USC Game Day: Tuberville's Dangerous Mind

We can probably all agree that the mind is a very powerful thing. And like anything with power, the mind can be beautiful or it can be dangerous. In college football, the mind is perhaps the single most important ingredient for winning championships.

As we know, Pete Carroll (left) understands this. Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville, not so much.

To motivate his team and perhaps influence voters heading toward the first BCS ranking, the War Eagle head coach let loose this week with a few comments about what he thinks is the matter at hand.

Now let’s remember, Auburn is 5-0 and ranked No. 2 in the AP poll. Yet Tuberville expressed doubt that any SEC team – not just Auburn, but any SEC team – will be included in a BCS National Championship Game this year.

Joe Schad of espn.com, perhaps thinking that he would gain some insight into Auburn’s contest versus Arkansas today (aka the actual matter at hand), was instead treated to Tuberville’s ramblings about a BCS system that is certain to cheat him this year, he thinks.

"I've about had it with this playoff deal," Tuberville said after a lengthy, emotional argument for a playoff. "We all understand in our conference how tough it is. In our conference, [a playoff is] about the only chance we'd have to make it [to the BCS Championship Game]."

The SEC boasts five teams in the Top 13 of the AP poll: Auburn (No. 2), Florida (No. 5), LSU (No. 9), Georgia (No. 10) and Tennessee (No. 13).

While Auburn, Florida and Georgia are all undefeated, Florida plays LSU this week and Auburn the week after. And Georgia plays Tennessee this week.

Two years ago, Auburn finished 13-0, but did not appear in the national championship game.

"There is no reason on this earth why we can't have the best four and then play one more," Tuberville said. "That's the legitimate thing to do.”

We certainly remember the source of Tommy’s angst two seasons ago. USC was also 13-0 after a 55-19 domination of previously unbeaten Oklahoma in the National Championship 2005 Orange Bowl. The night before, Auburn held on to beat two-loss Virginia Tech 16-13 in the Sugar Bowl, and Tuberville showed up in Miami to state his case for a piece of the championship.

We also remember the patsies Auburn played that year. In addition to its weak SEC schedule, which included only four teams with a winning record, War Eagle beat up on Louisiana-Monroe (Sunbelt), Louisiana Tech (WAC) and the Citadel of the proud 1-AA Southern Conference … 1-AA? USC played Virginia Tech, Colorado State, BYU, and Notre Dame. In fact, USC is one of only seven schools (all in the Pac-10 and Big-10) never to have played a 1-AA school since the division was created in 1978. But, I digress …

With all the facts shoved into the southern smirk on his face, Tuberville (right) was forced to stand quiet at the Orange Bowl as USC’s supremacy was made obviously clear to any sane person following college football. This didn’t include Tuberville, but he could find no valid argument in his mind, at least not one that anyone would listen to.

The result is that Tuberville – being the smart guy he thinks he is – decided to start his lobbying a little early this year, assuming that War Eagle will run the table. And why shouldn’t he assume, what with Buffalo, Tulane and Arkansas State on his schedule?

The danger of Tuberville's thinking is that he probably shouldn’t assume anything. He should probably focus solely on his task at hand and let his team concentrate only on the things they can control. You know, just take one game at a time.

Sound familiar? Of course it does. Here’s what our man Pete Carroll said at a press conference leading up to the National Championship 2005 Orange Bowl:

It was real important to me to keep [the 2004 season] on a game-to-game basis and not look at the whole season, not look at the No. 1 ranking and all that. We didn't talk about that at all during the season. … As far as we were concerned, it really wasn't that difficult in that regard. I thought it would be more of a burden, and it wasn't. We tried to enjoy it for the fact that we had that opportunity as much as anything. … I understand so little about the BCS process. … I don't get it.

Oh, he gets it alright. By making a stink about the BCS less than half way through the season, Tuberville isn’t influencing pollsters or motivating his team as much as he is distracting it from the task at hand each week. Pete Carroll knows this because his mind is a powerful thing.

