Pac-12: John McKay
USC in a sentence
- The Trojans won't be eligible for the postseason because of NCAA sanctions, so the big question is how consistently motivated a team that is talented enough to win 10 games this season will be.
The big issue
- USC is loaded at the skill positions, with quarterback Matt Barkley leading a young but talented supporting cast, but the season likely swings on the play of the offensive line and linebackers, positions that are both questionable and thin.
- Starting defensive tackle Armond Armstead, who missed spring practices due to an undisclosed medical condition, still hasn't been cleared to play but he told reporters he expect to be cleared before the season starts.
- Starting running back Marc Tyler is on indefinite suspension -- he definitely will sit out the season opener. He was suspended after saying stupid things to a TMZ reporter with a video camera, but his status is even more precarious because he is awaiting a ruling from the school's disciplinary committee on a pair of alcohol-related incidents from last year.
- Coach Lane Kiffin said over the weekend that junior Curtis McNeal, who was academically ineligible last season, leads the tailback competition.
- USC's backup quarterback, redshirt freshman Jesse Scroggins, is out indefinitely after suffering a thumb injury. True freshmen Cody Kessler and Max Wittek are competing to be Barkley's backup.
- USC has only one new assistant coach: receivers coach Ted Gilmore. He replaced John Morton, who left for the San Francisco 49ers.
- While the Trojans have 13 starters back, only 39 players on the roster saw action in 2010. 70 players on the 109-man roster have never played a down of college football. Only 14 Trojans have started at least 10 games.
- For the first time since 2000, USC plays seven home games, including the first three in the Coliseum.
- There are 35 scholarship players now practicing who didn't participate in spring drills: 23 new recruits and 12 returning players who were out because of injuries. The Trojans presently have 79 scholarship players. They can only sign 15 players this recruiting season because of NCAA sanctions and can have no more than 75 total scholarship players in 2012.
- USC outscored foes in each of the first three quarters last season but was outscored 118-72 in the fourth quarter.
- USC is in the process of constructing the $70 million John McKay Center, a 110,000-square foot building that will house the football offices, an academic center, weight room, athletic training room and digital media production.
Opening the mailbag: Is Oregon taking the Civil War for granted?
To the notes.
Shawn from Denver writes: If possible please let me know what you think of Oregon and Ohio St. in the Rose Bowl....there is no way the Beavs can take it in Autzen with such high stakes, although I will leave that for you to decide. Since you are correct 75% of the time I hope you feel the same way!!
Ted Miller: Oh, Shawn, I would not take a victory for granted. You may need to apologize to the college football gods for looking ahead. Chip Kelly, one-game-at-a-time taskmaster that he is, might recommend 50 lashes.
Because you seem like a nice person, I will send them an e-mail telling them you were consumed with holiday cheer.
And, by the way, Beavers fans might tell you that I tend to have mixed results picking their games (see last item in that mailbag).
Ryan from New York writes: To all those people proclaiming the end of 'SC, remember 1966? That year ND went to LA and buried the Trojans 51-0. The next year?John McKay won his second National Championship
Ted Miller: Ah, a reasonable observation. That 1966 USC team lost three in a row to end the season -- including 14-13 to Purdue in the Rose Bowl -- but certainly got their act together the following season, though Oregon State fans might remember that year fondly, too.
Brad from Portland writes: Arizona has done a remarkable job this year despite the RB injuries and the loss of Rob Gronkowski. How do you think the season would have differed if they had remained healthy? Rose Bowl?
Ted Miller: Just about every team has injury what-ifs, so asking how a team might do without them is like asking how a team might have done if it had converted a key third down in a loss. Still, Brad, I hear you. Gronkowski is one of the top 5 or 10 difference-makers in the Pac-10, and before Arizona had injury issues at tailback it was one of the country's best running teams.
So if you're asking me how Arizona might have done with a healthy backfield and a healthy Gronkowski, my guess is Rose Bowl.
