. Also look for a lot more of John David Booty and LenDale White. And, keep your eyes on Dwayne Jarrett.

Oh yeah, there are a couple of other lesser guys to look out for, Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart aren't bad, even if "Stanton is the real Heisman Quarterback in this country."

That's not a pick! That's partisan gushing. Worse yet, it is your one note. Bring something interesting to the table. Call the score. Is USC going to beat the 15 pt spread? I can see them wilting in the desert sun. It's gonna be a scorcher.

Yes, they'll beat the spread and then some. They have every game this year and most of the last two as well. The spread is 16 1/2 as of now.

The Coliseum is regularly anywhere from 105 to 120 degrees on the field for afternoon games; Carroll likes to run them up and down the stairs in practice, and then practice all afternoon there when he can. If the game was in LA, it'd be over 100 today for sure.

The heat will not wilt them, again, because of their ability to substitute freely without losing much in talent level.

Look for SC to step it up about the middle of the third quarter on... (Booty wants to put some numbers on the board, too)

LA doesn't need a pro team, we already have one.

Speaking of no D, how about Spartans?

Looks grim for them right now...

casca, is worse than hugh hewitt with the osu shit. except, unlike hugh, you know something about the game. shelly is worse than my favorite undergrad history professor, who was a usc grad. every monday, he'd spend the first half hour of class rehashing saturday's game.

"The horror, the horror..."

Kurtz

Alabama is putting a major ass whuppin on Florida, that was unexpected.

Fucking Spartans, played a great game, but couldn't close the deal. Watch them when they play the Buckeyes in two weeks. It will be a great truth-teller.

Fucking Glen Mason, I'm just glad that we didn't hire the fucktard to replace the fucktard Cooper. He's the guy that the administration wanted, thank God the Alumni hung in there and hired Tressel.

Fucking syphalitic retard Keith Jackson, one day I will publicly piss on him.

So, Okay, they didn't cover, but they showed the kind of balance that can win against anyone.

And, down 21-3 they came back in the second half and outscored ASU big time.

Thunder and Lightning; better hope OSU doesn't get to Pasadena. The Defense may gel by then. It is young, but they hung in there and got five (5), count'em, FIVE picks on Keller.

Good game; ASU may be the second best in the Pac 10 and they are gonna beat someone in a bowl, too.

Trojans RULE...

never seen you sweat like that, Shelly. SC is taking their reputation for being slow starters to a whole new extreme. Reminds me of the 'flip the switch' Lakers of a few years ago.

Casca,
You wrote, "Vince Young was shut down." The first time Texas had the ball, Vince Young ran for 10, 32, and 10. Ohio State adjusted to take away his running, and Vince passed for 270 yards. Vince had 346 yards of total offense for the game. Ohio State *** AS A TEAM *** had 255 yards of total offense. If 346 of total offense for a single player is "shut down," what is 255 for the WHOLE BUCKEYE TEAM? Is having almost 100 total yards more than the ENTIRE BUCKEYES OFFENSE what passes for being "shut down"?

You also said wrote, "Buckeyes dominated in every way." More points? Texas. More first downs? Texas. More rushing yards? Texas. More passing yards? Texas. More total yards? Texas. More time of possession? Texas. Is that what passes for domination in your world?

Texas went into Columbus in front of a record Ohio Stadium crowd and dominated the statistics and scored more points, even without getting credit for Melton's TD. Ohio State had its chance and failed.

Hey, leave Casca alone; he's mine to pick apart.

Ohio State did not fail.

They just didn't totally succeed.

Also, you forget to mention that they totally succeeded in hiding their offense. From everyone.

OK, gotta go watch the Irish bail my sorry ass out of a bad afternoon at the bookie.

Excuse the fuck out of me Amy (who is clearly not my next friend), but if you think that stats tell the story your understanding of the game is jejeune. Perhaps you didn't see the game? I'll be glad to send you a DVD.

You see, Texas trailed until late in the 4th Qtr until a bogus pass interference call on third and long gave them a fresh first down past midfield. That's what gave them their score, and put them back in the game. Seems like stopping the unstoppable Vince Young from running IS shutting him down. Your vaunted cheesedicks won't make it through the season undefeated. Now get out of my way, I'm here to fuck with Shelly.

Has anyone else noticed that there doesn't appear to be a real defense in the entire PAC-10?

Michigan State defense? What a bunch of pussys. Arm tackling doesn't stop real football players. It was like watching the ASU defensive backs trying to tackle Bush & White, pathetic. Watch how Notre Dame tackles, that's how the Buckeyes do it. They put their hat on the ball carrier.

USC v Notre Dame is going to be great! I'm taking the domers and the pts.

SC v. Notre Dame, always a classic, but this year, maybe even more.

There is a serious mindset here in LA about USC coaches; they can lose every game but two and still have a successful season. All they need to do is beat UCLA and Notre Dame, and the world is right. And lately, the world has been more than right.

Notre Dame does not have the horses to beat SC this year, but they will give them a game for a while; there is no one they'd rather beat, either.

There is a story about the guy who took his dog into a bar to watch the SC-Notre Dame game.

After the SC won the game, the dog started doing back flips on the bar. The owner says "He always does this after SC beats Notre Dame".

The barkeep asks "What happens when Notre Dame wins?".

The owner responds "I don't know, I've only had him for three years."

USC may not end up Number 1 at the end of the season, but they are there until someone else finishes a full game ahead, not when people play a good quarter, or even a good half agaisnt them.

And, their Defense just gets better every week, especially when they have to rally from behind.

Admit it, Casca, they showed real heart this week, while OSU just watched on TV.

Next week is not the week that someone will beat them, nor is the week of October 15.

My comments intention was not to piss Casca off, but to point out the Texas was not shut down. I was there at Ohio to see the game and both sides played a good game. But it was not a shut down on any side.

Look at the stats and interpet them how you want. Pretty even on face value, without looking at who earned them. OSU wupped Texas on kick off returns, Texas did better on offense, yet no one dominated the game. It was close to the bitter end. Stats can be found here.

Casca, thanks for the nice "Steer and Queers" comment on my blog.

Call it what you want, character, mental toughness, not laying down and let the other guy kick you. That's really what a great coach brings to a team, and every great team has it. Some of the ASU players had it, but not enough of them. Leinart shows it, but USC hasn't really been in a position to show it as a team yet.

Notre Dame doesn't have the horses? People have been saying that all season. I'm inclined after last nights performance to believe that they do. If I were you, I'd start praying right now that it doesn't rain Oct 15 in South Bend, because all skill is in vain if an angel pisses in your flintlock. ND will play a full game, and like their song says, they'll be "Shaking down the thunder from the sky".

Lighten up Amy, I didn't invent the line. I'd suggest that you take me up on the DVD offer if you think the game was that close. If you want to look at stats, look at this one: Turnovers, OSU 1 (fucking Zwick's fumble at the end of the game) UT 3 (Two interceptions of the unstoppable one, and a fumble).

Save your money, Casca. No speed.

The only reason ASU got game was their speed. When they tired, it was over.

But when they really needed it, no one to hit the line really hard. The QB was the only guy over 220 in the backfield.

ND doesn't have the speed to stay with USC.

Save your money, or, give it to me.

"Save your money, or, give it to me."

Now THERE's a thought.