Tommy Tuberville? Not so much.
east coast bias

Doba’s the Man on Auburn vs. USC

By all accounts, Bill Doba is a great guy and we may have been wrong to compare him to an idiot coach in the Big-12. His approach to last Saturday’s game – to actually try to win the game – almost caught USC off-guard, and he should be commended for having Wazzu ready to play.

Being the man with class that he is, Doba took the time this week to feed the southern inferiority complex machine by comparing USC and Auburn. Wazzu has played both teams, which makes Doba an expert on the comparison War Eagle yearns to make. Arkansas plays Auburn this Saturday, which would presumably make Houston Nutt an expert, too … but you know we can’t use the words “expert” and “Nutt” in the same sentence.

Anyway, Doba provided this insight to Doug Segrest of The Birmingham News:

"They're both good teams, but they're a little different," Doba said Tuesday. "I think Auburn's running game is better. Southern Cal has a slight edge in the passing game. The defenses are very similar. Both run to the ball very well and both have linebackers that are special."

Doba mentions Auburn’s “superior special teams” before pointing out that “of course, USC doesn’t kick off but once a game.” [This is where knowledgeable Trojan fans confirm that Doba is merely toying with the southern simpletons, since we know that USC punted way too much against Wazzu and almost lost the game on a high snap. But, I digress …]

Doba also gives props to Auburn “coach” Tommy Tuberville, who according to Doba has more lives than a tomcat, which is a nice way of saying that Tuberville is both stupid and lucky as hell.

"They've got a fourth-and-11 from their own 16 and he's calling a fake punt?" Doba said.

Washington State had narrowed Auburn's lead to 26-14 in the third quarter and seemingly stopped the Tigers on three downs on a critical possession. Out of punt formation, linebacker Will Herring took the direct snap and raced 42 yards for the first down.

"I told (Tuberville) afterward that I'd never forget that (call)," Doba said

As for USC:

USC's John David Booty "always throws to the guy that's open, whether it's short or long. He takes what's there. He makes great decisions."

Another advantage for the Trojans is linebacker Rey Maluaga, "who's 6-foot-3, 250 pounds, runs sideline to sideline and can cover you deep."

USC played Washington State with two disadvantages. First, the Trojans played on the road. Second, they played without All-American wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett.

"I think that was to our advantage," Doba said. "But let me tell you, that Steve Smith can play with anyone."

Okay. We recognize that Doba isn’t telling us anything we don’t already know. Of course, Doba knows this also, but apparently War Eagle will swallow any “insight” that will give them an indication (read: validation) for the top-two ranking they know will be denied them like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Doba knows this, too.

Doba is no dummy.
east coast bias

Stafon Update: Watch Out for Ty on the Sly

Stafon Johnson remains buried toward the bottom of the USC depth chart, but you can bet there will be one person this Saturday who will find him on the field after the game – for a handshake and perhaps a whisper in the ear. Thanks to an odd piece of journalism from Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News* we were alerted to a husky in sheep’s clothing.

That would be U-Dub head coach Tyrone Willingham who last month was willing to be quoted by Wolf overtly expressing his love for and touting the merits of Johnson, who had been down and out in Fayetteville.

Just as Rocky Hinds and Eric Wright showed us, coaches from other schools covet USC’s depth of talent and will (allegedly) break the rules if it means landing a USC-worthy player. The messed up thing is that there isn’t much Pete Carroll can do to prove, let alone prevent such things from happening.

Fortunately for Stafon and USC he’s been making his way up the depth chart, and may have a chance at a few carries this Saturday. While C.J. Gable is out with a nagging injury and Allen Bradford switching back and forth between defense and offense, Johnson is getting snaps with the second- and first-team as the third tailback behind Emanuel Moody and Chauncey Washington.