Does that make you feel better? Or does it sting?
Gordie from Pasadena writes: In regards to ESPN.com's week 12 top 25 power rankings: I am just curious why you ranked Cal at #23 and Stanford at #18 right after the Bears out-muscled the Cardinal at Stanford, beating them in nearly every statistical category (a 1-1 tie in turnovers being the notable exception).
Ted Miller: I've always been a body-of-work guy. If you tried to rank teams based entirely on head-to-head results, you'd have a nutty poll.
Cal whipped Stanford, no doubt. But Stanford whipped Oregon and USC the two previous weekends, two teams that bludgeoned the Bears.
The previous week, I had Stanford ranked 12th. I thought losing by six in a rivalry game merited only a six-spot drop in the top 25. I also THINK Stanford is better than 18th -- I don't think there are 17 teams in the country that could beat Stanford.
I didn't rank Cal the week before. Twenty-third felt about right, based on their season's body of work.
Don't think I don't understand your issue, which is entirely reasonable. These are hard distinctions to make, but this is how college football operates. It's a beauty contest, and judging beauty is subjective.
Henry from Eugene writes: I work in Athletics at Oregon and am disappointed with your comments regarding [the Oregon marketing department]. I'm not sure if you make human resource recommendations about other schools' departments, but I feel that it is very inappropriate. You do not understand the full story, and certainly not the inside story of what is going on. [The individual in question] works her rear end off, sixty-hours per week, and receives no grain of thanks for her hard work. Don't smear her name regarding a situation in which her due diligence was required and appropriate action was taken.
Ted Miller: One, I didn't mention anyone's name. I wrote this:
Former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti deserves some credit for the Ducks' success this year, but he may want to make some changes in the marketing department, which has failed to embrace the best marketing effort for the program in years.
I still believe that. "Full story?" Hmm. What I do know is that video was a lot of fun. The university should have done EVERYTHING it could to embrace the video. Period. Problems? A resourceful marketing department would have said, "Our endgame is this video circulating virally. How do we get to that endgame? Don't tell me we can't find a way because that's how uncreative people think. As Chip Kelly would say, 'Win the day!' Ideas?"
My understanding is the university also didn't embrace the second-best marketing campaign this season: the fan-generated "blackout" plan for the Oregon-USC game. Again, mistake.
My job covering college football -- and all that goes with it -- often includes comments, positive and negative, on university business. Typically, it's about coaches. Sometimes its athletic directors. In this case, it was a marketing department.
It's not personal. It's just my perspective.
Matt from San Francisco writes: I want to pass something along to you if you have not already been alerted by other readers. A group of Ducks fans heard the story about a little girl in Oklahoma with cerebral palsy who cheers up whenever she sees the Ducks on TV.
Ted Miller: Here's the link.
Good job, Ducks.
Amber from Texas writes: Hi,We posted an article that we thought you and your readers might be interested in having a look at, "100 Best Twitter Feeds for College Football Fanatics"
Ted Miller: Here's the link.
Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller
The L.A. Times reported that USC is looking for a marquee BCS conference opponent for a future home-and-away series, and one discussion has been with Texas.
Help me out. When these two teams last played, was the game sorta entertaining?
From the Times:
Steve Lopes, a senior associate athletic director who handles scheduling, said playing nonconference opponents such as Ohio State and Notre Dame on the road in the same season was "not something you'd really like to do very often."
Lopes confirmed that he has "had conversations" with Texas and other teams from Bowl Championship Series conferences about possible home-and-home series.
USC is trying to fill dates in two-year cycles for 2015-2016, 2017-2018, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.
The game I'd love to see would be USC-Alabama. Great history between the teams -- Bear Bryant, John McKay, USC running back Sam "Bam'' Cunningham in 1970, the split title in 1978 even though the Trojans whipped the Crimson Tide 24-14 in Birmingham, etc.
