USC-San Jose State: 5 Things Recap

Here is a recap of USC's 56-3 blowout of San Jose State on Saturday, through the lens of my 5 things to watch for post on Friday.

1. Who gets the early carries?

Matt Barkley put on a good opening act, but Saturday was all about Joe McKnight. The junior tailback got the early carries, and even more importantly, continued to get carries after coughing it up for the umpteenth time in his USC career.

Pete Carroll appears more than willing to put up with McKnight's fumbling woes, which should be as concerning to Trojans fans as McKnight's dazzling second touchdown dash was promising.

2. Will Bates be all about balance?

This might have more to do with No. 3 than anything else, but new offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates was content giving the majority of touches to USC's stable of tailbacks.

Running the ball worked, so Bates ran with it. You have to expect that will be the Trojans' strength moving forward, so we'll call the game one play-calling a plus.

3. Will everything be kept under wraps?

Yes. The reason? Nothing special had to be done to stomp all over the Spartans.

As the commentators said in the fourth quarter, "USC is running no more than five plays."

Just as Carroll and Bates planned it.

4. Can David Ausberry be a threat?

The jury is still out on this one. He wasn't needed Saturday, and thus, this is still a major question for USC.

5. How hard will Taylor Mays try to get a pick?

It was entertaining watching Mays after the whistle had sounded. I think he patted just about every San Jose State player on the butt. Twice.

This being Mays' fourth season, he probably understood more than his younger teammates that the game was little more than a glorified scrimmage.

We'll see how Mays approaches the Buckeyes next week.

USC-San Jose State: 5 Things to Watch For

My Coliseum press box days are behind me, but I figure I still have a little armchair QB left in me.

My biggest gripe with USC football during the four years I was there was the lack of exciting football games. My freshman year definitely had its share (opening with 70-17 over Arkansas, finishing with Vince Young's confetti parade and staging the Bush Push in between), but after that point... well, I suppose there was the Chauncey Washington-Justin Forsett duel at Cal.

Truth be told, the most exciting games were USC's losses. Mark Sanchez's failed comeback attempt at Oregon in 2007 was a great game to watch. My most memorable moment as Daily Trojan Sports Editor was standing in the northeast corner of the Coliseum field as Tavita Pritchard connected with Mark Bradford on 4th and 9.

Heartbreaking proof that silence truly is deafening.

Looking at the schedule this year, you'd think the Trojans are due for some barn-burners. Just remember, the same was said two years ago.

At the very least, USC fans will have to wait until the Ohio State game to really get the blood flowing. So until then, here are five things to watch for in Saturday's game:

1. Who gets the early carries?

C.J. Gable started nearly every game for USC last year. It's a good trivia fact because he was hardly the feature back - many games, he'd trot off the field after the first snap or carry.

But Pete Carroll has always been fairly routine when it comes to tailback reps. Last year it was Gable, then Joe McKnight, then Stafon Johnson.

Every tailback will probably get carries Saturday, but expect some "rotational symmetry" in future games.

2. Will Bates be all about balance?

Former offensive coordinators Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian were all about balance - to a point where you wondered what was more important: scoring points or presenting a balanced offensive attack?

If you've run the ball three consecutive times for 15, 14 and 35 yards, respectively, then the next move is obviously to throw the ball.

Balance, people, balance.

New OC Jeremy Bates has an NFL pedigree; and the NFL is a league where balance means very little. You go with what works.

We'll see if he makes USC a true "pro-style" offense.

3. Will everything be kept under wraps?

If you think back to recent non-marquee OOC games, the Trojans have been pretty damn boring. And in almost every case, they had a big-name opponent waiting in the wings.

USC knows it can beat San Jose State straight up, and pretty handily at that. It'll be interesting to see if any new tweaks are unveiled.

Matt Barkley in the shotgun airing it out deep to Brice Butler?

Don't count on it.

4. Can David Ausberry be a threat?

I'm sick of all this "Ausberry has potential" talk. Implied in the word "potential" is the idea that you haven't reached your expected peak.

Ausberry was the talk of camp two years ago, with fans oozing about his impressive practice outings.

Yes, we're talkin' 'bout practice.

Until he shows up in a game, I'm not sold.

5. How hard will Taylor Mays try to get a pick?

The secret's out. Mays even said it himself in a recent LA Times article by Gary Klein: His hands are spotty.

