I was going to ignore the entire “OJ Mayo Took Money From Agents In High School and College” thing. For one, OJ Mayo didn’t play football at Southern Cal. He played basketball, and we’re a college football blog. Second, I didn’t really think it would get much attention outside of enraged UCLA and Notre Dame fans because the entire scenario seemed like a giant “Duh Moment.” Honestly, who among us is actually surprised by this? It was practically assumed that OJ Mayo was receiving payouts from someone or, at the very least, getting courted by agents since his umbilical cord dried up and fell off. But the story has gotten a lot of traction nationally, it does speak to a lack of institutional control at Southern Cal, our one and only rival, and just because it was obvious doesn’t make it right.

And that seems to be the first defense of Southern Cal: They can’t be held responsible when it was so obvious that OJ would do what he did. It’s an argument that’s nearly as stupid as the “everybody does it, so who cares” defense. In fact, both defenses are so stupid that I refuse to waste many keystrokes on them. If you truly believe one and/or the other, I invite you to direct your web browser elsewhere. You’re too stupid to read this site, and literacy coupled with intellects such as yours tend to lead to very sad movies on HBO about “death marches” in various geographies.

The other defense that I keep encountering on the internet, on the radio waves, and at the lunch counter goes something like this: The world has signaled that graduating players and keeping their noses clean comes a distant second to winning, and so Southern Cal and Tim Floydd should not be held accountable. It’s too hard to monitor these players and build a winning team at the same time.

And while the argument nearly follows some semblance of logic, it shares a common trait with the previous 2 defenses in that it’s patently false. It may be very, very hard as administrators and coaches to do everything by the letter of the NCAA law (and the local, state, and federal laws), ensure that the players keep their noses clean, and win, but, frankly, what the hell else are we paying these people for?

These coaches and administrators are paid a ton of money to do all of the things I just mentioned, not most of them. It’s why we positively freaked out at Kevin White when he uttered the famous “Sunday to Friday” comment. We don’t pay coaches millions of dollars to “do all the right things” OR win. We pay them to do it all! And we pay them well! And besides, how much are we really needing to pay them to motivate them to go about trying to win? Aren’t they coaches? Isn’t it inherent within their chosen profession to want to win anyway? Isn’t the compensation entirely designed to entice the coaches to win (something they want to do) while navigating the waters of legal and NCAA codes?

Is the argument by those who would defend Southern Cal that the coaches and administrators aren’t paid enough to keep tabs on their players and make sure the players are on the up-and-up? How about Southern Cal’s NCAA Compliance Officer? Why does that person even bother having a job at all if not to be a thorn in the side of Southern Cal student athletes? Does Southern Cal even have a Compliance Officer? I’m just assuming they do, but considering this and the Reggie Bush thing, maybe they don’t.

All this ranting aside, I want to be clear that I don’t like the idea of giving Southern Cal the “death penalty” at this point. Both the OJ Mayo and Reggie Bush issues seem only to involve agents who want to represent the athletes once they turn pro rather than boosters looking to entice talent to their schools. And Southern Cal, as far as I’m aware, isn’t on probation for committing any similar NCAA violations. But I do support a real, live, actual NCAA investigation with some teeth, and some form of punishment that wont leave Southern Cal bloggers breathing a collective sigh of relief. Forfeiture of TV revenues might be a good start. A few lost scholarships could be a good step.

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Holy Flaming Batsuits, Robin, I’ve found the dumbest writer in the history of communication. Illiterates probably berate this woman. Her ancestors, thousands of years ago, probably drew cave paintings of buffalo with which everyone else on the planet confused toucans. Her name is “Lisa H,” and she “writes” a blog on FoxSports.com’s community blogs. You know how they say a million monkeys with a million keyboards, given enough time, could write the works of Shakespeare? Well it would take one monkey to write the equivalent of Lisa H. in an afternoon. And I’m not talking one of those fancy zoo monkeys that knows how to signal for food. I’m talking the monkey still in the forest that eats rotten bananas, can’t figure out that whole “use stick to fish ants out of hole” thing, and even Jane Goodall wouldn’t want to save. (Yeah. I know. Moneky /= Gorilla. I don’t care.)

In “Lisa H’s” “20 burning questions going into football season,” Lisa writes:

14- Will Weis finally get Notre Dame on track?

No. The problem with Notre Dame is not the players. It’s their coach. How desperate is Charlie Weis? He turned over the offense to his OC. Considering that Weis is known as an offensive genius, this is concerning. There is nothing good to come out of this- if the offensive output gets better-and when you are ranked dead last in offense, is there anywhere else but to go up?- then it makes him look overrated as an offensive guru. If the offense still remains the same, then Weis made a poor coaching decision.

