I can't believe this clown had audacity to write this:

"And I think what Lane Kiffin and USC did in running up the score against UCLA was disrespectful. They were trying to rub their noses in it. I understand it's a rivalry game and Matt Barkley's in the Heisman discussion, but have a little class."

Really Mark? The last touchdown was scored with 14 mins left in the 4th Q. We could have scored 80 if we wanted to... Even in the days when MM was a big USC bandwagoner, I couldn't stand him. He was always hype over substance, just another clown kissing ass of a team on a hot streak. I didn't see Mark bitch about Bama last week, when they threw a TD with 4 secs left against GA Southern just to make the score look better:

"00:44 Brad Smelley 4 Yd Pass From AJ McCarron (Jeremy Shelley Kick) - 45:21"

Of all USC sites and forums, this blog was one of the few (if not the only) blog that was sane, well-thought, and forward-looking regarding many issues:

 

1) Paragon always refused to blindly accept Pete's rah rah and critically questioned some decision making by Pete (in terms of game management and program management)

2) We've been on "Fire Chad Kreuter" bandwagon earlier than anyone

3) We've been on "Dump Tom Hansen" bandwagon long time ago and got some flack for it

4) The contributors refused to place the blame for BB program shortcomings on Tim Floyd, but rather questioned Mike Garrett's decision-making

5) Speaking of Mike Garrett, his mismanagement and unruly behavior was pointed out on this blog numerous times

6) Reggie Bush allegations and evidence was never dismissed in "Nothing will come out of this" way

 

I hate to gloat and say "I told you so" on this day, but I have to give credit to Paragon for keeping it real throughout the last few years

Congrats to Sam Bam

Sam Cunningham
Running back
USC (1970-72)

The legend has grown that USC fullback Sam Cunningham personally integrated the state of Alabama when he rushed for three touchdowns in a 42-21 Trojans victory over Alabama in 1970. Whether true or not, the legend has directed attention away from just how good a football player "Sam Bam" was. Cunningham had the skills for tailback, but he blocked so well coach John McKay made him a fullback. He rushed for four touchdowns in the 1973 Rose Bowl, which clinched the national championship for one of the best teams of all time.

We all knew it was a matter of time. Can't wait for Bama fans to rush to our boards and mention that Bear Bryant had a black player on the roster already.

Continue reading this post »

So Mushroom & Co are making a big deal about DS's committment (not that I am happy about it either). But the real is joke is on bRuins after you check this out:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/11375455/rss 

Note the article is from a year ago - which means DS was 11 yo when Ricky sent him materials...

Maybe more than monitored. David's father, David Sills IV, said the family received a questionnaire from UCLA. That was a year ago. They discarded it. It might have been a mass mailing for a camp. Maybe Rick Neuheisel was that desperate for quarterback help. Who knows?

Discarded? Good decision!

This is not an instigation to engage in flame wars, name calling and other non-sense. This is an honest attempt to engage in civil opinion sharing.

 

I want to ask UCLA (including BN regulars with whom I exchanged some non-pleasant name calling - promise won't happen in this post) and other non-USC fans several questions. I will provide my thoughts as a dialogue starter.

1. What should have Pete done after RN timeout?

Here is my brief take:

- Rick's TO was "game on" indication

- Kneeling 2 more times and punting the ball and possibly allowing the Bruins to score would be a major negative for PC because

* RN will claim that 21-14 is an indication of how close UCLA is and the gap is closing

* RN will claim UCLA fights to the end..

* UCLA's gain is USC's loss. No question about it

- Thus a "game on" responce was needed.

- Short pass would most likely not work because UCLA was stuffing the run and covering short passes.

- Perhaps "catch and fall on 1 yard line" might have been an alternative, but I am sure the media would find a way to negatively spin this as well

- I didn't really like the celebration, but perhaps Bruins obvious frustration (as evidenced by PAT penalty) really fueled the Trojan sideline

So overall, I think it was a right call with some reservation about the celebration

2. In your opinion, what is the proper "4th down, up by double digits in 4th quarter" etiquette?

A poster on BN posted a list of 4th down attempts in PC era. While applaud his solid research, I believe he left out few instances of really rubbing it in (70-17 pass by McDonald vs Arkansas - and since I hate the SEC, f*ck'em :) ) while presenting some 4th down attempts that were totally justified as classless.