Everyone, including NFL scouts, knows that Mays can hit. Hard.

What we don't know is whether Mays can catch.

It'll be interesting to see if Mays shifts his focus from blowing receivers up to stealing their lunch.

The pick

USC 31, San Jose State 3

Pete Carroll does it, and so should you!

My latest Daily Trojan musings...
***

Remember when the blog bubble had supposedly burst?

Today, type the word “blogosphere” in Microsoft Word and you won’t even get a red line underneath.

Blog saturation, especially in the sports world, has reached the point where some might call it cliché to start typing away. Heck, there are even blogs about blogs — look no further than SI.com’s wildly popular Hot Clicks.

The latest trend is for athletes and other prominent figures in the sports world to skip the media and write straight to the fan. Wizards star Gilbert Arenas started the fad with his “Agent Zero: Blog File” on NBA.com in 2006. Curt Shilling, Greg Oden, Mark Cuban and a host of others followed.

It was only a matter of time before USC’s Mr. Social Media, Pete Carroll, followed suit. You know, the guy with his own website and the coolest Facebook profile around.

I’m expecting tweets from him any day now.

For those not clued in, Carroll used the blog on USCripsIt.com to explain why soon-to-be NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez made the wrong decision by leaving school early.

Many called it impersonal, an unnecessary jab.

I call it honest.

After all, isn’t that what the blogosphere is all about? Unfiltered opinion without regard for AP style — it’s you, on a webpage.

The element of honesty is what made Carroll’s Web 2.0 diatribe refreshing, even if it was a bit childish.

USC, after all, boasts some of the more media-polished students and coaches in the NCAA universe. Rarely do you hear about the Freudian slips that so often frequent the SportsCenter airwaves.

Thus, Carroll’s words also left me smirking at the thought of a hypothetical USC Athletics blog network. Call it a too-good-to-be-true look into the real stories and thoughts behind the players and coaches who run the Trojan machine.

Here’s a sampling of the most popular blogs:

Hard(wood) Knocks, by Percy Miller
Life at the end of the bench is crazy, man. I’ve had a ton of time to come up with rhymes and hooks, just in case this whole basketball thing doesn’t work out. Take last weekend’s game at Washington for example:

Fifty seconds left, we down by 10;
The crowd screamin’ out, “Yo, Floyd, put him in!”

I get the magic look before a free throw;
Who cares about the shot? Just say ROM-E-O.

The second shot hits rim, and we get the ball back;
I’m at midcourt, ready to go on the attack.

But Hackett drains a 3 and the lead is cut to six;
Not this again — man, he’s wasting my ticks!

Now we have a shot, but my shot’s gone;
I’m gonna stay on the bench until tha break of dawn.

I’m stranded at midcourt, Husky screams abound;
Coach points me back, back to the dog pound.

I know I’m good — I’m at the top of my game;
Basketball is my skill, Romeo is my name.

I’ll get my chance to make opponents frozen;
To show I’m not just the dude that came with DeRozan.

The High Road, by Mark Sanchez
I really have no need to express my discontent with Coach Carroll to his face. After all, he’s not my coach anymore.

(Snicker.)

Sorry, Coach. I love you, man, but right now, I’ve got the last word.

The Waltz, by Matt Leinart
Aloha from Tampa.

I know that’s a Hawaiian greeting, but hey, just as I’ve always said — football is constantly on my mind, and I know I’ll make it to the Pro Bowl in Honolulu some day.

In the mean time, I’m sippin’ on margaritas and hot tubbin’ with fine ladies. Soon, I’ll get to watch my boy, Kurt Warner, shred the Steelers in the Super Bowl.

And oh yeah, I’m making a cool $8.5 million for holding a clipboard while wearing some pads.

How’s that ballroom dancing looking now?

The Economy of (NCAA) Sports, by Chad Kreuter
Being the USC baseball coach used to mean you’d have a chance to coach the best ball players around.

Now? Now being the USC baseball coach means I have to manage a freakin’ salary cap. I thought this was supposed to be collegiate athletics?

I only get so many scholarships to give to my guys. Schools like Stanford — no surprise they are rated in the top five again this season — can afford to give every kid from a family that makes under $100K a year a free ride. And that DOESN’T count against the school’s athletic scholarship count.

