Weekly Musings - Stanford Edition

How can I do a 14-hour day at ESPN Zone for the fifth year in a row if IT IS OUT OF BUSINESS????  My heart dropped when I read the sign on the door of the Times Square behemoth, but alas, I did turn lemons into lemonade and had a delightful day (the Press Box at 2nd and 49th - very nice).  But you have to admit - with the stunning success of Obama's stimulus bill all over the country, it is pretty amazing that ESPN Zone became a casualty???  -)I am saving all my USC/Stanford talk for the end.  Around the country first ...So can you imagine what Nevada would do to Texas?????  (if you do not get it, I encourage you to not give up until it comes to you)My very smart younger brother on Oregon's prospects for winning a national championship: "No school with a lack of commitment to defense has ever won it all".  Truthfully, I see this being one of those years where Oregon State beats them (just because neither one of those teams EVER seems to be able to beat the other one when it actually matters).Alabama is not out of the fictitious national championship picture, though they certainly should be.  But either Oklahoma or Nebraska have to end with a loss, the writers are determined to screw Boise State, and I have already commented on Oregon.  Is this Ohio State's year?Stewart Mandel tweeted Saturday night: "If Florida really is the #14 team in the country, I feel sorry for the fans of #15 and worse"I can't say enough about the Gamecocks of South Carolina.  Spurrier has been the most under-appreciated coach in the SEC forever, with fans around the country never understanding the tier of talent going to Florida, Alabama, and LSU before South Carolina got a shot ...  They dominated Alabama on both sides of the ball, called a flawless game offensively, and punched Bama in the mouth on the other side of the ball.  Ingram is most certainly out of the Heisman discussion now as well.  Kudos to USC (east).Alabama's 19-game win streak was really something else, but the loss and end of the streak does reinforce my point about that 2003-2006 Trojan run.  It is never going to be replicated.  Ever.I don't know what to make of Big-10 football this year.  Is there a lot of parity, or just a lot of mediocrity?  Or both?Alshon Jeffery's one-handed catch at the end of the game (with a Bama defender pulling and holding his jers was the play of the year (so far) in college football.LSU's ending against Florida was vintage Les Miles - idiotic, lucky, chaotic, and bizarre.  And when all is said and done a very mediocre LSU team gets the win.-------------------FIRST HALF USCThe opening drive of my Trojan's offense was the best play-calling and execution I have seen all year!  Outstanding.  And I think Dillon out of the wildcat will be a force to be reckoned with.How come our kicker can't get the ball to the end zone all of a sudden on kickoffs???Robert Woods.  Oh my.  What an unbelievable performance.  Perhaps as good of a game from a true freshman as I have ever, ever seen.  Barkley was truly unconscious, but Woodie was out of this world.13-for-17 with 187 yards for Barkley in first halfThe defense is so bad at giving up big plays I really don't know what to say.But the ability of the defense to create a couple turnovers in the first half is why we went into the locker room with a tie game!  If it were not for Stanley Havili's unforgivable fumble deep into Stanford territory we could have been on our way to a route!!I agree with some of my "game time texting posse" - Kiffin's delay in calling a timeout and then the run play up the middle right before the half were, well, "odd".  That is not the word my texting friends used.---------------------SECOND HALF USCOur defense's generosity on third downs is like something I have never seen in my entire life, and it is frankly adding to my already half gray head of hair.That offense of ours has nothing to be ashamed of.  Matt was out of this world, and all of the receivers and backs had some big time plays. Robert Woods had the best freshman performance I have ever seen besides perhaps RJ in 1996.  But that offense can not be expected to win when the defense gives up 3rd and 10's and 3rd and 15's like a knife cuts through butter.To force that turnover at the end and come down so confidently and score like that just made it all worse.  To take the lead and still let them come down and win - it just defies the imagination how badly it hurts.  Ironically, if the refs had simply NOT given Bradford the first down on that run (which he did NOT earn), it would have probably won the game for us.  This defense is so bad, we have no excuse to ever, ever, ever give the other team the ball back.  When we scored ýwith 1:12 to go to take the lead, I strongly doubt that any Trojan in the world felt good.All the Trojan haters are such envious pathetic little snots I don't find it shocking at all how people respond to this team's struggles, but does anyone else find it to be very complimentary that Stanford, an 11-point overdog, would storm the field after beating the unranked Trojans?Whatever.  Stanford's offense was better than our defense tonight, so we deserved to lose.  Barkley and Woods put on a clinic, and I am beyond proud of this team's effort.  But defense wins football games, and our defense tonight was not good enough to win. Period.Lane called an outstanding game, and Barkley was out of this world.  To blame tonight's B+ and A- students for the overall grade when we had D- moments (Gallipo's foul) and F- moments (the third down play of our entire linebacking and secondary corps), is silly.  This was a game that can only be boiled down to one thing: Our inability to stop the other team's offense, at any point during the game, and particularly in the final minute.  We need to pray we force or 3 or 4 turnovers per game (the one good thing to say about the defense tonight), and we need our offense to do more of what it did tonight.  And as to how this defense needs to be systemically fixed, I will let all of the brilliant football minds on various internet chat boards figure that out (before their moms call them down for dinner).24 hour rule is on.  Bring on Kal.  Two Commie teams in a row.  I am really in a mood.Best bet - we can beat Cal; don't know if we will.  The bye week will help some of the hurting defensive players heal up.  The Oregon game is, well, you know, probably going to be a challenge.  Arizona State at the Coliseum is winnable.  UofA on the road will be tough.  Oregon State on the road will be very tough.  AND THEN we play our two rivals - Notre Dame at home and UCLA at their rental 75 minutes up the road.  Essentially, I think USC could finish anywhere from 10-3 on the upside to 6-7 on the downside.  I do know this: I will be there every step of the way fighting for the men of Troy.  Fight on.