You know it’s an unusual season in the land of Troy when you go to usctrojans.com on the Friday afternoon before a football game — the Homecoming football game, in fact — and the top story is "USC BASKETBALL 2007: Five Questions For O.J. Mayo." Heh. (The Trojans are #18 in both preseason basketball polls — one spot higher than their current BCS ranking.)

Anyway, John David Booty will start for USC against Oregon State tomorrow. It’ll be his chance to avenge the loss that started his team’s recent Pac-10 slide (the Trojans are 6-4 in their last 10 conference games, after winning a zillion in a row prior to last year’s loss in Corvallis). But unless we go to a sports bar, Becky and I won’t be able to watch it; we’ll get Florida State-Boston College instead.

But that’s okay, because honestly, I’m more interested in watching the big Pac-10 game of the week (nay, year!), #4 Arizona State at #5 Oregon, especially now that it’s been announced that Rudy Carpenter will play for ASU despite a sprained thumb on his throwing hand. That’s good news for Stewart Mandel, who wrote that "seven hours is a long way for me to fly to watch some backup," and also for ESPN, which rescued the game from Fox Sports Net oblivion by buying the rights to broadcast it nationally in those regions not served by the originally planned regional FSN telecast. (Sadly for the folks in Oregon and Arizona — and Southern California, I think — they still have to watch it on crappy FSN.)

If the Sun Devils, who are 7-point underdogs despite their higher ranking, manage to beat the Ducks this week, and follow it up with a win over UCLA next week (don’t count out the worst-coached team in America; following up losses to Utah, Notre Dame and Wazzu with a win over 9-0 Arizona State would be totally in line with Karl Dorrell’s baffling of neverending inconsistency), they’d be 10-0 when USC comes to town on Thanksgiving Day. I wonder, if that happens, which of her alma maters would Becky — who went to ASU for grad school, remember — root for? Normally she, like me, roots for the Trojans against all comers, but if a USC win would just mean the difference between Some Crappy Bowl and Some Other Crappy Bowl, whereas an ASU win would get the Sun Devils within one win (against Arizona) of the national championship game… I dunno what she’d do. Becky? (Yeah, I could just ask her in person, but asking her over the blog is more fun in this case. :)

Dammit.

But hey, on the bright side, Buffalo won! It’s the second time this season Buffalo has won and USC has lost on the same day, and both instances occurred on a weekend when I was going to Denver (although in this case I’m not there yet). Is this a sign of some kind? :) Anyway, the Bulls are now 4-0 in the MAC East, and 4-5 overall — their most wins in a season since joining Division I-A.

Got back from the Smokies around 4:00, and just finished fast-forwarding through the first half of USC-Oregon, stopping to watch almost every play in real time while skipping all the fluff in between. Based on what I saw, I’m not feeling terribly inspired. USC’s offense looked terrible, and the defense is trying hard but just isn’t as good as Oregon’s offense, seemingly. It strikes me that the Trojans are lucky to be within 10-3. Barring some serious Pete Carroll Second-Half Magic^TM, I foresee an Duck blowout — which would be the first time since Becky and I were juniors at ‘SC (in 2001) that the Trojans have lost a game that wasn’t decided on the final play.

UPDATE: Touchdown Trojans! Sanchez to Turner! 10-10.

UPDATE 2: The Ducks do what the Trojans twice failed to do — taking advantage of a turnover deep in their own territory — and it’s 17-10 Oregon.

UPDATE 3: F**k!

UPDATE 4: 24-10 Ducks with 11:39 left in the game.

In other news, what the hell is wrong with Fox Sports Net?? The camerawork is AWFUL (I keep not being able to see the quarterback, and the ball is invisible half the time on passing plays because they haven’t adequately adjusted their cameras to the shadows now covering the field), and they have entirely missed several plays, including Oregon’s 2nd-and-goal run just now. WTF???

UPDATE 5: Touchdown! 24-17 with 4:44 to go!

But again, the camerawork! I couldn’t even see that there was a receiver in the end zone until he had already caught the ball! It looked like Sanchez was throwing the ball to nobody, and then all of a sudden, the camera panned down and — what? there’s a guy there! TOUCHDOWN! What a wretched, wretched football broadcast this is.

But enough bitching about FSN. FIGHT ON TROJANS!!! Get the ball back!!

UPDATE 6: Aaaaaand Oregon intercepts it. Ducks win.

Well, it wasn’t a blowout, at least. Once again, a USC loss comes down to a final drive. But Oregon was clearly the better team.

Congrats, Ducks.

Harumph.

P.S. Why do the FSN announcers keep saying it looks like the Pac-10 won’t get two teams into the BCS? I can see no basis for that statement. If either Oregon or Arizona State makes it to the title game, which is entirely possible, the Rose Bowl will certainly try to replace them with another Pac-10 team, and it seems extremely unlikely that there won’t be any other Pac-10 teams in the BCS Top 14 and thus eligible for selection. Either Cal or USC could be there if they win out, as could the loser of next week’s Oregon-ASU game if they win out after said game. It’s possible the Pac-10 will cannibalize itself enough that only the conference champion will reach a BCS bowl, but it’s by no means preordained at this point.

