ESPN College Football

The inaugural Kraft Fighting Hunger Bowl brought up the rear of the 2011 bowl season, but in its second iteration will ring in a New Year.

The bowl formerly know as the Emerald Bowl will be played on Dec. 31 at AT& T Park, with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m. ET. on ESPN.

The bowl game is contracted to feature the Pac-12's No. 6 team and Army, if it wins six games and becomes bowl eligible. Last season, no Pac-10 team qualified and the game featured Nevada beating Boston College 20-13 on Jan. 9, which made it the final bowl game before the BCS Championship Game.

Here's the Pac-12 bowl lineup for 2011-12 (the conference will add the New Mexico Bowl -- No. 7 selection -- in 2012).

No. 1 : Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO, Jan. 2 (Jan. 1, the bowl's traditional date, falls on a Sunday, when no bowl game will be played this year) OR Allstate BCS National Championship, Jan. 9

No. 2: Valero Alamo Bowl vs. Big 12 No. 3, Dec. 29.

No. 3: Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl vs. Big 12 No. 5, Dec. 28.

No. 4: Hyundai Sun Bowl vs. ACC No. 4, Dec. 31.

No. 5: MAACO Las Vegas vs. Mountain West No. 1, Dec. 22

No. 6: Kraft Fight Hunger vs. Army (if eligible), Dec. 31.

The Emerald Bowl is no more.

Going forward the game in San Francisco's AT&T Park will be called the "Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl," the San Francisco Bowl Game Association announced Thursday, with Kraft Foods coming aboard as the new title sponsor for the next three years.

The press release said the game "will be part of a broader hunger relief program Kraft Foods plans to kick off in September in collaboration with Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger-relief organization."

The game will be broadcast on ESPN on Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 6 p.m. ET.

USC's Kristofer O'Dowd was an adequate center while starting seven games last year, but that's not good enough for a player widely regarded as the best in the nation at his position when the season began.

It was not unlike going 9-4 for USC. A majority of programs would celebrate a nine-win season. For the Trojans, it represents failure and inspires talk that one of college football's great dynasties is crumbling.

O'Dowd dislocated his right knee cap during fall camp and never seemed to fully recover. The Trojans just seemed dislocated from the swaggering, dominant program that had won seven consecutive Pac-10 titles and two national championships.

"In those games I played, I wasn't playing to my capability," O'Dowd said. "What hurt the most was knowing I could play at a certain level and knowing what I could do but I wasn't getting there. That was the most frustrating thing ... [Because of his knee injury] I couldn't get the drive I was used to. I would just have the stalemate, which is acceptable at some places but it isn't acceptable for myself and the program here."

You could sort of substitute "USC" for "I" in that quote and get an accurate feel for the Trojans in 2009.

"What was our record? 9-4? That's a great year for other programs but is not acceptable for us," O'Dowd said.

O'Dowd, now the line's senior leader, is back this spring (though he missed some action after spraining his left knee) and so might be that swagger. It's no secret new coach Lane Kiffin and his staff have plenty of that. Kiffin and defensive line coach Ed Orgeron were two of the more boisterous presences during USC's best times working as assistants under former coach Pete Carroll.

"With this new coaching staff, they are teaching us the ways of what used to be -- the '03, '04, '05 seasons when USC was the team," O'Dowd said. "We're getting back there and it starts right now in spring."

O'Dowd picks his words carefully, but he admits something wasn't right last year, something about more than losing a bunch of starters to the NFL.

"It was full of a bunch of ups and downs," he said. "We didn't find that cohesiveness with one another on the team. I think that did affect us negatively last season."

The line around O'Dowd must replace three starters: tackle Charles Brown and guards Jeff Byers and Alex Parsons. As could be expected with USC, there's plenty of talent ready to step up -- no Pac-10 team's linemen pass the eye-test like the Trojans'. But they're unproven, and after last year, there is less justification to assume USC will automatically reload.

O'Dowd, however, seems to suspect the line, which underachieved last year, will be more than OK. It will again be a dominant crew.

He said the key is sophomore left tackle Matt Kalil, who made his first career start against Boston College in the Emerald Bowl, stepping in for academically ineligible right tackle Tyron Smith. Kalil is the younger brother of former USC All-American center Ryan Kalil, now an Pro Bowler for the Carolina Panthers.

"I think that left tackle position is going to be key," O'Dowd said. "Matt has shown great progress. He did at the end of the year starting against Boston College. He knows what he needs to do."

