Hey Lachey, Let's Move On

No wonder it’s been so tough for USC Football 2006 to establish its own identity. The team is talented and by all accounts measuring up in comparison to other iterations of the Pete Carroll Dynasty. But there is just no escaping the spectacle, celebrity and legend of the 2005 Trojans … at least not yet.

It’s bad enough that our two famous Heisman Trophy winners remain in the news – Leinart making his first NFL start this week, Bush running decoy plays last Monday night – but we also have to hear about BushGate and BabyGate … all of which serve to make last year’s “glory” linger even more.

The result is that our expectations for this new version of USC Football are out of wack. We hang Lane Kiffin in the blogosphere because USC can’t score 50 points a game, and we attempt to rationalize USC’s disappointing output on a change in the rules.

We seem to forget that it all ended in a loss, and that Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and other all-time USC greats don’t play in the Coliseum anymore. We just can’t seem to let go.

However, there is at least one Trojan who seems more than willing to move on these days. His name is “Matt Leinart’s buddy,” but before last football season he was known as Nick Lachey. Thanks to a nifty publicist who caught AOL’s Jolie Lash on a slow news day, the blogosphere was treated to some football insight from the infamously famous Lachey.

"As always, I think my Trojans are gonna be good this year," he told AOL Music. "I think a lot of people counted them out, but I think they are gonna be right there in the mix for a national championship."

Lachey counts former USC quarterback Matt Leinart as a pal but reckons the Trojans' chances are strong even without the presence of his Heisman-winning buddy. "The quarterback position was well-stocked. [John David] Booty's gonna do a great job," he said.

Seriously, my first reaction upon reading this was to ask … What the hell is this? We don’t need to point out to anyone that Mr. Nick isn't too bright. He proved that fact on MTV for a couple years, before confirming the point by divorcing one of the hottest women on the planet. (right, "Fight On")

But then again, the artist formerly known as Mr. Jessica Simpson is “half the man he thought he would be,” and maybe he learned more from his losses last year than we have from ours. He is afterall a semi-member of the Trojan Family, having supposedly attended USC for one year.

Still, we don’t mean to pick on Nick, but perhaps it’s best for USC Football if people like him aren’t part of the media coverage of our program.

Again, I digress … The point here is that Trojan fans tend to forget too easily that it took a while for Matt Leinart to become Matt Leinart. It took a while for the 2005 Trojans to become the offensive machine that it was. And while it also took a while for Reggie Bush to become Reggie Bush, we may never see the likes of a player like him for a very long time.

So, let’s all take a deep breath and relax. We’re 4-0 and No. 2 in the nation for cryin’ out loud! And tell Mr. Lachey that, while we appreciate his insight, John David has plenty of friends already.
east coast bias