And, at present, most would agree that Pete Carroll and Nick Saban, despite being polar opposites as personalities, are two of the top coaches in the game.
Such a game contract certainly would inspire wide grins throughout the Pac-10.
Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller
Sure some of you folks already have seen this but it may have gotten lost in the recruiting hoopla for many of you: ESPN.com did a state-by-state "Mt. Rushmore" of sports.
You can vote for your favorite here. And here's the index.
It was notable to me that the only two Pac-10 football presences were Don James for Washington and Pat Tillman for Arizona. Pac-10 hoops produced John Wooden for California and Lute Olsen for Arizona.
By way of comparison, two of the four picks from Alabama and Florida emerged from college football.
Wonder how some of you might envision a Mt. Rushmore of Pac-10 football.
To me, the two certainties would be Don James and John McKay.
It would be hard not to include Pete Carroll. Tillman would be a good one -- good granite chin, too.
If it were still 1993, O.J. Simpson would be a possibility.
Who else?
Terry Baker? Terry Donahue?
Frank Kush? Howard Jones?
Marcus Allen? Pappy Waldorf? Carson Palmer? John Elway? Troy Aikman? Jim Plunkett? Gary Beban? Charles White?
Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.
Opening the mailbag II: Has USC ever been an underdog?
Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller
More questions and comments to consider:
Ed from Lake Oswego, Ore., writes: Regarding Tyrone Willingham's comments that African Americans only get hired for downtrodden teams. I have never heard of a school looking for a new head coach following a 10-2 season except Ohio State when it fired Earl Bruce for John Cooper because they couldn't beat Michigan. I think most coaches would be thrilled with opportunities at ND or UW with their reputations, resources and history's. Having said that, there is an undeniable disparity between the number of white and African American head coaches among the BCS conference elite. By the way don't touch this subject with a 10 foot pole.
Ted Miller: Ed is referring to this article from the Chicago Tribune in which Willingham said:
"It has always been the downtrodden that [African-American coaches] had to take over," he said. "There are a lot of things not right with those situations. The degree of difficulty is enhanced in those programs. You do the best you can with the resources around you.
"Maybe Notre Dame got it right [retaining Charlie Weis]. But we have to change that mentality with [black] coaches. Nick Saban is making it work at Alabama in his second season. But in the majority of cases, it's going to take longer to get things right and up to speed."
First, Willingham is right. Too few black men have been given FBS coaching opportunities and when they do get them, it's often a huge challenge -- like Temple, Mississippi State or Louisiana-Lafayette.
Yet the timing of this makes it seem like Willingham is making an excuse for himself and his failure at Washington, which falls 100 percent on his shoulders.
Willingham fell short as a recruiter. He fell short as a coach. He fell short as an administrator. He fell short as the leader of the program. He fell short in public and media relations.
And, of course, as of Saturday, his record with be 11-37, the worst four-year stretch in program history.
Raymond from Tucson writes: Ted, Are you coming to Tucson to watch the Dual in the Desert and watch Wilbur tackle Sparky?
Ted Miller: Actually, I'm staying in Scottsdale -- present weather: 72 and sunny -- where I will be blogging from home. The Boss is very pregnant, and she will deliver a Screaming Thing into the world any moment. Our first! So if you guys notice a sudden decline in the number of posts, know that it will be due to orders from General Poopy Diapers.
Mike from Anaheim writes: Ted, is it bad, as a USC fan, that I'm glad to see Sarkisian leave?
Ted Miller: You certainly have a right to your opinion, and plenty of reasonable people have, at times, questioned Sarkisian's play-calling.
Of course, there's always the "be careful what you wish for." I liked this paragraph from USC gadfly Scott Wolf's story Friday about potential replacements from Sark:
"[Pete] Carroll said he would consider assistant coach John Morton and then added he would also consider [Carl] Smith. It's clear he no longer wants a Norm Chow-type who might come in and be considered an equal."
