Yeah
 

I was playing FOF2k7 since almost the day it came out and really played it and played it and played it - so much so that I just needed a break from it, then remembered how much I had enjoyed TCY and the fact that you've got player turnover every four (or five) years. I also like the chaos of the Bowl system - though I wish it's Bowl system was the pre-BCS anarchy where there was always an argument about who was national champion and there weren't automatic BCS seeded games.

I'd definitely recommend getting the game if you like college football. It looks like an antique compared to FOF2k7, but it's still a lot of fun.


-Bear

2015 Season (2nd Qtr)
 

2015 Season (2nd Qtr.)


WEEK 5
@ Oregon State (0-3) (PAC-10)
(USC -4) USC BCS RANK: #8

1st quarter grades came out, only two players with D's and 1 player with a D+. Gave all three of them a bunch of coaching blocs to help them get more study time.

OC Chester Hoffman and RG Ernie Cheatham just dominated the line of scrimmage opening holes for the Southern Cal running game with 9 key run blocks between them as USC took a solid road win over Oregon State 35-10.

Tailback Aaron Castillo led the Trojan running game with 122 yards and one touchdown on 27 carries while QB malcolm Moreno ran for 52 yards on 5 carries. Moreno also threw for 209 yards and 3 TD's, but also got picked twice.

It was a good, solid win on the road to open the PAC-10 season.

USC 35 -- Oregon State 10
PAC-10 (1-0) -- OVERALL (3-0)


WEEK 6
@ Oregon (2-2) (PAC-10) *TV3*
(USC -10) USC BCS RANK: #7

We stay in the great state of Oregon again this week, playing the Ducks of the University of Oregon after our solid win against the Beavers of Oregon State.

Three recruits signed letters of intent to play for USC next season. They are; J.B. Wilson, an 80++ (ranked #4) running back from North Cedar High School in Stanwood, Iowa; Albert Wilcox, a 70++ (rank #66) defensive tackle from Glendora High School in Glendora, California; and Max Fitzgerald, an 82- (Rank #45) cornerback from Atwater High School in Atwater, California. Three very good early signings.

OLB Riddick Taylor and WR Ronnie Wheeler look like they'll be out for the year after last week's game. That hurts.

It was a defensive struggle all day with DE Alonzo Chevrier leading the way to a Trojans road win, 19-14 at Oregon.

Chevrier made 7 tackles while assisting on 2 others while sacking the Ducks QB twice on the day. SILB Tyrell Vaughn added 8 tackles to help shutdown the Duck offense.

Kicker Walter Perez booted 4 field goals and the lone USC touchdown came on a 3 yard pass from Malcolm Moreno to Richie Warrick.

A tough win, but a win nonetheless.

USC 19 -- Oregon 14
PAC-10 (2-0) -- OVERALL (4-0)


WEEK 7
vs. California (3-1) (PAC-10) *TV3*
(USC -14) USC BCS RANK: #5

We're really getting hit by the injury bug early this season. Tyrell Lyons chose this week to come down with tonsilitis - when I was a kid they used to take our tonsils out when we were like 3. I remember watching the moon landing and sucking on grape popsicles in the hospital in the wee hours of the morning when we walked on the moon. Now they wait till college and disrupt football season.

The marvels of medical science.

We lost a DE we had recruit to UCLA, but landed two other erecruit this week. I have no doubt that because UCLA landed him, the DE will go on to be the next Richard Seymour. That's life.

Signing with us were Bobby Burgess, a 68++ (rank #100) offensive tackle from Tillamook High School in Tillamook, Oregon and Rodney Gardner, a kicker from Slater High School in Slater, Missouri. Gardner was the best kicker available in this year's recruiting class and is rated a 93+.

We could get no ground game going this week, but s tingy Southern Cal defense held the Gilden Bears to 166 total yards of offense, Walter Perez kicked 3 field goals and QB Malcolm Moreno seemed to be getting untracked as USC held on for a 14-14 nailbiter against Cal.

The USC defense was so dominating that it held Cal to 0.4 yards per carry on 20 carries, led by LB's Brett Vinnick, Tyrell Vaughn and Johnny El Nino, who made 5, 4, and 4 tackles respectively. This left Cal with no choice to throw the ball, where the Trojan pass rush pressured the Golden Bear QB all day recording 4 sacks, two of them by DE Alonzo Chevrier.

On offense it was all QB Malcolm Moreno, who put it all together this week to go 18/31 for 266 yards and one touchdown pass - that to WR Richie Warrick who had 3 catches for 79 yards.

It was a very hard fought victory for USC, but we'll take it.

USC 16 -- California 14
PAC-10 (3-0) -- OVERALL (5-0)


WEEK 8
vs. Arizona State (0-5) (PAC-10)
(USC -36) USC BCS RANK: #3

Our solid, if unspectacular play has vaulted us to #3 in the nation this week, just behind Virginia and Florida. Out for this week's game will be WR Ronnie Wheeler, ILB Chad Berg and OLB Riddick Taylor.

Landed two more recruit this week. Lester Kirkwood, an offensive tackle from Pueblo High School in Tucson, Arizona and Andrew Francis, a defensive tackle from Malibu High School in Malibu, California both signed letters of intent to play for USC in 2016. Kirkwood is a 67+ OT ranked 94th in his recruiting class. Francis is an 83-- DT who was ranked 32nd in his recruiting class, but I wasn' all that impressed with him. Still, he'll provide some solid depth at the nose if nothing else.

In what was mostly a defensive struggle for the 1st quarter, ASU struck first with 3:20 left in the 1st on a 79 yard touchdown bomb to take a 7-0 lead after one.

The Trojans wouldn't allow another point all day.

The stifling defense of Southern Cal, led by DE Alonzo Chevrier and his 7 tackles and 3.5 sacks, sacked the Sun Devil QB 8 times and held ASU to 33 yards rushing on 19 carries, and 115 total yards of offense on the day.

Offensively, after a sluggish 1st quarter in which ASU held the Trojans scoreless, 5th year senior QB Malcolm Moreno erupted for what was easily his best game of the year to date, passing for over 400 yards on a 26 for 36 day.

Three Southern Cal receivers broke the hundred yard mark on the day - Wingback Gabe Whalen made 9 catches for 116 yards, WR Cole McConnell had 7 grabs for 129 yards and Richie Warrick had 6 receptions for 112 yards and the lone USC touchdown through the air.

On the ground the Sun Devils were mostly successful in holding Tailback Aaron Castillo in check, limiting him to 93 yards and 1 TD on 26 carries (3.5 ypc) but Wingback Gabe Whalen, who had a fabulous all around performance today, ran for 65 yards and 3 touchdowns on 13 carries (5.0 ypc).

All in all once we woke up we played a thoroughly dominating game. Good win.

USC 47 -- Arizona State 7
PAC-10 (4-0) -- OVERALL (6-0)


WEEK 9 BCS RANKINGS

Wow bear, you have really set-up Keene State. Will they ever get a shot at the national title? Very well-written dynasty.

edited for spelling.

Marathoner,

I think I did a solid job recruiting and building the program the four seasons I was there, as well as building up the program's prestige.

I don't think however, that as long as an AI coach is controlling them, they'll ever get to play for a national title. That's mainly because of the way the BCS rankings in the game are calculated. Strength of schedule counts for just enough to keep them out of one of the top two spots in the rankings. A human coach could make up for the weak NNE conference and schedule they play, along with the annual Northen Illinois game, by scheduling two Top 5 or Top 10 opponents.

But the AI isn't likely to schedule those games for them, so while they may make a BCS Bowl Game (Top 8 teams), they probably won't get to the National Championship game.

(Wouldn't it rock if TCY were multiplayer?) :)

And thanks again for the read and compliments!


-Bear

2015 Season (3rd Qtr)
 

2015 SEASON (3rd Qtr.)


WEEK 9
@ Stanford (5-1) (PAC-10) *TV2*
(USC -13) USC RANK: #5

Wheeler, Berg and Taylor will all be out for this week's game again - and likely the rest of the season. Tailback Aaron Castillo has been listed probable almost all season with a brusied rib cage - same again this week.

Have I mentioned how much I hate it when a new walk-on shows up with a failing grade? When your team loses players to injuries, new walk-ons come out for the team. Normally, if the kid shows up with a failing grade, I cut him and tell him to go to the library and study. In this case, the kid is popular with the rest of the squad, so instead of hurting team morale I allocated a bunch of coaching blocs to him. had two players with D-'s, so allocated blocs to them and 3 players with D's, so I gave them some. A bit worse than 1st quarter grades.

Good news on the recruiting front as we land three recruits this week. Pat Oxendine, a quarterback from East High School in Morristown, Tennessee, Louis Ballard, an offensive guard from Chenango Valley High School in Binghamton, New York and R.J. Lackey, a 76- (rank #45) defensive end from Mountain Valley High School in Rumford, Maine all signed letters of intent to play for Southern Cal next season.

Oxendine is the #6th ranked recruit in the nation and is scouted as an 80+ QB and the second best signal caller in this year's recruiting class. Our scout says he likes to run all the time but alas, his high school stats suggest otherwise. He comes with terrific academics and comes from high school with very good academic and athletic prep programs.

Ballard was the 19th ranked recruit in the nation and was scouted as an 86++ - he looked far better than the 86 my scout gave him, which was an excellent rating to begin with. Ballard's specialty is run blocking, which we need more of here at Southern Cal. His grades are average, nothing spectacular, though his prep athletic program was good - though not great.

That brings our recruiting class to 10. We can sign up to 16 players to letters of intent, but only have 15 scholarships available due to redshirting (I think I may "over-redshirt" in that I don't like to waste a year of a very good player's eligibility sitting on the bench as a backup that may play occassionally, but YMMV), so we may end up recruiting someone to walk-on nearer to the end of the season.

Southern Cal OC Chester Hoffman and FB Warren Guthrie dominated the line of scrimmage, throwing 6 and 5 key run blocks respectively as they opened up holes for Tailback Aaron Castillo all day en route to a 24-6 Trojan victory at Stanford.

Offensive Coordinator Randy Edwards just kept calling Tailback Castillo's number all day as Castillo had a whopping 44 carries, gaining 202 yards (4.5 ypc) while running for one touchdown as the USC running game controlled the ball for over 38 minutes.

Richie Warrick had a solid day at wideout, making 5 catches for 81 yards and hauling in a touchdown pass from Malcom Moreno. Moreno was quiet most of the day, going 10/22 for 143 yards while throwing the one touchdown to Warrick and getting picked once.

On defense the Trojans shut down the Cardinal in fine fashion. Nickel back Roger Majka ran an INT back for a touchdown while redshirt sophomore Rick Holmes, starting in place of injured OLB Riddick Taylor, had two sacks. CB Tyrell Lyons had two picks and the Trojan D had five interceptions on the day.

Even though we didn't put a ton of points on the board, we dominated every facet of the game, especially on defense, where we held the Cardinal to 10 net yards rushing on 19 carries and 115 net yards altogether.

We're playing pretty solid football, particularly on defense. Now if Malcom Moreno could just get untracked and our running attack be a little more consistent, that'd be some truly good news.

USC 24 -- Stanford 6
PAC-10 (5-0) -- OVERALL (7-0)


WEEK 10
@ Washington (5-2) (PAC-10)
(USC -5) USC BCS RANK: #6

No new injuries to report, and Castillo is still probable.

Both UCLA and us are 5-0 in the PAC-10, everyone else has lost at least a game to date. We just need to keep playing hard and taking them one game at a time and things will fall as they may.

We landed another big offensive lineman recruiting this week as Nate Lauvray, an offensive guard from Wethersfield High School in Wethersfield, Connecticut signed a letter of intent with USC. Lauvray is scouted at 84-- whose specialty is run blocking. He has very good grades and comes from a very solid academic program, but only a fair athletic program. He'll be a project.

QB Malcolm Moreno lit a fire under the Trojans this week, leading the way to a dominating win over the Washington Huskies, 44-10.

Moreno had a big day passing going 17/25 for 292 yards while tossing two touchdown passes - one of them an 86 yard strike to Wingback Gabe Whalen, who had three receptions for 102 yards on the day.

And then it was all defense and the special teams of the Trojans as SILB Tyrell Vaughn returned an INT for a touchdown and Mo Napiecek returned a punt for a touchdown and the rout was on, leading to a very big road win against a solid Huskie program.

USC 44 -- Washington 10
PAC-10 (6-0) -- OVERALL (8-0)


WEEK 11
vs. Arizona (0-8) (PAC-10)
(USC -39) USC BCS RANK: #4

Injury list the same as it has been; Berg, Wheeler and Taylor listed as out; Castillo as probable.

Deja vu all over again it seems. We lost to an 0-8 Arizona team last season that started our downward spiral out of conference (and national?) championship hopes and into the Liberty Bowl. This year the boys say they are more mentally prepared and have a score to setle with the Wildcats.

We'll see.

We had one more recruit sign a letter with us this week, Edwin Kidman, a wide receiver from Glencoe High School in Hillsboro, Oregon. Kidman is a 70++ receiver who is an outstanding punt returner. He comes to us from a school with an outstanding academic program and very solid grades. The atheletic program is fair to good.

We seem to be getting more players from the Pacific Northwest these days - maybe I'm just recruiting more up there, but as three of our PAC-10 opponents are from Washington state and Oregon, it's nice to win kids over from their backyards.

Invited a number of students to come to visit campus and come out for the program as walk-ons. Most were high academic types with good skill sets but under-recruited because they come from programs with poor athletic prep. As they'll be back of the roster types, that should work out fine for us and them - and you never know, one may turn out to be a solid contributor one day. But at least they won't be academic problems.

Arizona opened the game 9 minutes into it with a field goal. Then Safety Louie finch returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown and we never looked back, vengeance on the minds of the men of troy as we built a 31-3 lead at the half on the way to a dominating 52-6 victory over the Wildcats.

The passing attack was quiet all day - wasn't much need for it and backup Mark Rayburn played a good part of the game as Malcolm Moreno got much of the second half off.

Backs Aaron Castillo and Gabe Whalen had a field day running through the Arizona front seven, with Castillo galloping for 120 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries (5.7 ypc) and Whalen rushing for 70 yards and a TD on 16 carries (4.3 ypc). Much of their success was due to the blocking of OC Chester Hoffman who had a terrific 6 key run blocks on the day.

Defensively DE Alonzo Chevrier got to the Wildcat QB 2.5 times and backup Safety Shaun Nordskov had two picks as we dominated all facets of the game.

And with UCLA's 16-14 loss at home to Stanford in Week 10, and their one point home loss to Cal this week, we are the only PAC-10 team undefeated - every other PAC-10 team has at least two losses. That means, that with our dominant win this week, we just captured our first PAC-10 Conference Championship of my tenure here at Southern Cal.

Damn that feels good. And give what Zona did to us last year, couldn't have worked out beter than to clinch by beating them, and beating them badly.

We've got two games left - one at Notre Dame and one at home against UCLA. We need to maintain our intensity.

Because now there's a lot more at stake than just the PAC-10 title.

USC 52 -- Arizona 6
PAC-10 (7-0) -- OVERALL (9-0)


WEEK 12
@ #9 Notre Dame (7-1) *TV5*
(ND -2) USC BCS RANK: #4

A big showdown this week in South Bend. This will easily be our toughest game of the year. The Irish blew us out last year en route to the National Championship Game. This year, the boys have some more vengeance to take. Let's see if they can do what it takes to win.