Something else could derail USC's return to the nation's elite: NCAA sanctions. A ruling from the infractions committee on alleged extra benefits provided by would-be sports agents to former USC running back Reggie Bush and other allegations is expected this month.

O'Dowd said possible sanctions are not a hot topic among the players.

"It doesn't get talked about," he said. "I've been hearing about it since I was a freshman. It's sort of like [the fifth wheel] who doesn't get invited. No one is really worried about it and I don't think it will have an effect for us at all."

What does have some effect is talk that USC is no longer the pre-eminent program in the conference as well as the nation. Yes, the Trojans do hear the negative chatter, O'Dowd said.

Still, O'Dowd knows he and his teammates, for the first time in years, now have something to prove.

"Of course it lights a fire beneath us, but in the same sense we did that to ourselves," he said. "It takes a man to go back and correct his faults."

College bowl TV ratings were up 8 percent overall, with the Sun Bowl leading Pac-10 bowls with a 50 percent ratings boost.

You can see all the bowl game ratings here.

The Pac-10 finished fourth among BCS conferences in average bowl TV ratings, behind the Big Ten, SEC and Big 12. The Big Ten and SEC had two teams in BCS bowl games.

The Rose Bowl's TV ratings went up 13 percent. The Emerald Bowl, which featured USC and Boston College, was up 15 percent and ranked third among non-BCS bowls.

The Las Vegas Bowl and EagleBank Bowl matched last year's rating.

The Holiday Bowl, a 33-0 Nebraska blowout of Arizona, was down five percent. The Poinsettia Bowl between California and Utah was down 25 percent, but that's due to last year's game featuring unbeaten Boise State and 11-2 TCU.

The Pac-10's bowl roster also will get a boost from the inclusion of the Alamo Bowl next year. The Alamo Bowl was the second-highest rated non-BCS Bowl.

These are mostly about 2009. But there's a little 2010 mixed in.

1. Oregon: A disappointing Rose Bowl loss doesn't ruin a great first season for coach Chip Kelly. And it's hard not to look ahead to an extremely promising 2010.

2. Oregon State: Making distinctions from here until No. 9 is difficult, but the Beavers finish No. 2 because, despite a bad loss to BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl, they played for the Rose Bowl in their regular- season finale. And the returning cast should inspire optimism for 2010.

3. USC: Team turmoil! Still, the Trojans won their bowl game -- the conference's only bowl victory over a BCS foe -- and that means they finished with the second-most wins in the conference (nine).

4. Stanford: Sure, the Cardinal lost the Sun Bowl to Oklahoma, but it was a competitive game and the Cardinal were playing without their starting quarterback, Andrew Luck.

5. Arizona: The Wildcats fall in here and they know exactly why. Three words: Holiday Bowl disaster.

6. UCLA: While beating Temple isn't the sort of thing to lead a résumé with, a bowl win means the Bruins are one of just three conference teams to head into the offseason coming off a victory.

7. Washington: The Huskies finished the season with a two-game winning streak, beating Washington State and California, and a home run: Quarterback Jake Locker is returning for his senior season.

8. California: When California won five of six after getting whipped by Oregon and USC, it looked like the Bears had righted the ship. Nope.

9. Arizona State: The pressure is on coach Dennis Erickson to get the Sun Devils back to a bowl game in 2010.

10. Washington State: After another terrible season, the big question for the Cougars is what are optimistic yet reasonable expectations for 2010? Ninth in the conference?

What did we learn from the Pac-10's bowl season?

1. A 5-0 bowl season is more fun than a 2-5 one: Last year, the Pac-10 rolled through the bowl season 5-0. Pac-10 fans crowed, while Pac-10 critics said bowl games don't prove anything. This year, the Pac-10 went 2-5 in the bowl season. Pac-10 fans said bowl games don't prove anything, while Pac-10 critics crowed. Who's right? Both. Bowl games in large part operate as a separate season, and issues such as motivation and focus are telling. But bowl games are also football games. And if you lose, you lost. Shut up and stop making excuses. That said, I picked BYU to beat Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl, foreseeing a Civil War hangover. If they played on Saturday, I'd pick the Beavers.

