Oh, if only Florida were to play USC ...

MIAMI - As the confetti was being swept up from college football’s final party of the season, it was impossible not to be left wanting more.

Fans of Utah and Texas certainly felt less than satisfied. For most of us, though, only one thing could fill that empty space: Florida vs. Southern California.

Pete Carroll’s West Coast Empire against Urban Meyer’s emerging dynasty in Southeast.

It didn’t happen this season — the Gators beat Oklahoma Thursday night 24-14 to win their second national championship in three seasons — but it’s a matchup that seems destined to happen.

Every year begins with USC on the short list of national title contenders, and ends with the Trojans playing as well as any team in the country.

Yet their last national title was in 2004. Texas’ Vince Young ripped what would have been a third straight crown away from them in 2005. In the last seven seasons, USC has finished ranked no lower than fourth.

No. 3 is where the Trojans landed in the final AP Top 25 when the last vote was counted early Friday morning.

“If we had a playoff system,” Carroll told the AP earlier this week, “I don’t know that we wouldn’t have four or five (national titles).”

Carroll built his kingdom with boundless energy, balancing tenacious competitiveness and California cool. The USC machine runs like this: Bring in the bluest of the blue chip recruits, turn them into All-Americans, then send them off to the NFL. The conveyor belt never stops.

From Carson Palmer to Matt Leinart to John David Booty to Mark Sanchez. Next to enter the machine: California high schooler Matt Barkley. The nation’s top quarterback prospect is expected on campus by fall if not sooner.

Meyer’s machine is just getting cranked up. In 2006, he felt as if Florida was a great team, but not a great program. Most of the players had been recruited by his predecessor, Ron Zook, and many of its stars jumped early to the NFL after beating Ohio State in the title game.

Now he’s got something built to last.

“I see good young players. I see a recruiting base that’s solid. I see a program that’s set now. We’re good,” he said Friday after collecting his championship trophies.

Scary good.

The 2008 national champions had no seniors listed among the 23 players on the defensive depth chart. Unless All-American linebacker Brandon Spikes skips his senior year, the unit that held the highest-scoring team in NCAA history to 14 points Thursday night will return to preseason practice intact. The Gators defense could be on the level with this season’s USC defense, that allowed 9.0 points per game.

On the offensive side, Florida will have a bit more turnover. Sensational speedster Percy Harvin is a good bet to make his junior season his last in college.

And, of course, the great Tim Tebow could leave early, too.

If Tebow returns, Florida will be preseason No. 1 next season and it won’t be close. The Gators will be enormous favorites to win the national title, much the way USC was in ’05, when Leinart returned to play with Reggie Bush and LenDale White and form one of the great offenses ever.

On the surface, Meyer couldn’t be more different from Carroll. The Florida coach comes across guarded, serious and intensely stoic. Carroll’s intensity is more manic, he rarely seems to be holding back.

In the most important areas, though, they couldn’t be more alike — natural leaders and relentless competitors. Meticulous in their quest to be the best.

“I really have a dream of what Florida should look like. And it’s getting real close. There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Meyer said.

Carroll’s winning percentage in eight seasons at USC is .854, the best among active coaches. Meyer is second on that list at .830.

Could the ’09 Trojans stand in the way of Florida’s repeat at next year’s title game? Well, college programs are often slaves to timing. It’s not enough to have the best athletes. Having the right blend of talent and experience to be a championship team takes a little luck.

USC loses 10 starters off that ferocious defense, but if quarterback Mark Sanchez returns for his senior season, the Trojans’ offense should be ready to take flight.

The current BCS set up won’t help get the Trojans and Gators on the field. One loss can eliminate a team from title contention, and the system doesn’t necessarily reward teams that peak late.

So USC will continue to reign over the Pac-10, while Florida rules in the Southeastern Conference, a tougher place to keep the crown, indeed.

It could be this way for years, these two superpowers separated by 2,122 miles, competing for championships but never coming face-to-face.

Yet, somehow, that meeting seems inevitable.

Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

USC finishes second in final coaches' poll, third in AP

Email Picture

Harry How / Getty Images

Coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Mark Sanchez celebrate USC's victory over Penn State in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.

Trojans finish behind national-champion Florida and unbeaten Utah, in the Associated Press media poll.