Starting OT Nathan Padgett is added to the injury list as probable. Castillo remains probable. Same guys are out as all year.

We landed two more recruits this week, Renaldo Elder, a 75++ (rank #25) inside linebacker from Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark, New Jersey and Artie Waugh, a 65+ safety from Glen Ridge High School in Glen Ridge, New Jersey have committed to USC for next season. turned out to be another very solid recruiting year for us.

At this point, we have two slots left open in our recruiting class. We have one scholarship remaining and one offer out there. We also have offerred four players walk-on spots, but I think the way it works is that only one will be able to accept because you're limited to a recruiting class of 16.

Well, we just weren't able to stay with the Fighting Irish, it was a game for the first half but they blew it open in the 3rd quarter. We couldn't run the ball or pass the ball against that defense, and eventually they just wore us down, beating us 34-10.

Our lone touchdown came on a Malcolm Moreno pass to wideout Richie Warrick, who had only two receptions on the day. Defensively Alonzo Chevrier got to the Irish QB twice and NT Bert Duncan had a sack and a half.

A tough loss, but not a heartbreaking one - we just didn't have the hosses to stay with them. Maybe next year.

Notre Dame 34 -- USC 10
PAC-10 (7-0) -- OVERALL (9-1)


WEEK 13 BCS RANKINGS

2015 Season (4th Qtr.)
 

2015 SEASON (4TH Qtr.)


WEEK 13
vs. UCLA (7-3) (PAC-10) *TV4*
(USC -7) USC RANK: #9

Even though we've already clinched the PAC-10 championship -woo! - this game is BIG in more ways than one. We're ranked #9 in the BCS rankings. We're close enough in the rankings that with a win here, we might be able to creep into one of the top 8 BCS spots and go to a BCS Bowl Game. That'd be a super huge accomplishment for our program and tremendous progress after a real downer of a season last year.

Oh, and besides, the alumni want this one real bad.

No changes to our injury list, good or bad.

Quarterly grades came out, three D-'s and one D+, major improvement from last quarter. Gave out a bunch of coaching blocs to those four students and still have 15 blocs left for the 4th quarter grades before finals. Two of the four players are walk-ons - grr.

Deron O'Neal, a 60+ outside linebacker from Chatsworth High School in Chatsworth, California accepted the last scholarship we could offer this season. Now we just wait to see if any of the players we invited accepts a walk-on spot.

96.600 fans at the Rose Bowl sat in stunned silence as UCLA returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. 9:30 into the game the Bruins added another touchdown and it looked like UCLA was going to win in a walk.

They wouldn't score again.

Tailback Aaron Castillo then took over the game, rushing for four touchdowns and WR Cole McConnell, playing in place of the injured Ronnie Wheeler made 10 receptions for 144 yards and a touchdown as Southern Cal put up 41 unanswered points en route to a crowd pleasing 41-14 win over our arch-rival the UCLA Bruins.

QB Malcolm Moreno had a fantastic day passing against the Bruin secondary, going 26/35 for 342 yards and one touchdown as he stayed mistake free the entire game. Aside from hitting McConnell ten times, Moreno also hit wideout Richie Warrick 5 times for 93 yards in a winning effort.

Castillo did not have a great day statistically - aside from the four, rather important touchdowns that is - as he ran for 145 yards on 38 carries (3.8 ypc), but he got the yards he needed to when it counted.

The defense came up big again, allowing only 119 total yards on the day and limiting the Bruins to 42 net yards rushing on 19 carries.

Just how dominating was the defense after UCLA's 1st quarter scoring drive? Here's a look at the Bruins drive chart.



Bucky Riley's defense played simply amazing.

Credit also needs to go to Offensive coordinator Randy Edwards and his play calling, whose offense controlled the ball for over 41 minutes in this big, big win.

So we go a perfect 8-0 in the PAC-10 and win the conference championship, and beat our arch rival UCLA to boot.

One terrific year.

Now let's see where we end up bowl game-wise.

USC 41 -- UCLA 14
PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (10-1)


WEEK 14
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #6

That big win catapulted us back into the top eight at #6. Hopefully we can stay in the top eight through conference championship week - then we'll go to a BCS Bowl.

PAC-10 (7-0) -- OVERALL (9-1)


WEEK 15
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #6

We stayed at #6, that's good news.

We're hoping Caly boy OC Cornell Ours, a 53+ OC accepts our walk-on offer. He's decent academically and probably won't be much more than an end of the bench player, but he's better than most walk-ons, academically and athletically, that we usually get.

PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (10-1)


WEEK 16
MINOR BOWL TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #7

We got word, we'll be going to the Fiesta Bowl to play #4 Virginia (11-0). Truly outstanding for our program.

Cornell Ours, a center from Bret Harte Union High School in Angels Camp, California, has agreed to come out as a walk-on for USC next season, filling out our recruiting class.

PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (10-1)


WEEK 17 BCS RANKINGS

Nice job beating up on the Bruins -- one win away from likely competing for a national title ...

Thanks.

Was a great season. And a much needed catharsis after the last one. ;)

2015 Season (Final)
 

2015 SEASON (FINAL)



WEEK 17
MAJOR BOWL TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #6

QB Malcolm Moreno was ticketed by police for creating an unlawful disturbance for making too much noise by having a party at a house off campus. Moreno was apparently caught en flagrante delecto with two cheerleders along with some alcohol, but the police only cited him for the noise the party was making. The NCAA took no action. School officials wanted me to suspend him, but I'm not going to suspend the 5th year senior from going to the Fiesta Bowl for making too much noise and joining the glee club, so to speak.

Quarterly grades came out. A walk-on failing a class, a few D-'s. Allocated coaching blocs and hope that's enough to keep anyone from failing this semester.

News of note: UCLA lost to Georgia Tech in the Liberty Bowl, 20-17. Notre Dame beat UNLV 70-6 in the Patriot Bowl. Ouch. And my old school, Keene State, defeated Middle Tennesee State in the Georgia Bowl 13-7. Good for them.

PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (10-1)


WEEK 18
FOUR STAR TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #6

PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (10-1)


WEEK 19
NEW YEAR'S TIER
FIESTA BOWL: vs. #4 Virginia (11-0) *TV1*
(Virginia -3) USC BCS RANK: #5

We'll be facing off against a very good Virginia program, one that you could arguably make a case for that they should be playing for the national championship. A win for us would be a huge victory for our program. It would also give us 11 wins on the season, the most in a single season since I've been at USC.

Wheeler, Berg and Taylor will miss the game due to injuries as they have most of the year. WR Richie Warrick is listed as probable.

Bucky Riley expects the Cavaliers to come out trying to run the ball against us -- our defensive strength. I guess we'll see if he's right.

1st Qtr: We trade scores as Tailback Aaron Castillo takes it in from one yard out to give us a 7-0 lead before the Cavaliers tie it up on a Ryan Maas touchdown pass.

After 1: Tied 7-7.

2nd Qtr: Trojan QB Malcolm Moreno takes over and tosses two touchdown passes, the first a 15 yarder to WR Cole McConnell, the second to FB Warren Guthrie. Virginia is only able to answer with a field goal with 4 seconds left on the clock before the end of the half.

Halftime: USC 21-10

3rd Qtr: Cavalier QB Ryan Maas tosses his second touchdown pass of the day and Virginia adds a field goal. We are unable to answer. This game has suddenly gotten too close for comfort.

End of the 3rd: USC 21-20

4th Qtr: We start off the fourth and drive to the Cavalier 39 where we go for it on 4th and 5. Aaron Castillo ran for 4 yards and we turn the ball over on downs. Virginia takes over and our defense holds and they go three and out.

We then begin a 7 minute drive to the Virginia 9. Walter Perez tries a field goal but the Cavalier defense comes up big and blocks the kick - ouch! They take over at their own 24 with 6:11 left in the game.

Virgnia then proceeds to drive down the field to our 24 with 2:31 left on the clock. The Cavs send out placekicker Sean Oreck, who has already connected for two field goals today, to try a 41 yarder.

Wide right.

We take over at our own 24 with 2:24 left to play, ahead by one. They stop our QB option for no gain, then stuff Castillo for a 1 yard gain on 2nd down.

On third and nine QB Malcolm Moreno drops back and hits WR Cole McConnel for 14 yards and a first down, but he's forced out of bounds stopping the clock -- no harm no foul as it hit the 2 minute warning mark anyway.

On 1st down they stuff Castillo for no gain again. On 2nd Castillo pounds out three yards bringing up a 3rd and 7 on our own 42 with 1:07 left to play.

Offensive Coordinator Randy Edwards calls the QB option and Moreno sprints left and pitches to Aaron Castillo. Redshirt senior Fullback Warren Guthrie just hammers his man, throwing a key run block and springs Castillo for a 9 yard gain and a first down. Virginia is out of timeouts and Malcolm Moreno takes a knee a couple of times and that's the ball game -- one heckuva game but we hold on, 21-20.

Just reading from the game log the game was frackin exciting. What a big, big win for us.

Neither team could run the ball all day. They gained 69 net yards on 24 carries on the day. We gained a little more yardage (89 yards) , but ran the ball 46 times. But we got a big nine yards on that one play thanks to FB Warren Guthrie.

Malcolm Moreno played extremely well in his final game as a USC Trojan, going 16/24 for 240 yards and two touchdowns while getting picked off once. His favorite target was who it has been down the stretch, Cole McConnell, who started the year on the bench as a backup. McConnell, who caught the big 14 yard first down play to keep the ball in our hands late in the 4th quarter, had 6 receptions on the day for 100 yards and one touchdown. Moreno's other TD toss went to who else - FB Warren Guthrie.

Our defense was led by two other players who started the year as backups: redshirt sophomore WLB Rick Holmes, who made 7 tackles and sacked the Cavalier QB twice on the day; and WILB Brett Vinnick, who also made 7 tackles.

The play of guys who started the year on the bench, or at seemingly unimportant positions like Fullback, just show how important it is to recruit depth. Without the play of McConnell, Holmes, Vinnick and Guthrie, we probably don't win the Fiesta Bowl. They played a heckuva game.

What a truly exciting and terrific end to a fabulous season.


FIESTA BOWL
USC 21 -- Virginia 20
PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-1)


WEEK 20
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Week off.
USC BCS RANK: #4

We move up to #4 in the BCS Rankings off our tremendous Fiesta Bowl victory.

Florida hammers Iowa 42-14 to win its second consecutive National Championship. Florida QB Heath Hammond wins his second consecutive Heisman.

We end the year where we started the week, ranked #4 in the final BCS rankings.

Awesome.

PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-1)


2015 FINAL BCS RANKINGS

2015 Season Summary & Review
 

2015 SEASON SUMMARY & REVIEW


SEASON REVIEW

What a fabulous season. 2015 turned out to be the complete antithesis of 2014. We went undefeated in the PAC-10, smoked our arch-rival UCLA, earned a BCS Bowl bid, then defeated Virginia in a hard fought 21-20 victory in the Fiesta Bowl. We ended up ranked 4th in the BCS final rankings. We simply played very solid football all year, and it was tremendously rewarding to see it all come together. What a big step for our program here at Southern Cal.

As you'll see below, the All PAC-10 teams look like our starting lineup. Big congrats go out to graduating senior QB Malcolm Moreno for being named PAC-10 MVP. His play down the stretch and in the Fiesta Bowl was remarkable. It was good to see him put it all together.

From an analytical perspective, I still don't think we ran the ball as well as we could have. I was however quite pleased with our passing attack and very pleased with the fact we hardly ever turned the ball over - our turnover margin was 2nd best in the nation.

Defensively teams found they simply couldn't run the ball against us, and when they tried they just got stuffed by our front seven. Teams tried to throw at an incredible rate against us, but we held them to a 42.7% completion rate. And of those completions, our opponents averaged only 5.66 yards per reception - 12th best defensively in the nation.

And finally, on crucial third downs, we converted third downs at a rate of 44.1%, a very good 13th nationally, while our defense held opponents to a 26.4% third down conversion rate, good enough for 10th best in the country.

All in all it was a terrific year by both our offense and defense, with a wonderful outcome that matched the high statistical ratings we produced.

Clearly, Southern Cal football has taken a giant step up in the world.


2015 USC Award Winners




2015 USC Team Summary

2016 Preseason (Winter)
 

2016 PRESEASON (Winter)

Big jump in USC's prestige rating after the 2015 Fiesta Bowl win, from Excellent (80) to Excellent (85). That makes Southern Cal the 10th most prestigious program in the nation.

Southern Cal's academic reputation is now Very Good (70), 11th highest in the nation. The GPA of students in the football program is now 3.18, still highest in the country. I do find it kind of funny however, that of the three majors USC doesn't offer, one is Spanish.

Just saying.

OLB Reggie Buckley left the football program because of last year's suspension. Hey, it's not like I suspended him for crying out loud.

QB Jason Krieger, a highly touted recruit coming out of high school, left the program because of a lack of playing time last season. Krieger would have been a redshirt junior this season and may have competed for the starting job. My fault for recruiting too many quarterbacks.

WR Thurman Whelan was inducted into the USC Football Hall of Fame. Thurman was here during the dark years of USC football when i first took over the program. He was an excellent wideout who made 227 receptions for 3829 yards and 24 touchdowns in his career. Interestingly enough, he becomes the first player inducted into the USC Hall.

I receive a large number of job offers, but don't seriously consider any of them - even though this is liable to be a major rebuilding year at USC. Among the more prestigious offers were Louisville (Excellent-81), San Diego State (Very Good-78) and Hawaii (Excellent-80). One PAC-10 rival, Arizona State also offerred me their job.

But I turn them all down and stay at USC for my ninth season at the helm of the Trojans.

The football program financials came out today and the program earned $54,870,000 for the university - 6th highest amount in the nation. Our television revenue was $14,950,000, also 6th best in the country. I'm sure the Board of Trustees is pleased with those numbers.

The entire staff remains intact. I'm not entirely pleased with Lance Coe's work at Lead Scout, but can find no one much better, so he'll stay.

TCY Today ranked our recruiting class #13 in the nation - one of our poorer showings as of late. Here's a look at the class.

2016 Preseason (Spring)
 

2016 PRESEASON (SPRING)

We already have a full schedule for 2016. Besides our eight PAC-10 games, we have our annual game against Notre Dame, and the second half of home and home's against North Carolina and Ball State.

As always, there is one PAC-10 team we don't play each season. This year we don't play Oregon State.

Here's a look at our 2016 schedule.

2016 Preseason (Summer)
 

2016 PRESEASON (Summer)

Well, we play seven road games this season, so we've got our work cut out for us. But time to manage academic schedules and all. No one was placed on academic probation this season. That's good news.

After setting up the schedules for the incoming frosh and tweaking the schedules of the upperclassmen, one thing that made me laugh is that one of my Tight Ends was angry at me because of his lack of playing time.

There's a reason we don't recruit tight ends, we run a flexbone. There are no tight ends in the formation. We've run that formation for 8 years. Why would a tight end walk onto the team, and then be angry that he doesn't play? Cripes.

Looks like this might be a rebuilding year for us, it really depends on how well the offensive line comes together and how well the secondary - easily our weakness this year, plays.