2. It's fair to question Pac-10 defenses: As I wrote here, only USC beat its defensive season averages in yards and points allowed in its bowl game. UCLA eclipsed its season average in yards allowed and matched its points number (21). It's legitimate to raise questions about the performances of Pac-10 defenses, just as it was legitimate to point out the regular-season numbers, which went a different direction. Still, for the Pac-10 to genuinely enter the argument as the nation's best conference, it must get better on defense. Or, at least, it can't opt to take the bowl season off.

3. Oregon isn't ready to take over the Pac-10 -- and the nation -- just yet: The Ducks will be the Pac-10 favorites next year. They also could become national title contenders. But they need to get more physical on both lines and they need to refine their passing game to take the next step. The Ducks' offensive line was young. It will be better -- and more physical -- next fall. The defensive line is less certain. There's plenty of hope for the passing game, with the return of quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and a host of talented receivers. Still, potential is just a word. Got to make it happen on the field over a 13-game schedule, which, of course, includes the bowl game.

4. We still don't know what USC will be like in 2010: Beating Boston College 24-13 in the Emerald Bowl shouldn't make USC fans think that the Trojans' ship has been righted. The game showed many of the same issues that the Trojans had all season -- inconsistency from quarterback Matt Barkley, the offensive line and the defense. And it also provided glimpses of Barkley's and the defense's upside. But when you combine the regular season, bowl game and the departure of Pete Carroll and a number of key players, 2010 feels like a great mystery.

5. The bowl flops may help the 2010 effort: For weeks preceding the bowl season, national pundits were touting the Pac-10 as the nation's best conference. Then: Splat. Maybe the talk went to a few teams' heads? The conference has rightfully taken some tweaks since going 2-5. But a quick review of what's coming back next fall suggest the Pac-10 should be even deeper and better top to bottom in 2010. With another rugged slate of nonconference games ahead, the conference should be plenty motivated to put the bowl implosion behind it with some marquee victories over other BCS conferences.

The Pac-10 bowl season didn't go well, but that doesn't mean you don't make an all-bowl team.

You may notice a lot of USC and UCLA players. You might remember that the LA schools posted the conference's only two wins.

OFFENSE

QB Matt Barkley, USC: Barkley completed 27 of 37 throws for 350 yards with two touchdowns against Boston College in the Emerald Bowl. He also had two interceptions.

RB Toby Gerhart, Stanford: Against an Oklahoma defense ganging up on him, he rushed for 133 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries in a Sun Bowl loss.

RB Stanley Havili, USC: He only rushed for 2 yards, but he also he caught six passes for 83 yards with two touchdowns.

WR Damian Williams, USC: He caught 12 passes for a season-high 189 yards.

WR Damola Adeniji, Oregon State: He caught seven passes for 102 yards and a touchdown in the Beavers' Las Vegas Bowl loss to BYU.

TE Anthony Miller, California: He led Cal with five receptions for 55 yards in the Poinsettia Bowl loss to Utah.

OL Chris Marinelli, Stanford: The offense was without its starting quarterback, but Gerhart gained 133 yards and the Sooners only had one sack.

OL Mike Tepper, California: Cal's pass protection wasn't great against Utah, but running back Shane Vereen finished with 122 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

OL Charles Brown, USC: The Trojans didn't run terribly well vs. Boston College, but they only yielded one sack and gave Barkley plenty of time to throw.

OL Jake Dean, UCLA: He was thrust into the starting lineup after starting center after Kai Maiava was ruled academically ineligible, and the Bruins yielded only one sack vs. Temple.

OL Chase Beeler, Stanford: See Marinelli.

K Kai Forbath, UCLA: He kicked field goals of 40 and 42 yards.

DEFENSE

DE Kenny Rowe, Oregon: He set a Rose Bowl and Oregon bowl record with three sacks in a losing effort against Ohio State.

DT Jurrell Casey, USC: Casey had five tackles, a sack and a 22-yard return of a fumble.

DT Brian Price, UCLA: Price started slowly vs. Temple but he dominated the second half and finished with five tackles, with one coming for a loss.

DE Tyson Alualu, California: Alualu had five tackles, with 1.5 coming for a loss.

LB Akeem Ayers, UCLA: Ayers led the Bruins with nine tackles, two for a loss, and his leaping interception at the Temple 2-yard line, which he returned for a TD, was the play of the Pac-10 bowl season.

LB Kyle Bosworth, UCLA: He finished with seven tackles and 1.5 sacks.

LB Eddie Young, California: Young had seven tackles and returned an interception 31 yards for a TD.