Either way, Weis is in a giant hole. Their sked is difficult, and there are only two guaranteed wins, with a third possible one against Pitt. Couple that all in with mumblings about some discontent in South Bend during Spring practice, and you can count on Weis updating his resume. Unless he beats USC, of course.

It’s like she takes courses at the Dan Rather School of Journalism and Making Shit Up. The only mumbling that occurred this spring were in her head while she tried to sound out the Dollar Menu at Wendy’s.

And did she actually use “sked” in place of “schedule?” I think I just heard the sound of a 1000 English teachers blow their brains out.

Way to go, Lisa. You just set the world of the written word so far back that they’re considering works by Pat Forde from his probable 3 years in the 5th grade for a Pulitzer. You have to be less intelligent than the beer I just drank. If you’d lived in the 17th century, villagers would have burned you as a witch, knowing full well you weren’t actually a witch, but unable to help themselves since they just couldn’t take all that stupid any longer. If you don’t eventually die by accidentally suffocating yourself with a plastic shopping bag from the grocery store, millions of dollars will be lost in Vegas.

I’m big on the internet, but I have to admit, the internet, and the enabling of people like terrorists, religious zealots, white supremacists, and Lisa H to share their so-called thoughts make me wonder if we should just unplug the entire damn thing. Giving Brian Cook a voice is bad enough, but this? I need another drink.

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Mark Sanchez was picked over Mitch “I’m Tellin’ Momma!” Mustain and Aaron “My Name Sounds Like a Big, Multinational Umbrella Company” Corp to start at QB for Southern Cal

Under coach Pete Carroll, USC Trojans has never entered the summer without appointing the next starting quarterback.

This year is no different, and there was not much of an element of surprise to it. Mark Sanchez, who started three games for the Trojans last season, was the front-runner going into spring workouts, and on Tuesday, it was made official — he would be the successor to John David Booty.

“The advantage that Mark has had by being around … just gives him a decisive advantage and he was able to come out here and battle and throw the ball well and play with confidence and give himself the spot,” Carroll said in the Los Angeles Times.

Here’s to Sanchez getting a lot of dirt on his jersey.

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And your rivals closer.

This week Sunday Morning QB published his Absurdly Premature Assessment of: Southern Cal. And his work in both blogging and mainstream media terms is exhaustive. It always is with SMQ. This guy can’t possibly be married.

Anyway, it’s an excellent read, and you should read up on it in between shots of Tiger at Augusta. No way some guy named “Snedeker” wins the Masters anyway. Despite Southern Cal being Notre Dame’s only true rival, I don’t spend nearly as much attention to them as I should. I’m going to try and change that starting today, and SMQ’s work proves an excellent primer. Here are a few chunks of his work that really caught my eye…

Five-Year Recruiting Rankings*
2004-08: 1 • 1 • 1 • 2 • 8

That’s right, the 5th years, seniors, and Juniors of Southern Cal are all part of #1 ranked recruiting classes this season. Not sure, of course, that it’s all that different from the last, oh, 5 years at Southern Cal, but still, that’s a senior core of talent that would make Bobby Bowden cry. For some perspective, here’s the Five-Year Recruiting Rankings of Notre Dame:

2004-2008: 32 • 40 • 8 • 8 • 2

So, um, yeah. While the senior classes (5th, Sr., Jr.), the usual “leaders” (who, it’s worth nothing, have been hitting the weight room of a D1 NCAA program for at least 3 years) of Southern Cal average a #1 recruiting class, Notre Dame’s already fairly depleted senior classes average 27. So thank God for that #8, I guess. Hey, remember when we were all giggling when we saw Southern Cal has a “bad” year of recruiting this winter, coming it as number eight? Yeah.

Anyway, more from SMQ…

The rotation last year wound up an inconsistent mix of Washington, Johnson and McKnight, and though Washington led the team in carries and yards for the second straight season, his first team status always seemed somewhat de facto. In two years, he only broke 100 yards four times and was held to a pedestrian four yards per carry or less about half the time. The younger guys have been more exciting - Moody averaged a full yard more every time he touched the ball in 2006, a margin nearly matched last year by McKnight, and Johnson finished almost two yards better than Washington’s `07 average - but not nearly as consistent. Washington had more carries than the top three youngsters combined.