Here’s what Johnson – who like his unrelated namesake Keyshawn is a fellow Dorsey High alum – told the Los Angeles Times this week:

You've just got to be patient and let things come to you. … [After being put on the scout team] I was like, 'What is going on? What did I do? Am I good enough?' All those thoughts go through your head. … [USC coaches] just wanted 110% every play. No laying back, practicing like you play the game. … I went in there and looked at the film and started kind of seeing, 'Well, I could have finished right here. I could have done this right here, done that right there.’ There wasn't room for excuses anymore. As long as you do the things that you're supposed to do, you should have no problem. Everything else will fall into place.

Sounds like the kid is growing up and learning what it means to be a Trojan under Pete Carroll.

As for Tyrone, we love him, and we wish he were still a domer. But, he should realize there is plenty of talent to go around, especially when he’s used to dealing with mediocre players at schools with recently lowered expectations.

Regardless, here’s to knowing Stafon will continue his ascent and that he’ll do the right thing on Saturday by telling Tyrone that he is going nowhere … except perhaps with his Trojan Family to another BCS bowl game this season.

* Many Trojan fans would argue that the entirety of Wolfe’s coverage of USC Football is odd.
east coast bias

Great Trojans, Bad Parents

At some point in our adulthood – probably sometime in our 20s – we actually become adults and take complete responsibility for ourselves, regardless of whatever our parents may have done or not done to screw us up. We see a case in point this week, as one U-Dub Husky does his best to provide a few quotes for the Trojan bulletin board.

Apparently, Marlon Wood, son of former USC great Richard Wood, grew up hating the Trojans. Reared in Tampa, where his dad played for the Buccaneers, Wood rebelled when his mother and father rooted for USC. He became a fan of the Florida schools, but chose to play for U-Dub by way of Alabama State and Pasadena City College.

Here’s what Marlon told the Seattle Times and the Seattle PI this week:

If the game was on TV and [the Trojans] were playing Notre Dame, I would go out and buy a Notre Dame T-shirt and wear it around the house. I wanted them to lose. I never grew up a fan of [USC]. You could call it hatred. That's what it is.

Where’s the parental guidance here? Wood’s father, USC’s first three-time, first-team All-American and a member of two USC National Championship teams ('72, '74), supposedly steered his son away from football, thinking Marlon would have an easier road in another sport away from his father’s shadow. That’s nice, but it didn't work, and it doesn’t explain the kid’s “hatred” for USC. Perhaps you can blame geography, but that doesn’t fly with my three USC-loving kids living in Connecticut.

The bottom line is Richard Wood is a bad parent, at least as far as any USC fan is concerned. Truth is we’ve seen this before. Ryan Nece, son of Ronnie Lott, the greatest defensive back of all time, played linebacker for ugla a few years ago. I love Ronnie Lott, but we as Trojans can’t deny the obvious fact that he was a terrible parent, too.

Of course, Nece and Marlon Wood weren’t recruited by USC because they were never at the top of any high school recruiting list. During the Larry Smith downturn, USC gave away roster spots and scholarships like fraternity memberships. We had famous kids like Matt Butkus, son of Dick and the Loyola High buddy of back up QB Corby Smith, Larry’s son. Even O.J.’s son Jason Simpson was on the team back then. None of these kids saw any significant playing time, but they took the roster spot of those who could have.

That crap doesn’t happen under Pete Carroll. His son Nate, a senior WR/QB at Peninsula High last year isn’t on the team. And Ashton White, son of USC Heisman winner Charlie, is nowhere to be found. Most recently, Casey Matthews, son of Trojan great Clay Matthews, was not offered a scholarship and committed to Oregon, even as his brother Clay Jr. fights on as a worthy USC linebacker.

No doubt it must be tough on these former Trojan All-Americans when their kids don’t make the cut at USC, but it’s an entirely different thing for a USC kid to play for ugla or develop a “hatred” for our school. The lack of love and respect from within the Trojan Family is disturbing, and obviously the result of bad parenting.