Becky and I plan to drive up into the Smokies in the morning to check out some of the fall foliage. It’s really our last chance to see the high-elevation colors near their peak, since I fly out to Denver on Sunday and next weekend the mountains will presumably be past peak. So I’m sacrificing ESPN GameDay and the Rutgers-West Virginia game for the sake of a pretty drive. I know, I’m such a martyr. :)

I hope to be back by 3:00 PM for the USC-Oregon game, but I don’t have too much confidence that that will happen; I imagine traffic in the Smokies will be heavy, as I doubt we’re the only people with this idea for a Saturday morning/afternoon activity. Anyway, we’re TiVoing the game, and if we get back late, I’ll be taking a pre-Deathly Hallows-esque vow of Internet avoidance from 3:00 on, in order to maintain the suspense when I fire up the TiVo and pretend I’m watching the game live. So, if I don’t blog anything for a while, that’s why.

FIGHT ON TROJANS! BEAT THE DUCKS!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA:

There you have it: the photo evidence of Brady Quinn’s lost bet with Rodney Peete on last Saturday’s USC-Notre Dame game.

But it gets even better. There’s video evidence, too:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

(NOTE: The video clip has changed since I originally uploaded it Thursday night. Among other things, I’ve added a little musical coda at the end that my Trojan readers will enjoy…)

Thanks to the anonymous commenter who pointed me to the photo. And thanks to Brady-Quinn.org, a fan site, for linking to the video clips on the Browns site and YouTube that allowed me to mash up the above clip.

Of course, even as I glory in it, I can sympathize with Brady’s plight. As can Mike Tran. Sometimes friendly bets are a b**ch. :) But kudos to Brady for upholding his end of the deal.

Now then… BEAT THE DUCKS!!!

Sorry, John David, but I’m happy about this: “Mark Sanchez will start at quarterback Saturday against Oregon, Coach Pete Carroll announced Thursday afternoon.”

Meanwhile, Oregon has yet to announce which uniforms it will wear. There are so many choices: the hideous ones, the butt-ugly ones, the gouge-your-eyes-out-with-their-sheer-repulsiveness ones…

Shockingly, she criticized liberals.

Heh:

Browns rookie quarterback Brady Quinn reached into the back of his locker, pulled out the cardinal-and-gold No. 10 jersey and gritted his teeth.

“This,” he said, “is going to hurt.”

Quinn, the former Notre Dame star, then slipped the Southern California jersey over his head and felt his skin crawl.

“That’s why I’ve got extra layers on,” he said. “So it doesn’t actually touch any part of my body.”

Quinn had to wear USC’s colors on Wednesday after losing a bet with former Trojans quarterback Rodney Peete over last week’s game between Notre Dame and Southern Cal. …

Surely, Quinn got some points in the wager. After all, Notre Dame is 1-7 and USC is 6-1.

“It’s a pride bet,” Quinn said. “C’mon now. You don’t bet points. I got faith in my guys.” …

When he finished with his interview, Quinn quickly ripped off the jersey and slam dunked it into a nearby garbage can.

Mike Tran should sent Brady a sympathy card. :)

(Hat tip: Scott Wolf.)

The new BCS standings are out. No surprise that Ohio State is #1, Boston College #2 (just in time to fall victim to the #2 Curse against Virginia Tech on Thursday), and LSU #3. But check out who’s next: Arizona State, idle last week, managed to climb all the way from eighth to fourth!

ASU’s rise is partially due to attrition, with losses by #2 South Florida, #6 South Carolina and #7 Kentucky over the weekend, but the Sun Devils’ impressive victory over the University of Bye was enough to leapfrog former #5 Oklahoma, which barely escaped with a win over lowly Iowa State. And you know who else leapfrogged Oklahoma? The Sooners’ BFFs in the Pacific Northwest, the Oregon Ducks! How the formerly #10-ranked quack attack got all the way up to #5 by beating 2-5 Washington, I’m not sure, but I’m guessing a Pac-10 replay crew was involved somehow.

In all seriousness, it’s a big-time statistical logjam from #4 through #6; the decimal digits separating ASU, Oregon and Oklahoma really aren’t all that significant. Next on the list are #7 West Virginia, #8 Virginia Tech, #9 Kansas, and #10 South Florida.

USC, which visits #5 Oregon next Saturday, is #12. Hey, it’s a 5-12 game! It’s like March Madness! And we know a scrappy 12-seed wins every year! Woo! Go Trojans! Will O.J. Mayo be suiting up?

Interestingly, the Trojans feature the biggest difference between the polls (which have them #7 and #8) and the computers (which have them #21). I think #21 might be a little harsh, but I certainly think the computers are closer to reality here, recognizing, as they do, that the Trojans have accomplished absolutely nothing of significance on the field so far this season. Let’s see ‘em beat Oregon and Cal and ASU, and then we can talk about a high ranking, m’kay?