With the Old Man in Dreds now out of the mix, the best guess based on the way last year played out is Johnson as pacesetter and McKnight and Gable, presumably healthy now, as versatile, situational daggers, the Reggie Bushes to Johnson’s LenDale White, even if it’s Bradford (6-0, 230) who best fits the punishing White role physically. To be clear, though, that’s not a fair comparison. No single player in this galaxy of would-be stars has shined brightly enough to deserve that kind of expectation, much less two of them.

It is remarkable, really, to look at this edition of Southern Cal and realize that you’re starting to sort of have to take a double-take at the depth chart before you recognize the names. (And even then, as far as RB is concerned, you recognize them from recruiting.) There really isn’t a Reggie Bush stepping up right after Reggie Bush. That’s not to say they don’t have a lot of talent. They surely do, but even in a 38-0 romp over ND last year, the best rushing day was had by Joe McKnight with 68 yards rushing, and that was after a 51 yard rumble in garbage-time after much of the ND defense had grown exhausted and, frankly, probably really sick of heading out onto the field after an offensive gaffe of epic proportions. Again. Oh sure, Southern Cal still had 4 players average more than 5 yards per carry against ND in 2007, but the running-back rotation seems, at best, indecisive thus far and, at worst, just out of whack. It all makes one wonder how much longer Southern Cal can recruit the “next Reggie Bush” if it looks more and more likely that they’ll end up being “the next Staffon Johnson.” In other words, why wouldn’t such a talent rather head to Cal, UCLA, or even Oklahoma, play a lot more, become a huge star by their junior season, and then get to weigh their pro options over a junior/senior collegiate season?

More from SMQ (I bolded the really “holy crap” part)…

Not to overstate the point, but USC has played 30 games against ranked teams since 2002 and it’s record (26-4) is not the most impressive point of the portfolio. That would be the average margin of victory in those games, which is just shy of 19 points. Six straight BCS bowls is one thing; five blowouts is something else. The Trojans will be the unanimous Pac Ten favorite, again, and on paper only face one serious challenge, from Ohio State on Sept. 13. That’s a home game SC will probably be favored to win, and the line may not creep below double digits again the rest of the year. This is easily one of the handful of elite mythical championship contenders.

Holy Crap.

On paper, this is one awesome team. But as SMQ points out in his “worst case” briefing, this awesome team has had a few stumbles against non-ranked and/or overwhelming underdogs (Stanford, UCLA, for example). I suppose it all comes down to the QB position and the performance of their re-built offensive line (see SMQ’s post for more info). I, for one, thought Mark Sanchez looked really nice embarrassing Zibby and Company on a few clever pass plays. And by “few clever pass plays,” I mean he went 21 of 38 for 235 yards (meh) and 4 touchdowns (oh yeah, I forgot that part after drinking so much that evening that I ran out of beer and had to resort to Kids Triaminic to try and take away the pain).

This could be a very interesting year for the Notre Dame/Southern Cal rivalry. If Weis really has figured things out, I believe Notre Dame really will be “on the upswing.” That’s a big if. But, if that happens, Notre Dame may be catching an “unstoppable force” while it’s still busy trying to translate all that stuff on paper to something tangible on the field. You can’t help but feel that between the new o-line, the rotation at running back, and the so-called “QB race,” Southern Cal is a team that is, for this spring, anyway, still quite busy trying to figure itself out.

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Who IS freaking Reggie Bush?  And who are these old school mafioso lawyers he has hired on to defend his ‘honor’ and the USC football program from Lloyd Lake and his accusations of cash, money, records during Bush’s time at USC?

I mean, really.  Having an armed gunman come along to a deposition of the star witness in the case against Mr. Bush points STRAIGHT toward innocence.    Pure, sweet football-playing innocence!

Not really.  Not at all.  These thuggish tactics SCREAM to the world that Bush is guilty, that he knows he’s guilty, and that he knows he’s going to get caught unless he does something extreme.  And these thuggish tactics also show that Reggie Bush, like many a pro player, thinks he’s above the law.  That he and his legal team can do whatever they want.

Lake was prepared to testify under oath about the $291,000 in alleged extra benefits his failed sports agency gave to Bush and his family. But that testimony was scuttled after Lake and his attorney, Brian Watkins, say they discovered Bush’s attorneys had brought an armed observer to the proceedings. Watkins and Lake said Bush’s attorneys – David Cornwell and Kevin Leichter – refused to reveal why the man was present. Lake’s attorneys said they interpreted his presence as an attempt to intimidate their client.