By Gary Klein
January 9, 2009

USC Coach Pete Carroll watched Florida defeat Oklahoma in the Bowl Championship Series title game Thursday night and then waited, with a passing interest, for the final polls.

Florida, USC and Texas all finished their seasons with one defeat. Utah (13-0) was the only unbeaten team in the NCAA's Bowl Subdivision.

So Carroll was not surprised that Florida's 24-14 victory put the Gators (13-1) atop both the final coaches' and Associated Press media polls.

USC (12-1), which defeated Penn State in the Rose Bowl, finished second in the coaches' poll. Texas (12-1), Utah (13-0) and Oklahoma (12-2) followed the Trojans.

USC was third in the AP poll behind Florida and Utah. Texas was fourth and Oklahoma fifth.

"I don't think you know who the best team is," Carroll said late Thursday night. "You just know which team got the most votes."

Asked if he thought the Trojans could have defeated Florida or Oklahoma, Carroll said, "Yes, I do. They're really good teams but you can see that if you play really good defense you can quiet those offenses."

As the BCS title game unfolded, Carroll said he was watching to see what it would take to stop the Gators and the Sooners.

He was impressed most by Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.

"He kept them alive by scrambling around," Carroll said, adding, "It would have been fun preparing to get after those guys."

USC, however, did not get the chance because of a September loss at Oregon State, a setback the Trojans were not able to recover from in the polls.

Florida received 48 of 65 first-place votes in the AP poll. Utah had 16, USC one.

"Their schedule was solid but I don't think it was as difficult as a Pac-10 schedule," Carroll said of Utah. "But they did what they had to do. They won all their games."

Carroll speculated that the Trojans' second-place finish in the coaches' poll was a reflection of both the Trojans' performance and the Pacific 10 Conference's unbeaten record in bowl games.

"It showed the strength of our conference as it was at the end rather than early in the season," he said.

Three other Pac-10 teams finished in the coaches' Top 25: No. 9 Oregon (10-3); No. 19 Oregon State (9-4) and No. 25 California (9-4).

Carroll and the Trojans must now wait to hear what quarterback Mark Sanchez, safety Taylor Mays and other draft-eligible Trojans players decide to do. Next Thursday is the deadline for juniors and third-year sophomores to make themselves available for this year's NFL draft.

Carroll, who met alone with Sanchez on Tuesday, met again with the fourth-year junior and his family on Thursday.

"He's undecided at this point," Carroll said. "He could still go. His competitive nature about him makes him feel he wants to go for it, but he loves SC.

"So we'll just have to wait and see."

BCS Again Shows Fatal Flaw: USC Is Really the National Champion

The 2008 National Championship game that was played last night was probably one of the least cared about championship games in recent memory. Although, the game was closer than I expected with Florida beating Oklahoma 24-14, but still it's got to be embarrassing for NCAA President Myles Brand and the rest of the college football world that already knew that Oklahoma didn't belong in the game.

Sure, the Oklahoma Sooners had a great year and had some solid wins over ranked opponents, but ever since the championship game was announced fans were questioning the defensive abilities to contain Florida's spread offense.

In terms of scoring defense Oklahoma gave up 24.5 points per game, which wasn't even in the top-50 defenses. In terms of yards per game Oklahoma gave up 359.1 yards per game again not in the top 50.

In terms of defense against the pass Oklahoma wasn't even in the top 75 in terms of defense giving up over 3,290 yards, For rush defense they Sooners were better in the top 20 in terms of against the run giving up 1,378 yards. For interceptions and they were again in the top 20 with 18 interceptions.

Let's take a look at the team that should have been in the title game the University of Southern California. In terms of defense USC only allowed 7.8 points per game, which was first in the nation, allowed a total of 206.1 yards per game which again was first.

In terms of pass defense again a number one ranking giving up 1,474 through the air. USC was fourth in the nation for rush defense giving up 999 yards, and in terms of interceptions the Trojans were ranked number 12 with 19.

I wasn't able to watch the championship game because I didn't particularly care who won because there's no doubt again the BCS messed up and there was a team that didn't belong in the championship game.

Just because I didn't watch the game didn't mean I wasn't able to watch the highlights for the game. The clips showed why the Sooners didn't belong in the game.

First and foremost it was just bad watching the Trojans trying to tackle and it's a wonder why their defense was so bad, just look at a run by Tim Tebow for a first down. I can guarantee this if that was against the Trojans, Tebow may not been getting up because he would have been hit and he wouldn't have made the first down either.

