USC wins fugly (but das what good teams doooo!)

A perfect storm still wasn't enough for USC to lose to Washington last weekend. I haven't seen Pete Carroll's USC squad get whipped (the 2006 national championship game against Vince Young and Texas was not a whipping) yet. For three-plus quarters, Southern California was teetering toward becoming the sixth and mightiest top-10 team to fall this weekend. Ultimately, the Trojans survived.
If USC is going to be playing LSU for a national championship in January, they'll have to tighten up in several areas.
Stafon Johnson ran for 122 yards and a touchdown and Chauncey Washington added 106 yards and a score as USC overcame its own numerous mistakes and Washington in a 27-24 victory Saturday night.
The Trojans (4-0, 2-0 Pac-10) committed three turnovers and 16 penalties — their most in more than two seasons — for 161 yards and had a missed a field goal and blocked punt. Yet they won for the 60th time in 64 games.
"We were very fortunate," USC coach Pete Carroll said, with a sigh. "We just couldn't get out of our own way. Washington, it was there to take it ... I'm so grateful to have this win." Don't worry, Pete, it won't happen again.
Ty Willingham had his squad ready to play, IN SPITE of a garbage quarterback redshirt freshman Jake Locker. Dude missed three open receivers in or near the end zone for Washington (2-3, 0-3), which lost its third consecutive game and is now 1-9-1 against No. 1 teams — including 0-7 when USC is top ranked. (Willingham still should be at Notre Dame, but that's another post).
Locker finished 12-for-27 with 83 yards passing and one interception, plus another 50 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns.
"I need to be a lot better," Locker said.
Added offensive coordinator Tim Lappano, noticeably frustrated by Locker's wildness in what the Huskies feel were winnable defeats to Ohio State, UCLA and now USC: "We got to settle him down."
Locker's final TD came after a blocked punt and with 34 seconds left.

LSU takes over No. 1 in poll: But USC DIDN'T LOSE. Is it fair?

LSU is No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time since Nov. 2, 1959.
The Tigers edged past Southern California in the AP Top 25 on Sunday, even though the Trojans remained undefeated (they won fugly, but they won). But is it fair? Personally, I don't think so.
I think the voters were caught up in the wily shifting of the top 10 after an infamous day in college football: Five of the top 10 lost; Oklahoma, Florida, Texas and Rutgers and West Virginia all went down. But to rob USC of its No. 1 ranking just because they were sloppy, that aint cool. LSU has been hella sloppy in a 34-9 win over Tulane. Senior Matt Flynn was sacked 6 times and LSU trailed 9-7 with 2 minutes left in the half. USC's 27-24 victory at Washington on Saturday night really wasn't as close as it sounded. USC did all it could to lose the game, actually including getting a punt blocked and interception by Louisiana native David Booty. Things had to go awfully wrong for USC to lose the game, and they almost did (a ball bounces right off a USC receiver's hands right into the hands of a Washington defender??). LSU didn't beat a worthy-enough opponent to move to No. 1, and I'm a fan.
USC is the first team to lose the No. 1 ranking after a victory since Nov. 3, 2002, when top-ranked Miami dropped after beating Rutgers 42-17 and No. 2 Oklahoma moved up after a 27-11 victory over No. 13 Colorado.
LSU, which recovered from its own first-half malaise to beat Tulane 34-9 on Saturday, received 33 first-place votes from the media panel and 1,593 points. USC got 32 first-place votes, 11 fewer than last week, and 1,591 points.
This just loudens the call for a college playoff system, which I'm all in favor for.
The voting was the closest since the second poll of the 2002 season, when Miami and Oklahoma tied for No. 1 and each received 27 first-place votes.
Next up for LSU, Florida and Tim "Superman" Tebow.

Football families

Football families are in every state, every city, but there are a few households where the pigskin just happens to be not only in the genes, but at the dinner table. Here's a few football families of the modern era that have become household words (no pun intended).
THE BOOTY CLAN
This Shreveport, Louisiana family first hit radar screens across the South when as a junior, Josh Booty became LSU's primary quarterback in 1999. It marked the second Booty on the roster for LSU, Josh's brother Abram was a receiver. That year Abram only caught 26 for 374 yards and 2 touchdowns, second only to Jerel Myers' 854 yards. Booty's best game was LSU's 23-42 loss to #25 Ole Miss, catching 5 passes for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns.The Shreveport area had known about the Bootys for some time.
Abram, at Evangel Christian Academy, had 5,867 receiving yards and 83 receiving touchdowns, setting the national high school record.
Brother Josh also excelled in baseball as a shortstop. He is currently a free agent after being waived by the Oakland Raiders. As quarterback in high school, he threw for 11,700 yards and 126 touchdowns, becoming the first high school player in history to throw for more than 10,000 yards (all this despite missing the last four games of his senior year due to a broken hand).
As a result of his performance Booty was named the USA Today Offensive Player of the Year and was named the National High School Player of the Year by at least six associations, including Parade and the Football News.As a shortstop, he was a four-time All-State choice. As a senior, he batted .429 with 20 walks. He was also the starting shortstop for the U.S. Junior Olympic National Team that won the silver medal. He was the 5th pick overall in the 1994 Major League Baseball Draft by the Florida Marlins. Then there's kid brother and current USC quarterback John David Booty. He is believed to be the first player ever to leave high school a whole year early to play college football.


