USC, having rejoined the Top 25 this week after routing Southern Illinois on Sunday, defended their #22 ranking with a 66-55 win over Oklahoma at the Galen Center yesterday. Freshmen Devon Jefferson and O.J. Mayo, pictured above, led the way with 23 and 18 points, respectively. Up next for the Trojans: a home date with #4-ranked Kansas on Sunday, followed by a trip to #3-ranked Memphis on Tuesday.

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Two years ago, Mike Tran and I made a friendly bet on the USC-UCLA game, which, thanks to USC’s 66-19 win, resulted in Mike becoming a Trojan for a day.

Last year, we made another bet, and needless to say, things didn’t go quite as well for me. The Trojans lost 13-9, so I had to wear Mike’s UCLA jersey to our Professional Responsibility class, and publish a blog post about "Why UCLA is superior to USC." The latter was particularly galling because, as a rule, I like to be truthful and accurate in what I post on the blog. Posting such blatant lies was borderline unethical. ;)

Mike and I have made other friendly bets over the last two years on games of peripheral interest (USC-ND, ND-UCLA, UCLA-Gonzaga), most recently resulting in me officially owning him, but it’s when our undergrad alma maters meet that the stakes are highest — and in those contests, we’re each 1-1. Tomorrow, though, somebody will break the tie.

Here are the terms: If USC wins, Mike has to buy a USC car flag, and must put it (and keep it) on his car December 31 and January 1. So he’ll be driving around L.A. flying Trojan colors on the day before, and the day of, the Rose Bowl… muahahaha. He also has to get a picture, well in advance, of himself with the flag-adorned car, and send me a copy of said picture, so that I can set it to post automatically on the blog on January 1 (in case I’m in the hospital that day, which is a distinct possibility). Oh, and when he’s done with the flag, he has to send it to me, and I get to keep it.

If UCLA wins, I have to do much the same thing, but for a longer period of time — that’s our way of dealing with the odds, because USC is favored by 20 points, but we’re betting straight-up on the game. So if the Bruins are victorious, I have to buy a UCLA car flag and keep it on my car for seven days: to and from work on five weekdays and all day long on two weekend/holiday days. And I have to post a different picture of it on the blog (presumably via cell phone) every single day. (Ugh… that would be a nightmare, because I probably won’t be blogging much in late December and early January, so the homepage would most likely be dominated by pictures of the UCLA flag.)

If UCLA plays in the Rose Bowl, New Year’s Day must be one of the weekend/holiday days, unless we spend that day at the hospital. My end of the bargain is more flexible about the dates than his because of the uncertain timing of the baby’s arrival. (Obviously, Mike doesn’t want me to get credit for leaving the flag on the car while it’s parked at the hospital for 48+ hours, out of sight and out of mind.) But I have to do it at some point during bowl season. And, again, when I’m done with the flag, I have to send it to Mike, and he keeps it.

So there you have it. If USC loses, I’m sending Pete Carroll my therapy bills for the humiliation I’ll suffer from driving around town looking like a bandwagon fUCLA fan. Ugh. FIGHT ON TROJANS, BEAT THE BRUINS!!!

USC says it may move its home games from the Coliseum to the Rose Bowl starting next season, due to a breakdown in negotiations with Coliseum management. Scott Wolf says this announcement, particularly in light of its timing the week before the UCLA game, "really smells like a negotiating ploy by USC to pressure the Coliseum into agreeing to its demands," which Wolf suspects involve not just "improvements" but "revenue-sharing plans (like luxury suites)." Here’s how USC’s top lawyer, senior vice president for administration Todd Dickey, characterizes the university’s demands:

"Our first choice is to play at the Coliseum. However, the Coliseum needs some significant improvements. The sound system is barely audible, the video system is failing, the bathrooms need upgrades, the entrances, the seats, the lighting, just about everything needs work."

Dickey says USC "has offered to make those improvements," but the university doesn’t want to "just to hand the money over to the Coliseum Commission" — it wants to "actually operate the facility." That, naturally, is the sticking point. The quasi-public Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission doesn’t want to hand over the keys of the kingdom to those high-falutin’ University of Spoiled Children snobs. [/sarcasm] The L.A. Times opines: "some political observers have suggested that commissioners would like to avoid making themselves superfluous." You think?