Yes, the Sooners did pick off Tebow two times. I saw one of the interceptions and it was just a horrible throw to no one in particular except to a red jersey it's one of those head scratcher kind of interceptions on what was the quarterback looking at?

Here's a look at why the Trojans deserve to be there instead of the Sooners. On the Trojans side of defense and where these player are projected to go in the NFL draft.

Fili Moala projected to be a second-round pick at defensive tackle, Outside Linebacker Brian Cushing projected to go somewhere in either the first or second round, Clay Matthews another outside linebacker is projected as a third or fourth round pick.

At inside linebacker Rey Maualuga is ranked at number one and is projected as a top-15 pick, for the safety position the Trojans have Taylor Mays who is the number one rated prospect and is said to be a top-10 pick. Lastly Kevin Ellison a strong saftey is ranked as the 15th best safety coming out and is scheduled to go in the fifth round.

Now, let's take a look at Oklahoma who did they have on defense? With the rankings I've seen there wasn't much on the defensive side except at the defensive tackle and defensive end position.

At defensive end, Auston English is projected as the ninth best defensive end prospect and could go in the second or third round. At defensive tackle the Sooners have the third-best prospect in DeMarcus Granger who's projected to go in the first or second round. In terms of inside and outside linebackers the Sooners do not have anyone that is even projected to be drafted.

Oklahoma doesn't have any cornerbacks that are projected to be drafted either. As for the safety position, Nic Harris is projected at the ninth rated safety and for where he could be drafted is in the third round. The Sooners also have Lendy Holmes as the number 23rd ranked prospect at safety and his projection is in the seventh round.

In all honesty if you were the Florida Gators football team if you had a chance to chose your opponent in the championship game there is no doubt they would be choosing the Oklahoma Sooners. Not because of the fact that they think the Sooners are the best competition, but because they would know they would have absolutely no chance against the Trojans.

You can talk about speed of the Florida gators offense with Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin. Well guess what the Trojans played the Oregon Ducks this year and Jeremiah Masoli is a running quarterback and he was held to 11 carries for 19 yards.

On top of that the Trojans defense held the Ducks powerful running back who's better than any running back that the Gators have in Jeremiah Johnson he went for 13 carries and 45 yards. Oh and if we really want to use speed and what the Trojans can do to a player with speed how about Jahvid Best a way better runner than Percy Harvin and he only had 13 carries for 30 yards.

So, it's going to be fun listening to all the talk about how the Gators are the best team in college, when it's just not the case. The Trojans defense is too good, they're fast, they hit hard, and the Trojans defense have the most NFL ready prospects than any other school in college football.

So, Florida fans enjoy the championship trophy for beating Oklahoma, but it must be a bittersweet moment knowing that the Trojans would crush these Florida Gators.

If it's settled on the field, USC wins

I like USC's chances against Florida, but thanks to the dysfunctional Bowl Championship Series, we'll never get a chance to know for sure.

The Gators are consensus national champions, but I say the system failed.

I don't what was worse: the way the AP voters rolled over and gave the BCS what it wanted, or seeing Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen presenting the national championship trophy to Florida coach Urban Meyer.

As I've said many times before, the Pac-10 is at a severe disadvantage in a system that relies so heavily on polls. Too many poll voters reside east of the Mississippi, where they don't see Pac-10 games -- especially ones that start after 10 p.m. on the East Coast.

How else to explain the way USC was kissed off after a September loss to Oregon State, while Florida sailed onto the national title game despite a loss at home to Mississippi?

At least the Trojans lost in Corvallis. Hansen had the perfect stage to tell a network television audience that his conference champion got hosed, but wouldn't do it.

And, what about Utah? The Utes were unbeaten and hammered Southeastern Conference power Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

Football is a game of toughness, courage and the ability to get off the ground to make a play after being knocked flat. Instead of honoring that, the BCS is using computer programs and poll voters to pick the teams that play for the title.

It's artificial and it's wrong.

How many AP poll voters even saw Thursday night's game?

Oregon's only voter, The Oregonian's John Hunt, was covering the Arizona-Oregon basketball game. That isn't his fault. He was doing his job. But it might explain why he picked Florida No. 1 and Utah fifth, behind twice-beaten Oklahoma.