Starting at QB will be 5th year senior Mark Rayburn, but don't be surprised to see redshirt sophomore Brock Dole taking some snaps this season as well. If he continues to develop he'll likely be our starter next year. I'm not real happy with how well Offensive Coordinator Randy Edwards has developed quarterbacks as I don't believe they're achieving their full potential, but in this offense Malcolm Moreno played well enough to win the conference MVP, so we'll see.

Rayburn's primary targets this season will be 5th year senior receiver Richie Warrick and redshirt sophomore sensation Ron Morrison. We expect outstanding things from Morrison this year and in the future. Our third receiver will again be Cole McConnell, who filled that role quite ably last year.

Joining Rayburn in the backfield will be 5th year senior Fullback Warren Guthrie. He'll be blocking for 5th year senior Tailback Ross Berberich, who finally gets his chance to show what he can do. Returning as the starting Wingback will be redshirt senior Gabe Whalen, who is also an excellent receiver. Redshirt sophomore Mercury Schultz shoul;d also get some carries this season, and next year we expect him to step into the starting Tailback position.

A lot of our success will depend on how well the offensive line run blocks this year. Anchoring the line will be four year starter, senior OC Chester Hoffman - hard to believe he graduates already this year. At the guard positions will be junior Ernie Cheatham and sophomore Frank Elliot. And at the tackle positions will be redshirt junior Hunter Blount and redshirt sophomore Dana Aska. You can also expect to see OT Billy Joe Joyner and OG Graham Molina see a little action as well.

We'll have a strong front seven on defense once again this season, as Defensive Coordinator Bucky Riley always seems to develop a good unit. Anchoring the D-line will be 5th year senior NT Bert Duncan. He'll be flanked by DE's senior Tracy Aalders and redshirt junior Freddie Stander. Freshman R.J. Lackey will also see some time on passing downs.

Senior ILB Tyrell Vaughn returns at ILB along will redshirt junior Chad Berg. On the outside will be redshirt junior Johnny el Nino (got to love that name) and redshirt senior Riddick Taylor. We're not sure what to expect from taylor this season as he's coming off some serious ACL damage to his knee. In case he falters, redshirt junior Rick Holmes, who filled in ably last year, will step up into Taylor's position.

It's in the secondary where we may have our biggest problems. Aside from senior safety Louie Finch, there's not a lot of experience or developed talent here. Joining Finch at safety will be second year starter, sophomore Joel Arvold. At the corners will be 5th year senior Roger Majka and redshirt junior Sam Alexander, with redshirt sophomore Buddy Reed playing the nickel.

It's difficult to know at this stage how good we'll be. Our passing attack should be quite good as Mark Rayburn has plenty of highly talented targets to throw to. We'd like to improve our running game some, as that's our bread and butter, but much of that depends on how well the offensive line plays. Defensively, the secondary could be a seive, but the front seven looks to be as strong as ever.

Here's a look at our 2016 roster.

2016 Preseason (BCS Rankings)
 

2016 PRESEASON (BCS RANKINGS)

Wow, only four home games? Nice reward for a great season the year before ...

Yeah, you'd think I tagged the AD's daughter or something.

2016 Season (1st Qtr.)
 

2016 SEASON (1st Qtr.)


WEEK 1
Off week.
BCS Rank: #11

We don't open up Week 1, so most of my time is spent recruiting. Again we'll be targeting high profile recruits and expect to have a solid recruiting class. I'm not real pleased with the holes I perceive in the year's team - whether that has to do with recruiting too many players at certain positions so that developemtn gets blocked for some players, or whether my coordinators aren't doing their job in development - which I particularly think is true of Randy Edwards and quarterbacks - or some combination of both, I'm no Svengali so it's difficult to tell. Suffice to say it may be a bit of both phenomena.

PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (0-0)


WEEK 2
@ North Carolina (0-0)
(NC -1) USC BCS RANK: --

Ahh the fickle fates of early week BCS rankings. We fall out of the Top 25 - not sure we belong there yet anyway this year. I think our preseason ranking was based on last year's terrific season - but many, if not most, of those players graduated. But the polls are always screwey the first three weeks.

Resisted the strong, almost irresistable urge to recruit an OT named George Patton. Wasn't a good fit for our program, not a real run blocker, but halftime speeches would have been a blast.

Continued making more first time contacts and getting scholarship offers out there. Really trying to narrow mthe credentials of what I am looking for - high academic kids with high athletic preperation. Of course, that's what every school wants.

As if to say "I've been sitting here patiently on the bench for four years coach, it's my turn now", 5th year senior Tailback Ross Berberich led the way to a 35-0 stomping of the Tar Heels at Chapel Hill.

Berberich rushed for 3 touchdowns and 121 yards on 26 carries, while Wingback Gabe Whalen added another 33 yards and FB Warren Guthrie had 18 yards on three carries as USC just ground the ball into the NC defense. OC Chester Hoffman and company ldominated the line of scrimmage, Hoffman manhandling his opponent for 6 key run blocks while OG Ernie Cheatham and OT Dana Aska had four each.

5th year senior QB Mark Rayburn had an adequate performance in the first start of his career, going 13 for 20 for 180 yards while throing one touchdown and one INT.

The Trojan defense, led by ILB Tyrell Vaughn who made 8 tackles and assisted on 2 others and DE Tracy Aalders who got to the NC QB twice, stifled the Tar Heel offense and held North Carolina to 154 yards total offense on the day.

It was a very good road win to start the year and I'm pleased with the running game. Rayburn was mediocre - rather like a bowl of oatmeal or unflavored grits in the morning - good enough to get you through the day, but nothing to write home about.

USC 35 -- North Carolina 0
PAC-10 (1-0) -- OVERALL (1-0)


WEEK 3
@ Ball State (0-1) *TV5*
(USC -1) USC BCS RANK: #16

Oddsmakers don't like us much this season, underdogs last week, only favored by a point this week. Still, this year's squad is an unknown quantity, so i can see their point.

Spent the week adding even a few more kids to our primary list - a little unusual as I usually have my primary list done by now, but we've been forced to scramble at the end of the year to land our last one or two recruits so I thought I would expand our original pool a bit this year.

FB Warren Guthrie ran for one score and had another receiving in leading the Trojans to a narrow 26-22 win over Ball State.

Southern Cal rushed for two touchdowns on the day, the other by Wingback Gabe Whalen, and QB Mark Rayburn was on target all day with his passes - though the targets weren't always wearing the USC colors. Rayburn went 15/18 for 189 yards while throwing one touchdown, but also got picked off again in the win.

The Ball State D held Tailback Ross Berberich in check for the most part, making him earn every one of his 125 uards on 32 carries (3.9 ypc).

FB Warren Guthrie had 5 receptions for 69 yards on the day.

A solid, if unspectacular win on the road.

USC 26 -- Ball State 22
PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (2-0)


WEEK 4
Week off.
USC BCS RANK: #25

An off week and some time to contemplate what to do about the QB situation. Rayburn hasn't really developed as he should have - much of that comes from riding the pine behind Malcolm Moreno for most of his collegiate career, but a lot of the blame has to go to Offensive Coordinator Randy Edwards, who hasn't been developing QB to their potential - even Moreno didn't develop anywhere close to his potential.

But clearly, Rayburn is the best we have at this point in time. The thing is, if we give redshirt sophomore Brock Dole playing time now - lots of playing time - down the road he's likely to develop into a far better QB than Rayburn is now.

But I don't have the luxury of being at a program where we can say "the heck with it" and go 3-8 and start Dole all year. Dole is really raw and Rayburn is good, but not by any means as good as he should have become. There's a big qualitative difference in their development right now - Rayburn can at least keep us in games, I'm not certain Dole can.

Rayburn is going to throw a ton of INT's unless I completely check down the passing attack - which is an issue because his best asset is his arm strength. Bleh - I guess we'll see how the early season progresses and go from there.

PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (2-0)


WEEK 5 BCS RANKINGS

2016 Season (2nd Qtr)
 

2016 SEASON (2nd Qtr.)


WEEK 5
vs. Stanford (2-1) (PAC-10) *TV5*
(USC -11) USC BCS RANK: #23

Quarterly grades came out this week. Five players had D+'s, no lower grades. I allocated 3 coaching blocs to each of them - I started the year with 63 blocs, keeping a lot in reserve for the rest of the year. Hopefully that will get them into the C- range or C range at best, at worst keep them from failing.

No recruiting committments or rejections yet, so I keep hitting the trail re-contacting the players we want and letting them know what we have to offer.

We took the apron strings off Mark Rayburn a bit this week and allowed him to air it out some, and he had a fine, fine day, leading Southern Cal to a 49-17 rout over the Stanford Cardinal.

Rayburn went 14/20 for 229 yards this week while throwing four touchdown passes and only being picked once. His favorite target on the day was redshirt sophomore wideout Ron Morrison, who caught 6 passes for 140 yards - three of them for touchdowns.

Tailback Ross Berberich also had a fine day running the ball, gaining 139 yards on 26 carries (5.3 ypc) while running for two touchdowns.

The defense was once again led by senior ILB Tyrell Vaughn, who made 9 tackles and also had a sack, as well as DE Tracy aalders, who had two sacks.

A fine way to open the PAC-10 season for us, especially on the road.

USC 49 -- Stanford 17
PAC-10 (1-0) -- OVERALL (3-0)


WEEK 6
@ #25 Washington State (3-0) (PAC-10) *TV3*
(USC -8) USC BCS RANK: #6

This week will be a tough road test against a very solid Washington State Cougar team. We've popped up to #6 in the BCS after last week's win. We're completely healthy at this point, knock on wood.

We land one recruit this week, losing three others to schools back east - fine with me so long as UCLA doesn't get them.

Gino Lyubashevsky, a center from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California has signed a letter of intent to play for us next season. Gino is a run blocking OC who is only rated a 68++, but it's the ++ and the excellent (98) athletic prep work that got me, as well as his solid grades. A 68 OC wouldn't normally excite me - not that we'd turn him away or anything, that's a solid scouting grade, but when I saw him play he looked much better (hence the "++" suffix), and the high athletic preperation indicates he might be a solid contributor as an underclassman.

5th year senior wideout Richie Warrick led the USC attack both through the air and on the ground as Southern Cal captured another big win on the road, 31-0, against the Washington State Cougars.

Warrick ran for a 28 yard touchdown on a reverse and hauled in 5 catches for 65 yards in leading the Trojans to victory. QB Mark Rayburn had another solid day, going 18/24 for 283 yards while throwing one touchdown, but was mistake free all day. He hit Tailback Ross Berberich for his lone touchdown pass, and Berberich added two more on the ground, though only rushing for 78 yards on the day.

Defensively this is getting to be the Tyrell and Tracy show, as ILB tyrell Vaughn led the way with another 10 tackles on the day and Tracy Aalders added two more tackles to his team leading total. The defense also picked off three Cougar passes and completely dominated Washington State on the road.

A very good win and solid play all around for us this week.

USC 31 -- Washington State 0
PAC-10 (2-0) -- OVERALL (4-0)


WEEK 7
vs. Arizona (0-4) (PAC-10)
(USC -34) USC BCS RANK: #5

We seem to be the only team Arizona can beat in recent years - hopefully like last year, we'll avoid playing down to their level. No injuries to report this week.

We lost a wideout I really would have liked to have to Florida this week, but we did get three more players to sign letters of intent with us. They are: Brian Barton, an 89-- offensive guard from Bloomfield High School in Bloomfield, New Mexico; Wally Knight, a defensive end from Cherokee High School in Marlton, New Jersey; and Moe Oben, an inside linebacker from Derby High School in Derby, Connecticut.

Oben is an 86+ ILB with top notch grades coming from an excellent (93) athletic program. It's quite possible he could make a solid contribution as an underclassman. Knight is a 91+ DE with good academics coming from one of the best prep athletic programs in the country (100). Again, exactly the type of player we were trying to land this year.

Made some new contacts with some OLB and DB recruits. Hoping to nbring in a few with high level of athletic preperation and good grades. I find myself not even looking at poor students these days. I just can't get them properly developed and keep their academics up.

This game was over at the half as Southern Cal built a 31-0 lead over the Wildcats on the strength of Tailback Ross Berberich's running en route to a 45-10 pasting of Arizona in front of a packed house at the Rose Bowl.

Berberich ran for four touchdowns and 164 yards on 20 carries (8.3 ypc) and Wingback Gabe Whalen also pounded out 61 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries as Arizona was totally unable to stop our running game.

Three QB's saw action for Southern Cal with Mark rayburn giving way early as USC built up a huge lead. Redshirt sophomore Brock Dole, expected to start next year, had a fine day in relief going 9/11 for 202 yards. Wideout Richie Warrick had 5 catches for 156 yards on the day, breaking open the Wildcat secondary.

DE Tracy Aalders had another 1.5 sacks and the Trojan defense limited the Wildcats to 17 yards rushing and 190 yards total offense on the day. Another game in which we dominated all facets of play.

Good, solid win in a game we should win. I'll take it.

USC 45 -- Arizona 10
PAC-10 (3-0) -- OVERALL (5-0)


WEEK 8
@ Washington (4-2) (PAC-10) *TV4*
(USC -18) USC BCS RANK: #7

We continue to play very good football and be ranked high. The team has come together pretty well and Ross Berberich has done a very solid job at Tailback in his senior year. Hopefully we can keep this brand of football up and have a very solid season. Another difficult road game this week however, so we've got to be at our best.

We landed another kid from the pacific northwest this week as Eddie Casillas, a quarterback from Naches Valley High School in Naches, Washington signed a letter of intent to play for USC next year. Casillas is a 68+ QB and was ranked the 5th best QB in his recruiting class. He is scouted an an above average running QB - though I have found those scouting reports to be unreliable, but he did run for over 500 yards in his senior year in high school. He has excellent academics and comes from s chool with excellent athletic prep (98) and academic prep(99). He'll likely redshirt then be a solid #2 QB for most of his collegiate career, with a shot at starting his 5th year.

In what can only be hailed as the most inexplicable of playcalling, we ran the ball only 16 times this week en route to getting whitewashed by the Huskies 19-0.

The defense played well, toughening up every time Washington got into the red zone and allowed only one touchdown. ILB Tyrell Vaughn had 10 tackles and assisted on 5 others, adding a QB sack. DE Tracy Aalders added another sack and made 8 tackles.

But our offense was inexplicably weird this week. We only ran the ball 16 times, QB Mark Rayburn went 3/12 and got picked off once and we didn't make a single visit to the Huskies redzone.

Our offense was just totally overwhelmed as you can see from our drive chart. We were just really bad.



Washington 19 -- USC 0
PAC-10 (3-1) -- OVERALL (5-1)


WEEK 9 BCS RANKINGS

2016 Season (2nd Qtr.)
 

2016 SEASON (2nd Qtr.)


WEEK 9
Week off.
USC BCS RANK: #17

Quarterly grades came out this week. Five players had D+'s, nothing lower. Allocated three coaching blocs to each player, hopefully that will get them up to C-'s or at minimum keep them where they are. Still hav 31 blocs left for the final twp sets of grades.

Not able to land any of the WR recruits I wanted this year, but Dan Cipa, a cornerback from Windsor High School in Windsor, Connecticut did sign a letter of intent to play for us next season. Cipa is an unspectacula 71-- who comes to USC from a high school with very good academic and athletic programs, and his academics are stellar. A good signing, nothing to write home about though.