My general take that it is better to go for 4th down conversion than kicking a field goal in this situation. Haters will always find a way to spin it (Urban Meyer kicked a FG vs Miami last year... everyone in Miami was pissed. What if he called a simple run play and scored?). If backups are in the game and simple run down the middle is called, there is nothing unclassy about it. It's better than kneeling on 4th down and telling the opponent "hey you suck so bad that we don't even want to run a 4th down play because your sorry ass can't stop us". So examples like this:

Up 52-7 with under 4:00 left against UCLA, 4th and 10 at UCLA 50 Matt Cassel (USC) rushed up the middle for 1 yard; turnover on downs and Up 45-0 with under 6:00 left against Arizona, 4th and 2 at ARIZ 25 David Kirtman (USC) rushed up the middle for 3 yards

are totally foolish because you have a backup QB or backup FB (not even a RB!!!) running up the middle.

 So everyone who has an opinion on this matter, please share and lets keep it civil

I guess it doesn't take much brain power to be a writer for an online sports media... How else you can explain the poorly researched stupidity that's coming out in many places? Richard Cirminiello of CFN writes:

However, what was Pete’s point with just 44 seconds remaining? The game was in hand, and if anything, he might have risked a sack and a turnover by dropping Barkley back in the pocket. Take a knee, shake a hand, and move on to next week’s regular season finale with Arizona.

What? Take a knee? What a great idea, Richard. But if you bothered to spend 2 minutes researching the issue before writing this non-sense, you'd realize that Barkley did "take a knee" to "shake a hand, and move on to next week's regular season finale with Arizona".

Hey, for the sake of an already contentious rivalry, Carroll’s odd choice of play-calling isn’t the worst thing, right? It makes for good copy, gets the fans in Los Angeles frothing at the mouth, and generally raises the overall hostility level between the long-time rivals. However, from a tactical perspective, I just don’t understand the move.

May be if you had half-a-brain to explore the issue carefully, you'd understand what really happened.

Yet another dumb post without using a "grey matter" called brain... Andy Staples of SI wrote:

 

Up 14 late Saturday, Carroll allowed quarterback Matt Barkley to throw a 48-yard touchdown pass to Damian Williams with 44 seconds remaining. Sure, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel had just called a timeout, but USC could have handed off until the clock expired.

Andy - I am calling you out and asking you to show factually, how USC could have handed off until the clock expired if they had 2nd and 11, 54 secs on the clock and 2 UCLA timeouts. A conservative run play that gains 2-3 yards takes about 5 secs off the clock. So you are talking 4th and 5/6 with ~40-45 secs left. If USC goes for it on 4th down and doesn't get it, clock goes to 40 secs and UCLA ball. If USC punts, ~35-40 secs left while UCLA fields the punt.

I dare Andy Staples to show me what's wrong with my logic considering SC's mediocre running game and UCLA with 9 man in the box. Until then, I will just conclude that he just doesn't have the brain to figure it out - a typical "speak first, think about it later" clown.

 

Lastly, anyone bringing up Harbaugh (I personally had no problems with it, but some did), understand the difference between "unprovoked" and "provoked". Ricky instigated it and got what he deserved. Should have let the clock roll or be ready to bring your "A" game for 60 mins

Yes, it was only the first of UCLA's three timeouts, meaning if USC kept taking a knee, Neuheisel could have kept calling them and eventually gained possession of the ball with about two seconds remaining.

Down two touchdowns with two seconds left.

Bill Plaschke needs to think before writing. Clowns who'd try to bash Pete saying that UCLA had no chance of doing anything with 2 secs left would quote Bill.