CB Shareece Wright, USC: In his first game back after academic ineligibility, Wright grabbed a key interception.

CB Alterraun Verner, UCLA: Verner had seven tackles, two for a loss, and a pass breakup.

S Rahim Moore, UCLA: Moore had four tackles and an interception.

S Taylor Mays, USC: Mays had five tackles for a Trojans defense that shut down Boston College in the second half.

P David Green, Stanford: He averaged 44 yards on six punts, three of which were downed inside the Sooners' 20-yard line.

The Pac-10 went 2-5 during the bowl season, so it wasn't difficult to find many "worsts."

But there were some good things that shouldn't be overlooked.

Best performance, defensive player: Oregon's undersized but quick defensive end Kenny Rowe set a Rose Bowl and Oregon bowl record with three sacks in a losing effort against Ohio State. He finished the season with 11.5 sacks, which led the Pac-10.

Best performance, offensive player: In his final game in a USC uniform, receiver Damian Williams caught 12 passes for a season-high 189 yards in the Trojans' 24-13 win over Boston College in the Emerald Bowl. It's fair to say that Williams was USC's most consistent player over the entire season.

Worst performance, period: There was nothing good about Arizona's 33-0 loss to Nebraska in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl. Nothing. Feel free, though, to look at this box score and try to find something.

Best play: With UCLA trailing Temple 21-20 in the fourth quarter, and the Owls pinned on their 8-yard line, Bruins outside linebacker Akeem Ayers -- after falling down on his initial pass-rush burst -- leaped into the air and intercepted Vaughn Charlton's pass and gamboled 2 yards into the end zone.

Worst play: Trailing 19-17 in the Rose Bowl, Oregon faced a second-and-2 from Ohio State's 18-yard line. A huge hole opened. But running back LeGarrette Blount couldn't handle a high handoff from quarterback Jeremiah Masoli. The Buckeyes recovered the fumble and dominated the rest of the game.

Worst play, II: After BYU tied Oregon State 7-7 in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas, the Beavers took over at their 40-yard line. On second down, running back Jacquizz Rodgers couldn't handle a backward pass from Sean Canfield, and Matt Bauman returned the loose ball 34 yards for a touchdown. That was the first fumble of Rodgers' career, and the Cougars dominated the game from then on.

Best performance under tough circumstances: Oklahoma knew Stanford had no passing offense without quarterback Andrew Luck. So it ganged up on running back Toby Gerhart. Nonetheless, the Heisman Trophy runner-up rushed for 135 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries in a rugged effort in the Sun Bowl loss.

Worst pass defense: California made Utah true freshman quarterback Jordan Wynn look like an All-American in the Poinsettia Bowl. Against what was supposed to be one of the nation's best secondaries heading into the season, Wynn completed 26 of 36 passes for 338 yards with three touchdowns. He shook off an early pick-six to run the Bears ragged.

Best second-half defense: UCLA held Temple to 41 yards and zero points in the second half of the EagleBank Bowl.

Worst performance you didn't see coming: Canfield, Oregon State's quarterback, earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors this season. He has been invited to the Senior Bowl and is going to have an NFL career. Nonetheless, he had a horrible Las Vegas Bowl and was outplayed by BYU's Max Hall, who threw three touchdown passes. Canfield completed just 19 of 40 passes for 168 yards with an interception and no touchdowns, and he seemed completely befuddled by a strong wind and the Cougars' secondary.

Best unsung performance: USC fullback Stanley Havili always seems to sneak up on folks. In the Trojans' win over Boston College, he caught six passes for 83 yards with two touchdowns, including a 53-yard jaunt on a screen pass. He also had a critical tackle after one of Matt Barkley's two interceptions.

Only one coach at 2010 Pac-10 media day will be able to say he led a bowl winner the previous season.

Unless, of course, UCLA's Rick Neuheisel joins now-former USC coach Pete Carroll and opts to bolt for another job. Then there will be none.

Ah, there are many ways to slice and dice a 2-5 bowl season. None is very tasty.

Things started badly: Oregon State got thumped 44-20 by BYU in a frigid, windy MAACO Bowl Las Vegas. Then California meandered through a 37-27 defeat to Utah in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.

Hey, 0-2 vs. the Mountain West.

Things appeared to reverse course with victories by the LA schools, with both USC and UCLA winning with dominant second halves. The Trojans bested Boston College 24-13 in the Emerald Bowl, while UCLA held Temple to 41 yards after halftime of a 30-21 win in the EagleBank Bowl.

