Don't you just hate that. You're starving but the girlfriend wouldn't let you eat anything on the way to the restaurant because it might "spoil your appetite." Bah! So you get there and your girlfriend's best friend's stupid date forgot to make reservations so you're spending the first half hour of couples night waiting to be seated.

You spend the next half hour smiling, nodding, and acting like you're having a good time. On top of that, you just nod at whatever the stupid guy who forgot to make reservations is saying as he tries to make it seem like he knows a lot about sports, but really outside of Tom Brady whom he seems to have a secret man crush for, he really can't name another player in the NFL.

So finally your pager thing vibrates, you breathe a sigh of relief and decided that once seated at the table you'd rather take part in the women's girly talk rather than listen to this "guy" talk about sports and soccer. Finally waitress takes everyones order. You got the biggest steak they have and stupid "guy" eventually makes a decision whether he'll get the soup or salad.

One hour has passed and still no food, but plenty of boring conversation.

Then finally the food comes. Your girlfriend gets a gigantic chicken salad and she will probably eat your fries. Her BFF gets some other form of "healthy" salad, and she will probably stare at your steak all night. Girly man gets his side of house salad to go w/ his smoke salmon that matches the color of his man blouse. Finally... Finally the server puts your plate in front of you and its.... its.... 

Well it doesn't matter. It's not what your ordered. It's nothing close to what you wanted. It's nothing close to what you would consider to be edible. You are mad... and very hungry. So you yell out loud in frustration, "THIS IS NOT WHAT I ORDERED!!!"

Anyway, that's how I feel about former USC star, Reggie Bush. What happened to the next Gale Sayers? I remember the year he came out everyone talked about how he would make Sportscenters' Top 10 every week. He has shown some flashes, but that's all it is. He is no Adrian Peterson, and I'm sad to say he is not even a Pierre Thomas.

I'm not a big stat guy so you can look it up and see what I'm talking about. Last night was a sad night. My opponent in my 1st Fantasy Football League had Pierre Thomas on his team. I had Reggie Bush. Boy who would've seen this coming? I got burned.

I didn't get what I ordered. I'm hungry. The fans of New Orleans are hungry too. While they may not have gotten exactly what they ordered and expected, they at least have Pierre Thomas to satisfy their hunger. Based on last night's game, Reggie Bush is no filet mignon compared to Pierre Thomas.

I still remember a little over a year and a half ago when I was still working for a very big bank. I was sitting at an office lobby for a business appointment. While I sat there checking my numbers on my PDA, I was also watching the news on a plasma tv they had in the lobby. A so called expert on the news made a bold statement saying, "we have hit the bottom and it's only going to go up from here." He made that statement because the DOW bounced back and had a gain of about 200 points that day. 

I remember laughing at that guy the next morning as I was getting dress for work as I saw the market drop at the opening bell. I said to myself, "expert! riiight." The market has dropped even more since and things are a lot worse than many had expected. So that so called expert was dead wrong. 

Now, I'm not questioning his intelligence at all. He was referred to as an expert surely due to his high level of education and very successful career. But still, his "expert" opinion was absolutely wrong. After days of huge losses in the market, he finally saw a big rebound and proclaimed the market to be on it's way up. He did what the people who make up the college polls do every season after every game - he reacted.

Now all these so called football "experts" say one team is the best. Then they get blown out and just like that their entire opinion of that team completely changes? Penn State who they were ready to send to the National Championship game all the sudden gets dropped? USC who they all proclaim to be the best team in the nation is all the sudden not even worthy of being the 4th or 5th best? Remember how before the season started all these "experts" said Georgia is the absolute best team in the country. Well what happened? What's their ranking now? 13th? Well gee whiz I can understand a small boo boo but you're way off.

This is why I laugh at the guys on the news who make a new prediction each and everyday. This is also why I can't take these weekly polls in college football seriously. It's just their latest reaction to what happened. All their logic and reasoning from the week before that they put their reputation in the line for just completely goes out the window.

What I really hate is when they say USC will probably beat anyone, but they can't vote them that high because the Sooners lost to the Longhorns and the Trojans lost to the BEAVERS! Riiiiight.