Lets do the math: 3 time-out's, 54 seconds left. 3 kneels would only take 6 secs off the clock (2 secs after 1st kneel). Add 6-10 secs for the punt and you have 40 secs left with a punt in the air. It's not easy but stranger things happen in football (did you see Case Keenum pull it off in a minute down 2 scores?)

So one more reason why Pete did the right thing after Ricky wanted to play ball.

Let's see if Mr "This is Bruin Town" will admit his inaccuracy (just sent him an email)

So by now you all probably heard about Mr. Theriot and his thoughts on "Coach" Rick Neuheisel.

After some thoughts (or I imagine heavy dose of insults from likes of Mushroom and calls from UCLA AD), Mr Theriot is telling the world that it was some freaky hacker that posted those negative comments:

Continue reading this post »

Stumbled upon this. For thos who don't know, The OC stands for Outta Control. It is Carroll's nickname - http://usc.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=886458

The first gem is here:

  

 

So if my translator interpreted this correctly:

1) Norm Chow is black

2) Randall is not happy with him

3) NC doesn't trust RC or RC doesn't trust NC...

4) Same "shyt" (losing?) is getting tiresome for RC

5) Like every Bruin, he was paying more attention to USC - ND game than UCLA game

6) He is whining about this to Ditrich Riley, who probably won't go to UCLA now

More priceless stuff from OC:

 

More "shyt" from OC

1) RC doesn't like school

2) RC realllllllllly doesn't like schoool

3) RC really reallly realllly realllly doesn't like school

But wait, I thought they were all Rhodes scholars in waiting, or at least that's what Mushroom told me...

 

UPDATE: Looks like RC is not getting any punishment for that "shyt". Just like Nikola Dragovic (or whoever it was), it was just a misunderstanding. From UCLA blog

 

After a meeting between freshman wideout Randall Carroll and offensive coordinator Norm Chow about the contents of a somewhat controversial Twitter post by Carroll to St. Francis of La Canada recruit Deitrich Riley, Neuheisel said that Carroll would not be punished.

This, after redshirt freshman cornerback Aaron Hester expressed his frustration about the handling of his return from a broken leg.

"In the midst of a four-game losing streak, there's gonna be frustration," Neuheisel said. "That's a natural byproduct. What we have to do is channel that frustration in a positive way. With respect to Aaron Hester, certainly he understands that coming off a broken leg we can't just rush him into the starting lineup. Maybe on that particular day, he didn't understand. If communication needed to be more thorough, I'll certainly take the responsibility.

"With respect to Randall, I think it's just an oversight with respect to the technology. I don't think it was intended for a public forum. He and Norm have talked and cleared the air."

 

UPDATE 2: Looks like the Bruin team is united and buying "Coach" RN's philosophy... NOT!!!

Here is another twitter gem from Chrstian Ramirez (yeah yeah I know about Gable, but he never tweeted the whole world about the injustice). Funny "shyt"

  

After fuming the whole weekend, I finally decided to put my thoughts together. I posted few comments on WeAreSC.com forum, but I want to present a comprehensive look into UW debacle and the negative vibe around the program. A healthy critique never hurts, especially coming from a big time fan.

I won't get into how much I love what Pete has done for the program and accomplishments. Yes, 118 other programs would die to have this kind of success. But this loss really hurts. I got over Texas loss fairly quickly. I even somewhat got over losses to Oregon and 2 losses to Oregon State. But a loss to UW, UCLA and Stanford really hurt. It really hurts to lose to a program that has no business of being within 21 points if the talent on SC's roster is properly developed and utlized. I can understand losing to Ohio State, Cal or even Notre Dame (EDIT: to clarify, I am talking about 2009 Cal, OSU or ND, not 2001 or 2003 Cal). But not UW nor 2006 UCLA nor 2007 Stanford.

Let's not forget, Bobby Bowden also had tremendous success in 1990s. But FSU's inability to maintain discipline and develop players (despite playing in weak ACC and Florida being mediocre in early 2000s) eventually led to a freefall.