The good news is that the football bounces both ways. Mark Tyler, a USC commit and a teammate of Matthews at Oaks Christian, is the son of former ugla and NFL star Wendell Tyler. The kid is now the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit according to ESPN, having moved up a spot to replace another Oaks Christian teammate (and future domer) Jimmy Clausen, who fell three spots to No. 4. Mark grew up rooting for and presumably wearing the “powder keg blue.” But he is coming to USC, and we welcome him to the family.

Of course, we as Trojans must now recognize Wendell Tyler as an awesomely good parent!

As for Marlon Wood let’s hope he comes to grips with what his father did to him as he enters actual adulthood over the next few years. Perhaps he’ll take full responsibility for his actions and realize that embracing his parents’ heritage is much more fulfilling than rebelling against it. Certainly, this point will be driven home to him this Saturday, when his team is beaten by his father’s alma mater.

Fight On! Beat the Huskies!
East coast bias

The SEC: Too Funny For Us

Not to state the obvious, but it is an established fact that USC Football is a nationally recognized power. In fact, we’ve been at or near the top for a while now, which means there are fans besides those in Westwood and South Bend who would like to see the Trojans fall.

This certainly includes haters from the SEC, and especially Auburn fans, who continue to express their false belief that the War Eagle (not the Boomer Schooner) deserved a chance to be embarrassed 55-19 in the National Championship 2005 Orange Bowl. Not to be denied, Florida Gators are getting into the mix, while Auburn fans also fret about the current USA Today Coaches and Harris Polls, as well as the pending BCS rankings.

It’s all well and good, not to mention entertaining, to see these SEC fans expose their inherent inferiority complexes while valiantly stating their case. That freaky geek LSUoverUSC is a classic, but there are many other examples popping up almost every week.

The best I’ve seen recently comes from the Tennessee blog Loser With Socks, which is full of some really funny stuff. The basic premise of this post is that these SEC fans have a few “retarded” traditions, some of which show them to be challenged by social strata. That’s all insulting enough, but the post also takes shots at Alabama’s enduring obsession with Bear Bryant and Tennessee’s “woo” in Rocky Top. These are my favorite parts of the post:

LSU country, while overpopulated with God-fearing, neo-fascist Republicans, reserves a special place in its heart for the Motherland - France. That's right. France. Don't let any of these ignorant buffoons attempt to explain it away. "Naw brotha. It ain't da France, it's Creole baby! Laissez les bon temps rouler!" Hey tardicus rex, that's French. … The problem is that an LSU meaux faux doesn't kneaux bordeaux from J-Leaux. ...

Kenny Irons, star running back and future biochemist, was asked in a recent interview about his favorite Auburn tradition. His response was more impressive than anything I could ever write: "The rolling of Toomer's Corner because I had never experienced anything so amazing in my life. When I came to Auburn I saw all these people huddled around this tree and I was like 'What is this?' You have all of these people and they have all of this toilet paper. They have soft toilet paper and every kind of toilet paper and they are throwing it at a tree. I was like 'Why are they throwing all of this toilet paper at a tree?'" … A fair question in my opinion.
Indeed. ...

The "pageantry" that [Ole Miss fans] boast of is nothing more than a grass field crammed with folding tables and cheap tents picked up at the local K-Mart. Nowhere on earth will you find a higher proportion of red Solo cups, celery sticks, and Chex Mix to humans. Be wary of their shallow claims of classiness - yes those are saltines, yes that is a plastic tablecloth, yes those are McDonald's chicken nuggets, and no that is not your secret recipe for ranch dressing because it says Hidden Valley on the bottle.

Ouch! Admittedly, I don’t quite get some of this, but I’m thinking it’s probably best that way. After all, there are plenty of things about USC football that SEC fans don’t understand, particularly our 17-10-1 record versus the conference, including four wins in a row against Auburn and Arkansas.

Regardless, we can't admit that the SEC has anything on USC, but thanks to Loser With Socks, we can safely say that SEC fans are certainly more “retarded” if not down right more entertaining than most of the Pac-10.