But that was the end of the, er, glory.

Arizona got throttled 33-0 by Nebraska in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl, an inexplicably bad performance. Stanford, playing without starting quarterback Andrew Luck, who injured a finger during the regular-season finale vs. Notre Dame, fell to Oklahoma 31-27 in the Brut Sun Bowl.

And, finally, Oregon went down 26-17 to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi, with Buckeyes quarterback Terrelle Pryor turning in the game of his life while the Ducks' offense sputtered.

It was a very bad end to what had been a good regular season.

The Pac-10, discussed much of the year as perhaps the nation's best, or at least, deepest conference, led all conferences with five teams ranked in the final BCS standings. But only two -- No. 11 Oregon and No. 22 USC -- ended up ranked in the final polls.

The bowl season also left a large crack in what had been a 21-9 record vs. the nation's toughest nonconference schedule.

Still, this was only the second time the conference had seven bowl teams (2002 was the other). The Pac-10 never previously had boasted six teams with eight or more wins, and seven teams finished with winning records.

And the conference, with eight returning starting quarterbacks, looks to be even deeper in 2010.

So perhaps these postseason woes will prelude a breakthrough next year: Two BCS bowl teams.

It appears that one of the great coaching runs in college football history is over.

ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting that USC's Pete Carroll has reached an agreement to become the next head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

Carroll was 97-19 with two national championships and seven Pac-10 titles as USC's coach. The Trojans went 6-6 his first season but would win at least 11 games over the next seven seasons, each of which ended with top-five rankings. Under Carroll, USC became the nation's pre-eminent college football program.

Of course, things trended down in 2009. The Trojans went 9-4, got blown out in losses to Oregon and Stanford and only returned to the national rankings after beating Boston College in the Emerald Bowl, the Trojans' first non-BCS bowl since Carroll's first season.

Moreover, off-field issues might be a concern for USC going forward, particularly with the NCAA and the Reggie Bush case.

Now Trojans fans' attention turns to who the next coach will be.

He will try to fill very big shoes.

Names that will come up: Oregon State's Mike Riley, Stanford's Jim Harbaugh, Boise State's Chris Petersen, TCU's Gary Patterson and Utah's Kyle Whittingham.

As well as current or former NFL coaches, such as Tennessee's Jeff Fisher, Jacksonville's Jack Del Rio or former Buccaneers and Raiders coach Jon Gruden.

Recall that when Mike Garrett was trying to hire a coach in 2000, USC wasn't such a great job. Garrett's overtures were rebuffed by Riley, Dennis Erickson as well as then-Oregon coach Mike Bellotti.

It's a much different job now, but the monstrous shadow of Carroll's legacy as well as potential NCAA problems could give some big-name coaches pause before they accept the post.

Of course, if the offer is in the range of $4.4 million per season, which Carroll was making, then all the drawbacks won't seem so daunting.

Is Washington quarterback Jake Locker going to be the Pac-10's only junior star not entering the NFL draft a year early?

UCLA's junior defensive tackle Brian Price made official today what already had been reported -- he's entering the draft.

Price joins California running back Jahvid Best, USC defensive end Everson Griffen and USC running back Stafon Johnson as conference juniors who have announced they are leaving.

That group of four is almost certainly going to be joined by Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, who hasn't made an "official" announcement but every indication -- including an apparent Senior Bowl invitation -- is he's leaving. USC receiver Damian Williams also hasn't made an official announcement but is expected to enter the draft.

While there's almost always a surprising declaration or two before the deadline -- recall California tight end Cameron Morrah out-of-the-blue decision to bolt last year -- three other marquee players are on the clock before the Jan. 15 deadline to make a decision: USC running back Joe McKnight, Arizona tight end Rob Gronkowski and Oregon State defensive tackle Stephen Paea.

McKnight has told reporters he plans to return, but that was before he got mixed up in some potential NCAA trouble and was suspended from the Emerald Bowl.

Gronkowski has said he will only leave if he's given a first-round grade, but Wildcats fans probably shouldn't be too confident he will be return in 2010.

As for Paea, he's evaluating his situation now. The general feeling is that he could improve his draft status with another year of seasoning -- he's only played football since his senior year of high school -- but it might prove to be too tempting to pass up an opportunity to start getting paid.

