USC vs. Notre Dame Night Game

USC and Notre Dame have a longstanding rivalry against eachother. According to ESPN:

"Notre Dame and USC will play under the lights in 2011 with a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff for their Oct. 22 game, the schools announced Wednesday. " This is news breaking for a few reasons. It will be the first time the Fighting Irish have played a night game at Notre Dame Stadium in 21 years. Notre Dame and Michigan last played under the lights in 1990, with the top-ranked Irish slipping past the No. 4 Wolverines 28-24. I am looking forward to seeing this game under the lights at South Bend.

Pac-10 Week 13 Scores

Arizona State 55, UCLA 34

#1 Oregon 48, Arizona 29

Washington 16, Cal 13

#6 Stanford 38, Oregon State 0

Notre Dame 20, USC 16

Pac-10 Player of the Week

Nick Foles, Arizona Quarterback

Although the Arizona Wildcats were defeated by the USC Trojans on Saturday, you could hardly blame it on quarterback Nick Foles. Nick Foles was 32 of 48 for 353 yards and 3 touchdowns. He nearly overcame a 21-7 deficit to the USC Trojans but came up 3 points short. Nick Foles played a great game and should be proud of his efforts.

Pac-10 Week 11 Scores

Washington State 31, Oregon State 14

#1 Oregon 15, California 13

#6 Stanford 17, Arizona State 13

USC 24, Arizona 21

Get your Pac-10 tickets at Ticket King!

Week 10 Scores from Pac-10

Here are the Week 10 scores from the Pac-10:

#1 Oregon 53, Washington 16

California 20, Washington State 13

UCLA 17, Oregon State 14

#13 Stanford 42, #15 Arizona 17

USC 34, Arizona State 33

Pac-10 Week 9 Schedule

#15 Arizona at UCLA
Washington State at Arizona State
#2 Oregon at USC
California at Oregon State
#13 Stanford at Washington

Predictions: Arizona, Arizona State, USC (Upset Special!), Oregon State, Stanford

Pac-10 Game of the Week

California @ USC

Pretty dry week in terms of great match-ups. I like this one the most, as USC has lost 2 straight nail biters and play in state rival California at home. We'll find out if Lane Kiffin can get his players to get up after two tough losses. For tickets check out Ticket King!

Week Five Game of the Week

Here's my Week Five Game of the Week:

USC at #16 Stanford - Here's my reasoning:

A few years ago, Stanford upset the mighty USC at their own house on a last second touchdown. Stanford went into a frenzy. Don't think any of the USC faithful have forgot about that night. Stanford was something like a 40 point underdog. Now, this time, USC is the underdog.

Prediction: Stanford 35, USC 27

Week Four Games

California @ Arizona

Oregon @ Arizona State
Oregon State @ Boise State - Games of the Week

Stanford @ Notre Dame - Games of the Week

UCLA @ Texas

USC @ Washington State

Prediction: Arizona over California, Oregon over Arizona State, Boise State over Oregon State, Notre Dame over Stanford, Texas over UCLA, USC over Washington State

Week Three Scores

Arizona 34, Iowa 27

Wisconsin 20, Arizona State 19

Nevada 52, California 31

Oregon 69, Portland State 0

Oregon State 35, Louisville 28

Stanford 68, Wake Forest 24

UCLA 31, Houston 13

USC 32, Minnesota 21

Nebraska 56, Washington 21

Southern Methodist 35, Washington State 21

Reggie Bush Gives Back Heisman Trophy

Former USC star running back Reggie Bush became the first player ever to return the Heisman Trophy this week. By forfeiting the trophy, Bush officially now has lost the coveted trophy and severely tarnished his reputation. He claimed he "wasn't admitting any wrongdoing" by returning the trophy. Apparently by returning the trophy doesn't imply he did something illegal. The Heisman Trust has already said that they will keep the 2005 trophy vacated and not give it to somebody else (Vince Young).

Pac-10 Week One Game Results

Here are the Week One results from the Pac-10:

41 Arizona, 2 Toledo

54 Arizona State, 9 Portland State

52 California, 3 UC Davis

72 Oregon, 0 New Mexico

30 Texas Christian, 21 Oregon State

52 Stanford, 17 Sacramento

31 UCLA, 22 Kansas State

49 USC, 36 Hawaii

23 Brigham Young, 17 Washington

65 Oklahoma State, 17 Washington State

Will USC Stay At the Top?

Going into this year marks the first time other than USC that a team is favored to win the Pac-10 (Oregon). USC was placed on probation and scholarships were taken away. The program will not allowed to play in a bowl game for 2 seasons. It's a wide open conference this year that 5-6 teams could potentially win. After USC finishes it's probation, will they go back to their elite status as a program? Will USC suffer any long term consequences of their action? Pete Carroll built the program to new heights and left abruptly for the NFL (ironically...). Now it's up to Lane Kiffin to keep USC stable.