So don't expect Carroll to suddenly bring in a superstar play-caller. While he's mostly known for running the Trojans defense, Carroll has his fingers on all aspects of his team, including supervising the offense. Back when Norm Chow was the Trojans OC, Carroll always went out his way to call the offense "ours" instead of "Norm's" (and not without some justification, by the way).
Jeremy from Sun Valley, Ore., writes: With Oregon State's recent loss to Oregon and the loss of our Rose Bowl dreams, how can we say this was a successful year?
Brandon from Beaverton, Ore., writes: I know what Pete Carroll has done at USC is astounding (7 straight pac 10 titles). But is what Mike Riley doing at Oregon St more impressive? 3 straight top 3 finishes, Nation's longest bowl winning streak and Beating 1, 2 and 3 ranked teams in consecutive seasons with average recruiting classes. Our recruits don't get the hype of Oregon's let alone USC's but We continue to win.
Ted Miller: Jeremy meet Brandon.
But, Jeremy, did you believe it was Rose Bowl or bust this year?
The Beavers replaced their entire defensive front seven and, during the preseason, appeared to have some issues on offense. Yet here they are, a Sun Bowl victory away from a ninth win -- that would be 28 over the past three seasons -- and third consecutive top-25 ranking in the final polls.
Sure, the "what could have been" hurts. And it's never fun to lose to your rivals.
But doesn't this feel like a OSU golden age, with an outstanding coach who appears happy to stick around for the long-haul?
Bamfo from Brooklyn writes: Now that Mike Bellotti announced that he'll step away eventually for Chip Kelly to take the head coaching reigns, obviously everyone is trying to predict when that's actually going to happen. Any chance he waits until he is the Pacific Ten's winningest coach? I'm not sure the actual number, but I know he's knocking on that door.
Ted Miller: Maybe, but he has a little ways to go to catch UCLA's Terry Donahue.
Bellotti has 72 career Pac-10 victories, which ranks third on the all-time list. Bellotti passed the legendary John McKay(70) this season. Donahue is No. 1 with 98 and Washington's Dawgfather, Don James, is second with 97.
To hit No. 1, you'd figure Bellotti would need three more seasons.
[Edit note: I was trying to be cute here -- obviously, it would require three perfect Pac-10 campaigns. But it doesn't seem like everyone understood the quip.]
Chris from Mesa, Ariz., writes: Although USC has obviously had losses the last few years, they have always been favored to win. When was the last time that another team was favored over USC?
Ted Miller: Just last year: No. 5 Oregon was a 3-point favorite over ninth-ranked USC, and the Ducks covered in a 24-17 victory. Of course, the Trojans hadn't been an underdog in another conference game since 2001 (UCLA, three points).
No. 3 Michigan was favored over No. 8 USC before the 2006 Rose Bowl, according to USA Today, though my Phil Steele guide says the Trojans were giving a point. Of course, USC rolled the Wolverines 32-18.
The Trojans also were 3-point underdogs at No. 6 Auburn 2003, but the Trojans opened a can of whup-butt in a 23-0 humbling of a team that would dominate the SEC the following year.
And, of course, no team in the nation -- none -- would be favored against USC this year.
Pity that Florida/Alabama's or Texas/Oklahoma's [finger quotes] national championship [finger quotes] will be marred by the fact that objective, in-the-know folks won't consider any of them the best team in the nation.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Ted Miller
Miller has been covering college football since 1997, starting with Auburn and then heading West to Washington and the Pac-12. His columns for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer won first place in the 2007 APSE Best Writing contest. The Atlanta native and University of Richmond graduate presently lives with his wife in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Kevin Gemmell
Gemmell covered San Diego State and the Mountain West Conference for three years before joining ESPN.com. As a Santa Clara graduate, his hope is that the Broncos will one day re-institute football. Until then, he lives vicariously through his readers. Gemmell lives in California with his wife and son.
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