Fact is, there are many financial reasons to leave early, not the least of which is the NFL's uncertain labor situation.

For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars and so on -- whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons.

• A not-to-gentle assessment of Arizona's Holiday Bowl fiasco. But the season, other than the bowl, was mostly a success.
• Will Jahvid Best be a good pro and is California better off without him? Good analysis, but I'll also answer: 1. Yes. 2. No.
• Oregon's goals in 2010 should be high. Very high. That's because the Ducks should be good in 2010.
• Some Oregon State notes.
• Looking ahead for UCLA: The offense should improve, but the defense is a question.
• Hard to say if USC's self-imposed sanctions for basketball violations mean anything for football
• Some reasonable perspective on the Pac-10 D'oh -- er, bowl -- season (Jon Wilner also has some good insights into Stanford). Also here. And here, too.

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!

• Arizona has played against some good defensive players. Not sure if any are as good as Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh.
• In the end, it was the Bad California Bears that left the biggest mark on the season. What went wrong? Just about everything.
• Oregon has a fancypants offense, but Ohio State might have the best defense the Ducks have faced this season.
• Paul Buker: Oregon State didn't show up. The Beavers future, despite the Las Vegas Bowl debacle, looks bright.
• Transcript to an interesting interview with Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh here. Harbaugh is at his colorful best talking about running back Toby Gerhart.
• UCLA safety Rahim Moore is thrilled to play in the EagleBank Bowl. Nick Ekbatani gets a shot to go out on top.
• USC's defense wants to end a disappointing season on a high note.
• Washington will hold its spring game at night under the lights.
• Jon Wilner considers the Pac-10's horrible start to the bowl season.

Breaking down the Emerald Bowl between No. 24 USC (8-4) and Boston College (8-4).

WHO TO WATCH: USC quarterback Matt Barkley transformed from being the toast of college football after he led a game-winning drive in the waning moments at Ohio State on Sept. 12 to a guy who looked like an overmatched true freshman quarterback. The Trojans' offense sputtered down the stretch, and Barkley ended seventh in the Pac-10 in passing efficiency, with his 12 interceptions almost keeping pace with his 13 touchdowns. If Barkley reclaims his steady, heady self from the first half of the season, which means getting the ball into the hands of his playmakers and avoiding risky throws, the Trojans' offense should have no problem matching the smooth-running unit that scored 106 points against California, Notre Dame and Oregon State.

WHAT TO WATCH: USC in general. The conventional wisdom is the Trojans will come out flat and uninspired because: 1. the Emerald Bowl is beneath a team that's played in seven consecutive BCS bowls; 2. the program has been in the news a lot of late for all the wrong reasons, and that will dilute motivation. Perhaps. Or it might do the opposite. It might make them mad and focused -- us against the world! unite! -- and they might then play up to their capabilities. Or at least with some passion. Know that BC will show up hungry and unintimidated. Even without its A-game, which we haven't seen since the first three quarters of the win at Notre Dame, USC might prevail because it's got better players, but a lackluster effort could lead to another embarrassing defeat.

WHY TO WATCH: Because everyone is trying to figure out what's up with USC. If the Trojans roll and post an impressive win, it would suggest the program is righting itself and will be back in the Pac-10 and national mix next fall. If they look sloppy and uninspired, folks will start to wonder if the dynasty is truly dead. And keep in mind: While USC has lost four times in the Pac-10 this season, no team outside the conference has beaten USC since the 2005 national championship game.

PREDICTION: USC 30-17. The guess here is that USC has too much pride to play without fire. The absence of three starters and a reserve due to academics and NCAA issues will hurt, but that might be offset by a team that was beaten up getting three weeks to rest and heal, mentally as well as physically. BC will fight hard and keep things close early, but the Trojans' talent -- and motivation -- will eventually prevail.

It's Christmas Eve. It's the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be.

• Arizona tight end Rob Gronkowski hasn't decided if he will return next fall or declare for the NFL draft.
• Candidates to become Arizona State's new offensive coordinator include a Boise State assistant, among many others.
• California has one last chance to put a positive spin on a disappointing season.
• This guy is a special-teams standout for Oregon.
• That was an ugly performance in Las Vegas for Oregon State.
• It looks like quarterback Kevin Prince will be ready to go for UCLA.
• And it looks like Allen Bradford will be USC's starting tailback in the Emerald Bowl on Saturday. Pete Carroll takes responsibility.