Spent a bunch of time smashing my keyboard against the desk, apparently despite me always typing 100% perfectly the keyboard insists on misspelling words.

Damn keyboard.

In any case, spent some time pursuing more new recruits, particularly at the OLB and DB positions as I'd like to add some freshmen at those positions.

PAC-10 (3-1) -- OVERALL (5-1)


WEEK 10
vs. Oregon (3-5) (PAC-10)
(USC -23) USC BCS RANK: #12

Back up to #12 in the BCS rankings, surprises me we're still that high. But we've played mostly well this season, especially so given the fact it's really a rebuilding year here.

Landed four recruits this week. Billy Vance, a 64+ running back from Baker County High School in Glen Saint Mary, Florida, Devin Benzer, a fullback from Yankton High School in Yankton, South Dakota, Dana Long, a center from Murray High School in Murray, Utah and Xavier Eason, a 100- punter from Stanwood High School in Stanwood, Washington all signed letters of intent to play for the Trojans next year.

Benzer is a 76++ Fullback that comes from an outstanding high school athletic program. We suspect he may be able to contribute immediately. His grades are outstanding and his prep school atcademic prep is very good, though not outstanding.

Long is a 77+ OC that also comes from a high school with a tremendous athletic program. Dana's grades are avera and his high school's academic programs were only slightly above average, so we may need to help him along some - but by no means are his academics bad.

Tailback Ross Berberich had a simply outstanding day rushing for 182 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries (9.1 ypc) in leading the Southern Cal Trojans to a 49-10 rout over Oregon in front of a pleased sellout crowd of 96,600 at the Rose Bowl.

5th year senior wideout Richie Warrick also had a fine day, making 7 catches for 134 yards and a touchdown reception from QB Mark Rayburn. Rayburn was quietly efficient on the day, going 12/17 for 226 yards with two TD strikes.

WR Ron Morrison caught Rayburn's second touchdown pass and also returned a punt 51 yards for another score.

Defensively OLB Riddick taylor led the way making 7 tackles and assisting on 3 others and 5th year senior NT Bert Duncan got to the QB for a sack and a half on the day.

A good, solid win and a good way to bounce back from the whitewashing at Washington.

USC 49 -- Oregon 10
PAC-10 (4-1) -- OVERALL (6-1)


WEEK 11
@ #21 California (6-2) (PAC-10) *TV4*
(USC -3) USC BCS RANKING: #12

I'm actually a little bit surprised to see us favored playing on the road against a good Cal team, especially after we got manhandled by Washington. Hopefully yhe oddsmakers are right.

We landed two recruits this week; Skipjack - mighty cool name - Walker, a 72++ running back from South High School in Parkersburg, West Virginia and Oliver Hartl, a 72+ wide receiver from Homestead High School in Homestead, Florida signed letters with USC this week.

Neither school did a whole heckuva lot on offense and both squads relied on their field goal kickers, but Cal eeked out a 20-16 win over us up in Berkeley.

They pretty much shut down our running game, which is really the key to defeating us. Mark Rayburn was ok passing the ball, but he just never developed into the player he was supposed to be coming out of high school and really can't carry a team when it gets no running game. Rayburn went 13/23 for 203 yards, tossing 1 TF while being picked off once.

Wideout Richie Warrick had a fine day however, making 5 catches for 103 yards and a score, while Wingback Gabe Whalen added 6 receptions on the day.

On defense, Johnny "The Storm" El Nino sacked the Golden Bear quarterback twice while picking off one of his passes. A big day for El Nino.

California 20 -- USC 16
PAC-10 (4-2) -- OVERALL (6-2)


WEEK 12
vs. Arizona State (4-4) (PAC-10) *TV4*
(USC -20) USC BCS RANK: #17

Still hanging around in the Top 25 with three games in the year - the last two on the road against Notre Dame and UCLA. Should be an interesting challenge to see if we can remain in the Top 25 with that rough end of the season.

We landed one recruit this week, Jon Brennan, a safety from Ravenna High School in Ravenna, Michigan. Brennan is an 81-- Safety from a poor prep athletic program but has excellent academics and comes from a high school with a great academic program. He'll be a project, but won't require much, if any, help from the staff maintaining his grades. So he stands a good chance of being a solid contributor as an upper classman.

We have three slots in our recruiting class left this year, but only one scholarship, as again I tend to "over-red-shirt". So we'll be inviting some good academic players with decent skill sets to walk-on for next season.

The defense was the story in this one as senior ILB Tyrell Vaughn made 12 tackles while the D held the Sun Devils to 37 yards rushing on 27 carries en route to a very solid 34-10 win at a filled to capacity Rose Bowl.

The Trojans manhandled the ASU QB all day, sacking him four times and causing three interceptions on the day.

Tailback Ross Berberich led the offense with another solid effort, rushing for 154 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries (5.9 ypc) while QB Mark Rayburn struggled mightily, going 10/18 for 79 yards and getting picked off twice.

Well, Rayburn has been mediocre at best this season. To date, through nine games he is 107/165 (65.1%) with 11 TD's and 8 INT's while being sacked 14 times. We're out of PAC-10 contention as UCLA is 7-0 at this point. I'm seriously considering starting redshirt sophomore Brock Dole in our final two games just to get him the reps. I know Rayburn gives us the best chance to win today, but his mediocre play hasn't helped a lot - though it hasn't really hurt aside from the one game where we really needed a QB who could be a playmaker. But going with dole might be what's best for the next three years.

USC 34 -- Arizona State 10
PAC-10 (5-2) -- OVERALL (7-2)


WEEK 13 BCS RANKINGS

2016 Season (3rd Qtr.)
 

2016 SEASON (3rd Qtr.)


WEEK 13
@ #9 Notre Dame (8-1) *TV4*
(ND -5) USC BCS RANK: #16

A very tough road game for us this week against our annual foe, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. It'll be a big win for us if we can pull it off. Decided to go with Mark Rayburn again at QB, can't really justify starting Brock Dole when I know Rayburn gives us a lot more of a chance to win.

Quarterly grades came out - 6 D+'s and one D. Allocated three coaching blocs to the D and 2 each to the D+'s. That leaves me with 16 blocs remaining for before finals. I think we'll keep them all eligible.

No recruiting news to report this week as we wait to see if OT Bernie Kirk from North Carolina accepts the offer of our last scholarship this year.

DE Tracy Aalders and LT Hunter Blount are out for this week's game. OLB Riddick taylor is listed as questionable and WR Richie Warrick is probable.

Sophomore RG Frank Elliot and senior OC Chester Hoffman spent the day dominating the line of scrimmage, throwing 7 and 5 key run blocks respectively, as Tailback Ross Berberich ran for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns on 32 carries (7.0 ypc) en route to a wild 49-49 USC victory in overtime.

5th year senior Mark Rayburn rewarded the coaching staff for their confidence in starting him again by having a very solid, mistake free day, going 19/23 for 255 yards while throwing two touchdown strikes, one to wideout Richie Warrick (6 catches for 103 yards) and the other to WR Cole McConnell. FB Warren Guthrie added 7 receptions for 85 yards in the very efficient Southern Cal passing attack.

Senior ILB Tyrell Vaughn led the Trojan defense with 10 tackles while USC also picked off three Irish passes on the day.

Really a terrific win for us.

USC 49 -- Notre Dame 46 (OT)
PAC-10 (5-2) -- OVERALL (8-2)


WEEK 14
@ #3 UCLA (10-0) (PAC-10) *TV3*
(USC -3) USC BCS RANK: #12

Do the oddsmakers know something we don't? UCLA is undefeated and if they beat us stand a good chance of playing in the National Championship Game, yet we're at UCLA and favored by three.

Just saying.

We lost Bernie Kirk to Virginia - damn they're a mighty fine recruiting school, offerred our last scholarship to a middling OT. Invited an OLB to walk-on.

Aalders and Blount will miss this game as well. Backup NT Tracy Dragon is listed as doubfutl. DE R.J. Lackey is questionable and Riddick Taylor and Richie Warrick are probable.

Our arch-rivals contained Tailback Ross Berberich very well, but QB Mark Rayburn took over in leading Southern Cal to a 30-10 win at UCLA.

Rayburn had arguably the finest game of his collegiate career, going 21/37 for 320 yards and two touchdowns in a game when the Trojans needed him to carry the load.

Rayburn kept going to his wideouts all day, and the Bruins simply couldn't keep up with them, as Richie Warrick grabbed 8 passes for 135 yards and Ron Morrison made 7 more receptions for 115 yards and a TD. Wingback Gabe Whalen also had 4 catches for 52 yards and a touchdown to go along with a very solid day on the ground where he rushed for 62 yards and another score on 10 carries (6.2 ypc).

Defensively sophomore Safety Joel Arvold had two interceptions as the Trojan D picked off the Bruin QB three times on the day.

A very solid win on the road against our arch-rival, making two years in a row we've beaten them - making the alumni particularly happy.

And we probably just killed their national title hopes. Not too shabby for a rebuilding year.

USC 30 -- UCLA 10
PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (9-2)


WEEK 15
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #8

Well, that's a mighty fine surprise. With our win over UCLA, we passed them in the BCS rankings and jumped up to #8. If we can maintain that ranking through this week - in which a few conferences have championship games - we'll be going to a BCS Bowl game for the second year in a row. What a major success that would have to be considered for this year.

For now, we sit and wait and watch.

Kurt Berry, a 61- offensive tackle from Lakewood High School in Sumter, South Carolina signed a letter of intent with us to play for Southern Cal next year. He may be able to contribute as an upperclassman, but likely is a depth player.

PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (9-2)


WEEK 16
MINOR BOWL TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANKING: #8

We get jobbed as we are ranked #8 in the BCS rankings, but UNLV, ranked #19 goes to the Sugar Bowl instead of us.

I'm thoroughly perplexed how the decision was made. We're # 8 in the BCS, an average of #5.50 in all the computer polls, and #14 in both the Coach and Fan polls.

Meanwhile UNLV is #19 in the BCS, an average of #15.5 in the computer rankings, and #18 and #22 in the Coach and Fan polls respectively. I just don't get it - unless each conference can only have one team in a BCS Bowl - that being UCLA who snuck back ahead of us.

Anyway, it means a trip to the Hoosier Bowl against (11-1) Nebraska, ranked #9th in the BCS - a school that recently offerred me their job. Not a bad bowl bid to get, but still Top 8 is Top 8.

In recruiting news, Joe Merchberger, a fullback from Herndon High School in Herndon, Virginia and Wayne Biakabutuka, an outside linebacker from South San Antonio High School in San Antonio have agreed to come out for the Trojans next season as walk-ons, filling our recruiting class for the year.

PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (9-2)


WEEK 17 BCS RANKINGS

2016 Season (Final)
 

2016 SEASON (FINAL)


WEEK 17
MAJOR BOWL TIER
Week off.
USC BCS RANK: #9

4th quarter grades came out, 1 D- and three D's. Allocated 7 coaching blocs to the D- and three each to the D's. Hopefully the D+'s can handle it on their own till finals.

No recruiting news as our recruiting class is filled for this year.

PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (9-2)


WEEK 18
FOUR STAR TIER
HOOSIER BOWL: vs. #7 Nebraska (11-1)
(USC -4) USC BCS RANK: #9

A little jumping around in the BCS rankings has put us down at #9 and Nebraska at #7 this week. They look like a very good team and this should be a tough challenge for us.

Out: OT Hunter Blount
Doubtful: DE Tracy Aalders
Probable: DE R.J. Lackey, DE William Sutton and NT Tracy Dragon.

I noticed a decrease in injuries this year as I severely reduced the amount of specials teams time starters play - as it was only one season, could just be a coincidence or it could be something of merit to note. We'll try it again next season and see what happens.

A scoreless first quarter belied the end result, as Southern Cal poured it on the rest of the game for a 34-6 rout of Nebraska in the 2016 Hoosier Bowl.

Leading the Trojan attack was 5th year senior QB Mark Rayburn who just systematically picked apart the Cornhusker defense going 16/21 for 297 yards and one touchdown strike to wideout Ron Morrison. Morrison had a huge day against the Huskers, hauling in 4 passes for 137 yards, including the 87 yard scoring strike from Rayburn.

Wingback Gabe Whalen was as versatile as ever, catching 4 passes for 44 yards and breaking off a 47 yard run against an overwhelmed Nebraska defense. Tailback Ross Berberich broke the 100 yard barrier and ran for two touchdowns on the day.

The triumphant USC defense was led by redshirt junior ILB Claude Berg who made 8 tackles and 5th year senior NT Bert Duncan, who sacked the Cornhusker QB twice on the day.

A totally dominant victory to end a very good year.

Hoosier Bowl
USC 34 -- Nebraska 6
PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (10-2)


WEEK 19
NEW YEAR'S TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #5

PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (10-2)


WEEK 20
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #5

The Florida Gators win their unprecedented third consecutive National Championship by beating Iowa 45-21 in the BCS Championship Game.

Michigan QB Johnny Lake won the Heisman, throwing an incredible 50 touchdown passes this year.

We end the season ranked #5 in the nation. A very good year which far exceeded my expectations.

PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (10-2)



2016 FINAL BCS RANKINGS

2016 Season Summary & Review
 

2016 SEASON SUMMARY & REVIEW


SEASON REVIEW

Well, I really thought this would be a very rough season for us. I felt this season would pretty much be a rebuilding year after our PAC-10 championship run in 2015. Given the fact we played seven road games - two of them at UCLA and Notre Dame - as opposed to four home games, I wasn't expecting too much success from this group.

I really wasn't expecting us to play as well down the stretch as we did, especially after our losses at Washinton and at Cal. I really didn't expect to on on a run that saw us end the year winning at Notre Dame, at UCLA and then win the Hoosier Bowl against Benraska. The team really gelled and came together and I'm real happy about how well the season turned out.

Our defense really had a wonderful season. We posted two shutouts, held teams to ten points or less in seven games - including at UCLA and in the Hoosier Bowl against Nebraska - and only allowed 14.1 points per game. Teams once again found they simply could not run the ball against us, rushing for only 812 yards and 2.18 ypc. Our pass defense was considerably weaker this year than last, allowing a 48.7% completion percentage for opposing quarterbacks. We did however intercept 22 opponent passes - contributing to our very good +13 turnover margin for the season.

ILB Tyrell Vaughn had a terrific season, good enough to be named PAC-10 Defensive Player of the Year. He seemed to be everywhere the ball was this year. Tracy Aalders had a fine year rushing the passer and sophomore Safety Joel Arvold picked off five passes and seems to be growing into that position. While I felt our secondary was relatively weaker than it has been in years, I think as a whole our defense was quite strong and put us in position to win a lot of football games - when your opponent scores 10 or fewer points, you better win games.

On the offensive side of things, Tailback Ross Berberich played extremely well after being patient for four years and waiting his turn, when he finally got the opportunity he ran with it - literally. Berberich gave us our strongest running game in years rushing for over 1500 yards, 20 touchdowns and averaging 4.79 yards per carry. Very impressive numbers.

QB Mark Rayburn gave us little hope for a big season through the first half of the campaign. He was mediocre at best, couldn't generate much offense and turned the ball over as often as he hit our guys for scores. But about the midway point of the year he seemed to grow into the position and he was lights out down the stretch, leading, and sometimes carrying us when we needed it, culminating in his fantastic Hoosier Bowl performance.