 

I still remember the good ol' days of selling my college books from the previous quarter. They won't make me any money sitting on a shelf and I sure as hell won't sell it back to the bookstore so they can give me $50 so they can turn around and sell it to another student for three times that amount. Besides, I had two things going for me. One, I have great personality. Two, my books were good as new. In some cases, they were brand new since I never even read the book. So I would spend the first day of school running to the different classes where my old books would be of use and sell them to the highest bidder. It worked out great. It meant reinvesting mom and dad's money to something other than education. 

Anyway as I sat in my office today thinking about college, I started thinking about my economics class. I honestly spent more time playing that Snake game on my old Nokia phone instead of paying attention in class, but I do slightly remember something about the principle of maximization. He explained by talking referring to the number of cooks in the kitchen. One cook outputs a certain amount. Hiring a second cook doubles that amount. Then eventually hiring more cooks just means you have people getting in the way and the increase of output per cook decreases and so you're no longer maximizing your results. I translated that to real life college terms to pass the test. Beer #1 makes me feel good. Beer #2 makes me feel better. Beer #3 makes me feel great. Then it hits the point where beer #4,5, or 6 really have no effect and I could've stopped spending money at Beer #3. Yes I was a light weight.

Well now that the football season is just about over and as we begin to focus our attention towards recruiting I can't help but think about this lesson in economics. Pete Carroll has been a master at recruiting. He's like a copier sales man who sold 10 new xerox machines to a paperless company. (the ice to eskimo analogy is old) In 2006, PC was able to attract the likes of Stafon Johnson, Moody, and CJ Gable. They are all great RBs in their own right. The following year, in the same class, USC landed the #1 and #2 ranked RBs in the NATION with JoeMac and Marc with a C. In addition, they landed Broderick Green who has been my favorite of the three. 

Do we really need all those great running backs? Well in many ways yes, and in some ways no. In today's game, the two back system has been very effective. Stafon Johnson and CJ Gable have both been very effective. One brings speed and the other brings a lot of power. Having Joe Mcknight thrown in to the mix gives us a back with an added dimension to add even more production in our backfield. Plus, if helps us deal with potential injuries by having a 3rd top caliber back. Now this is where our lesson in economics come in. Is having so many more high caliber backs standing in the sidelines hurting our overall output? Do we simply have too many cooks in the kitchen or in this case too many running backs in the backfield.

There's a lot of of talk about the running backs not really getting in rhythm because of the constant substitution. Back in the Reggie and Lendale days, the other backs wouldn't really get on the field unless it was garbage time. So Lendale and Reggie got in rhythm and became the Thunder and Lightning combo that we all miss. Are our current backs not able to maximize their production because of having too many in the rotation. If we stuck to CJ and Stafon, would we have better overall production in the offense?

Another good question is whether or not USC is able to maximize its success with having so many "cooks in the kitchen." USC has not been able to attract any top rated backs in a couple years. I understand that we really don't need it so USC hasn't really aggressively recruited anyone. But in the long term... The big picture. It just doesn't look good to have so many top recruits leave the program to transfer somewhere else. 

I didn't care to mention Vidal Hazelton in any of my posts because he has been a disappointment. He had a great year last year, but let the other receivers outwork and outshine him this year. Vidal was a #1 ranked WR when he came out of high school. He was ranked ahead of Percy Harvin. Now him leaving, to me, leaves another bad impression.

So back to my question. Is USC maximizing its production with having so many star recruits in each position? Are the transfers going to hurt USC in the future? Would CJ and Stafon be better of if there was less of Joe? If I were in my microeconomics class would this be the classic example of having too many cooks in the kitchen?

I know this. Sanchez and Mustain were #1s. Vidal and Patrick were #1s. Our running backs were all HS All Americans. But when I turn on Sportscenter and watch the highlights and the top plays and listen to Heisman chatter, I never hear a Trojan in the conversation.  