So tell me — how am I supposed to field a team of the same caliber? USC is a great institution, but when it comes down to the bare bones, it costs more than $50K to go here for one year.

Free tuition, public school tuition (LSU, UNC and Georgia are also in the top five) or USC tuition — which would you choose if you weren’t offered an athletic scholarship?

I’m still damn proud of my guys and of this program. But championships are a thing of the past.

The Prince, by Jovan Vavic
As USC’s water polo master, I often ask myself, “Is it better to be feared or loved?”

Doesn’t 29-0 speak for itself? Score one for fear. Right on, Machiavelli.

The Flop, by Daniel Hackett
I flopped twice today — two calls!

That’s 100 percent, baby.

**
Ah, how enjoyable USC’s media world would be if everyone maintained a blog.

So who wants in? I’m sure Pete will have your back.

Stop predicting Mark Sanchez's future

You don’t know that much about Mark Sanchez.

Don’t take it from me. Look at all the journalists and talking heads who have proclaimed just that in wondering whether Sanchez made the right decision by declaring early for the NFL draft.

Take it from USC coach Pete Carroll, who said that NFL scouts only have 16 games to choose from, and that 16 isn’t a large enough number to mitigate the high risk associated with draft picks worth millions.

Take it from L.A. Times columnist Bill Plaschke, who echoed the fact-backed belief that quarterbacks who only start for one season rarely become successful pros.

You don’t know that much about Mark Sanchez.

So then, why is he almost universally regarded as one of the two best quarterbacks in the draft? Someone must know something the rest of us don’t.

Or, more simply, none of us know enough to make the statements and predictions we so often do.

What I do know is that Sanchez is a great guy and a solid football player with a lot of potential. He had a few dazzling performances and a few more mediocre games. He led USC to a 12-1 record and a Rose Bowl title. Probability tells us that he likely would have become a better quarterback by staying at USC one more year. He once wore a Mexican flag mouthguard. Chicks dug him.

What I don’t know is how Sanchez will fare as an NFL quarterback — arguably the toughest position in all of professional sports.

Sure, as Carroll correctly noted, the majority of quarterbacks who leave school early do not pan out. But can’t the same be said of any group of quarterbacks?

There are only 32 possible starters in the NFL, and maybe 10 to 12 of them can be considered successful at any given time. You can name more draft busts than you can great quarterbacks of the past 10 years.

Akili Smith, anyone? Cade McNown? David Carr? Joey Harrington?

All seniors. It didn’t matter when they left for the NFL.

You can play the numbers game and postulate all you want, but in the world of professional sports, there are always multiple exceptions to the rule.

For every panned early entrant like Davon Jefferson, there is a panned early entrant like Chilo Rachal who surprised many in his rookie season.

For every one of John Daly’s failed comeback attempts, there is an improbable comeback success like Josh Hamilton.

Brett Favre probably should have stayed retired. Kurt Warner definitely should have kept playing.

After the 2004 season, USC linebacker Lofa Tatupu declared early for the NFL Draft. Carroll addressed Tatupu’s departure along with the news that Matt Leinart, among others, was coming back for his senior season.

“We didn’t hit on all cylinders like we would have liked to because we are going to miss Lofa Tatupu,” Carroll said.

As Sports Illustrated’s Austin Murphy pointed out this week, Tatupu has only gone to three Pro Bowls in three seasons, which recently netted him a contract worth $42 million.

The news that Rachal was leaving early surprised many. The two-year starter did not consult Carroll before making his decision to turn pro, which “disappointed” Carroll, according to several sources.

Although Rachal wasn’t selected until the second round, he earned a starting spot on San Francisco’s offensive line by week 12.

Even Leinart’s fall from sure-fire No. 1 pick to being taken at No. 10 one year later can’t yet be fully evaluated. Would you rather be 5-27 as a starter for the Niners or the Lions, in a situation not even Superman could resurrect, or be backing up Super Bowl-bound Kurt Warner, and set to take the reins of a team boasting the best receiving corps in recent memory?

And boy, Matt Cassel sure had an extensive body of work when the Patriots took a flier on him in 2005.

The point is you really can’t project success based on one, two, three or even zero seasons of college work.