The Rose Bowl is a neat and historic venue (of course, so is the Coliseum!), and this would be a return to tradition of the Trojans and Bruins sharing the same home stadium (the Bruins were at the Coliseum from 1928 through 1981), and perhaps both wearing their home jerseys when they square off each season. But it would stink for USC students. The walk to the nearby Coliseum — kicking that flagpole for good luck on the way, and then walking past the rose garden, and past the local Mexican food vendors selling churros and such — is a memorable aspect of football Saturdays at ‘SC. Braving traffic on the 110 to Pasadena would be far less romantic, and far more inconvenient.

And of course, it would stink for the L.A. economy, too, from hotels and restaurants on down to those food vendors I mentioned, not to mention the locals who charge obscene prices for parking near the stadium. As a result, Mayor Villaraigosa is raising a ruckus, pontifficating about how he is "absolutely committed" to maintaining the status quo: "USC football is one of the most important economic engines in South Los Angeles and the Mayor has no interest in seeing those jobs leave for Pasadena." I’m not sure whether the Mayor’s "interests" matter for present purposes, except perhaps to get the Trojans some bad press from Telemundo, but I suppose he might be able to pressure the Coliseum Commission to make USC happy. [UPDATE: Boi From Troy, who, as an Angeleno, has far better knowledge than I of the strange quasi-governmental structures they have out there, points out that Mayor Villaraigosa "matters because he directly appoints 2 of 9 Coliseum Commission members." Well then! I stand corrected. But my error was totally worth it for the Mirthala Salinas joke.]

In any event, Pete Carroll isn’t concerned about a possible move to the Rose Bowl. "It’s kind of been our second home since we’ve been here," he says. Heh. Indeed.

Some players, however, aren’t taking the news so well. The Coliseum is "my home," said linebacker Keith Rivers. "I wouldn’t want to change that." Added offensive linesman Jeff Byers: "[You can take our lives but] you can’t take away the Coliseum. [I AM WILLIAM WALLACE!!]"

I’ll just say this. If, heaven forbid, USC loses to UCLA on Saturday, it almost certainly won’t be because the players were distracted by this news. But no one will be able to prove that that wasn’t a contributing factor, and as a result, people will talk about it, and they’ll wonder, and they’ll gripe. The university will take a lot of heat for its ridiculously poor (well-calculated, no doubt, but in the grand scheme of things, poor) timing here. And rightfully so.

Of course, there’s a simple way to avoid that problem: BEAT THE BRUINS!!!

P.S. On the bright side, a move to the Rose Bowl would mean USC students wouldn’t have to deal with being physically assaulted by Coliseum rent-a-cops.

P.P.S. Also, a doubleheader at the Rose Bowl next November 8 — Oregon State @ UCLA, then Cal @ USC — would be way fun. Er, except for the hellacious traffic, that is.

The women’s soccer NCAA Tournament has reached the Elite Eight, and an astounding number of schools that I care about are still competing for the championship. Both of my alma maters, USC and Notre Dame, are still alive, as is my original home-state team, UConn. And my two least-favorite universities, UCLA and Duke, are still alive as well. The only thing that could have made the bracket any more Loy-o-riffic would be if my current hometown team, Tennessee, had beaten Portland in the Sweet Sixteen to set up a date with the hated Bruins.

As things stand, it’s Portland that must visit UCLA, while USC travels to West Virginia, Notre Dame hosts Duke, and UConn visits Florida State, all on Friday evening. Potentially, we could have a USC-UCLA semifinal on one side of the bracket and a UConn-Notre Dame semifinal on the other. Will the Women of Troy need to beat both of their school’s archrivals to win the championship? Heh!

For what it’s worth, in the final regular-season coaches’ poll, UCLA was #1, Portland #3, USC #9, Notre Dame #11, West Virginia #12, Florida State #14, UConn #24, and Duke unranked. So I guess that means both the Irish and the Trojans will be favored on Friday. Go ND and ‘SC, beat Duke and WVU!

Southern Illinois went to the Sweet 16 last year, and having seen them in person, I can confirm that their success in March was no fluke; they were a very good basketball team. So I’m disinclined to take issue with their preseason ranking of #24, nor with their climb to #19 heading into last night’s game against USC. However, perhaps the loss of Jamaal Tatum and Tony Young had more of an impact than the pollsters thought, and as a result, this year’s SIU squad is a bit overrated. Either that, or I was wrong to doubt whether USC could live up to the hype, because the Trojans absolutely wiped the floor with the Salukis last night, 70-45, to win the inaugural Anaheim Classic:

USC has won five straight since inexplicably dropping its opener, 96-81 to Mercer. But the real test of the Trojans’ resurgence will come with a brutal six-day, three-game stretch at the end of this week and the beginning of next. They host Oklahoma (5-1) on Thursday and #4 Kansas (5-0) on Sunday, then travel to #3 Memphis (5-0) next Tuesday. (Damn, I wish I was going to be in L.A. this weekend. USC-UCLA at the Coliseum on Saturday, then USC-Kansas at the Galen Center on Sunday? That’d be sweet!)

