Bumped - P

As I sit here watching (for some reason) the UConn-Cincy game, where both teams are racking up roughly one bazillion yards in penalties, I had a thought about USC's penalties this season. Specifically, how few of them we seemed to have compared to past years. I was curious how we ranked in the Pac-12 in penalty yards, so I looked it up.

USC finished first in the Pac-12 in penalty yards, with 50.0 per game. Utah finished second with 53.4. Very cool. Yet another sign that the ad hominem Lane Kiffin haters are off base. Kiffin's team is playing disciplined football. And this despite breaking in three new starters on the offensive line (and testing out two other guards as starters), moving a guard in to center, and playing a ton of freshmen on both sides of the ball.

But what's really interesting is our national ranking. First in the Pac-12 is good for 61st overall. And where do the other Pac-12 teams come in?

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via grfx.cstv.com

USC has now won seven times since the USC-UCLA Gauntlet was introduced in 2001, capped by a streak of four in a row.  UCLA's name has been stamped on the trophy just three times, most recently in 2007.

Women's Golf clinched the trophy with a first place finish in the Pac-10 Championship, finishing five strokes ahead of second-place Arizona and nine strokes ahead of UCLA.  Freshman (!) Sophia Popov won the individual Pac-10 title.  USC won despite the loss of star junior Lisa McCloskey to injury on the final day.  McCloskey's absence meant the team could not drop their lowest score, but in classic Trojan fashion, our ladies won anyway.  

We still have a month of hopeful waiting until the ladies attempt a national championship run:  NCAA Regionals are held May 5-7, with NCAA Championships in College Station, Texas from May 17 through May 20.

More after the jump: 

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Bumped - JK

It would appear he runs the official UCLA Band Twitter.

I usually don't run around poking fun at folks, but I stumbled upon their feed and after being completely shocked at how unprofessional their actual institutional twitter page was, I started laughing and had to share it with everyone.  I used to feel like the belligerent, self-absorbed blogs like BN were just a vocal, obsessed minority of UCLA fans.  Over the last year I've learned that those attitudes are really what most UCLA fans are about.  Their feelings of hatred and self-loathing appear to be endemic.  Have a good laugh; you can sense the massive inferiority complex bubbling under the surface.

Honestly, $C's band just picked random crowd pleasing songs and then butchered them.  We went with the Muse theme for consistency and played it well.  We like to stay professional instead of pandering.  

Tough game, but we all know which band played better.

Sorry, we assumed most people had heard of Muse since they're one of the top bands in the country.

The $C band is finally marching out! Time for us to tend to our bleeding ears.

$C's band has to play songs that the audience knows the words to to cover up the fact that they don't know the notes.

Count on the $C marching band to mangle some of our favorite songs beyond recognition.

It is a beautiful thing to be hated.  You can follow the Trojan Marching Band on twitter here.

FIGHT ON!

Bumped - JK

Another set of fliers went up on Heritage Hall today, I thought you guys would appreciate it:

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An Oregon State University football player has been dismissed from the team following an arrest early Sunday morning.

Tyler Patrick Thomas, 19, of Kalispell, Mont., was arrested on charges of first-degree criminal trespass, second-degree criminal mischief and resisting arrest.

According to information from the Corvallis Police Department, at about 4:51 a.m., police were called to 519 N.W. 14th Street after a 32-year-old woman reported there was a naked man in the upstairs office of her residence.

When officers arrived, they ordered him to get on the ground several times, but he refused.

Then Thomas, who had reportedly been drinking, got into a "three-point stance" and lunged at the officers, who Tased him.

 

I'm just going to put together the pieces on this one and you can draw your own conclusions.

On August 2, the Orlando Sentinel reported:

Miami’s Thearon Collier could have played his last game as a Hurricane.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Collier will not participate when fall camp starts on Thursday and will not be a part of the Hurricanes this season.

The report says that Miami has informed the wide receiver that he would be released from his scholarship if he chooses to transfer. He has also been told he can still take classes but won’t be a part of the team.