No matter how sophisticated the technology gets, how smart the scouts get or how savvy the players get, someone will end up looking like a fool once Mr. Right flops.

According to Carroll, Sanchez didn’t “take advantage of all the opportunity” USC football bore. For those who listened closely, Carroll also resisted any predictions on what type of NFL quarterback Sanchez would turn out to be.

What’s evident is that Sanchez will soon have the opportunity to become the fourth NFL quarterback from USC to start a game in the past two years.

All had the same opportunities at USC, and all made different on their opportunities at the next level.

Where Sanchez will fall in relation to his fellow Trojan QBs is anyone’s guess. Let’s be content to leave it at that.

Remnants of yesterday's dinner

A few follow-up notes to my last post concerning the BCS-induced plight of the USC fan (and thanks to Mallory Rubin for linking me on SI.com's Campus Clicks):

1. Utah, admittedly, has a better argument than USC. The Utes beat everyone on their schedule - a schedule that included three (maybe four) ranked teams at season's end - and that should be enough.

And by the way, Utah is now tied for the seventh most wins in BCS history. The schools above Utah read: USC (6), OSU (4), LSU (4), Florida (3), Texas (3) and Miami (3).

Easy to forget that Ohio State once ruled the BCS, isn't it?

2. Texas had a nice season - I never said otherwise - but the last week has not been kind to the Longhorns. Two of Texas' so-called marquee wins (Oklahoma State and Missouri) are no longer marquee - let's compare them to USC beating Oregon and Arizona.

And no, you will not convince me that Ohio State is somehow drastically better it was when it lost 13-6 to Penn State a few months ago. Don't bother.

Texas did beat Oklahoma, which is something only a select few teams could do this season, but any team with a defense ranked in the 60s is vulnerable.

At this point, USC is playing better than Texas. No arguments about schedule strength can overcome this. Maybe a month ago. Not now.

3. Oklahoma and Florida might be the nation's two best teams, but at this point we have absolutely no way of knowing. This was my main argument.

Should USC (or Utah) be playing Thursday night? Based on how things looked a month ago, no. And that's the problem.

Which brings me to...

4. The BCS has solidified its stance as the biggest waster of time, space, air and money in the history of sports.

As the final comment to my last post read, "It's a sham." Well said.

It's been 10 years now and the college football world is no closer to a solution than it was back in the boy band heyday.

When you really think about it, people stop spewing off about a hotbutton issue if they believe it will be resolved or modified in the near future. After all, playing "wait and see" is much easier than playing "listen to me, I can fix it."

That's precisely why the BCS continues to dominate column inches (and pixels) at this time of year. The end is nowhere in site, and thus, the voices growl.

This year's USC will be next year's somebody else. Unless of course that somebody else is USC. Can't say it hasn't happened before...

BCS games no help for plagued USC fans

Another BCS game, another reason for Trojans fans to bury their heads in their hands.

At this point, after three years of what if, USC fans would almost rather point at the national champion and say, "Damn good team. You deserve it."

After all, such a statement would relieve them of the constant belief that their team is, in fact, the real No. 1. Sounds like a petty burden to most, but three years of Big Ten-bashing, BCS-stifling Januaries can drive a man insane.

Tonight's Ohio State-Texas matchup solidified the notion that whoever wins the so-called BCS National Championship Game can't honestly claim to be the no-buts-about-it national champion.

And thus, the USC fan's anxiety lives to see another year.

Ohio State ran all over the Longhorns to the tune of 200+ rushing yards. This was a Buckeyes offense, mind you, that looked downright awful against USC and Penn State during the regular season.

Still, QB Terrelle Pryor couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a pass, and RB Beanie Wells sat out most of the game's crucial minutes. Yet, there the Buckeyes were, scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns in what should have been an impressive comeback victory.

Nevermind that Texas scored in the final minute to win. Nobody will say Texas should be voted No. 1 anymore. Not when it struggled mightily against an OSU team that lost 35-3 to USC and 13-6 to Penn State (at home).

It was also a Texas team that played the creamiest of cream puff non-conference schedules, lost to Texas Tech and barely beat Oklahoma State - the latter two games involving teams which were exposed in the season's final month.

And I don't even need to get into Alabama. The 'Tide were softer than the Charmin baby's butt in their embarrassing BCS loss to Utah.