None of Mark's, or the offense's success however, would have been possible without seniors WR Richie Warrick, FB Warren Guthrie and OC Chester Hoffman. All three played crucial roles and were very clutch down the stretch, Warrick as Rayburn's primary target, Hoffman as a dominating offensive lineman opening holes and protecting the passer, and Guthrie both for his blocking and as a check down receiver for Rayburn. Without them, we wouldn't have had the success we did this year.

I can't be anything but pleased with the results this season. It's true we didn't go to a BCS Bowl, but we did crack the Top 8 to qualify for one, we went to a Four Star Tier bowl game, we went 10-2 on the year, and we beat both Notre Dame and UCLA, on the road to boot. Given the expectations at the start of the year, this season goes down as an unqualified success.


2016 AWARDS




2016 USC TEAM SUMMARY

2017 Preseason (Winter)
 

2017 PRESEASON (Winter)

USC took another jump up in prestige, going from Excellent (85) to Excellent (88), now tied for the seventh most prestigious program in the nation (tied with the University of Virginia). The six schools more prestigious than Southern Cal at this point are (all "Excellent"); University of Florida (100) - three consecutive national championships will do that for ya - Texas A&M (96) - they won two in a row awhile back - Iowa (95), Michigan (91), UCLA (89) and, heh, finally, Keene State at (88).

For those interested, here is a list of the schools that have won the National Championship to date.




USC's academic rating remains at Very Good (70), 11th best in the nation. The schools with better academic reputations than USC are listed below.


I'm not sure if I can get Southern Cal's reputation over 70, as we don't offer three majors. Once again, the GPA of the players in the football program was best in the nation at 3.22. So we're doing all we can to make it a highly rated football program and academic school.


FB Jackie Woolley and TE Jumbo Specter have left the program because of a lack of playing time. Woolley I can understand, but Specter is just dumb as nails - we don't use tight ends, of course he's not going to play. Oy.

ILB Renaldo Elder has been suspended by the NCAA for, and I quote, "recording a truly awful rap album about the pain and humiliation of athletes foot."

When they're right, they're right.

I received a number of job offers over the Christmas holidays. The most pretigious school was SMU (Very Good-79), and the one with the most name cache was Florida State. I didn't give serious consideration to any of them and will return to Southern Cal for my tenth season.

TCY Today has ranked our recruiting class from last season 6th in the nation. Here's a look at the incoming freshman for 2017.




No PAC-10 teams make coaching changes this off-season.

Our entire staff aside from Offensive Coordinator Randy Edwards will be returning for 2017. I have been displeased for some time the way Edwards has failed to develop players - most notably quarterbacks, and his playcalling was pretty good, not excepttional. Replacing Edwards will be Zach Fuchs. Fuchs comes to USC from the Florida State Seminoles where he was Offensive Coordinator. Fuchs is a brilliant play caller (rated Excellent) and excells at developing players, particularly quarterbacks. We'll continue to run the flexbone under Zach.

2017 Preseason (Spring)
 

2017 PRESEASON (Spring)


Spring, 2017

Time to set up our schedule for 2017.

All home and home contracts have expired. We have our annual game against Notre Dame, this year once again at South Bend. And every season there is one PAC-10 team we don't play. This season that school is Oregon.

So that leaves us two free games to schedule. As one of my readers suggested a couple of seasons back, I'm going to offer my old school, Keene State - which has become a national power - a home and home series.

Stage 1: Keene State rejected my offer. Perhaps if I offer them the game at Keene this year they will accept. Iowa State is offering me a home game for Week 2. I'm going to accept that and then offer Keene the home and home again during stage 3.

State 2: Changed the terms slightly on Iowa State, moving the game to Week 1. Now to see if Keene State will accept the home and home starting on their turf.

Stage 3: Keene State rejected us again. They simply won't play with the big boys. Chickens.

Stage 4: Akron has offerred me a home game for Week 2. Might as well accept it.

Stage 5: I changed the game to week 3 and Akron accepted. That fills our schedule.

Here's a look at our 2017 schedule.

2017 Preseason (Summer)
 

2017 PRESEASON


Summer, 2017

Spent much of the summer getting the workout and practice schedules together, as well as the bulk of my time spent on student-athlete academics. We're obviously doing something right as we have the highest GPA of any Division 1 football program in America.

Once we got the kids into summer two-a-days in camp, two things became evident in regards to how far we go this season. First, how new starting QB, redshirt junior Brock Dole, and first year starting Tailback redshirt sophomore J.B. Wilson can avoid the turnover bug. Second, on how well the defensive secondary plays. Our secondary has been a big question mark for me ever since Lnce Coe took over as Lead Scout. He's not a real good of defensive backs, so it's kind of an educated blind duck hunt, so to speak. In any case, if they can cause more turnovers than they give up big plays, that'll be a big success and it'll help our cause.

Considering we lost a lot of seniors to graduation, including QB Mark Rayburn and Tailback Ross Berberich, our offense could even be better this season. We've got an explosive backfield with redshirt sophomore J.B. Wilson, just a phenominal talent, at Tailback. He'll be accompanied by Wingback Gabe Whalen, who has really developed nicely entering his final season for us. At Fullback will be junior Manny Book - but don't look for Manny to get many carries, he's there to block and to catch the ball. Backing them up is redshirt junior Mercury Schultz, who could start at Halfback for a number of Top 25 programs.

How explosive the passing game depends a lot on the arm of QB Brock Dole. Dole has some talented receivers to throw to, but he needs to avoid turning the ball over as he grows into the position. Our number one wideout will be redshirt junior Ron Morrison, who we expect to have a big season. He'll be paired with redshirt sophomore Ed Kidman, who has a lot of potential. Our third receiver will once again be the reliable Cole McConnel, a 5th year senior. Dole will also likely be throwing the way of Whalen, Wilson and Book a lot as well.

Blocking for what could be our most explosive backfield in years will be a solid run blocking offensive line. First year starting OC Mitchell Blackburn, a redshirt senior, anchors the line and is flanked by guards senior Ernie Cheatham and junior Frank Elliot. You can expect to see redshirt sophomore Louis Ballard a bit at OG as well this year. At the tackles will be redshirt senior Hunter Blount and junior Billy Joe Joyner. This unit will continue to have time to grow together, as only Cheatham graduates this season. We'll miss alumnus OC Chester Hoffman who was just a dominating presence at OC, but we're hopeful Mitch Blackburn can step in and fill some of that void.

On defense we look to be very strong against the run again this year. Our line is anchored by redshirt sophomore Nose Tackle Andy Francis, who won the job in summer camp as a big run stopper. He'll be flanked at DRE by redshirt senior Freddie Stender, who gets an opportunity to show off his pass rushing skills this year. At DLE, redshirt junior William Sutton will be starting, but he'll be subbed out on passing downs for sophomore R.J. Lackey.

Our linebacking corps is solid, if not spectacular, as we return all four starters from last season. Up the middle will be ILB's redshirt senior Chad Berg and true senior Brett Vinnick. Freshman Moe Oben is the first backup there, so he may see a good share of action as well. On the outside at WLB is Johnny "The Storm" El Nino, a redshirt senior. Over on the strong side will be 5th year senior Riddick taylor, who has had a very solid career here at Southern Cal.

In the secondary the only returning starter is junior Joel Arvold at safety. Joining Joel at safety is senior Shaun Nordskov. Our dime back will be redshirt junior Dwight Korinek.

On the corners will be first year starters redshirt senior Sam Alexander and redshirt junior Buddy Reed, who will man the shutdown corner position. Our nickel back will be redshirt sophomore Sam Alexander.

As you can see, we have a very inexperienced secondary, and in essence, a rookie quarterback. It'll be up to these two areas of the team to avoid mistakes and not beat ourselves. If our defensive backs and our Quarterback can play relatively mistake free football, we should go a long way this season.

Here's a look at our 2017 roster.

2017 Season (1st Qtr)
 

2017 SEASON (1st Qtr.)



WEEK 1
vs. Iowa State (0-0)
(USC -14) USC BCS RANK: #7

We open up with what should be a good tune up for our year. We'll get a chance to see how everyone meshes and works together as we have a lot of first year starters. Really high BCS ranking to start, let's hope it stays that way.

Made our initial recruiting contacts for the season. Looking mainly to bolster our defensive secondary and find a quarterback as heir to Brock Dole.

In what could only be labeled absolute dominance, the capacity crowd at the Rose Bowl saw its Southern Cal locals rout the Iowa State Cyclone 66-7.

First year starting QB Brock Dole got off to an auspicious start for the Trojans, going 20/24 for 344 yards and 5 touchdowns before giving way to backup Pat Oxendine. Wideout Cole McConnell had a big day hauling in those passes, making 6 catches for 120 yards and a touchdown. FB Manny Book lit the scoreboard as well, as he caught two touchdown passes on the day.

The USC backfield ran wild all day as well. Tailback J.B. Wilson carried the ball 20 times for 171 yards (8.5 ypc) and two scores and Wingback Gabe Whalen managed another 71 yards on 17 carries 4.1 ypc).

Defensively, OLB Johnny El Nino and CB Max Fitzgerald each returned an interception for a touchdown on the day and ILB Chad Berg made 9 tackles to complete the all around dominance of the Cyclones by Southern Cal.

Well, a damn fine start to the season - but they just weren't in our class.

USC 66 -- Iowa State 7
PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (1-0)



WEEK 2
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #2

Bad news as we lose wideouts Cole McConnel (up to 6 weeks) and Ron Morrison (up to 13 weeks) due to injury. We're going to remove the redshirt from freshman WR Oliver Hartl and he could see a bunch of action in the coming weeks as we're down to two healthy wideouts - redshirt sophomore Eddie Kidman and 5th year senior Sammy Heekin.

Spent the week making more contacts and expanding our recruiting poor. Really want to land Ike Daugherty, a RB from Nebraska - he'd be a perfect fit for our program though his academics are only average. But he'd make one heckuva tailback in this system.

PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (1-0)


WEEK 3
vs. Akron (0-1)
(USC -7) USC BCS RANK: #17

Ahh the fickle fates of early BCS rankings as we bounce from #2 to #17. Hopefully once the season gets rolling along we'll be moving up, not down.

Injury Report: (Out) - WR's Cole McConnell and Ron Morrison, (Probable) CB Max Fitzgerald.

Akron just came in and shut us down. Brock Dole had a rookie-like day going 13/33 and getting picked twice. We obviously didn't get the ball into the hands of J.B. Wilson enough, as Wilson ran for 83 yards but on only 10 carries.

Safety Joel Arvold made 12 tackles and ILB Chad Berg 11 as DE Freddie Stender recorded two sacks.

The perils of an untried and untested QB.

Akron 21 -- USC 18
PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (1-1)


WEEK 4
Off Week.
USC BCS RANK: --

Yup, definitely deserve to drop from the Top 25 after that one. We'll get back though, I have faith in the boys.

Spent the week heavily contacting recruits on our shortlist (house rule of only 1 phone call and 1 visit to their home per week). We've got a larger list than usual, and already have a number of kids visiting USC so far. Hopefully that's a good sign.

PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (1-1)


WEEK 5 BCS RANKINGS

2017 Season (2nd Qtr.)
 

2017 SEASON (2nd Qtr.)


WEEK 5
vs. Oregon State (1-2) (PAC-10)
(OSU -2) USC BCS RANK: --

Going to do some rearranging of the gameplan a bit this week as we haven't been getting JB enough carries and perhaps we've been expecting too much out of Dole this early. We'll see.

3rd string QB Walter Bjorke was found possessing a small amount of marijuana in his car. The NCAA took no action, but he has been suspended by the program for the year.

Quarterly grades came out this week. A new walk-on failing a class but only two D+'s from everyone else, everyone else lowest grade was a C- or higher. Fewer coaching blocs to assign this year as Randy Edwards was quite good at that stuff, but live and learn. Gave 5 to the failing student and 3 each to the students with D+'s. That leaves me with 40 for the rest of the season.

Made some more recruiting trips and calls, offerred one or two more scholarships. If things break right we'll have a well rounded recruiting class.

We got the running game going today and ran all over the Beavers, 45-16. Tailback J.B. Wilson led the way with 167 yards and 2 TD's on 20 carries (8.3 ypc) and Wingback Gabe Whalen added another 59 yards and a touchdown to lead USC to victory.

Dole really couldn't get it going, my guess is he just doesn't have the experienced receivers to rhwo too, and that he's still young and inexperienced - though no mistakes today.

Still, a good, solid win to open the PAC-10 schedule.

USC 45 -- Oregon State 16
PAC-10 (1-0) -- OVERALL (2-1)


WEEK 6
@ Arizona State (1-3) (PAC-10) *TV5*
(USC -11) USC BCS RANK: --

Still not back into the BCS Top 25, but heavily favored at ASU. Some more fine tuning of the game plan for Brock until he develops - think we all got carried away with his lights out performance against Iowa State.

Great news on the recruiting front, we landed the back we were looking for. Ike Daugherty, a running back from South High School in Omaha, Nebraska signed a letter of intent o play for Southern Cal next year. Daughtery is an 87++ RB that comes from one of the best high school athletic programs in the nation (100). While it's too early to tell for sure, I think he may have the ability to be one of the best backs in the nation in our program.

Also signing with us this week were Austin Lew, an 89++ defensive end from Spring-Ford High School in Royersford, Pennsylvania and Monty Garcia, an 88+ inside linebacker from Barstow High School in Barstow, California. A terrific week of signings.

Offensive Coordinator Zach Fuchs continues to make every effort to get the ball into JB's hands more, and JB keeps rewarding us, rushing for 173 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries (6.4 ypc) for a 23-20 USC victory.

ILB Chad Berg made 8 tackles and DE Freddie Stender had two more sacks as the defense kept the Sun Devils in check most of the day.

But it was a close one.

USC 23 -- Arizona State 20
PAC-10 (2-0) -- OVERALL (3-1)


WEEK 7
@ California (3-2) (PAC-10) *TV4*
(USC -1) USC BCS RANK: #22

Popped back into the BCS rankings this week, but yet another tough game at the Golden Bears. Hopefully our play will continue to improve, particularly that of QB Brock Dole. I don't really have an alternative to go to yet if he can't cut it with Jason Krieger having left the program.

Three more good signings this week, though not the quarterback we were hoping for. Signing with us were Glen Jacobs, a wide receiver from Wishkah Valley High School in Aberdeen, Washington, Floyd Jeffers, a defensive end from Harriton High School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and Matt Blackston, an outside linebacker from Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California.

Blackston is an 82+ LB that comes to us from an excellent athletic program. Jacobs is an 85- wideout that comes from yet another outstanding athletic program. Finally, Jeffers is a 69++ DE who once again comes from an excellent prep program. All three could become key contributors early in their collegiate careers at Southern Cal.

J.B. Wilson ran for 113 yards and one touchdown while making 4 receptions and scoring another touchdown to lead USC past the Golden Bears at Berkeley, 31-17.

QB Brock Dole was alright but a bit shaky, though getting the job done when needed today, going 15/32 for 224 yards, 2 TD and 1 INT. His favorite target of the day was freshman wideout Oliver Hartl, who started the year as a redshirt. Hartl made 6 catches for 122 yards and a touchdown.