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Well I didn't wake up with the desire to really lay it on someone, but if I did I wasn't kidding about aiming for the left ear. Something about landing a perfect punch on that spot just gets my juices flowing. Ha, okay enough crazy talk. So even without the intent of hurting someone, I still woke up with that feeling, that drive to inflict pain. I woke up with the motivation to just kick ass!!! I feel the same way I felt many years ago. It was around freshman year in high school. It was the morning after senior prom. My older sister got a ride home with her friends instead of her date taking her home. I was upset because it was his job to take her home, but he didn't because my sister refused to go to a "party" he wanted to go to after prom. So I woke up that morning PISSED. I woke up with iron fists ready to pound someone. I opened my eyes and the first thought that came to my head was opening up a can of whoooop assss. So why did I wake up this morning with that same feeling? Well because it must be the Saturday our Trojans get to beat the crap out of those fuzzy little bears from UCLA. So I'm sure Pete got the boys fired up and I'm sure they all woke up this morning with that same FIRE to just inflict pain on their foes. I'm sure Kevin Craft, the Bruin QB will feel the exact same way my sister's date felt that afternoon after school in that dark hallway as we sent our "blitz package" You want to partay???? Then partay with me!!!! (insert manly grunt noises here) Go Trojans! Check us out. Google Search: USCFOOTBLOG

read details here My take here below... It's really sad. Watching the judge's demeanor denying every motion with her evil grin. People's take on tv, especially that annoying chick on CNN that focuses on current court trials. I feel like Simpson got sentenced for a crime that occurred a long long time ago. Do I think he's guilty here? Yes, clearly. Was he guilty years ago? I don't know. I wasn't there. I think that conversation can be placed under the same pile with religion, politics, Kobe vs Lebron, and choice of Vodka - everyone has their own opinion. Anyway, he's going to serve his time. There are things that even one of the best running backs of all time can't run away from. So as far as this OJ is concerned, the glass is half empty (like my photoshop pic?) Check us out. Google Search uscfootblog

Ha, you're thinking why the heck not? It's under Charlie's watch when Notre Dame loses to Navy at home ending their 43 year winning streak against NAVY. Didn't Weis just lose to Syracuse? Ha ha, yes that was pretty funny too. Isn't Charlie Weis' record worse than the record of Ty Willingham? Well Chuck has won 58% of his games with a 28-20 winning record. Ty also won 58% with his 21-15 record. Since the Irish will be playing USC later today, Chuck's record will officially be worse. So why am I against the the firing of Charlie Weis? Well I'm not an Irish fan. Oh oops wait a second. But even Irish fans want Weis fired don't they? I mean the fans did throw snowballs at the team and the coaching staff at their last home game. Right right. Well I don't want Charlie Weis fired because I find him amusing. It's not exactly the best reason to keep a coach, but he gives us the best one liners. Here's a few: "I could get hoodlums and thugs and win tomorrow" Well I know The ROCK can , but I'm not so sure about you Charlie. You got the 2nd best recruiting class in the nation last year and you're still not winning. "...if he's (the quarterback) with me for one day he'll be good, two days he'll be great and three days he'll be incredible." #1 Ranked QB out of HS 20 TDs 15 INTs 59% comp#14 Ranked QB out of HS 32 TDs 7 INTs 77.6% comp ...and 2 years he'll be mediocre??? Colt McCoy wasn't as highly regarded out of high school but he has put up better numbers than your QB against tougher teams. Notre Dame will have a "schematic advantage" Ha! I say to you. That's like Dubya Bush saying he has a good foreign policy Anyway, back to what I was saying. While it might be a Weis move to get rid of Charlie. (Like how I used Weis instead of wise? Clever huh?) I just don't want them to fire him. Ten more years of Weis at the helm for the Irish means 10 more years of USC dominating them by 30 points. Besides, it's always fun watching fat arrogant slobs who have never played the game of football fail miserably.

We haven't posted since the shocking Trojan lost to the Beavers. I guess the Footblog is done sitting in a room listening to sad songs. That was another tough pill to swallow for Trojan fans. Unlike the 13-9 loss to UCLA, and the non-benching of Booty in the loss to Stanford, this recent loss happened very early in the season. So does USC have a chance to be a #1 or #2 by the end of the season? 

First and foremost USC can only worry about the things they have control over. In that case, they just have to worry about their games ahead. They HAVE to win each and every single game. After dismantling the Buckeyes, the whole nation expected USC to do just that. Sadly we lost to the Beavers, but that doesn't change the fact that USC is a clear favorite and have more talent than any teams on the rest of their schedule. 

