Ohio State Week: It's a Matter of Class

I love it when people talk trash. It's part of what makes sports in this country so great. Anyone can say anything they want, but it all comes down to performance on the field. And more times than most, when someone talks trash to the USC Trojans, we make them pay.

Just ask DeShaun Jackson, a Displaced favorite whose considerable athletic gifts on the field were surpassed by the speed of his mouth ... until we shut him up on the field, twice.

So, while much of the hype-makers were quick to jump on Ray Small (above) for his words of "wisdom" following "the" Ohio State's "dismantling" of the Ohio Bobcats last Saturday, it's all old news to us.

To review, in case you haven't seen Small's words on the bulletin board inside Heritage Hall:

As I took my visit to USC, I'm like, 'How are they successful? They're not even serious about the game.' Before the game, they're all going crazy. Me and [Buckeyes defensive end] Rob Rose was on the visit and I'm looking like, 'Wow.' And then the coach said, 'You better get out of here. It's 'bout to get hectic.'

And then I come [to Ohio State] on the visit and before the game, it's all quiet, everybody getting taped, coaches talking. It's the total opposite. ...

It's more of a class thing ... Here at Ohio State, they teach you to be a better man. There, it's just all about football.

How is USC successful? This is how we do it, Ray. We read books about tennis! Of course, this can be a bit puzzling to those who mistake conventional wisdom and sweater vests for "class."

Still, I suppose Small is right about one thing: USC is certainly a different kind of football program. Small will find this out first hand on Saturday afternoon.

We are SC!

USC Football: Better Than It's Ever Been Done?

A funny thing occurred to me last night as I posted a take (on Conquest Chronicles) about the latest in a string of “controversies” to threaten the reputation of USC Football …

I’m getting tired of this crap.

Certainly, I understand it all comes with the territory. I know that unprecedented success on the field and on the recruiting trail, in a major metropolitan market with no NFL team, has created a “perfect storm” of heightened media attention and acute scrutiny of USC.

No doubt, I understand the fact that high-profile athletes and successful college sports programs are primary targets for muckraking journalists, jealous rivals and other gold-digging elements.

But this supposed residue of USC’s college football greatness is starting to wear the Teflon of success a little too thin for my taste.

I know that Hershel Dennis and Mark Sanchez were exonerated of sexual assault. I know Rey Maualuga has taken anger management courses and did community service to pay for his outbursts during a tough time in his life. I know Dwayne Jarrett catching a break on rent from Matt Leinart’s father was really a small issue in the overall scheme of things.

But after a while, this crap starts to become a burden.

Really, I understand that the NCAA won’t come close to proving that USC knew or should have known anything about Reggie Bush and his idiotic family’s dealings with crooked sports agents. I know that phone records will prove that Pete Carroll never set up a conference call between Bush and No. 1 recruit Joe McKnight.

But I have to ask … when is this crap going to stop? However alleged, non-factual, inaccurate, unwarranted, and flat-out-stupid it might be … is all of this completely out of our control?

Even if we can explain it all away with common sense scenarios, absence of fact, and third-party validation, we still have to acknowledge this crap and deal with it.

No doubt, I know that USC Football will emerge unscathed from all of this, and our national championship trophies are safe in Heritage Hall. I know there is every reason to believe that we will be adding more hardware to our historic collection.

But how many measured statements out of Tim Tessalone’s crisis communications handbook do we have to hear on our way to another BCS bowl game? How much fuel do we have to give the “nation” of hate and the inferiority-complexed south, while we defend another No. 1 ranking?

Don’t get me wrong. I believe in our man Carroll. I believe in his unique approach and his player's-coach style and the evolved philosophy that has brought unprecedented success to USC Football. I believe in the Magic Tennis Book!

But, I also know that Carroll's stated mission is to "do things better than it's ever been done before." I know it’s difficult, maybe even unrealistic. As Caroll has also said, “That stuff, it is kind of nasty. You just don't know where it's coming from and people are out to get you. It can get kind of hard.”

But if USC Football is to get there, if we really do believe as true Trojans that we will do this better than it’s ever been done before, we should acknowledge that perhaps we are falling short of that mission today.