Continue reading this post »

Note: I will try to make this a regular weekly feature (time permitting). This review will have a brief summary of every FBS game (I try to watch every game, or at least check the recaps, message boards, and stats). It will not focus on "big-time" or USC games since you probably watch those anyway or read about them in the paper / online. Big-time games will have an "outside of the box" commentary and small games will try to identify stars in making (I think we were one of the first to point out Michael Crabtree's insane numbers few years ago). Updates will follow as games are played.

S. Carolina 7 - NC State 3: I just hope voters don't rank SCar next week. There was some bad football on both sides. If not for Baker's fumble, SCar doesn't score that lone TD. NC State doesn't have great receivers and it showed. SCar: show me more before you deserve to be ranked.

Bowling Green 31 - Troy 14: A small upset. Troy was favored to win the Sun Belt and got bombed away after leading 14-0. Tyler Sheehan has an NFL size (6'4, 225) and could be one of those next 3-4 year MAC starters that successfully make it to NFL. Interestingly, Josh Jarboe, a highly touted troubled Troy player who was kicked out of Oklahoma didn't have much of an impact.

Continue reading this post »

Bumped...Awesome News!!!! - P

RipsIt blog just posted that Luthur is back.

BREAKING NEWS: Brown reinstated By Ben Malcolmson on September 3, 2009 1:09 PM | No Comments Linebacker Luthur Brown has been fully reinstated and will practice today for the first time this fall, Coach Pete Carroll announced this afternoon.

Brown, who sat out all of training camp, has regained his academic eligibility and will be available to play in Saturday's season opener. Brown adds versatile depth to the linebacking corps, as the redshirt senior can play all three positions.

 

This is certainly excellent news and will help to add depth among our LB corps. It's been good 2 days for SC football after all these injuries.

Note: Of course I had to write this at the same time as the big announcement reg QBs was made

We always like to have fun with numbers here on CC. Last year, we ranked FBS conferences in terms of average academic rankings (and no, unlike our friends at Berkeley or Stanford, we don't bring up the number of Nobel prize winners or rankings when we get clownstomped [which we never do] by a 3rd rate academic school in SEC or MWC :) )

Ok, back to fun. US News & World Report just came out with its 2010 Rankings. And as expected, there is little movement. The only scary things... SEC is moving up. Imagine what happens to voter, schedule, and image manupulation if SEC becomes #1. So here is the standing, and rankings by conference is after the jump

 

	2009	2008	2007
ACC	48.7	48.3	50.0
Big Ten	50.2	50.1	51.4
Pac Ten	72.8	72.3	73.3
SEC	103.3	101.6	105.0
Big 12	104.2	99.4	97.7
Big East	114.3	112.1	111.0
Mountain West	132.5	143.0	142.7
C-USA	162.2	154.1	160.1
MAC	177.3	174.1	174.4
WAC	181.3	199.6	192.4
Sun Belt	231.5	228.0	228.0

 

Here are the rankings (basically very similar), based on scoring by academic councelors (5 best, 1 worst ). Thank God, SEC didn't make a move yet here...

 

ACC	4.18
Big Ten	4.16
Pac Ten	4.06
Big 12	3.88
SEC	3.78
Big East	3.71
Mountain West	3.66
C-USA	3.59
MAC	3.41
WAC	3.34
Sun Belt	3.17

Continue reading this post »

Made me chuckle...

 

First, from Cassius Marsh, a highly recruited DL from West Lake Village:

What About The Bruins?

“I have a little interest in them but it’s hard for me. If it all goes well this season they really begin to get things together, I will reconsider but I’ve always wanted to play for a big time program. A winning program but UCLA is not it.” Marsh said

Of course Mushroom will just find a way to accuse the kid of something...

Next, Jon Wilner of all people:

Best stadium: The Rose Bowl
Since this category was about the facility and not the fans, I took this approach: If every stadium were filled to capacity, which would be the best place to watch a game? After much back and forth, I went with the Rose Bowl over Autzen and Husky. Nestled in the Arroyo, with the mountains in the background, it’s awesome.