After that, the Trojans will get a bit of a breather, finishing December with a trio of cupcakes (Delaware State, Cal Poly and UC Riverside) before diving headlong into the crucible of the Pac-10 schedule.

But hey, one game at a time, right, Coach Floyd? Fight on! Beat the Sooners!

With one game to go, the UCLA Bruins could still go to the Rose Bowl — or no bowl at all. It’s up to the USC Trojans to make sure it’s the latter. Stewart Mandel explains:

Of all the strange postseason scenarios still floating around, I don’t think you possibly find one any more bizarre than the fact that the Bruins, who just reached bowl eligibility this weekend, are still technically alive for the Rose Bowl.

Here’s the deal: USC (9-2, 6-2 Pac-10) and Arizona State (9-2, 6-2) are currently tied for first in the Pac-10 standings, with the Trojans holding the tiebreaker following last Thursday’s win. Oregon (8-3, 5-3) and UCLA (6-5, 5-3) sit a game behind following the Bruins’ 16-0 win over the quarterback-depleted Ducks. If surging Arizona (5-6) upends the Sun Devils (not implausible) and Karl Dorrell’s Bruins pull another crosstown upset of the Trojans (highly unlikely), it would create either a three-way tie for first between USC, ASU and UCLA, all of which went 1-1 against each other, or a four-way tie with Oregon. In either case, the Bruins win the tiebreaker due to their victory over the Ducks. (If you dare to figure out how that is, read this).

The craziest part of all is, just as easily as the 6-5 Bruins could go to the Rose Bowl, they could also go to no bowl at all if they lose. If Arizona does beat ASU, it would give the Pac-10 seven bowl-eligible teams for six spots and almost assuredly restrict them to one BCS berth. Guess which would be the odd team out in that scenario? Yep — the same team that’s playing for a Rose Bowl berth next week.

USC needs to beat UCLA not just on general principle, not just for pride, not just for revenge, not just for the Roses, not just so I can win another bet against Mike Tran, but for the good of the whole conference. If the Bruins, who lost to Notre Dame and Utah, and who have done nothing in conference play to merit any sort of respect (no, shutting out an Oregon team playing its 26th-string quarterback doesn’t count), go to the Rose Bowl, the Pac-10 will be the laughingstock of the country.

So Trojans, for the love of God, beat the Bruins.

P.S. A minor correction to Mandel’s analysis after the jump.

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Gonzaga lost to Texas Tech in the Great Alaska Shootout semifinals Friday night, derailing a potential rematch of last year’s Preseason NIT final against Butler. Instead, it will be Bobby Knight’s Red Raiders who take on Butler tonight (i.e., Saturday), while the Zags will play Virginia Tech in the consolation game.

Meanwhile, USC edged Miami of Ohio in the Anaheim Classic semis to set up an intriguing championship game against #19-ranked Southern Illinois. That’ll be a real test for the Trojans, Sunday at 9:00 PM Eastern on ESPN2.

Oh, and in the Legends Classic semifinals, Tennessee nipped West Virginia to set up the men’s version of the game Becky and I saw last week on the women’s side: UT vs. UT, Burnt Orange vs. Tennessee Orange. That’s right, it’s #7 Tennessee against #15 Texas, at 4:00 PM today on Versus.

“It’s motherf—in’ game day. We’re the motherf—in’ Trojans.”

Fight on USC! Beat ASU!

UPDATE: Trojans lead 17-7 with 3:44 to go in the first quarter.

Ridiculous unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty against Sedrick Ellis just now. The NCAA really needs to reign in the trend among referees to try and take all the emotion out of college football with bulls**t calls like that. It happened to Notre Dame’s John Carlson against Duke last week (details here), and this one was equally absurd. Good lord, football is exciting, the players get emotional sometimes, and they celebrate. Big freakin’ deal. Unless they’re jawing in the opposing players’ faces or something, it shouldn’t be a penalty. Let them play, you a**holes.