Fight On!
East coast bias

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

USC Post-Game: Cal Fans are Idiots

Another college football Saturday brings another win for USC Football. Sure, some Trojan fans are concerned because the game came down to the last play. But everyone needs to relax. USC has had plenty of tight games throughout the Carroll era, and with a young team like the one we have now, these games are character builders. Just ask Pete.

It’s all part of what has become standard practice in our Trojan World of college football. Like recognizing that the New York Times comes through every Sunday after a domer win to perpetuate and serve the east coast bias of its readers. Again, it’s sad (and irritating) the way New York’s “subway” fans follow nd because there is no real Division I football in the Tri-State area – although Rutgers thinks its getting close.

It’s bad enough that both the “New York” Giants and Jets share a stadium in Jersey. But what if the State College of New Jersey became the definition of big time college football in New York? That might actually be more pathetic than rooting for a team in a different time zone. But I digress …

One of the standard elements of the college football scene to re-emerge today is the stupidity of Cal fans. Yes, the University of California is a very good school with a certain west coast liberal place in 20th century history … but its football fans are idiots. Some examples I discovered on my own:

Before the 1994 Cal-USC game at the Coliseum, a small group of Cal student punk drunks surrounded me and my girlfriend (who eventually became my wife) and shouted, while spattering a mixture of spit and beer on us, “We’re gonna kick your asses today, man! Trojans are going down. You f**kin’ rubbers!”

Of course, USC won the game 61-0.

After we lost in overtime at Berkeley in 2003 (one of only two loses in USC’s last 51 games, both by just three points) a bunch of Cal drunk punks serenaded us as we walked out of their cracked stadium built on an earthquake fault: “No more No. 3 ranking, Trojans! No chance for a national championship anymore! You guys f**kin’ suck!

Of course, we ended the season ranked No. 1 in both the AP and coaches’ polls, and claimed our first national title of the Pete Carroll era.

The next year, before a close game that came down to the last play (sound familiar), a Cal fan sitting next to one of my buddies in the Coliseum said repeatedly, “This is the year, man. We’re gonna get you this time! This is the year.” What was this idiot talking about? Cal actually beat USC the year before.

Of course, he could have somehow known that USC would win another national title by the end of that season.

The latest Cal idiot emerged today – on the school’s official Scout.com Web site, no less. His name is Chris Avery, and he wrote a piece titled “USC now rated over Cal by just 6.6 points.” I’ll let him embarrass himself:

With two or three Pac-10 conference games played, the computer rankings published by Sagarin in USA Today begin to take on more meaning - and to confirm trends seen earlier. Changes from last week include some big plusses: Cal up by 2.6, UCLA up by 11.3, Oregon up by 5.1, and Washington up by 5.2.

But there were ranking losses too, decreases that incorporate the results of this last weekend's games. Losers included Arizona, down 2.5 points after their loss to middlin' Washington, and USC - in the biggest drop of the week - down 4 points to a definitely unspectacular new rating of 94.45 points.

(For the uninitiated, these point rankings are computed on a national basis to find the set of numbers that "best explain" the wins and losses so far. Best doesn't mean accurate - it just means that no other set of numbers can do any better to explain the results.)

This idiot goes on (and on) attempting to use Sagarin’s rankings to make a case for Pac-10 supremacy, while taking a shot at Stanford and trying to boost the hopes of Cal fans by pointing out that Tennessee, which blew out Cal in its opener, is now ranked “7.1 points lower” than Cal.

What the hell is this? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better (or worse) example of a nerd who follows a team with no tradition in college football trying to give some knowledge where there is none. I’ll take an overzealous SEC fan over this idiot any Saturday of the year.

As for Sagarin’s rankings, he’s had USC No. 1 in the nation since the beginning of the season, so we can’t give him too much grief, at least not at this point in the year.

We can however call out Mr. Avery and request that someone proverbially hang him up by his underwear in the locker room ... but perhaps that’s already been done.
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