Exactly. Because the presence of powder-blue puke ruins (no pun intended) the football experience :)

Bumped...HA! - P

Ricky can't do anything with his obsession with everything USC. Here is another chapter in never ending obsession:

UCLA just hosted its three-day football camp, but UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel is looking to change the format in the future to a model being used at many other schools.
From what I'm hearing, the idea is to have a Big-man camp one day, perhaps a Skills camp another day and so on. It would be similar to how USC handles its camps, and would give the staff a better chance to evaluate talent on campus.

 

What's next from Ricky's camp? "Win longer than forever" slogan or "A much better LA" foundation?

Re-Bumped. anh_79 rewrote this excellent post...P

We looked at OOC scheduling philosophy and how it impacts voters perception last year before the season kicked off. At the end of the regular season, our predictions pretty much came true. Not only that, we were able to explain why computers loved ACC, even though ACC didn't really stand out as a premier conference.

Well, now that 2009 OOC schedule is finalized, it's time to look at the OOC scheduling philosophy and how it impacts the average W/L record, bowl eligibility, voter perception. Our analysis produced the following expected average W/L record for a team in the conference, overall winning % (including conference games) for the conference and OOC winning %.

The following conclusions from last year, remain true in 2009 as well

- SEC/Big-12 teams schedule OOC games like cowards and inflate their records by pathetic OOC scheduling. Out of 4 conferences (B12, BT, ACC, SEC) that have 4 OOC games and out of 3 conferences that have 12 teams, SEC/Big-12 have with easiest OOC schedules which subsequently inflates their overall W/L record

- Because of the above, SEC/Big-12 teams manage to have more bowl eligibile teams than other conferences creating appearance of a strong league (which is partially justified (in case of SEC) and partially illusion (in case of Big Ten and Big-12))

- ACC teams do schedule relatively tough OOC games, but they suffer from numerous cases of double-Div-IAA scheduling

- While Big East does schedule relatively tough OOC games, the toughness of OOC games is diluted by the fact that they have to play 5 OOC games.

- Pac-10 AD's just don't get it. They try to do the right thing when everyone does the wrong thing. But if they were familiar with Prisoner's Dillemma concept, they'd know that doing the right thing when everyone cheats will hurt you a lot. Pac-10 teams hurt themselves on 2 ends: one one hand by scheduling 3 OOC games as opposed to 4, they guarantee 5 losses for Pac-10 teams and in addition, scheduling tough OOC opponents results in lower expected winning % in OOC games. As a result, an average Pac-10 team is expected to have 1 less win and 1 more loss than an average SEC/Big-12. That really hurts the conference when it comes to bowl eligibility and top-25 voting.

I hope voters consider this analysis before they rush to declare Big-12/SEC as kings and ACC/Pac-10 as peasants of CFB in 2009. Just because every SEC/Big-12 team starts 4-0 in OOC, doesn't mean that the league is strong.

More on methodology as well as individual conference analysis after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Bumped with the title slightly edited...Paragon

Gotta love the Ruin football, don't we all....

First CFN has a laugh at the clowns:

Q: Which program perennially does the least with the most?

2. UCLA - The weather is just as nice as it is at USC, the coeds are just as hot (although I've heard plenty of arguments to the contrary from several Bruins), the academics are just as good, depending on the year and the study, the recruiting area is just as fertile, and the campus is in a better location. It's not like UCLA doesn't know how to win, it has a rich tradition in just about every spot, but for some reason it hasn't been able to take things to another level like Pete Carroll has been able to do down the road

....

Out of the Pac-10, Arizona State and UCLA have been perennial underachievers for a long time. Neither team has been able to play up to its level on a consistent basis. Present staffs excluded, it’s been a while since either the Sun Devils or Bruins had an ace on the sidelines.

Perennial underachievers. Hey, but at least they won the Sun Bowl!

Then you see this gem from Brian Dohn. So much for C-Force being a savior as many proclaimed in 2006.