Meanwhile, the football squad from the University of Michigan — you may recall them as the opening-weekend patsy scheduled by Div. I-AA powerhouse Appalachian State as a tune-up game for the Mountaineers — has climbed all the way to #20, which just goes to show that even the little guys can succeed if they believe in themselves. Nice going, Michigan. Kitten power!

Oh, and UConn is #23. UConn!!! They’re sandwiched between Auburn and Alabama. UCONN!!! In FOOTBALL!!!

Notre Dame fans tend to pride themselves on being “classier” than other fans. And in some cases, it’s true. But not in this case:

As USC coach Pete Carroll departed the field, the Notre Dame fans chanted, “F— Pete Carroll.”

Well, that’s one way to handle the pain of a 38-point loss. It is not, however, the classy way. And if USC fans did something like that, we’d be hearing all about how it proves that Trojans are classless.

(More after the jump.)

(more…)

…the grass looks normal length:

:)

So… who starts at QB for the Trojans next week at Oregon?

And, um, will Navy beat Notre Dame?

P.S. Brian Grummell echoes my thoughts:

I have to be frank here: USC just isn’t a very good football team right now. In fact, many of their problems all year manifested themselves in the first half against Notre Dame today. Fortunately for the Trojans, Notre Dame is that much worse of a football team that at one point in the third quarter USC had as many touchdowns as the Irish had first downs. …

The fact that a shaky USC was able to so easily dismantle a Notre Dame team that was competitive against a highly ranked Boston College team just last week has me concerned about the Eagles. Maybe they are the next to suffer the fate of #2 that slayed USF Thursday night.

Coincidentally enough, BC next week, like USF this week, is on the road… on Thursday night… on ESPN… against a quality opponent (Virginia Tech). I foresee a Hokies “upset.”

USC 38, Notre Dame 0, final.

It’s the first Trojan shutout in Notre Dame Stadium since 1933. Notre Dame’s worst home shutout since losing 40-0 to Oklahoma in 1956. The first time since 1960 that the Irish have been shut out twice in the same season. The largest Trojan margin of victory in the history of the series. The first time USC has ever won three straight at Notre Dame Stadium. Oh, and Irish punter Jeff Price is Notre Dame’s player of the game.

Fight on.

But damn, it sucks that Notre Dame sucks this much.

Just rebutting Kristin’s post. :)

Anyway, so far, so good. 17-0 at the half.

UPDATE: Now 24-0. The Irish offense is just looking totally inept and overmatched. As Texasyank says, “Notre Dame makes Stanford look like the freaking Patriots.”

UPDATE 2: 31-0! w00t Vidal Hazelton!

The biggest USC margin ever against Notre Dame is 31 points — which they achieved during all three years of Ty’s tenure. … There are 10 minutes left in the third quarter. Just saying.

P.S. Right now, a bunch of Domers in the student section are thinking, “I delayed my fall break for this?”

UPDATE 3: Meanwhile, in Syracuse, Buffalo trails 17-3 in the third quarter. D’oh!

UPDATE 4: “You can’t lose your job to injury”? Tell that to T.C. Ostrander!

UPDATE 5: Before anyone starts saying “Pete Carroll is running up the score” by going for it on 4th and 2 up 31-0 … Pete Carroll always goes for it on 4th-and-short in that no-man’s-land portion of the field. Always. Doesn’t matter the game situation.

I suppose nobody will complain, though, since the Irish stopped ‘em. See, Pete was actually being charitable! ;)

UPDATE 6: Exchange between NBC announcers, talking about Kentucky’s schedule:

Announcer #1: “That’s a real tough assignment in back-to-back weeks, LSU and Florida.”
Announcer #2: “It’s like that every week in the SEC.”

Um, NO IT’S NOT! The SEC is a tough conference, but it is NOT like playing LSU and Florida every week! You also get to play Ole Miss and Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, etc. And yes, those teams can pull off upsets (as Vanderbilt did today against the “other” USC) when you don’t show up to play. So what? So can Stanford and Oregon State and Arizona, etc. So would you say that “every week in the Pac-10″ is like playing USC and Oregon in back-to-back weeks? Ugh. I hate SEC homerism.

P.S. Oh yeah, and in the Pac-10, every team plays every other team. So whereas, for example, Tennessee doesn’t play LSU or Auburn this season, USC has to play Cal and Oregon and ASU and every other team in the league. That counts for something, too. If you’re in the SEC, you don’t actually get to claim credit, schedule-wise, for the fact that “our league has X number of ranked teams” because odds are, you don’t play them all. Not so in the Pac-10.

UPDATE 7: TOUCHDOWN MCKNIGHT! 38-0 Trojans with 10:57 to go.

UPDATE 8: Some Domer despair here.

It’s not SAHN-chez.

It’s not San-CHEZ.

It’s SAN-chez.

Get it right.

Sincerely,

A USC fan

P.S. Actually, yes, turning the ball over at your own 10 yard line is a “bad play.”