But the headline is bigger than No. 4 losing and No. 3 looking terribly vulnerable.

The headline is that No. 1 and No. 2 are ranked as such because of No. 3 and No. 4.

Florida's only truly impressive opponent was Alabama. Or so we thought.

Oklahoma was judged to have a better resume than Texas. How 'bout that Longhorns resume now?

Florida and Oklahoma are deserving football teams, don't get me wrong, but if the final BCS vote were held today, well...

Let's just say USC fans might not have to live in such agony. (That is, of course, unless Utah stepped in, which would be all too fitting.)

And if the basic arguments aren't enough, consider some more facts:

USC thrashed Penn State, 38-24. Penn State dominated 9-4 Oregon State, and its only loss was by one point to Iowa, which won six of its final seven games, smucked South Carolina in its bowl game, and lost four games by a combined 11 points.

USC embarrassed Ohio State, 35-3. Texas made the Buckeyes offensive attack (yes, even without Beanie Wells) look downright bullish.

USC beat Oregon 44-10. This is the same Ducks team that scored 162 points in its final three games against bowl winners Arizona and Oregon State, and a supposedly reputable Oklahoma State. Oregon's three losses were to Boise State, USC and Cal, which will all finish the season ranked. The latter two games were on the road.

USC's schedule included seven bowl teams, five ranked teams at season's end and five bowl winners (should have been six, Ohio State).

USC won the Pac-10 - the conference with the best bowl record
(5-0). The Pac-10 bowl teams beat four other ranked teams plus Miami.

And lastly, USC lost to Oregon State, which lost to eventual top-15 teams Utah (13-0), Oregon (10-3) and Penn State (11-2). Its only bad loss was to Stanford (5-7), and that was in August.

In case you missed it (which you probably did), the week after the Beavers took down USC, they held an 11-point lead with less than two minutes to go on the road against Utah. Had they beaten the Utes, the Trojans might still be waiting to play their bowl game.

I'm the Daily Trojan sportswriter most critical of USC, but when the facts are there, the facts are there.

At the very least, this year's BCS might save USC fans from repeat agony next season. Until then, they can look at this picture of Stanford receiver Mark Bradford and cry themselves to sleep.

Pac-10 goes 5-0. Universal finger pointing begins.

I told you so.

Media says, "Perhaps it was the media's fault." Note the use of "media" rather than "my."

USC, Cal and Oregon State: 16-3 since 2002 in bowl games.

And the Pac-10's annual battle against perception commences...

The Pac-10 has not had a losing bowl season since 2002. For the math deficient, that's 5-straight .500 or better postseasons.

For a league almost universally perceived as weak, that's not bad.

But it's not good enough, either.

No, for the only BCS conference to test itself in preseason games and then play a true regular season round robin (the Big East doesn't count as BCS), nothing seems to be good enough.

It's USC and the nine step-sisters.

High-octane offenses and single-gear defenses.

The domain of Washington and Washington State.

Everyone has an opinion, but as is normally the case with East Coast-based criticisms of West Coast teams, the opinions are rarely substantiated.

And they don't need to be - networks and writers know that most of the country will agree with them.

Arizona began the Pac-10's 2008 postseason tonight by soundly beating No. 17 BYU, 31-21. For any knowledgable football fan, the result was no surprise. I'm sure Vegas odds-makers, who had the 'Cats at -3, were salivating at the fact that enough fans out there thought the Cougars were the better team.

BYU got clobbered by its two strongest opponents, Utah and TCU, and were an absurdly terrible officiating call away from going into overtime against now infamously 0-12 Washington.

Arizona, on the other hand, finished 7-5 in a deeper conference after losing to the Pac-10's three top teams by 7, 10 and 2, respectively. Oh yeah, Arizona has a better quaterback and a tougher defense, too.

Hmm.

So it goes for the Pac-10. At worst, the league should go 4-1 in its five bowl games this year, and it has a great shot at going 5-0. There's no doubt the conference's bottom tier (UW, WSU, ASU, UCLA) was down this year, but why should that mean the Pac-10 as a whole is subpar?

You'd think 4-1 or 5-0 would be enough to raise perceptions of the league to the point where more teams would populate the 2009 preseason poll.

You'd think so. But if five-straight years haven't done the trick, maybe logic just doesn't play a leading role.