OK, enough ranting. Here are the links:

AP voter Scott Wolff of The Los Angeles Daily News picks Utah, and explains why.

Mark Whicker of the OC Register: Poll voters should have picked Utah.

Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle: The BCS grows fat and happy on public outrage.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News: Swallowing the kool-aid and voting Florida No. 1.

Nick Daschel of BusterSports: Tom Hansen blew it.

George Schroeder of the R-G: The SEC is dominating the BCS title game.

ESPN refuses to push for playoffs.

Pete Carroll: I don't think you know who the best team is.

Oregon State's upset of USC was one of the big moments of the college football season.

The Ducks are looking to tweak the 2009 football schedule.

Former Portland State coach Tim Walsh is expected to get the Cal Poly-SLO job.

UO assistant Steve Greatwood misses out at Cal Poly, but says he is happy at Oregon.

Rob Moseley's Oregon football blog.

UCLA has become a player in Southern California recruiting.

Scott Bordow of the East Valley Tribune: ASU's decision to raise ticket prices is dumb, dumb, dumb.

In his UW football blog, Bob Condotta says former Husky defensive coordinator Ed Donatell is headed for the Oakland Raiders for an interview.

"In All Due Respect:" The Case for the USC Trojans

Trojans, Pac-10 State Their Case

(Originally posted on Jan. 2, 2009 at jtstally.blogspot.com)

It was a frustrating season for the USC Trojans' National Title hopes. After dismantling the vaunted Ohio State Buckeyes 35-3 in early September and achieving the No. 1 ranking, the Trojans rode a little to high on their Traveller horse and played their only bad half of football.

On the road in Corvallis, USC surrendered a 21-0 lead to Oregon State at halftime. The Trojans regrouped in the third quarter, closing the deficit to 21-14, and even after surrendering a touchdown with 2:39 left to fall behind by 13, USC answered with a score and was an onside kick away from having the ball and the chance to win the game.

Alas, the Beavers scooped up the kick and ran out the clock for a 27-21 victory; it would be the only mark on USC's otherwise exemplary 12-1 season.

And, although it was only September, it would also be the only thing that kept USC from playing for a National Championship.

While the September loss was extremely disappointing, there was no way to know just how frustrating that bad half would be during the rest of the season.

Surely, the other power conferences' undefeateds would fall; and sure enough, they did.

• Florida lost two days later at home to Mississippi.
• Oklahoma stumbled two weeks after that in a double-digit neutral site loss to Texas.
• On Nov. 1, Texas gave up 39 points and lost to Texas Tech; the Trojans ran its winning streak to five games, in which they gave up a total of 20 points and posted three shutouts.
• Penn State lost its perfect season a week after Texas fell on the road against unranked Iowa.
• Texas Tech was bulldozed by 44 in late November.
• And, by the time, Alabama lost by 11 in the SEC Championship in the first week of December, it would have made sense for the Trojans to have made it back to the top.

Before losing to (currently) No. 17 Oregon, Oregon State had reeled off seven wins in eight games with their only loss coming on the road against (still) undefeated and (currently) No. 6 Utah and achieved a ranking as high as 17.

Even after the loss to Oregon ruined the Beavers' hopes of winning the conference, they remained ranked in the Top 25 in all three human polls (AP, Coaches, Harris).

Even so, that bad first half in late September on the road against a team that ended up being recognized as a Top 25 team was enough to wreck the Trojans in the National Title race.

Part of the reason USC never made it back into contention is that voters don't appreciate defensive dominance. Aside from the Oregon State loss, USC's defense gave up more than 10 points in a game only twice: at Stanford, when the Cardinal scored a touchdown with no time left to cut into a large deficit for a 45-23 outcome; and Thursday against Penn State in the Rose Bowl (which we'll talk about in a little while).

USC's defense shut out three different opponents, including two in a row. Against then-No. 5 Ohio State, then-No. 21 Cal (who averaged over 30 points/game), and Notre Dame (who didn't get a first down until that last play of the third quarter), USC yielded a single field goal.

Oregon's offense was seventh in the country this season, averaging 41.9 points/game; against the Trojans, it managed just 10 points, and the touchdown it scored would be the only one USC surrendered in six home games at the Coliseum.