Even if USC runs the table, the Trojans still need all the remaining undefeated teams to lose at least one game. In some cases, some teams, specifically SEC teams, will have to lose 2 for USC to climb ahead of them in the rankings. Here is what USC needs to happen.

Oklahoma: Loss to Texas
Texas Tech and Oklahoma St can challenge, but Texas is the only real formidable foe

Alabama: Loss to LSU and/or Loss to Auburn
I'm almost sure this young team will choke in one of their "gimmie" games. If not we need them to lose against LSU AND Auburn for USC to get the #2 spot next to the Sooners

Missouri: Loss to Texas
That is the only game I see this team possibly losing. Especially since the Longhorns are currently being overpowered by the Sooners 13-3 in the 1st quarter. If the Longhorns ultimately lose, I expect them to bounce back big next week. Also if this is the case Oklahoma is almost a sure lock for the #1 spot and USC is now praying for #2.

LSU: Loss to Florida AND Loss to Georgia
This is one of the reasons why we need the Sooners to lose against the Longhorns. I doubt that LSU will lose to Georgia. USC can only top LSU if LSU loses 2 games. The Gators have a good chance pulling an upset today.


Penn State: Loss to Ohio State
USC can top a 1 loss Penn State, but won't top an undefeated Penn State. Wisconsin may be able to pull an upset, but chances are we'll have to cheer on the Buckeyes

Texas Tech:
They will surely lose so let's not worry about this team. They have Longhorns and Sooners ahead on their schedule.

BYU: Loss to Utah
They may be the undefeated team that will get left out of the NC game. Hopefully. I don't see any team ahead on their schedule that has a chance. Just in case, we need them to lose to the Utes.

Florida: Loss to Georgia or Vanderbilt
A one loss Florida will easily top USC on the polls in my opinion. We can't afford them to beat LSU so we'll just have to pray Venderbilt of Georgia gets a win over them. Outside of those two teams, I'm not very confident anyone else can beat them. Well maybe Spurrier can pull it off, but it's doubtful.

Utah: Loss to someone...anyone except BYU
I'm sure Utah is familiar with having a great season but not making it to the big game. For USC's sake, let's hope this will be another one of those seasons.


If all the scenarios stated above works out, then USC should make it in the National Championship game. Hopefully the other teams will experience unexpected losses similar to what USC dealt with against the Beavers. We will now move away from our weekly Top 10 Rankings and will instead track this treacherous road USC must navigate through to get back to the big game!

Bumped...Another take on the top 10 - Paragon

1(1) USC - The Buckeyes fall apart once again in the big stage against an elite team. Well they didn't really fall apart. They gave the Trojans their best, but clearly that wasn't enough. The Trojan Offense played well. The Defense rose to the occasion, and the Buckeye QB fell... many times

2(2) Oklahoma - The Sooners impressed once again, and this time against Washington. Their offense is just amazing led by Bradford. He reminds me a little bit of Jason White. I'm still iffy about their defense, but in the end all that matters is who has more points on the scoreboard, and the Sooners have showed they can score plenty.

3(4) Florida - An idle week for the Gators gave them a chance to rest before a great match up next week against the Volunteers. They still deserve to get bumped up since Georgia failed to impress against South Carolina.

4(6) Missouri - If you've noticed in our polls the previous 2 weeks, I left a blank comment on this team. I was just left speechless. Well their offensive performance was amazing, but again it was against Nevada. But still, here you go Mizzou - WOW

5(3)Georgia - I bumped you up 2 spots last wee, but South Carolina almost put you in your place, and so I will put you back in your old place. Defense wins championships and you showed you can play defense, but against teams like USC, Florida, and Oklahoma, you will have to put some points on the board as well. I'm beginning to doubt you can outscore those type of teams.

6(7) LSU - This game seriously reminded me of something I saw on the news. I even found the article here It's about some 18 year old kid that tried to steal from a little girl's lemonade stand and she called the cops on him. Well LSU bullied the little kids of North Texas here. I can't wait to see what they do with kids their size - Auburn.