But it was on defense where the Trojans really dominated. Pass rush specialist RJ Lackey sacked the Golden Bear QB 3.5 times while Freddie Stender sacked him three times and OLB Johnny El Nino got him twice more. It's hard to complete a pass when you're sitting on you're ask him, he'll tell ya.

A big, big road win for us, though I haven't a clue about how to get Brock Dole on track. Maybe he just needs the year to grow into the job.

USC 31 -- California 17
PAC-10 (3-0) -- OVERALL (4-1)


WEEK 8
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #20

So far it seems like it's been a good move to give the starting Tailback job to J.B. Wilson. He and Gabe Whalen and Mercury Schultz all battled for it during the summer, but Wilson just had that something extra that makes you think he's going to be a superstar. Hopefully he'll prove me right.

Spent the week rounding up new recruits to invite onto campus. We've still got a bunch of slots to fill in this year's class.

PAC-10 (3-0) -- OVERALL (4-1)


WEEK 9 BCS RANKINGS

2017 Season (3rd Qtr.)
 

2017 SEASON (3rd Qtr.)


WEEK 9
@ #22 Washington State (7-1) (PAC-10) *TV3*
(WSU -4) USC BCS RANK: #17

Big challenge this week as we play at a very good Washington State Cougar team. We'll have Cole McConnell back - he always seems to make a key catch at the right time.

A bunch of recruiting signings this week. Al Myers, a 79+ wide receiver from Sweet Home High School in Amherst, New York; Desmond Connell, an 81- offensive guard from Page High School in Page, Arizona; Walt Whalen, a 92+ inside linebacker from James Madison High School in Brooklyn, New York,; Brad Knight, an 89- cornerback from Fountain Valley High School in Fountain Valley, California; and Lawrence Abdul-Jabbar, an 81++ safety from Berkshire High School in Burton, Ohio all signed letters of intent to play for USC next fall. Shaping up to be a very good recruiting class.

It was a defensive struggle all day and we really couldn't get anything going offensively, but neither could the Cougars as the Trojan defense, led by ILB Chad Berg who made 10 tackles, held Washington State to 10 points while we were able to put up just enough to win, 13-10.

Tailback J.B. Wilson didn't have his best day, but he grinded out the yardage, rushing for 111 yards on 28 carries (3.9 ypc), and that was about it for us offensively.

In one of the weirdest stat lines I have ever seen, well, just take a look.


Those must have been some deep in the backfield screen passes.

Still, a terrific win for us on the road against a very solid PAC-10 opponent.

USC 13 -- Washington State 10
PAC-10 (4-0) -- OVERALL (5-1)


WEEK 10
vs. Washington (4-3) (PAC-10) *TV4*
(USC -10) USC BCS RANK: #15

That last win oputs us and UCLA alone atop the PAC-10 at 4-0, every other team has at least one loss. No looking ahead now though - we never have any idea how Brock Dole is going to play from week to week. OT Hunter Blount and FB Manny Book will be out for this week's game, along with WR Ron Morrison who is still out. if Ronnie could keep himself healthy, he'd be a star, But he hasn't been able to as of yet.

We landed two more recruits this week, bringing our current recruiting class to 13 on the season. Vinny Ratto, a 72++ quarterback from Morse High School in San Diego, California who probably will need some development time, and Jared Esparza, a 92-- safety from Westhampton Beach High School in Westhampton Beach, New York who comes from an excellent atheltic program in high school, both committed to playing for the Trojans in the fall. Esparza could make a contribution as early as next year given the weakness of our secondary.

Defense and Brock Dole were the stories of the day as the Trojan D held the visiting Huskies to 87 yards total offense and Brock Dole had a terrific game passing the ball in leading Southern Cal to a 48-3 rout over Washington.

Dole went 26/40 for 353 yards and 2 touchdowns while being picked off once, hitting WR Cole McConnell and Gabe Whalen with scoring strikes.

Meanwhile, the Trojan defense was as stifling as a D can be, holding the Huskie QB to a 4/36 passing day while picking him off 4 times. Backip NT Trent Milton and DE Freddie Stender each had a sack and a half in the victory.

While we couldn't get a running game going, we dominated every other phase of the game. A terrific win for us.

UCLA kept pace with us, moving to 5-0 in conference.

USC 48 -- Washington 3
PAC-10 (5-0) -- OVERALL (6-1)


WEEK 11
vs. Arizona (3-6) (PAC-10)
(USC -19) USC BCS RANK: #11

Notice some improvement in the Arizona program as compared to the previous few years and they're actually winning a few games this season. Here's to not being one of them.

Missing this week's game will be OT Hunter Blount, ILB Chad Berg, FB Emmanuel Book and DE Colin Cobb, a walk-on. WR Ron Morrison is questionable but we'll try and play him.

Wingback Gabe Whalen had a terrific day, rushing for two touchdowns and 50 yards on 9 carries and Tailback J.B. Wilson ran for another two scores as USC beat an up and coming Arizona Wildcat progra, 34-21.

QB Brock Dole through for a lot of yardage but no scores as he went 17/26 for 353 yards and 1 pick on the day. Brock's favorite target today was wideout Ron Morrison, who had 8 receptions for 157 yards. WR Cole McConnel also caught three passes for 128 yards.

Not a spectacular win, but a win in a game we should have won. We'll take it.

USC 34 -- Arizona 21
PAC-10 (6-0) -- OVERALL (7-1)


WEEK 12
vs. Stanford (5-4) (PAC-10) *TV4*
(USC -10) USC BCS RANK: #12

The Cardinal are playing solid, if not spectacular football this season and we have to watch out and keep our heads in the game. We're still tied with UCLA, both at 6-0 in the PAC-10, and they're are only conference game left after this one. No looking ahead now though, we've got to take care of Stanford.

Out for this game will once again be Blunt, Berg and Book.

Landed one more recruit this week as Nate Dillon, an offensive tackle from Montgomery-Lonsdale High School in Montgomery, Minnesota signed a letter of intent to play for USC next year. Dillon is a 100- OT and was the #1 rated OT coming out of high school this year.

Stanford came into the Rose Bowl and shut down our running game cold, but somehow we were able to stay in the game despite the mediocre play of QB brock Dole, just losing 42-39.

Freshman ILB Moe Oben ran an interception back for a touchdown and Freddie Stender sacked the Cardinal QB twice, but that was about it for Trojan highlights on the day.

UCLA won their game this week, but because we're only a game behind them, if we can beat them we'll still win the PAC-10 title.

If.

Stanford 42 -- USC 39
PAC-10 (6-1) -- OVERALL (7-2)


WEEK 13 BCS RANKINGS

2017 Season (4th Qtr.)
 

2017 SEASON (4th Qtr.)


WEEK 13
@ #9 Notre Dame (8-1) *TV3*
(ND -12) USC BCS RANK: #15

Tough game against the Fighting Irish this week, like it is every year. They're looking to use us as a stepping stone to a BCS Bowl game and we're looking to stop them.

Blount, Berg and Book will once again miss this week's game because of injuries.

Two failing walk-ons, 2 D's and a D+. Gave them all coaching blocs of time - now have ten left for the end of the year. Used up way too many on the walk-ons but those two guys are real popular with the team, so I really can't cut hem without harming team morale.

No recruiting news this week.

Tailback J.B. Wilson and Wingback Gabe Whalen ran all over the Fighting Irish en route to a huge 48-25 Southern Cal win over Notre Dame at South Bend.

Wilson finished the day with two touchdowns and 116 yards rushing on 28 carries (4.1 ypc) and Whalen added 90 yards and another score on 16 carries (5.6 ypc) as the Irish were helpless against the Trojan rushing attack.

Senior walk-on punt returner Levon Vanderlaan - one of the walk-ons recruited when we were short of scholarships a few years ago - took a punt 79 yards to the house for a score. What a culmination of a collegiate career for a kid who paid his own way through school and worked hard for 5 years just to have this moment in the sun.

Bet no one's getting that football away from him.

A very big win for us and it takes us into the game with our arch-rival UCLA on a very high note.

USC 48 -- Notre Dame 25
PAC-10 (6-1) -- OVERALL (8-2)


WEEK 14
@ #5 UCLA (10-0) (PAC-10) *TV1*
(UCLA -11) USC BCS RANK: #12

This game is for all the marbles. Winner wins the PAC-10 championship. If UCLA wins, they might get a shot at the national championship. What better way to kill two birds with one stone by winning the PAC-10 and killing UCLA's national title hopes?

Blount and Berg will miss this week's game again.

Landed one more recruit this week, Dexter Leong, a 71- center from Central High School in Aurora, Colorado has signed a letter of intent to play for the Trojans. That leaves us with one recruiting slot and one scholarship offer pending.

UCLA just proved to be a little too much for us this year, beating us 29-20 on their home turf, in no small part due to picking off Brock dole three times on the day.

Tailback J.B. Wilson had a fine day, rushing for 105 yards and one touchdown on 21 carries (5.0 ypc) and Gabe Whalen had a solid day, rushing for 31 yards on 6 carries while hauling in 7 passes for 72 yards.

Dole, who was picked off three times, hit WR Cole McConnell for his only scoring strike of the day. He played pretty poorly today, he's still got quite a bit to learn.

Now we just sit back and see what bowl game we're going to.

UCLA 29 -- USC 20
PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (8-3)


WEEK 15
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK
Off week.

Tough loss last week, but some outstanding news on the recruiting front this week. After taking all season to make a decision, Mel McWilliams, a defensive tackle from Clovis High School in Clovis, California has signed a letter of intent to play for Southern Cal next year.

Mel is an 89+ run stopping NT who comes from an outstanding high school atheltic program. He was ranked the #3 recruit in the nation by TCY Today and the best NT in his graduating class. He fills our final recruiting slot - and boy does he fill it.

PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (8-3)


WEEK 16
MINOR BOWL TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #20

Well, I think they're going to get sick of us in Indianapolis, as we're headed to the Hoosier Bowl again, this time to play (7-5) Texas. I have confidence we'll acquit ourselves well once again.

PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (8-3)


WEEK 17 BCS RANKINGS

2017 Season (Final)
 

2017 SEASON (FINAL)



WEEK 17
MAJOR BOWL TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #16

Well, I ended up cutting the two walk-ons failing classes. Despite using an absurdly amount of coaching blocs on them to get them tutors and all, they still couldn't get their grades up to passing - so I let them go, they shouldn't be practicing football, they should be in the library studying.

The sad thing is, both were midseason walk-ons. Had they walked on at the start of the year, we could have worked out their academic schedules with enough study time for them to pass their courses.
Allocated the rest of the coaching blocs to kids with D's and just sense I used up too many on the walk-ons and we'll have some academic probations next year.

PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (8-3)


WEEK 18
FOUR STAR TIER
HOOSIER BOWL: vs. Texas (7-5) *TV2*
(USC -16) USC BCS RANK: #17

Only OT Hunter Blount is listed as out for the game.

I think if we play like we're capable of, we can win this one. The big question mark is Brock dole, our quarterback. He's been more off than on this season, and we need him to come up with a big game this week.

Well Brock Dole showed up to play this week, going 20/31 for 273 yards and a touchdown while remaining mistake free in leading Southern Cal to a resounding 31-7 victory in the Hoosier Bowl over the Texas Longhorns.

Offensive Coordinator Zach Faust just kept calling Tailback J.B. Wilson's number all day as the redshirt soph carried the ball a whopping 37 times, running for 2 scores and 136 yards (3.6 ypc). 5th year senior Wingback Gabe Whalen had a fine day in his last as a USC Trojan, rushing for 80 yards on 6 carries (13.3 ypc) in a winning effort.

Wideout Ron Morrison, finally fully healthy, hauled in 5 passes for 116 yards including a touchdown reception.

NT Andrew Francis had two sacks and nickel back Max Fitgerald had two interceptions as the Trojan defense slammed the door on the Longhorns all day.

A very solid win and great way to end the year for the program.

Hoosier Bowl
USC 31 -- Texas 7
PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (9-3)


WEEK 19
NEW YEAR'S TIER
Off Week.
USC BCS RANK: #12

Jumped up to #12 in the rankings. With Morrison and Wilson coming back and a year of experience under Brock Dole's belt, I'm going to be expecting a lot more next season. Still, not a bad year at all.

PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (9-3)


WEEK 20
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Off Week.
USC BCS RANK: #10

Moved on up to #10 this week. UCLA won its bowl game over Michigan, didn't get a shot at the national title. This year's title game is a rematch of last year's, Florida vs. Iowa, as the Gators go for an unprecedented fourth straight national championship.

Well, the Iowa Hawkeyes broke the Gators string, romping to a 41-21 victory in the Rose Bowl in the National Championship Game.

Florida RB B.J. Kanellitsas won the Heisman.

Southern Cal finishes ranked #10 by the BCS.

PAC-10 (6-2) -- OVERALL (9-3)


2017 FINAL BCS RANKINGS

2017 Season Summary and Review
 

2017 SEASON SUMMARY & REVIEW



SEASON REVIEW

2017 was a pretty good year for us. We blew out Notre Dame, went 6-2 in the PAC-10, won a Four Star Tier Bowl Game, and finished ranked #10 in the nation by the BCS.

But I don't think we played up to our potential. The early season loss to Akron was embarassing. I guess stuff like that happens every now and then, but there's no excuse for this program to lose to Akron when we are capable of winning a Four Star Tier Bowl and blowing out the Irish in South Bend. I also think we should have won the game against Stanford at home. We were a far better club than the Cardinal, plus we had home field advantage. So it wasn't all hugs and puppy dog kisses for us in 2017. We had a good year, but not as good as it could have been.

The development of Tailback J.B. Wilson was crucial to this team's success - and will be for the next three years. The progress he made during his redshirt year was remarkable, and his performance earned him 1st Team All PAC-10 honors. I think he'll be even better next year, and that bodes well for the Trojan program over the next three seasons.

Not sure what to think about QB Brock Dole. I realize he was a first year starter this past season, but I'm not at all sure he's the "one". I think right now, when you add in this incoming crop of freshman, easily our best recruiting class ever, we have the talent to make a serious run at the National Championship. The big question mark is Dole. He's got a rifle for an arm, but can't run worth a damn - which in our offense hurts him a lot - and he's very unreliable in the short passing game.

Where is Malcolm Moreno when you need him?

Defensively we were once again solid. Teams had difficulty running the ball against us - though not as much as in the past - and we held opponents to a 43.7% pass completion percentage. Our turnover margin was down, but that was mainly because we turned the ball over a lot more on offense than we did the year before.

The jury is still out on whether I made the right move in replacing Offensive Coordinator Randy Edwards with Zach Fuchs. One of the major reasons I made the change was that, aside from being a better tactician and play caller than Edwards was, Fuchs is outstanding at developing quarterbacks, a failing of Edwards. So I guess we'll see what happens with Brock Dole, and his successor signal caller, which I haven't recruited yet.

So all in all, I think we had a good, solid season, but not quite as good as it should have been. I'm counting on next season to be a big one for us.


2017 AWARDS



2017 USC TEAM SUMMARY

2018 Preseason (Winter)
 

2018 PRESEASON (WINTER)


Winter, 2018

Southern Cal's prestige remained at Excellent (88), but the football program is now the 8th most prestigious in the nation.