In the regular season, USC finished first in points against at 7.8 points/game (TCU was second at 10.9), first in yards against at 206 yards/game (TCU was second at 215, Alabama was a distant third at 256). Giving up 1,474 yards in the air, the Trojans yielded the fewest pass yards by nearly 450 yards (New Mexico St. was second at 1,913), and they were fourth in run defense at 999 yards on the season.

Despite dominance truly as strong as the Trojan Wall, USC failed to get the recognition it deserved. The value of defense in college football can be summed up on ESPN.com, which fails to even list defensive team statistics.

USC's offense finished with the thirteenth best offense at 37.5 points/game. Critics would remind me that Oklahoma's offense scored a national best 54 points/game, far more than the Trojans.

But, I'll remind critics that while USC's Pete Carroll shuts down his offense in the second half of a blowout to show some respect to the opponent, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops prefers to embarrass and demoralize his opponents for the sake of his ranking.

Case in point:

• USC led both Washington State and Washington 42-0 at halftime. Against WSU, the Trojans attempted just one pass; against UW, they attempted three.
• When Oklahoma led Missouri 41-14 in the Big 12 Championship, Stoops decided to plead his case to the voters in a way that Carroll never would, he threw on eight of 16 fourth-quarter plays and racked up three touchdowns in mercilessly thrashing the Tigers 62-21.

Stoops' offense made Big 12 defenses look like high school teams, which isn't overly impressive since that statement sums up the Big 12 defenses anyway. At the same time, Oklahoma's defense fit the high school stereotype.

Its 24.5 points against/game was good for 57th in the country, and 359 yards against/game was even worse at 65th. Think about it!? Twenty-four and a half points per game is more points than USC's defense gave up in 12 of 13 games this season; the only time USC gave up more was the 27 in the loss to Oregon State.

It's ridiculous that a team so inferior, like Oklahoma, could possibly try to stake a claim to the National Championship over a dominant team, like the Trojans.

Alas, that's the case, because aside from defense, USC was also penalized for being in a "weak" conference. The Pac-10 was revered as far inferior conference to the Big 12, and, thus, because USC played a "weaker" schedule, USC was believed to have been a lesser team than Oklahoma.

The Pac-10 was in the slow lane from the get-go this season after it went 0-4 against the Mountain West Conference on Sept. 13. This disaster weakened the conference's strength for the rest of the year, especially since the MWC isn't recognized as a power conference.

However, those losses were significantly over weighted in retrospect. Before being dethroned by the perfect Pac-10 this year, the MWC held the best record in Bowl games last year at 4-1.

It is undoubtedly better than any other non-power conference and could certainly make the case that it is better than some of the power conferences. Entering Bowl Season, the AP and Coaches Poll ranked three MWC teams in the Top 25, which is more than the ACC and Big East and the same amount as the Pac-10.

In fact, with the Coaches ranking Utah seventh, TCU 11th, and BYU 16th, only the Big 12 had more teams ranked in the first sixteen.

Utah has a chance to go undefeated against Alabama Friday night, and TCU (I already alluded to their vaunted defense) upped its stock with a win over then-undefeated Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl.

BYU fell to the Pac-10's own, Arizona, who was underappreciated all season and didn't lose a game by more than 10 points (which, just for the record, is how many Oklahoma lost by).

It's time to put these negative connotations toward the Pac-10 to rest. Even its harshest critics must finally fess up and admit that the Pac-10 is much better than everyone says it was. With USC's demolition of the Nittany Lions Thursday, the Pac-10 finished Bowl Season at a perfect 5-0, with three upsets.

• Dec. 20: Arizona upsets No. 16 BYU 31-21 in the Las Vegas Bowl.
• Dec. 27: Cal beats Miami 24-17 in the Emerald Bowl.
• Dec. 30: No. 17 Oregon upsets No. 13 Oklahoma State 42-31 in the Holiday Bowl.
• Dec. 31: Oregon State upsets No. 20 Pittsburgh 3-0 in the Sun Bowl.
• Jan. 1: No. 5 USC beats No. 8 Penn State 38-24 in the Rose Bowl.
  

Fair enough to say, the Pac-10 was better than it was said to have been. Aside from USC's opening loss to Oregon State, it dominated the conference.

The aforementioned Arizona gave USC a run for its money, 17-10 in Tucson, and Cal kept the Trojans close in a 17-3 outcome (although, true to form for Carroll, USC ran down the clock on fourth down for a loss of downs at the Cal 15 instead of adding points).