7(5) Ohio State - The lost against SC was devastating to their program and the image of the big 10. I couldn't even get myself to capitalize BIG like I normally would in that sentence. The Buckeyes took a huge fall in many polls, but I'm only dropping them 2 spots. Yes they lost to SC, but that was like playing an AFC team. The Buckeyes aren't as good as the Trojans, but I still thing their better than teams like Wisconsin, Auburn, and even Texas.

8(8) Texas - Only a hurricane can stop this team, and it did.

9(x) Alabama - They surprised us in their game against Clemson. They've had a couple of gimmies since but can't deny that they looked great. Maybe they'll do an East Carolina and just make a cameo appearance on our top 10. With the Razorbacks and Bulldogs coming up next in their schedule, I guess we'll see.

10(x) USC Practice Squad - Wisconsin barely escaped against Fresno State. Auburn scored a field goal against Mississippi State??? I don't know how those teams can get ranked so high in these polls. I do like Texas Tech and really enjoy South Florida after that game against Kansas, but I just thought this would be funnier.

A question was asked on who fans would prefer to be USC's QB if Booty was still in the mix. The overwhelming response is Sanchez. My pick would be Sanchez as well since I've been a big fan of his since his high school days. 

We have already seen the added dimension he brings to the game. We finally have a deep ball threat once again. A QB who can also waltz in the pocket to avoid the blitzes. It's easy to see why the fans are picking Sanchez. It's not only because of the whole "what have you done for me lately" attitude." He has simply brought the excitement back to the Trojans. His ability to stretch the defense has even brought back the Reggie/Lendale type of excitement in the ground game.

Now, the reason I broke this down in to two segments is because I want to see how much the fans will love him after the Ohio State game that will start in a couple hours. At that point, with the fans opinions and with their stats, we'll try and break down who is the better QB.

At this point, we at least know who is more exciting.

USC will have 1 good punt/kick return that will lead to a TD drive (USC 7)
Sanchez will throw 1 INT
Ohio State will kick a field goal (OSU 3)
D.Williams will have 1 TD reception (USC 14)
Ohio State will kick a field goal (OSU 6)
Combination of good runs and incomplete passes. USC settle for a field goal (USC 17)

Halftime. I will eat (USCFootblog 1 point)

USC Gable/Stafon long run. Drive will end w/ a TD (USC 24)
USC force turnover. Lead to TD (USC 31)
Ohio State comes short on 4th down. USC drive leads to FG (USC 34)
Ohio State long drive. TD (OSU 13)
USC good return. Drive lead to TD (USC 41)

Final Score USC 41 OSU 13
(USC +/- 7pts., OSU +/- 7)


That's how USC Footblog sees it. What's your take?

On our previous post we mentioned that USC's defense is too good that even a healthy Chris "Beanie" Wells won't make that much of an impact in the game. It should be noted however, that we don't really know how Mark Sanchez will perform against a more aggressive defense that will surely blitz all Saturday afternoon. This game will definitely hang on which offense will make the least amount of mistakes, and on the flip side, which defense will create the most havoc for the opposing team. I'll ptu my money on USC's defense with the likes of Maualuga, Cushing, and Taylor Mays roaming around.

 

Bumped - Look's like Beanie is chompin' at the bit to get in the game...Paragon

via www.buckeyecommentary.com

Chris "Beanie" Wells told coach Tressel that he is ready to carry the ball 45 times against USC on Sunday. I don't know how many yards he can average on each of those carries, but considering Dan Herron didn't really provide that "boom" last week against Ohio with only 50 rushing yards, I'm sure Buckeye fans would be relieved just to see Beanie Wells on the field. But can he really make a difference healthy or not?

This leads to my question. Is Beanie Wells really that good? He had 200+ rushing against Michigan and Michigan State last year, but those teams weren't exactly on the same level as USC. So I decided to look at his stats against Illinois, since USC faced that team as well at the Rose Bowl.

Joe McKnight ran for 125 yards on 10 carries. Stafon Johnson ran for 104 yards on just 9 carries. Chauncey Washington only managed 75 yards on 12 carries, but that is much better than Beanie Wells numbers against Illinois where he only amassed 76 yards on 20 carries. Our guys managed averages of 12.5, 11.6, and 6.4 yards per carry against the same defense that stopped Wells at just 3.8 yards per carry. I know Illi's defense is irrelevant on Saturday's game, but it helps answer the question of how good Beanie Wells is compared to our guys. (got that Lou?)

