It's DUCK SEASON!!!

Well, after cleaning the Arizona Wildcat kitty litter box, and enjoying a HEAPING plate of Notre Dame Irish stew (to the tune of 38-0!), the Trojans open Oregon Duck Season in Eugene tomorrow at 3:00 PM on Fox Sports Net. This will be the first REAL test for this team and a win in Autzen would go a LONG way to helping erase the "Cardinal Collapse in the Coliseum."

Last week was a historic one in the annals of Troy as this Trojan team was the first to accomplish several feats vs. the inept Irish:

1. First team to win 6 straight
2. Largest margin of victory for USC in series at 38 points
3. First Trojan shutout in South Bend since 1933

Nice.

This week is different. The season will make a dramatic turn here in my opinion. Win at Oregon and I believe the Trojans will run the table. Lose, and they are fighting for the Sun Bowl. History has shown Pete gets up for the B#IG games like this, and no "experts" think the Trojans will win, and THAT is when they are most dangerous. USC's D is more capable of stopping an O that the Ducks who gave up 31 points to Washington last week. I expect the Trojans to hit Oregon in the mouth early and often and hold for a hard fought 24-20 victory.

By the way, anyone else see Dr. Perry Shen on a Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center commercial recently like I did?

Fight On!

Bought the Farm...

OUCH! That one is gonna leave a mark. Well, the unthinkable happened Saturday, USC lost a home game to a team that it should have overwhelmed. The scrappy Cardinal came into the L.A. Coliseum with a QB that threw a total of two passes and came away with a 24-23 victory over the #1/2 Trojans.

I have seen this before...Pat Barnes and Pat Cowan at UCLA...unknown QB's making a first start facing a team that should crush them with reckless abandon and putting a L on the Trojans. Why we have had a propensity to do this baffles me, but even more disconcerting is the demeanor of head coach Pete Carroll on the sidelines. Against UW and Stanford he has NOT been his fun-loving, affable self. Something is amiss here, I don't know what it is, but there must be an underlying thorn that is poking and irritating the head man.

That being said, the season is FAR from over, to wit, flashback to 2003. The Trojans lost an early game at Cal, came back to win the rest and won the AP National Championship. As wacky as this season has been, I would not put it past some other major upsets forthcoming. Just the past two weeks, EIGHT top ten teams lost. USC can still run the table (though JDB and his receivers better get on the same page pronto!), win the Pac-10 and play in yet another BCS bowl game. Next up, the Wildcats of Arizona. Let's see if Pete and Co. can put on a sense of urgency and revert back to the Nebraska game mentality.