Excepting those three games, USC beat the other six Pac-10 opponents by at least 20 points, including a 44-10 whitewashing of Oregon, who, with their win the Holiday Bowl, will finish somewhere near the Top 10 in the final rankings.

Non-conference, USC took on two-time National Championship loser, Ohio State, completely blasting the Buckeyes and ensuring they never had a shot at a third straight Championship appearance.

Meanwhile, it demolished Virginia on the road 52-7 (the Cavaliers had a sub-par year, but had been ranked in the Top 25 in 2007), and Hawaii Bowl Champion Notre Dame 38-3 (a game in which, as previously mentioned, the Irish didn't get a first down until the last play of the third quarter).

This non-conference schedule far surpasses that of Oklahoma's. Oklahoma did handle the Big East champion, Cincinnati Bearcats, but as mentioned previously, the Big East is an inferior power conference.

Despite being ranked 12th entering Bowl Season, Cincinnati was shut down 20-7 by Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, and during the regular season, they barely managed to sneak by Akron and Hawaii and were destroyed 40-16 by UConn.

Oklahoma's other two non-conference opponents were Chattanooga and Washington, who combined for a 1-23 record on the season.

Chattanooga went 1-11 playing an FCS [Div. 1-AA] schedule, with losses like a 42-7 one against 8-4 Elon (who didn't even play an FBS team). Chattanooga's only win was against Cumberland College (who, for trivia's sake, holds the distinction for worst loss in the history of American football, a 222-0 loss to Georgia Tech in 1916).

Washington finished the season at 0-12, which included losses to both Oklahoma (55-14) and USC (56-0).

All in all, it was inexplicable that the Trojans were not given the opportunity to compete for a National Championship.

Lee Corso said it so eloquently before the game Thursday's GameDay at the Rose Bowl: "They're getting screwed. They should be in Miami." If anyone doubted Corso, that doubt was laid to rest by halftime on Thursday.

Penn State managed to stick with the Trojans for a quarter, responding to a Damian Williams touchdown catch with a Daryll Clark quarterback scramble to tie the game at seven with four seconds left in the first quarter.

However, the second quarter belonged to USC and by the time the whistle blew for halftime, the Trojans had scored 24 unanswered points and led by a dominating 31-7 score. For all intensive purposes, the game was over.

Sitting behind the Penn State end zone, I noticed Penn State's once rowdy fans were quiet, and the Lions' band and cheerleaders had a look of defeat on their faces as they prepared for the halftime show.

The last straw came out when on the first play after a USC's touchdown with PSU trailing 24-7, Stephfon (a "ph" and an "f," isn't that redundant!?) Green took a screen pass from Clark on the first play and rumbled for 30 yards, only to fumble and have USC recover at the end of the run.

The Trojans got help from a 15-yard facemask penalty, and C.J. Gable rushed the final 20 yards up the middle for the Trojans' second touchdown in as many minutes.

Halftime prompted the talking heads to finally ask the question that everyone in the Trojan Family had been asking for weeks, "How is this team not playing for the National Championship!?"

To Penn State's credit, it put up a fight in the second half. After a scoreless third quarter, the two teams exchanged touchdowns early in the fourth quarter, and Penn State added ten points late to make the final at 38-24 look closer than the game ever was in the second half.

Still, the Trojans dominance was realized, but it was too little, too late for the team's National Championship hopes.

Thursday's loss at the hands of the Trojans shouldn't be viewed as a failure by Penn State; Penn State was a good team that finished the season at 11-2. Instead, the win should be viewed as a statement from USC.

In four years working with the Trojans, I've never known Pete Carroll to make a statement directly about the National Championship, but on Thursday, as the voters questioned their decisions, he finally told everyone how he really felt and what they'd all come to realize.

When asked by John Saunders about the National Championship game, Carroll said, "In all due respect, those are two great programs; I don't think anyone can beat the Trojans this year."

Why USC Deserves a Share of the National Championship

The University of Southern California Trojans showed on January 1st, in the Rose Bowl against Penn State that USC is an elite team and that they deserve a shot at the National Championship Game. They also proved, once again that they have one of the greatest defenses to ever step foot on the college football gridiron. They shut down a great Penn State offense, or there "HD Offense."