“All Cornwell said was that this guy was working for the law firm of David Cornwell and that he has a CCW (carrying concealed weapon) permit,” Watkins said. “The guy sat with his arms folded the whole time, staring at Lloyd. Then he opened up his jacket and you could see that he had a gun on him. I asked (Bush’s attorneys) to identify him, and they refused to even tell me his name. Then after going back and forth about it, they told me his name, but wouldn’t tell me who he was working for or why he was there. I wanted a business card or something that explained who this guy was.”

Watkins said the man followed Lake in “an intimidating manner” almost immediately after Lake arrived for the deposition, which was set to take place at the San Diego law offices of Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw and Pittman. Watkins said that after following Lake, the man sat down in the area where the deposition was to take place. Watkins said the man didn’t identify himself, and instead stared at Lake before eventually opening his jacket to reveal a handgun. At that point, Watkins said he asked that the man leave.

Watkins said he halted the proceedings when the armed man moved “only eight to 10 feet away” from where the deposition was set to take place. He said a court reporter and videographer were in the room when the incident took place.

“I’m stunned by their conduct,” said Lake’s other attorney, Paul Wong. “We take this matter very seriously. You shouldn’t be able to bring a gun to a deposition and threaten people. We don’t even allow police officers to bring their guns to their own depositions.

Before this, I thought of this whole thing as an interesting aside in the saga of USC’s relative dominance over the past few years.  Maybe one of many symptoms of a program that may not do things the ‘right way’.  But now, I’m invested.  I am rooting with all of my soul for the downfall of Reggie Bush AND his legal team.  I hope he loses his Heisman, I hope USC loses their NC that year, and the Bush Push win over ND.  I hope Reggie gets found in contempt along with his lawyers, and I hope they’re suspended if not disbarred.   If this doesn’t result in some serious repercussions for all involved, there are some big-time issues witn the process.

Next time someone dings my car and we go to swear an oath that we’re telling the truth about what went down, I’ll just bring this guy. 

 

Because apparently this is okay.

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Pete Carroll met with the Washington Redskins about a job on Monday, but he’d rather not talk about it.

USC Coach Pete Carroll on Monday declined to address reports that he met with Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder about becoming the NFL team’s coach.

The NFL Network and the Associated Press said that Carroll met with Snyder in St. Louis following Joe Gibbs’ resignation but that it had been mutually decided he would not be a candidate.

Carroll has been mentioned as a candidate for NFL openings after each of the last six seasons at USC. He said before the Trojans’ victory over Illinois in the Rose Bowl that he would not comment on reports or rumors about a possible return to the NFL.

Carroll reportedly spoke with Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank while Carroll was on vacation in Hawaii this month.

Last year, while vacationing in Costa Rica, Carroll interviewed with Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga.

So Pete may not be leaving Socal this year, but what about next year? He keeps meeting with NFL organizations, so he clearly wants to leave Socal. I wonder what the recruits who are about to sign on the dotted line next year think about that.

You’re a beaver.

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The only relationship I’ve found between Notre Dame and Robert Goulet, who died yesterday, is this: ND and USC are rivals. Will Ferrel is a notorious Trojan fan. And Will Ferrel played Robert Goulet in “Red Ships of Spain.”

And that relationship is reason enough to post something about Bob’s untimely end on HLS.

You can check out some other relationships between ND and Bob here. You can also see that I’m a moron.

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Noted College Football Fan Site, CNN Money, took a look at StubHub.com statistics to determine College Football’s Top Rivalries, and, surprise, surprise, Notre Dame/Southern Cal is #1.

Take a look at the data here:

STUBHUB TOP 25 RIVALRY RANKINGS (week of 10/23/07)
                                                                    2006
                                         Current Week  Prev. Week  Average
   Rivalry                       Date    Average Price  Ranking     Price
   ---------------------------  ------   ------------- ----------  -------
1  USC at Notre Dame            20-Oct       $409          1        $379
2  Ohio State at Michigan       17-Nov       $408          3        $876
3  Oklahoma vs. Texas            6-Oct       $400          2        $419
4  UCLA at USC                   1-Dec       $312          4        $172
5  Tennessee at Alabama         20-Oct       $238          5        $181
6  Georgia at Florida           27-Oct       $274          7        $284
7  Texas at Texas A&M           23-Nov       $268          6        $233
8  Alabama at Auburn            24-Nov       $373          8        $321
9  Tennessee at Florida         15-Sep       $248          9        $180
10 Michigan at Michigan State    3-Nov       $218         11        $193

So as you can see, the ND/SC supply curve collides with the ND/SC demand curve way up there on the P axis above everyone else. So if you continue to claim that the Notre Dame/Southern Cal rivalry is not the #1 rivalry, you’re probably a communist.

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