Also, the BCS “analysis” by the ESPN announcing crew and Charles Barkley was insipid. Anyone who thinks it’s even a question whether ASU will be “in the conversation” if they win out suffers from a failure of imagination and foresight. In this of all seasons, can’t these people wrap their minds around the reality that the landscape changes from week to week, and of course the Sun Devils will be “in the conversation” if they win out? Also, why does everyone just assume that LSU is going to win out?!? LSU has two tough games left, and no one can take anything for granted this season. All the talk is about Kansas/Missouri and West Virginia fighting for the last spot. People, they might both get in. Or they could both lose, along with LSU, and the title game could be Ohio State vs. Arizona State. Or Ohio State vs. Georgia. Or Ohio State vs. USC (!). Lots of crazy things are still possible. It’s just plain stupid to look at the current BCS standings and assume nothing will change.

UPDATE 2: It’s 27-17 USC at halftime.

UPDATE 3: WOOOOOO!!!! 44-17, late in the third quarter.

I think it’s safe to say “Beat the Bruins” with this playing of Conquest. :)

UPDATE 4: Okay, I know the game is over, but how the hell is it “unsportsmanlike conduct” for Sedrick Ellis to briefly and unobtrusively celebrate a sack, but Rudy Carpenter can get in the referee’s face about a call, yelling and screaming at him like a second-grader throwing a temper tantrum, and not get flagged? These refs are HORRIBLE.

UPDATE 5: Trojans win, 44-24. Pete Carroll is 23-0 in November.

BEAT THE BRUINS!!!!

P.S. All this talk about USC needing Oregon to lose to reach the Rose Bowl sort of misses the point, in a certain sense. If USC beats UCLA next weekend, they will go to a BCS bowl. The only question is which one: Rose or Fiesta? Frankly, I actually prefer the potential Fiesta Bowl matchup with Texas to a Rose Bowl pre-match with Ohio State, the Trojans’ second opponent next season. But regardless, while USC may not control its own Rose Bowl destiny, it does control its own BCS destiny, as a practical matter. I don’t think I heard anyone on ESPN mention that all night.

USC 24, Cal 17, final.

Fight on! w00t! Beat the Sun Devils!!

USC and Cal are tied 17-17 with 13:41 left.

Hopefully the end result will be better than the basketball team’s opener earlier today. (Again with the Atlantic Sun conference knocking off ranked teams at home!)

Anyway… here are some photos from my afternoon at the Tennessee-Arkansas game:

Bloggers unite! Me with Mark from Loser with Socks and Jonathan from 82 Sluggo Win.

The Vols come in through the “Power T.”

Austin Rogers scores Tennessee’s first touchdown of the day, and the crowd goes wild.

Arkansas’s quarterback passes the ball. Why on earth the Razorbacks did so much of this, I have no idea. They have the country’s best running back, Darren McFadden — and he only ran the ball five meaningful times in the first half. Most of his 22 carries came after the game was already out of hand. Not only that, but on a whole bunch of occasions, he wasn’t even on the field on crucial plays. Houston Nutt is a terrible, terrible coach.

Jonathan, Jay and me. (I put on the long-sleeve shirt, and the USC shirt over it, after the Tennessee game ended. It was getting chilly… and it was time to root for the Trojans agaist Cal!)

No pun intended. :) Anyway, Seth Davis has a nice article about the Zags and their thoroughly admirable head coach, Mark Few, as well as the team’s prospects for this upcoming basketball season.

I really think Gonzaga could do some special things this year. In fact, of my three teams — USC, Notre Dame and Gonzaga — I have the highest hopes for the Zags, despite the hype surrounding the Trojans’ O.J. Mayo and the return of Kyle McAlarney to an Irish team helmed by the reigning Big East Coach of the Year (ahem). If Gabe Pruitt and Nick Young had stuck around at USC, I’d have more faith in the Trojans to live up to the hype, but as it is, I’m not so sure. As for the Irish, well, I just don’t sense that this is a team ready to show off some heretofore unseen greatness; I think last year was pretty much their high water mark, and against a tougher Big East schedule this season, I expect them to suffer a return to mediocrity. I hope I’m wrong, of course. But anyway, Gonzaga… with Josh Heytvelt back, Jeremy Pargo taking over point guard duties full-time, and Micah Downs injury-free and in the lineup for a full season, I really think they could make some serious noise. I’m particularly excited about the ascendancy of Pargo, who is a freakin’ stud (or "Grown Ass Man," as La Rev likes to say). Derek Raivio was very talented, but inconsistent to the point of being a liability his junior and senior years, IMHO. Pargo, I think, can succeed where Raivio failed: leading his team to achieve greater things than anyone expects of them. Well, if Heytvelt can stay healthy and away from the ’shrooms, that is.