Now some might say that they beat another Big 10 team, nevertheless, they were the champions of their conference and they had a great offense and a great defense and they proved that all year long. And the Trojans dismantled them like it was nothing.

Now, with all that said, wouldn't it be fun to see SC go up against Florida or Texas or Oklahoma in the National Championship Game just to see who really is the best team out there. I know I would love to see it and I know that the rest of the country would love to see that. Instead, it's another year saying what ifs.

What will be interesting is to see how things shake up. If Ohio State dominates Texas, and if the Florida-Oklahoma game is terrible, then we might see another split Champion. Chances are it won't happen, but I think it would be fair. USC deserves the title with how they played all year. You shouldn't penalize a team that played one bad half, on the road, against a top 25 team.

May'be after the Florida-Oklahoma game, just may'be the BCS will drop a bomb and say that USC and the winner will play next week on a neutral field. (Of course, assuming Texas gets crushed by Ohio State.)

It won't happen, but hey I can dream right. Please, College Football, get a playoff. Keep the Bowl Games that are played before the 1st, and after that have an 8 team playoff on the 1st, then next week, and then the Championship.If that happens that will solve all the problems, yo get to keep the Bowls, and you create a playoff. That would make everybody happy.

Until then, we are still left to wonder who really is the best team, just like we wonder every year, and we are going to wonder again this year....and next year....and the year after that. Get a playoff!

Carl Smith named USC QB coach

By WeAreSC staff
Posted Jan 6, 2009

A pair of former USC football staffers–Carl Smith and Mark Jackson–are returning to the program, Trojan head coach Pete Carroll announced today.

Smith, 60, has been hired as the quarterbacks coach and the assistant head coach of the offense. He will have playcalling responsibilities. He was USC’s quarterbacks coach in 2004 when Matt Leinart won the Heisman Trophy and the Trojans won the national championship.
Jackson, 36, will serve as senior associate athletic director for football. He previously was USC’s director of football administration during Carroll’s first 4 years (2001-04) at Troy, taking on the additional title of assistant athletic director in 2003.

Carroll also said that John Morton, who has been USC’s wide receivers coach the past 2 seasons, will take on the additional duty of offensive coordinator. Earlier, Carroll announced that secondary coach Rocky Seto will take on the added title of assistant head coach of the defense.

Carroll added that the positions of defensive coordinator and director of football operations have yet to be filled. Those positions opened when Nick Holt and Dennis Slutak, respectively, left to join the Washington program.

Smith has 35 years of collegiate and professional coaching experience. He most recently was the offensive coordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars for 2 seasons (2005-06). He began his coaching career at his alma mater, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, in 1971, then worked at Colorado (1972-73), Southwestern Louisiana (1974-78)–where he first became an offensive coordinator in 1977–followed by Lamar (1979-81) and North Carolina State (1982). He then moved to the pro ranks, starting with the USFL’s Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars (1983-85), then the NFL’s New Orleans Saints (1986-96), New England Patriots (1997-99) and Cleveland Browns (2001-03). He and Carroll coached together at North Carolina State and the Patriots.

After leaving USC, Jackson became an executive senior associate athletic director at Syracuse in 2005, vice president of athlete development at A2 Holdings in 2006 and director of football development with the Oakland Raiders the past 2 years (2007-08). The Colby College graduate was an assistant coach at Trinity College (1995-96) and with the Patriots (1998-2000), where he worked with Carroll.


Morton, 39, who also served as USC’s passing game coordinator the past 2 seasons, previously coached with the Raiders (2002-04), University of San Diego (2005) and Saints (2006) before coming to USC. He is a Western Michigan grad.

Seto, 32, has spent his entire coaching career at USC, beginning in 1999, after playing for the Trojans.

Holt takes over Washington's defense

SEATTLE -- The Unversity of Washington announced Monday that Nick Holt is leaving USC to become the new defensive coordinator at Washington, plucked away by new Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian, another former Trojans' assistant.

Holt replaces Ed Donatell, who was not retained after Sarkisian was hired in early December.

Holt previously was a defensive coordinator and head coach at Idaho. Aside from a 5-18 stint as head coach at Idaho in 2004-05, Holt has been on the staff at USC since 2001.

Part of the reason Holt is believed to be leaving the Trojans is a chance to run the defense himself. Despite being the defensive coordinator at USC, Holt often shared those duties with head coach Pete Carroll.