Among the job offers I received -and turned down - this offseason were two from schools with an Excellent (80 or higher) prestige level - Boston College and Texas A&M, which is the third most prestigious football program in the nation.

But I'll be staying at Southern Cal for my eleventh season. After ten years in a place, it gets to feel like home, and we really have done some great things with the program during my ten year tenure here. The only thing we haven't done is win a national championship, and I certainly think we have a terrific shot at competing for one over the next three years.

Redshirt senior Safety Dwight Korinek has been suspended by the NCAA for taking money from a Southern Cal booster.

QB Wayne Bjorke has left the program because I suspended him last season.

OC Glenn Cook has left the program because he wasn't playing enough.

And Defensive Coordinator Bucky Riley has retired after ten years on the job. Bucky will be sorely missed and definately hard to replace.

Tailback Donny "Big Money" Cash was inducted into the USC Hall of Fame. Always liked Donny and am happy he has received this honor.

Our academic reputation remains at Very Good (70) and I'm pretty well convinced it can't go any higher because we fail to offer three majors. Once again, the students in our football program had the highest GPA (3.20) of any Division 1 college football program.

I fired Lead Scout Lance Coe. After three years of his scouting, which in general was fairly good, we needed to make a change because of his inability to judge talent in the defensive secondary. Lester Stargell, the Head Coach at Los Angeles Community College, replaces Coe.

To replace the retired Bucky Riley we hired Clarence Ackerman, who was the Defensive Coordinator at the University of Miami (Fla). Ackerman is an outstanding tactician and we hope to see a step up in play calling from Riley, who was mainly a developmental expert.

The rest of the staff returns for another season.

We had a fantastic recruiting season, and TCY Today has ranked our recruiting class first in the nation. Here's a look at our incoming freshmen.

2018 Preseason (Spring)
 

2018 PRESEASON


Spring, 2018

Scheduling time. This year, as every year, we have our annual game against Notre Dame, and once again it will be in South Bend. Every year there is one PAC-10 school we don't play, and this season that school is Stanford. At least this year we get UCLA in the Rose Bowl instead of at them in the Colliseum.

That leaves us two games to schedule. I'll be looking for two home games this year against middling programs.

Stage 1: We offerred a game at the Rose Bowl to Georgia. They rejected our offer.

Stage 2: Louisiana-Monroe offerred us a home game for week 3 and we accepted.

Stage 3: UTEP offerred a home and home but we're not interested. We offerred Arkansas a game at the Rose Bowl for Week 1 and they rejected our offer.

Stage 4: Southern Mississippi offerred us a home game for Week 4. We countered with an offer for Week 1 and they accepted. That fills our schedule for 2018.

Here's a look at our 2018 schedule.

2018 Preseason (Summer)
 

2018 PRESEASON


Summer, 2018

Spent the early part of the summer putting together practice schedules and working on the academic schedules of our students. Looks like we'll have a few more coaching blocs this year - 59 instead of 52 - in case any of the kids get into academic difficulties.

Once we got the kids in two-a-days, my expectations rose a bit. QB Brock Dole looked really good in camp, though he still is barely average in the short passing game - but boy does he have a rifle for an arm. Joining him in the backfield will be 1st Team All PAC-10 Tailback J.B. Wilson and freshman sensation Wingback Ike Daugherty. Ike was just too good to redshirt this year, and ideally he'd play Tailback, but J.B. is something special. So to get Daugherty on the field we start him at Wingback and hopefully he'll get us 500+ yards and a bunch of scores there. Blocking for those two budding superstars will be senior Fullback Manny Book.

Dole's primary targets this season will be redshirt senior wideout Ron Morrison and redshirt junior Ed Kinman. We're still waiting for that breakout season from Morrison and hopefully this will be the year. Wilson, Daugherty and Book also will all figure prominently in the passing game out of our flexbone offense.

I think we've got the makings of a real exceptional offensive line - at least run blocking anyway. At OC will be Mitchell Blackburn - the one pass blocking specialist we have on the team. Mitchell is not too shabby a run blocker either. He'll be flanked by senior OG Frank Elliot who looked simply dominating in camp, and redshirt senior OG Graham Molina. At the tackles will be 5th year senior Hunter Blount and redshirt junior Bobby Burgess. All in all, this group should open up some big holes for JB and Daugherty.

On defense, the line is once again a strength of the team. Redshirt senior Trent Milton won the starting Nose Tackle job away from Andrew Francis in camp. On his right will be 5th year senior DE Freddie Stender, who led the team in sacks with 15 last season. Over at left end will be redshirt sophomore Wally Knight, who has the potential to become a dominant pass rusher. He'll likely move to DRE when Stender graduates.

The linebacking corps features three 5th year seniors, ILB Chad Berg, and OLB's Johnny "The Storm" El Nino and Rick Holmes. Redshirt junior ILB Renaldo Elder fills out the starting quartet. Not the best linebacking unit we've had since I've been here, but respectable.

The secondary is once again the weakest part of our defense - though I have a much better grasp of the talent with new Lead Scout Lester Stargell on the job. Starting at the corners will be 5th year senior Sam Alexander and redshirt junior Max Fitzgerald. Both are pretty average and that's likely where we'll be attacked the most. 5th year senior Joel Arvold returns in a starting role at Safety, and he's really developed into a fine player. Starting at the other safety spot will be freshman Lawrence Abdul-Jabbar. Abdul-Jabbar has the potential to become a standout safety, and he was just too good to redshirt this year, even though he's a little rough around the edges.

On special teams we have one of the best placekickers in the nation, redshirt junior Robbie Gardner. Redshirt sophomore Xavier Eason takes over the punting duties this year and he's got a pretty good leg. Handling our return duties will be wideout Ron Morrison, who is simply explosive returning both punts and kicks, with an assist from Ed Kinman on punts and J.B. Wilson on kickoffs.

I think we've got a solid chance at making a run at the PAC-10 title this year, and if we play up to our potential, we're a legitimate contender for the national championship.

That's if our corners don't get burned too bad.

We'll know fairly early on how much of a chance we stand, as we face Notre Dame in Week 2.

Here's a look at our 2018 roster.




Here's a look at the preseason BCS rankings.

2018 Season (1st Qtr.)
 

2018 SEASON (1st Qtr.)


WEEK 1
vs. Southern Mississippi (0-0)
(USC -14) USC BCS RANK: #7

Spent the early part of the week making our first recruiting contacts. A priority this year was to find a quarterback that could run, throw, and had good academics. Does Jesus mind being redshirted?

The offensive line just dominated the line of scrimmage today, springing J.B. Wilson for 206 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Trojans won in a rout, 62-7.

LT Hunter Blount made 7 key run blocks while RG Graham Molina made 6 and LG Frank Elliot 5, completely controlling the point of attack and making it easy running for Wilson all day.

Redshirt sophomore DE Wally Knight made 3.5 sacks and ILB Renaldo Elder returned an interception for a score as the defense completely shutdown the Southern Mississippi attack.

A good way to start the season off and we head into next week's game against Notre Dame on a high note.

USC 62 -- Southern Mississippi 7
PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (1-0)


WEEK 2
@ Notre Dame (0-1) *TV1*
(ND -2) USC BCS RANK: #4

We head into this week ranked 4th in the BCS but #1 atop the nation in the Coaches Poll. Finding the right balance for Brock dole is the important thing however, as we don't want him throwing too many picks, but we need him to be able to hit the deep ball. So it's a work in progress. This week will be a big test for us.

Continued to work at rounding out this year's primary recruiting list. Hopefully we'll land a kid or two that can help us in the secondary some right away, like Abdul-Jabbar this year.

LT Hunter Blount and LG Frank Elliot continued their domination of the line of scrimmage, making 8 and 6 key run blocks respectively as they opened holes for J.B. Wilson all day en route to a big 30-24 road win at Notre Dame.

Offensive Coordinator Zach Fuchs knows a good thing when he sees one and he's determined to ride J.B. Wilson as far as he can go, calling his number a whopping 43 times today as Wilson ran for 153 yards (3.5 ypc) and 3 more touchdowns. Wingback Ike Daugherty added 47 yards on 9 carries (5.2 ypc) as the Trojans just kept running and running and running.

QB Brock Dole, while not shooting the lights out, continued to play solid, mistake free football and allowed the running attack to do the damage.

DE Wally Knight continues to excel in his rookie season, sacking the Irish QB twice rushing from the strong side. NT Trent Milton also got to the Notre Dame QB twice.

A big, big win for us early in the year.

PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (2-0)


WEEK 3
vs. Louisiana-Monroe (1-0) *TV3*
(USC -10) USC BCS RANK: #1

Moved up to #1 in the BCS rankings this week coming off our big win at South Bend. ILB Renaldo Elder will miss up to 9 weeks with some broken ribs. The team trainers didn't think it funny when I told him to rub some dirt on it and suit up. Oh well. Sophomore Moe Oben will move into his starting spot.

Made some second and third contacts with recruits, as well as making new contacts with some defensive backs that I think might be able to help us. In looking at the recruiting pool this year, there doesn't seem to be a lot of stud DB's to recruit.

Offensive Coordinator just kept pounding J.B. Wilson at Lousiana-Monroe and Wilson rushed for 150 yards and two scores as Southern Cal whitewashed the Indians 37-0.

QB Brock Dole was quite efficient on the day, going 14/18 for 223 yards while throwing for one touchdown. Dole hit wideout Ron Morrison for the scoring strike.

The Trojan D was strong as an entire unit this week, holding the Indians to 120 yards of total offense.

A good win for us, we played well and didn't play down to a weaker opponent's level.

USC 37 -- Louisiana-Monroe 0
PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (3-0)


WEEK 4
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #7

Ahh the fickle fates of early season BCS rankings. It's like pulling numbers out of a hat. Still, we're playing well and can't complain about that. The rankings will be what they will be.

With the off week spent most of the time on the recruiting trail. We've already had a few campus visits, that's a good sign. Still scouring the country for d-backs and also a linebacker or two.

PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (3-0)


WEEK 5 BCS RANKINGS

2018 Season (2nd Qtr.)
 

2018 SEASON (2nd Qtr.)


WEEK 5
vs. Oregon (0-3) (PAC-10)
(USC -12) USC BCS RANK: #14

Even with our two cupcake games I thought we'd be higher than #14, but Notre Dame isn't in the Top 25 right now so it kills our strength of schedule. But we move into the PAC-10 schedule which is always a dogfight. Are we ready?

Quarterly grades came out, three players with D's, tqwo with D+'s. Allocated 4 coaching blocks to each player with a D, 3 to each with a D+. Leaves me with 41 blocs left on the season.

Had to suspend walk-on punter Robbie Brown for stealing starter Xavier Eason's punting cleat so that Brown could start. He's gone for the year - the NCAA took no action.

Lost a CB I wanted to UCLA. Need to write the Board of Governors of the University System of California about closing that school or something.

The Ducks managed to contain Tailback J.B. Wilson to 116 yards and a score on 16 carries (3.8 ypc) but QB brock Dole was deathly efficient going 13/18 for 182 yards while throwing four touchdown passes and only being picked off once. Wideout Ron Morrison haukled in two of those scoring strikes while making 5 catches for 104 yards. Fellow wideout Eddie Kidman made 7 catches for 97 yards and a score.

A solid win in our PAC-10 opener.

USC 45 -- Oregon 20
PAC-10 (1-0) -- OVERALL (4-0)


WEEK 6
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #3

Moved up to #3 this week. Hopefully we can keep playing well enough to stay up there.
Lost a couple more recruits, none to UCLA thankfully. Got the week off this week before we get to the heart of our PAC-10 schedule. Will be following up with recruits mostly.

PAC-10 (1-0) -- OVERALL (4-0)


WEEK 7
@ Arizona (3-2) (PAC-10)
(USC -2) USC BCS RANK: #9

Arizona always gives us trouble and it looks like they have turned their program around the past couple of seasons, so this one could be a tough one. Backup NT Andrew Francis will miss up to 11 weeks due to injury.

We landed three recruits this week - I was starting to worry we might have to scramble around with no early committments. Jeffrey Thompson, a running back from John F Kennedy High School in Taylor, Michigan, Justin Jacobs, a 79+ cornerback from Gladstone High School in Covina, California and Stephen McElroy, an 82+ safety from Farmington High School in Farmington, Arkansas all signed letters of intent to play for Southern Cal next season.

Thompson is an 88+ RB that comes to us from one of the most impressive high school athletic programs in the state. Given our current backfield, he'll likely redshirt next year but should prove to be a fine back down the road. Thompson is rated the best RB in this recruiting class.

Tailback J.B. Wilson ran all over the Wildcat defense as OT's Hunter Blount and Bobby Burgess made 7 key run blocks each en route to a 44-14 schellacking at Arizona.

Wilson is interjecting himself into the Heisman race with his performance this season, and added to his numbers rushing for 271 yards and two touchdowns on 41 carries.

QB brock Dole was once again effective in a supporting role, going 14/22 for 239 yards and throwing three touchdowns while being picked only once, hitting wideout Ron Morrison, who made 5 catches for 94 yards, for one of his TD's.

Redshirt sophomore sensation DE Wally Knight added two more sacks as the defense harried the Wildcat QB all day.

Another big win for us on the road.

USC 44 -- Arizona 14
PAC-10 (2-0) -- OVERALL (5-0)


WEEK 8
vs. Washington State (3-2) (PAC-10) *TV5*
(USC -13) USC BCS RANK: #7

We need to keep playing solid football and avoid any early season mishaps. CB Sam Alexander will miss a week or two due to injury. ILB Renaldo Elder should be back this week and NT Andrew Francis is still out.

Landed another defensive back this week as Mel Kinsey, a 76++ safety from William C Bryant High School in Long Island City, New York committed to play for USC next season.

Tailback J.B. Wilson kept the Heisman talk going as he scored on runs of 54 and 48 yards while leading Southern Cal to a resounding 34-3 victory in front of a packed Rose Bowl.

Wilson dominated the game rushing for 193 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries (6.6 ypc) while QB Brock Dole continued his quiet, but effective play, going 13/18 for 200 yards and throwing for one score.

5th year senior Safety led the Trojan defense with 7 tackles while CB Sam Alexander ran an interception back for a touchdown as USC totally dominated the Cougars in every phase of the game.

A very solid win for us.

USC 34 -- Washington State 3
PAC-10 (3-0) -- OVERALL (6-0)


WEEK 9 BCS RANKINGS

2018 Season (3rd Qtr.)
 

2018 SEASON (3rd Qtr.)


WEEK 9
@ Oregon State (2-5)
(USC -20) USC BCS RANK: #5

Quarterly grades came out this week. 2 D's and four D+'s. Gave the two D's 4 blocs each and the four D+'s two blocks each. Pointed out the direction to the library to two students that tried to walk on with failing grades. They're just numb.

Only NT Andrew Francis is listed as out for this week's game.

Spencer Washington, a 77+ fullback from George W Wingate High School in Brooklyn, New York and Walter Cheng, a 79+ cornerback from Blount High School in Maryville, Tennessee have signed letters of intent to play for the Trojans next fall.
This is shaping up to be a solid recruiting class, not spectacular like last year's, but pretty solid.

Tailback J.B. Wilson rushed for four touchdowns and QB Brock Dole threw for two more as Southern Cal put up 583 yards of total offense en route to a 58-0 trouncing of the Oregon State Cougars on the road.