Thearon Collier was a three star wide receiver recruit in the class of 2008.  Last year he began to emerge as a valuable special teams player, becoming the first Hurricane to return two punts for touchdowns in one season since 2004.  Here's one of them:

(HD) Thearon Collier takes a punt to the house vs Virginia (11.07.09) (via rusty98um11)

Four hours ago, Collier posted this on his Facebook page:

JUST MADE MY FINAL DECISION I'LL BE FINISHING MY COLLEGE DEGREE AND FOOTBALL CAREER AT (USC) L.A.

Seems a little out of the blue.  What do you think?

Interviewer:  ...Yet, honestly, they could beat Oregon, I mean Oregon's the team at the top of the Pac 10.

Sanchez:  I still don't think they'll lose a game.  I don't think they'll lose a game.

Interviewer:  You think they're gonna run the table?

Sanchez:  I really don't think they'll lose a game.  I think Barkley's coming into his sophomore year, he learned so much last year, he's gonna have Coach Kiff with him, calling plays, it's gonna be- Kennedy Pola's back, they've got running backs coming out the ears, they've got receivers that can ball; they're gonna be sick, just like ever.

You can listen to the interview here.

via www.mrisports.com

The NCAA posted a full schedule of all the FCS vs FBS matchups this coming season, and the list is enough to thoroughly aggravate any USC fan.  I've long been a proponent of the idea that you should be able to schedule whoever you want, but if you don't play 12 games against teams in your own league, no BCS bowls for you.  Teams shouldn't be able to schedule a free win against a grossly inferior team, generally at home, and say they played a national championship season.  If the bookies in Vegas won't even take bets on the game because it's statistically impossible for you to lose, you didn't play a game, you held a scrimmage.  Now teams in major conferences are scheduling two FCS teams!?  Are you freaking kidding me!?

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Jamie Newberg, a dude I'm not totally familiar with, has an article that supplies such much-needed good news for the Trojans: recruits aren't defecting. At least not yet.

Antwaun Woods, ESPNU150 DT, doesn't care:

"I heard about it last night," Woods said. "I've been thinking about it all day. But it will only affect me for one year and I still have my redshirt year. I'm still a strong commit though. I know we still have a chance and it's not over. But I'm real passionate about USC and we're not going to let anything get in our way."

QBs Max Wittek and Cody Kessler are both in:

"It's not going to affect my commitment," Wittek said. "I'm going to stick by it and still feel very much at home with USC."

When Kessler was asked if the ruling affected his commitment to the Trojans, he simply texted "No it doesn't!"

WR Victor Blackwell and LB Tre Madden aren't going anywhere.

Blackwell and linebacker Tre Madden (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) also said they are sticking with their USC commitments. So on the surface, things appear to be in good standing with their commitments.

No word from DeAnthony Thomas--I'm interesed to see what he has to say.  And there's a long ways left to go.  Still, some positive signs.

The Great Oregon Football Crime Wave of 2010 appears to have spread thirty minutes up I-5 to Oregon State.

It will have been just two months ago this Wednesday since University of Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli pled guilty to second-degree burglary and was suspended for the entire 2010 season, bringing to an end a seemingly endless series of  Oregon football players getting into off-field trouble.

Since then, the rival Oregon State program has seen its own explosion of mischief.  Former Beavers QB Lyle Moevao, former OLB Keaton Kristick and current DT Brennan Olander were arraigned in court last Wednesday for going on a joy ride on a OSU athletic department golf cart and dinging it up a bit, behavior that would probably get you a stern talking-to on most other campuses. 

However, four other Beavers have also gotten into trouble with the law, bringing the total to seven in the past month.  The most recent of these is QB Peter Lalich, who was competing for the starting job this spring.  You might remember Lalich as the starter for Virginia in the 2008 season opener against the Trojans (USC won 52-7).  Lalich is charged with a Boating DUI at Lake Shasta over Mother's Day weekend, a crime that might not ordinarily be enough to see a player kicked off the team.  Unfortunately for Lalich, his situation isn't ordinary.

Lalich was kicked off the Virginia team in 2008 just a few weeks after the USC game for admitting that he was still drinking, a violation of his probation, which was the result of a July 13, 2008 unlawful purchase and possession charge.  Oregon State coach Mike Riley accepted Lalich as a transfer with the understanding that there would be serious consequences if Lalich "messed up" again.  Lalich has messed up again, and could quite possibly be kicked off yet another team.

Paul Buker from The Oregonian's take.

-Rabbit