THE MANNING FAMILY
Super Bowl-winning quarterback Payton Manning and his younger brother Eli are both star in the NFL. But as kids, the Manning boys had oldest brother Cooper as a target. Cooper, a wide receiver, went to Mississippi but never played a game for the Rebels. A spinal cord disorder left him prone to serious injury. Before that misfortune, Cooper, then a senior at New Orleans Newman High, caught 80 passes from Peyton. Cooper was an all-state receiver twice.


The Faulk brood
Kevin Faulk was highly sought when he came out of Carencro High School in Carencro, Louisiana in 1993. At Carencro, Faulk rushed for 4,877 yards on 603 carries (8.1 yards per carry).
At LSU, Faulk rushed for 4,557 yards in 41 games, which was 2nd best in SEC history behind the legendary Herschel Walker of Georgia (5,259 yards in 33 games).
Although they can't discern immediate bloodlines the Kevin and Marshall Faulk are no doubt related somewhere down the line.
Marshall came to national prominence in one game where he ran all over the University of the Pacific in just his second collegiate start. In 37 carries, he racked up 386 yards and scored seven touchdowns, both NCAA records for a freshman, and built on this performance throughout the year. Faulk was drafted 2nd overall in the 1994 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts, who were in desperate need of a running game. Faulk responded by rushing for 1,282 yards, 11 touchdowns, but was traded to the St. Louis Rams for two low draft picks after 4 years. In this offense he put up some of the best all-purpose numbers in the history of the NFL.

THE CLAUSEN BOYS
The Clausen boys of California are unique in that they all are quarterbacks. The eldest is Casey Clausen who in 2000 entered the collegiate world by played his first game for the Tennessee Volunteers, going 12-of-15 for 133 yards and three touchdowns in a 70-3 romp of Louisiana-Monroe.
As Casey went to the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, brother Rick Clausen joined the LSU Tigers as a freshman and was on the squad when LSU upsets the Vols 31-20 in the SEC championship. Their younger brother Jimmy Clausen has caused the Clausen name to be uttered anew as the freshly miinted quarterback at Notre Dame. Jiimmy came to college football with several accolades, one of which is that he's never lost a game he's started (42-0 in high school).
He also holds the California state record for careeer touchdowns (144).

USC vs. LSU: Who'd win it?

What if USC and LSU could get it on? Who would win, seriously? USC is the 2007-version-of Linebacker U. and that's a good thing. They have depth unprecedented for a college program, "the best in the history of college football," is what they say.
And it's no wonder the Trojans open their season with
Vandals,
Cornhuskers and
Cougars, they need to calibrate their great talent for the likes of
Cardinals,
Huskies and
Bruins. They will likely escape the season with a few harrowing close calls, but should prevail against them all, probably with one loss (nobody's perfect). The Fightin' Tigers should actually lose one or two of their games in the SEC, but should be propelled in the polls by strong performances against
Florida,

Auburn and a surprising
South Carolina. Should the boys from the bayou meet them somewhere we can expect a battle royale.
TURNOVERS: LSU's
monster tackle Glenn Dorsey would probably have only 1.5 sacks but his constant pressure would force John David Booty to "give up the booty" as in the ball at least twice.
SPECIAL TEAMS: LSU looks to have the edge on this one, what with Reggie Bush long gone from the Trojan stable.
OFFENSE: This is a tie, folks. Booty will be every bit as able to pick apart the LSU secondary as Matt Flynn will be able to bomb over the top of the Trojan defenders. LSU's offense will use a lot of sets to keep
USC's pro-style linebackers in coverage and away from the line of scrimmage. LSU's only chance at rattling Booty is to send blitzers at him from all positions, then of course, hope he's off balance enough to make bad throws.

COACHING: Pete Carroll is Einstein to Les Miles' Dr. Frankenstein. One is pure genius, the other one is a little mad. Look for Carroll to throw the kitchen sink at ole Les and Les to counterpunch by trying to call timeout when he doesn't have any. In the end, only one coach will be holding up his hands. LSU will have had a longer season and taken more bruises in the punishing SEC. A long, drawn-out war doesn't bode well for the Purple-and-Gold. If LSU jumps out on top early, then LSU wins. If it becomes a sloth-fest, the Boyz From Troy.