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:
First team to win 6 straight
Largest margin of victory for USC in series at 38 points
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?
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.
The Trojans got the HECK out of the Emerald City with a hard-fought, injury-plagued, mistake-prone, flag-happy, crappy-weather game against the Huskies 27-24. The offensive line suffered two significant injuries to guard, Chilo Rachel and center, Kris O'Dowd on the same play in the first quarter after which, the offense got untracked and couldn't find any rythmn. The 16 penalties was the most by a Pete Carroll Trojan team since 2002...some of those called (on both sides) were marginal at best, including the PI call in the 4th in which Yao Ming would have needed a ladder to catch the ball.
Still, the Trojans survived and advance to their next opponent, hosting the Stanford Cardinal led by Jim "the mouth" Harbaugh. The next three games "should" be relatively easy vs the Cardinal, the Wildcats, and the Irish, which could be a trap game since it is right before another road trip to Eugene to face the feisty Ducks.
For those of you who didn't see the Cal/Oregon game, it lived up to its billing and the Trojans will need the next three games to rest the injured and get ready for the "heavies."
For those of you who missed the Washington game, here is the Cliffs Notes version:
In closing, it was a WACKY weekend in college football with FIVE top 10 teams taken down. Cal is now #3, Oregon was dropped down to 14 (which is terrible considering how close the game was and how many other top 10 teams lost to unranked teams on Saturday. If any LSU fans remarks about the Tigers jumping USC in the AP poll, bait them into answering this question: "do you feel the move to #1 in the AP is justified?" When the react something like "heck yeah, we should be #1 in ALL polls." Smile and say, "thank you for validating the AP Poll, you just acknowledged 2003 was a split." Turn and walk away...and smile!
Want to kill some time before the game vs. Washington? How about heading over to the Triad German Club's Oktoberfest? Festivities start at 6:00 PM and will be held at the Millenium Center located at 101 W. 5th Street in downtown Winston-Salem. It's $10 to get in, but then there is food and drinks for sale inside and a real German (from Raleigh...he he he) Oompahpah band will be there. Prost!
Then, you can head on over to the Fox and Hound located in the Thruway Center just off the Knollwood Avenue exit from I-40 and watch the Trojans take on Washington fresh phenom QB Jake Locker and his Huskies. Fight On!
Coach Pete Carroll and the #1 ranked USC Trojans fresh off plowing their Cardinal & Gold combines through the cornfields of Nebraska, came home to open conference play against Bill Doba and his Washington State Cougars. Having revved up the ground game against the Cornhuskers last week to the tune of over 300 yards, Coach Carroll unleashed Heisman Trophy Candidate John David Booty and his young receiving corp against Wazzu with equally devastating results. This game was the breakout performance of senior TE Fred Davis who had career high catches, yards to go with his 2 TD's. Since the game was not broadcast locally (unless you had Gameplan), I have included a link above to ESPN's video vault which gives a 16 minutes condensed version of the game. Enjoy!
This week, the Trojans head north to the Emerald City of Seattle, Washington to take on the Washington Huskies and their impressive young QB, Jake Locker. Game time is set for 8:00 PM and the viewing party will be in Winston-Salem at the Fox and Hound. I may be there for a short time since my family plans on attending the Oktoberfest in W-S that day.
Just a quick reminder that we will be watching the USC/Nebraska game at The Green Burro in downtown Greensboro. It is on the corner of S. Elm and W. McGee Street (across the street from Natty Greene's and upstairs of McCoul's). Game time is 8:00 PM. Wear Cardinal and see you there!
Thanks Beavers for killing the Pac-10 mojo so critically earned last Saturday with California's win over SEC foe, Tennessee. SEVEN turnovers...reminded me of the Trojan game in Corvalis last year. I have news for you, you have an EPIC BEATDOWN waiting for you in the Coliseum very soon...
At least you aren't Michigan.
Anyone heading over to Winston-Salem this Saturday to get a sneak peek at our next foe, Nebraska? I won't be taking too much away from the defensive side of the ball of Nebbie since Riley Skinner, the Deacs starting QB won't be playing.
Well, it wasn't pretty at times, and the Trojans actually seemed bored as well, but the Trojans extended their nation leading home winning streak to 34 games with a solid, yet unspectacular 38-10 win over the Idaho Vandals. Certainly, with two weeks to prepare, and the return of some important injured players (Patrick Turner, Josh Pinkard, and a full game from Sam Baker), the Trojans should be ready to open the playbook against the Cornhuskers in Lincoln and unleash their full complement of weapons.
The most memorable moment of the game (besides Vidal Hazelton's SICK one-handed TD grab) was this poignant moment after the first TD...a tribute to the late Mario Danelo, who died tragically earlier this year.
Finally, in order to be more "PC," I have moved the Nebraska game viewing party back to the Green Burro. Directions are on the right hand side.
The Trojans have a BYE this week, so I'll be watching other games of interest. Congrats goes out to Appy State who sent the Meatchicken faithful into suicide watch with their stunning and heroic win over the Wolverines in the Big House.
Just a quick FYI for the USC/Idaho game this Saturday. The game starts at 10:15 PM local time, and will be shown on Fox Sports Net (DirecTv channel 630). Obviously, due to the late kickoff time, there will be no viewing party.
The USC/Nebraska game is Saturday, September 15 at 8:00 PM. There will be a viewing party at Hooters Greensboro on High Point Road near the Four Seasons Mall. The manager is a friend and neighbor of mine and I know he'll take care of us. If you are interested in joining us for the game, RSVP me at GSOTrojan@aol.com so I can give him a head count to secure some tables. There are directions in the sidebar to the right on the blog under "Upcoming Events.".
Posts