The Zags are ranked #14 in both preseason polls. That ranking will be tested early, given that they have games against Texas Tech (probably), #28 Butler or Michigan or Virginia Tech (possibly), #10 Wazzu, #32 UConn, Oklahoma, #7 Tennessee (in Seattle, alas) and Georgia, all before 2008 is a week old — and a visit to #3 Memphis on January 26, to boot. (If I wasn’t going to be the father of a one-month-old at that point, I’d totally be trying to get tickets and planning a road trip.) I almost hope the Zags do well, but not too well, against that early schedule. Not that I’ll be rooting against them in any particular game, mind, but generally they seem to do better when they come into the NCAA Tournament with low expectations (last year notwithstanding), so an early record that’s better than last year’s 9-6 start, but also not insanely good, would probably be ideal.

Ah, screw it, I hope they start 15-0 en route to an undefeated national championship. :) Go Zags!

Scott Schmidt, a.k.a. Boi From Troy, has an op-ed in today’s L.A. Times — in which he criticizes USC. Specifically: "no one should be so arrogant as to think that their talent on the field
will excuse their behavior off it. Yet if Heritage Hall celebrates O.J.
Simpson the football player while looking away from O.J. Simpson the
man, regrettably, that is the idea we’re left with."

P.S. But — through no fault of Scott’s, I’m sure — the headline writer misused an apostrophe in the subhead!!! "The university still honor’s Simpson’s football career" … AAAHH!!! Somebody call the grammar police!!

A cloud of uncertainty hangs over Trojan Nation today, as Lloyd Lake — the would-be agent, not the body of water — will meet with NCAA investigators to discuss the Reggie Bush case.

Er, and no, why of course my use of the word "snitch" in the headline doesn’t imply that I don’t want the truth to come out. What ever would give you that idea? Ahem.

Anyway, it might seem impossible that USC is going to emerge from this clusterf*** unscathed, but you know what they say: Impossible is nothing.

Previous Reggiegate posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

UPDATE: Trojan fans, this will make you feel better. Vote for Ruth!!

As an Irish Trojan, I don’t subscribe to the notion of the “perfect day” — a day when USC wins and both UCLA and Notre Dame lose — but for those more typical Trojans who do, this has to be one of the sweetest “perfect days” in recent memory. USC avenged last year’s loss to Oregon State, UCLA got embarrassed by lowly Arizona, and Notre Dame lost to Navy. Man.

As for me, all I can say is Beat the Bears, and Beeeeat Falcons!

It’s Alabama 27, LSU 24 early in the fourth quarter. Will the Tigers go from a national title game contender to missing out on the SEC title game?

Meanwhile, Oregon leads ASU 21-13 at halftime after the Sun Devils’ horrible clock management caused them to totally blow a golden opportunity to score before the half.

And UConn is beating Rutgers 18-3. Go Huskies!

Oh, and no score yet between USC and Oregon State. Fight on Trojans! Stuff the Beavers! BTW, for those who, like me, are outside of the ABC regional feed, you can listen live on KSCR.

UPDATE: LSU came back to win, 41-34.

Oregon is up big, 35-16 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. ASU has made a ton of comebacks, but this deficit may be too much even for Dennis Erickson Second-Half Magic to overcome.

And USC leads 10-3.

UPDATE 2: Ducks & Trojans win. USC may yet make it to the Rose Bowl, if Oregon makes it to the BCS title game. The Trojans need to beat Cal, ASU and UCLA, and hope that three of the following four teams lose: Ohio State, Boston College, LSU, Kansas. And BC is losing right now…

P.S. Suppose the title game is Ohio State vs. Oregon. Suppose also that USC wins out and gets picked by the Rose Bowl to replace the Ducks. Who would the Trojans’ opponent be? Not Michigan; the Wolverines will fall out of the BCS Top 14 if they lose to the Buckeyes. Not any other Big Ten team; nobody else from that conference will be BCS-eligible, either. Hmm… if LSU loses the SEC title game but is still eligible for a BCS at-large bid, which they probably would be, how about a Trojans-Tigers Rose Bowl?