I think Rashard Mendenhall is a great talent. I see him having a great career in the NFL for the Steelers. Is Wells on the same level as Mendenhall? You tell me. But looking at that Rose Bowl game, if you take away Mendenhall's 79 yard run, he would have 76 yards on 16 carries. Clearly that wasn't enough against USC. Well this is where Lou Holtz would say, well who's to say Wells isn't going to make a 79 yard run? Well I'm not saying Wells isn't capable, but considering how great USC's defense is, and Wells not at 100%, I just don't see it happening. Even if he carries the ball 45 times, Beanie won't be good enough.

Maybe Terrel Pryor will do a Vince Young, but outside of that miracle, I don't see Beanie Well's making a difference, healthy or not, against USC. On that note, I just don't see Ohio State winning a game against USC.

 

1(1) USC - Trojans remain at #1 during their off week. Since their offense spent the week going against their defense, they faced a much tougher challenge than Georgia and OSU who faced Central Michigan and Ohio.

2(3) Oklahoma - Impressive offense led by Bradford. Their defense is not where you'd want them to be, but the way they took over the 2nd half, I don't see anyone being able to outscore them.

3(5) Georgia - Dobbs returns an INT for 78 yards. Knowshon was completely unstoppable the whole day. Tough to stop Georgia when they dominate both sides of the ball. Duh

4(4) Florida - I had them over Georgia last week, but their offense didn't impress me much. Their defense was tough, but they shouldn't have been limited to one TD in the first half against a young rebuilding team.

5(2) Ohio St. - I'm still trying to figure out how Lou Holtz can possibly say that the Buckeyes have a better group at tailback than the Trojans. Herron led the Buckeyes in rushing with just 50 yards against Ohio. They had trouble moving the ball against a much inferior team and if it weren't for a muffed punt, they could have easily lost the game. Still, they have great players and may have been looking to far ahead to their big match up on the 14th. Expect them to play like much better next week and cause the Trojans some trouble.

6(6) Missouri

7(7) LSU - Only a hurricane can stop this team.

8(10) Texas - Colt McCoy's performance quickly crushed whatever hope an early 6-0 lead gave UTEP. 20 for 20 passing and 4 TDs can do that to ya. 

9(x) Wisconsin - They break in to our top 10 with their beat down of Marshall. Well it was just Marshall, but I like Hill, I like a team who can crush a team after being down. Next week's game against Fresno State should be fun to watch.

10(x) East Carolina - Some would question how a previously unranked team can jump so high on my top 10. They beat Virginia Tech and embarrassed West Virginia. I don't know what else they have to do to get attention. Besides, Auburn at #10 is too high for that team who I see losing big against LSU.

If my rankings can keep going...

69 Chattanooga - Cause I love saying that name
70 West Virginia - Shame on you. Shame on all of you


and that's Week 2's Top 10 (cause do you really care who goes to the Guacamole Bowl?)

Matt Cassel 
You only threw 33 passes for USC
You sure faced some adversity
But I'm glad the work paid off
Cause now you get to say "Hey Leinart look at me"

Mr Bush
I still remember what you did in South Bend
Now we ask if you can do it again
Leinart can use another Bush-Push
Motivate him, and we'll get the Leinart from way back when

ps. thanks for your performance on opening Sunday
163 All purpose yards helped my fantasy team in a big way

USC Defense
Great work LoJack, Sedrick, Polamalu, and Tatupu
Keith Rivers I dedicate this line just for you
Way to lead your team in tackles as a rook
You're their best defender there in my book

It's fun to watch so many Trojans playing on Sunday. I think Frostee Rucker is finally beginning to make an impact in the NFL and it's great to see DJ make a couple catches for the Panthers. But out of all the players from USC, I'm really happy for Matt Cassel. Now that Brady is officially out for the rest of the season, we'll get to see our former clip board holder lead the Pats. It definitely shows that you don't need a Heisman to make a name in the NFL. Just a lot of work, a little bit of luck, and a season ending knee injury. Go Matt...Cassel! 

via cache.daylife.com