USC Players Scuffle

To say USC has had a rough offseason may not do it justice. To add to the sanctions earlier this year, it was reported two USC players had engaged in a fight that required sugery for one of the players. Fullback Stanley Havili and teammate T.J. Bryant reportedly got in a fight last week during the final players-only conditioning practices. After a shoving match, Stanley Havili struck T.J. Bryant in the face which required surgery to fix his broken left cheekbone. After a quick ban, both players are allowed back at practices. Lane Kiffin will have his work cut out for him to turn the program back to elite status.

Jarvis Jones to Transfer

The USC Trojans have granted outside lineback Jarvis Jones the ability to transfer before the upcoming season. Jones had a spectacular freshmen year but was forced to miss five games because of a neck injury. He was a high school All American and is from Colombus, Georgia. Jones was not able to practice this spring because of the neck injury and the reasons for him wanting to transfer are undisclosed.

USC Team Preview

The Trojans have a lot of question marks heading into this upcoming season, but one aspect of the Trojans that no one is questioning is their talent. The Trojans annually haul in a top 5 recruiting class. Even though they're only returning 12 starters (6 on offense, 6 on defense), there's no doubt that they have young studs just itching to step into starting roles that have been groomed by some of the best coaches. USC also has a new coaching staff since Lane Kiffin bolted from Knoxville to take over at USC. We've seen Kiffin work wonders at USC with Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, but we don't know how long it will take sophomore Matt Barkley to learn the offense and most importantly be comfortable in the offense. The Trojans are loaded with talent but it is still reasonable to expect them to lose a couple of games due to inexperience. That being said, I don't think anyone would be shocked if this team ended up playing in a BCS Bowl Game.

USC Coaching Staff coming together

It has been a long process, that still needs some tweaking, but the USC's coaching staff is finally coming together. Head Coach Lane Kiffin is hiring on John Baxter, who is coming off a long stint as a Fresno State assistant. John Baxter will be USC's special teams coordinator and Kiffin is confident he will serve the team well.

Mosi Tatupu dies at age 54

Mosi Tatupu was a fullback on the USC’s 1974 national championship football team. Tatupu played fourteen years in the NFL and died on Tuesday from an undetermined cause. Lofa Tatupu, Mosi's son, is a Trojan's alum with two national title teams and currently plays for the Seattle Seahawks. Mosi was a native of American Samoa and attended USC where he won Offensive Player of the Year and Most Inspirational Player in 1977. With Mosi on their team, USC went 37-10-1, winning four bowl games which include two Rose Bowls. From 1997 to 2006, the Mosi Tatupu Award was given to the college football special teams player of the year. Mosi was an NFLer with the New England Patriots and the LA Rams, and had the privilege to play in the 1986 Super Bowl and made the Pro Bowl that year as well. Even with such a full life, Mosi was not ready to go quite yet and he will be missed by his family, friends and fans alike.

Pac-10 ranked high in attendance at fourth

The Pacific 10 Conference has proven to be highly recognized in the nation, coming in at fourth in the nation for average attendance (54,186) among the BCS conferences. The following are the schools, in order of attendees:

1. USC... 84,799 - Although USC had fallen down the ranks, they managed to make their way back up the list and into the highest attended football program in the conference. This is the seventh consecutive year for the Trojans to be in the lead.
2. UCLA... 64,547 - UCLA is ranked at No. 25 in the nation
3. Washington... 64,356 - Washington is ranked No. 26, right after UCLA in the nation
4 .California... 59,472 - This attendance earns Cali the No. 30 spot in the nation.
5. Oregon... 58,544
6. Arizona State... 48,556
7. Oregon State... 42,328
8. Stanford... 41,436
9. Arizona... 35,656
10. Washington State... 25,909

The leading BCS conferences include the SEC at No.1, the Big Ten taking second and the Big 12 at third.

USC Trojans

The University of South California Trojans football program was established in 1888. With eleven national championships, the USC Trojans have been a football powerhouse in the NCAA. The USC Trojans football tam has also ranked in the top 5 of the final BCS and AP Polls consistently throughout their program history. Currently, the USC Trojans hold a 772–306–54 (.706) overall record.

Due to lack in availability of travel during the first few decades of play, the USC Trojans were not able to go far from home for games. This restriction was the foundation for their current rivalry between UCLA. The rivalry between USC and UCLA is a unique one, because they are they only two Division I-A programs in the major BCS conference that share the same home town. USC and UCLA are a measly ten miles away from each other and, until 1982, they also shared the same stadium. The mere proximity would create tension between any two teams. Often, the game between these two teams determines who is going to the Rose Bowl and have the city bragging rights for the year.

With its heavy hand over many of the other schools, USC has shown to be an outstanding team over the years. This past season, the USC Trojans finished the season with a 9-4 record and beat Boston College in the Emerald Bowl. Unfortunately for them, this past season also marked the end of its seven-year streak of Pac-10 Championship wins and BCS Bowl appearances.