It’s a noble thing for Carroll to aim higher than mere mortals. And we embrace the opportunity and added responsibility to transcend the common pattern of other highly successful programs like Miami … or Notre Dame … or U.C.L.A. Really, no disrespect to other college programs -- again, it’s tough -- but we think we can do better.

After all … We Are SC! Now, more than ever, this should mean something to us.

So, rather than explain away these minor issues with our common sense and the reassurances of non-haters, perhaps it’s time to ask our man Carroll -- however unfair it may be -- when will we stop having to deal with all this stuff in the first place?

Maybe it’s time to tell him we’re getting tired of this crap.

Fight On!

NOTE: There is a very slightly "cleaner," guest-blogger version of this post on CC.
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Rose Bowl Post-Game: USC is Back!

We’re back …

Four weeks is all we needed. To repair broken psyches with the Magic Tennis Book and to realize that maintaining an emotional peak through a “rivalry month” gauntlet of Oregon, Cal, ND, and ugla is perhaps too much to ask of a developing young team.

This is how we do it. A defensive struggle in the first half, turned into a second-half blow out by smart adjustments on offense and an aggressive Trojan defense that forced the opponent into a one-dimensional game plan. We imposed our will, and we didn't let up until a 32-18 Rose Bowl victory was secured.

Order is restored. USC brought home a BCS Rose Bowl trophy on its way to securing another ridiculously talented recruiting class and an off-season of anticipation and hype.

In many ways this win felt like the 2003 Orange Bowl championship: USC playing like the best team in the nation, fighting through the first half of what was billed as the second-best bowl match-up of the season, followed by a dominant offensive explosion in the second half. And Pete Carroll at the post-game celebration yelling to all of us: “We’re just getting started!”

Indeed, it feels like we’re just getting started … again.

Stewart Mandel of SI.com captured the new, new conventional wisdom:

Mostly, the Rose Bowl was the culmination of a season-long maturation process for the Trojans. If anything, it was more indicative of what's to come than what just passed.

"We talked about that in the locker room [afterward], that this is the start of [2007]," said Carroll. "We're grateful for the guys that helped us, the seniors that leave, but really excited about the young guys coming back to get this thing going again."

So, the aberration is truly over. It was more like an anomaly, really. A freak accident exposed by the pathetic performance of an ugla team (not to mention an ugla “nation”) that couldn’t handle a miracle win. But more importantly, it was proven emphatically on the first day of 2007 by the genius of a coach who knows how to lead his team through think and thin.

Said Carroll: "It was important for us to reconnect with who we are and what our program is all about."

Exactly.

WE ARE SC!
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USC Football: Reading Wonders

We heard from the L.A. Times yesterday that Pete Carroll used his Magic Tennis Book again to improve the spirits (and presumably the play) of another Trojan who was down in the dumps.

This time it was Kyle Williams, who was apparently so distraught and depressed following his three-false-start performance during the 13-9 tragedy that he couldn’t bring himself to practice on Monday. Quoted the Times:

"That week after the game was pretty hard," said Williams, who was called for three false starts. "You try to forget about it but it seems like everywhere you've turned you're just getting reminded of it.

"I just had to get my head on straight."

Williams, a fifth-year senior, said Carroll on Monday gave him a copy of "The Inner Game of Tennis," a book that shaped Carroll's coaching philosophy. Earlier this season, Carroll gave the book to defensive lineman Lawrence Jackson when the fourth-year junior was putting too much pressure on himself.

"I wish I had known about it sooner," Williams said. "I'm about halfway done and it's really helped me be not so critical and just relax."

Now, I’m no magician, and I’m certainly no “genius” like our man Carroll, but I can’t help the feeling that this Magic Tennis Book could be doing more for USC Football. Am I missing something here … ?

Why does Carroll wait until after his players screw up before he gives them the magic book to read? Why didn’t Williams hear about the book sooner, if not from Carroll then from Jackson, the latest beneficiary of its magic?

Why doesn’t Carroll give every Trojan player a copy of the book? Couldn’t all his players benefit from its powers … or is it just one special dog-eared copy that is blessed with game-improving mojo?

And even if it is just one particular magic copy, couldn’t Carroll have his players gather around a table in groups of four or five so they can read the thing together? According to Williams, you only need to read half the book for it to start working, anyway!

I don’t get it. But then again, I’m not a “genius.”

Happy Holidays!

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