Before Dole was pulled from the game when it got out of hand he went 12/20 for 246 yards and two scoring strikes. Wideouts Ron Morrison and Ed Kidman both broke the 100 yard receiving mark on the day, with Kidman making two touchdown grabs.

The Trojan defense held the Cougars to 53 yards of total offense as Safety Joel Arvold led the way with 7 tackles.

A terrific win for us on the road.

USC 58 -- Oregon State 0
PAC-10 (4-0) -- OVERALL (7-0)


WEEK 10
vs. Arizona State (0-8) (PAC-10)
(USC -33) USC BCS RANK: #5

We're really playing good football right now, and J.B. looks like a solid Heisman contender. I'm pleased with how well Brock Dole has fit into the offense, not trying to do too much but yet making some key plays and good throws. Let's hope we keep it up down the stretch.

We landed four recruits this week, but still no quarterback. Afraid I may have to wait until next year to land a quality QB. Alfred Snyder, an 86+ running back from Hoopeston Area High School in Hoopeston, Illinois, Tyrone Horie, an 84- fullback from Tucumcari High School in Tucumcari, New Mexico, Vince Andersen, a 95- inside linebacker from Dallastown Area High School in Dallastown, Pennsylvania and Kenneth Kariya, a 70+ outside linebacker from Red Mountain High School in Mesa, Arizona all committed to play for the Trojans next fall.

Good solid signings.

QB Brock Dole had a very difficult day passing the ball, going 11/26 and getting picked off twice, but J.B. Wilson and the Trojan defense took over the game leading USC to a convincing 34-7 victory over Arizona State in front of a capacity Rose Bowl crowd.

Wilson ran for three scores and 144 yards on 34 carries (4.2 ypc) while DE Wally Knight added a sack and a half, Safety Joel Arvold made two interceptions and CB Dan Cipa ran one back for a score as everything but the passing attack was clicking for Southern Cal today.

A good win, but today's performance raises some questions about Brock dole's reliability down the stretch.

USC 34 -- Arizona State 7
PAC-10 (5-0) -- OVERALL (8-0)


WEEK 11
@ #13 California (8-1) (PAC-10) *TV3*
(EVEN) USC BCS RANK: #5

Spent some time fine tuning the game plan for Brock Dole. This is a huge game for us, on the road against the Golden Bears. A must win - heck all of them are must win at this point. But we've got to be at our best this week, this is a damn fine Cal team this year.

Landed three more players this week, one of them a QB. Kenneth Finch, a quarterback from Ocean Township High School in Oakhurst, New Jersey, Casey Sly, a 91+ inside linebacker from North Salem High School in Salem, Oregon and Amos McCollum, a 100-- safety from Madison County High School in Madison, Florida signed letters with us this week. This brings our recruiting class to 13, with three slots open but only two scholarships to offer.

Finch might be the running QB we've been looking for as he ran for over 1400 yards in 9 prep games. He's a 94-- and his high school is not a top notch athletic program, so he's a project. McCollum was the highest rated safety in this year's graduating class.

Not a good game at all as Brock dole was simply atrocious, going 11/26 and getting picked off three times. Any hopes at a national championship we might have harbored sunk with this gameas we lose miserably, 38-13.

Even J.B. Wilson couldn't save us on this day as Cal shut him down, holding him to 98 yards and our sole touchdown on 30 carries.

A bad, bad loss.

California 38 -- USC 13
PAC-10 (5-1) -- OVERALL (8-1)


WEEK 12
@ Washington (3-6) (PAC-10)
(USC -6) USC BCS RANK: #7

Not too big a drop in the BCS rankings, but we've got to hope Cal loses its last PAC-10 game or we won't have a shot at the conference title.

NT Andrew Francis, ILB Chad Berg, OT Hunter Blount and NT Trent Milton will all miss this week's game due to injury.

We landed two more recruits this week; Desmond Warkentien, an offensive guard from New Berlin High School in New Berlin, Wisconsin and Peter Grodin, an offensive tackle from Oak Forest High School in Oak Forest, Illinois have signed letters of intent to play for the Trojans next season.

Brock Dole couldn't hit the broad side of a barn today going 8 for 31 as we served up a 41-14 gift to the Huskies.

The Huskies built a 31-7 lead at the half and we simply stopped trying to run the ball, and Dole could do nothing.

We really played about as poorly as we could and were completely outcoached by a bad football team. Hats off to them.

Washington 41 -- USC 14
PAC-10 (5-2) -- OVERALL (8-2)


WEEK 13 BCS RANKINGS

Could this be the year of the Trojans? I think it could be ... Good get em Bear!

Next year maybe. Dole just isn't good enough to avoid key turnovers. And even if we're down 30 I don't care, pitch the ball to J.B. Wilson for damn sakes. Ahh well. Got JB for two more years.

2018 Season (4th Qtr)
 

2018 SEASON (4th Qtr)


WEEK 13
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #16

Tha Cal loss I could take, they're a very good team. Getting blown out at Washington was a stinker. Just bad, bad football on our part.

No recruiting news. We've used up all our scholarships so just looking for a WR walk-on.

PAC-10 (5-2) -- OVERALL (8-2)


WEEK 14
vs. #2 UCLA (10-0) (PAC-10) *TV3*
(UCLA -6) USC BCS RANK: #16

Nothing to play for here but pride and a chance to kill UCLA's national title hopes. Which is after all, better than nothing.

When the best rusher in the nation carries the ball 14 times, it's game over. We gave up on the run again and got plastered, losing to the Bruins 35-11.

Brock Dole proved he isn't yet - or ever? - capable of carrying a team as he went 14/30 and got picked twice.

Nothing good to say about this ass-dragging finish. Maybe next year.

UCLA 35 -- USC 11
PAC-10 (5-3) -- OVERALL (8-3)


WEEK 15
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #25

Fell to #25 this week, and I can't tell you how excruciatingly disappointing that is. I know we got hit by some injuries in the last few games, but for godsakes man, give the ball to J.B. Taylor and just let him run. Oy.

PAC-10 (5-3) -- OVERALL (8-3)


WEEK 16
MINOR BOWL TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: --

Going to Indy again to play Oklahoma in the Hoosier Bowl. It's a solid Four Star Tier Bowl, but this team was capable of so much more.

Kevin Linquist, a wide receiver from Empire High School in Duncan, Oklahoma, has agreed to play for Southern Cal next season. He's an end of the bench depth receiver with good grades.

PAC-10 (5-3) -- OVERALL (8-3)


WEEK 17 BCS RANKINGS

2018 Season (Final)
 

2018 SEASON (FINAL)


WEEK 17
MAJOR BOWL TIER
Week off.
USC BCS RANK: #24

Allocated the last of my coaching blocs to help some players with their studies. Hopefully it'll be enough to get them through finals.

PAC-10 (5-3) -- OVERALL (8-3)


WEEK 18
FOUR STAR TIER
HOOSIER BOWL: vs. Oklahoma (9-3) *TV3*
(USC -10) USC BCS RANK: #22

I took over the game plan this week with good results. A 35 point 2nd quarter blew the game wide open and we gave the damn ball to JB, beating Oklahoma up pretty bad in the Hoosier Bowl, 55-7.

Tailback J.B. Wilson ran for 146 yards and three scores on 27 carries (5.4 ypc) and Brock Dole performed well in the new scheme, going 12/17 for 182 yards while throwing two touchdown passes.

Wideout Ed Kidman hauled in 7 passes for 118 yards on the day.

Defensively 5th year senior Safety Joel Arvold brought an interception back for a touchdown as Southern Cal completely dominated the Sooners.

Now maybe next year we go after that national title.

Hoosier Bowl
USC 55 -- Oklahoma 7
PAC-10 (5-3) -- OVERALL (9-3)


WEEK 19
NEW YEAR'S TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #15

Got a good bounce in the rankings off last weeks demolition of Oklahoma.

PAC-10 (5-3) -- OVERALL (9-3)


WEEK 20
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #17

Our arch-rival UCLA plays Michigan in the Rose Bowl for the national title. I consider dressing Tom Brady in Wolverine blue and yellow - hey he still looks young enough - and getting him to go play.

He had other plans.

Michigan routs UCLA 31-10 and wins the national title.

USC Tailback J.B. Wilson is a finalist for the Heisman and finishes 7th in the balloting. Michigan QB Tony Cullen wins the Heisman.

We end the season ranked #18 in the BCS.

PAC-10 (5-3) -- OVERALL (8-3)


2018 FINAL BCS RANKINGS

2018 Season Summary & Review
 

2018 SEASON SUMMARY & REVIEW


SEASON REVIEW

All in all, I'd have to classify 2018 as a very disappointing season for me. I thought this team was capable of competing for the PAC-10 championship and the national championship. Down the stretch however we simply stopped giving the ball to our bread and butter runner, Tailback J.B. Wilson. We tried to become dependent on QB Brock Dole who simply wasn't ready to carry such a burden. Our inexplicable shift in offensive philosophy in the three games prior to the Hoosier Bowl not only may have cost us a shot at both titles, but likely harmed the chances of J.B. winning the Heisman - for which he finished seventh in the ballotting.

Defensively we handled the transition from Bucky Riley - who retired - to new Defensive Coordinator Clarence Ackerman smooth as silk. The defense kept up its clocklike precision, holding opponents to just over 16 points per game, and even improved dramatically as a pass defense, allowing the 4th fewest yards in the nation - all while still maintaining an outstanding run defense which held opponents to under 1000 yards on the season and less than 3 yards per carry.

The only areas where we were not exceptional was in creating opponent turnovers, and in preventing our own. We need to get better at both.

Southern Cal continues to be a very prestigious football program and annually goes to a major bowl game or higher. But this program is at a level now where it needs to step up, take that step up to the next level and compete for a national championship. Despite our successes this season, we didn't do that this year. And that's something we need to take a look at and reexamine why we didn't step up to the next level and how to fix it so we can.


2018 USC AWARD WINNERS




2018 TEAM SUMMARY

2019 Preseason (Winter)
 

2019 PRESEASON


Winter, 2019

Besieged with job offers this offseason. Most prestigious offers were from the University of Virginia (Excellent-92) and the University of Syracuse (Excellent-83). I didn't give any serious consideration to any of the offers, I'm not ready to leave Southern Cal yet.

Syndicate Coordinator Pete Prior retired from his position after twenty years of service to the University of Southern California. A few regional scouts also retired.

Players Robbie Brown and Dwight Korinek have left the team because of their suspensions last season.

I guess they were mad.

No academic suspensions this season, always a good thing.

We hired 50 year old Arnie Urlacher as our new Syndicate Coordinator. Arnie's expertise is keeping players academically eligible. We hired hima way from Rutgers, where he was their Syndicate Coordinator. We also filled the regional scout vacancies.

The rest of the staff remains intact.

TCY Today once again rated our recruiting class amongst the best in the nation, ranking our incoming freshmen as 7th best in the country. Here's a look at our recruiting class.

2019 Preseason (Spring)
 

2019 PRESEASON


Spring, 2019

Time to make the schedule. We play Notre Dame in South Bend again this year. Luck o'the Irish I guess. Our annual matchup with UCLA is also a road game for us. We have no carry over home and homes, and as every year, there is one PAC-10 team we don't play. This season that school is Arizona State. That leaves us two games to be scheduled.

Looking for a tune up game for Week 1 as we play Notre Dame Week 2, then a more substantial game for Week 4. We're ranked #9 in the Preseason BCS.

Stage 1: We offer a game to San Jose State at the Rose Bowl for Week 1. They reject our offer.

Stage 2: Syracuse offers us a home and home but at them this year. We reject their offer and offer BYU a game at the Rose Bowl. They rejected our offer.

Stage 3: Keene State is offerring an away game. I'm going to see if they will accept a home and home, we play at KSC this year. They accepted for Week 4. That game should be a blast.

Stage 4: We offer Georgia a homa and home for Week 1, this year at the Rose Bowl. They accept. That fills our schedule. Here's a look at it.

2019 Preseason (Summer)
 

PRESEASON 2019


Summer, 2019

Spent a lot of summer working on the kids academic schedules. Getting the frosh set up to make sure they prepare adequately for academic life and tweaking the schedules of the upperclassmen.

Our academic reputation remains Very Good (70), I'm almost certain now it cannot go any higher because of our failure to offer three majors. The GPA of the student-athletes in the football program remains the highest among Division 1-A schools at 3.23. Our prestige did dip two points down to Excellent (86) this year.

Put the kids through two-a-days this summer and I really like the team we've got assembled for this season. Tailback J.B. Wilson will be leading our attack and most of the offensive burden will fall on his shoulders. We've redshirted Ike Daugherty this year, and starting at Wingback will be 5th year senior Mercury Schultz who really had a great summer camp. At Fullback will be junior Devin Benzer, but expect to see quite a bit of talented freshman Spencer Washington there.

We're expecting much better things out of our passing game this year. 5th year senior Brock Dole is once again at the helm of the offense and it looked like he had matured quite a bit since last season. His primary targets will be wideouts 5th year senior Ron Morrison and redshirt senior Ed Kinman. Both receivers will also be handling kick and punt return duties. It's time for Dole to step up and show what he's capable of.

Our offensive line this year is young, but so talented that it has the potential to be simply dominating. Redshirt junior Gino Lyubashevsky anchors the line at the center position. He's flanked by redshirt sophomore Desmond Connell at RG - this kid can block - and 5th year senior Graham Molina at LG. At the tackles we've got redshirt senior Bobby Burgess and redshirt sophomore Nate Dillon. This line could very well dominate the line of scrimmage this year, but as it grows together over the next two seasons it'll be simply fantastic.

Over on the defensive side of the ball we've put together a very solid defensive line. 5th year senior Trent Milton is a run-stopper at Nose Tackle, and he's flanked on the ends by redshirt sophomore Floyd Jeffers and redshirt junior Wally Knight who had 14 sacks his first season as a starter. This is going to be a very difficult unit both to run against and to get passes off against unpressured.

Our linebacking corps is probably the weakness of the defensive unit this year. Starting on the outside will be freshman Ken Kariya, who is talented but raw, and 5th year senior Tyrus Mazzeo. It'll be on the outside where I would guess most teams will attack us. Up the middle we're quite a bit stronger with redshirt senior Renaldo Elder and redshirt sophomore Monty Garcia starting. They should do a very solid job against the run.

The secondary is looking better and better every day. Sophomore Safety Lawrence Abdul-Jabbar, PAC-10 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year in 2018, has the potential to be a superstar. He's joined at the other safety spot by redshirt sophomore Jared Espanza, who has a lot of potential. Redshirt sophomore Brad Knight starts at the shutdown corner and we think he's going to be a really good player. At the other corner will be returning starter, redshirt senior Max Fitzgerald.

I think Defensive Coordinator Clarence Ackerman is going to have a very strong defensive unit that keeps us in games and allows the offense to win them. Now, it'll just be up to J.B. Wilson and Brock Dole to put some points on the board.

My expectations this year are to make a run at the PAC-10 championship and to be legitimate contenders for the National Championship. We've got a rough schedule this year, but I definitely think we've got a good enough team to go all the way.

I know my expectations are high, but this team has a lot of talent and even more potential for the future.

Here's a look at our roster, and the preseason BCS rankings.





2019 Preseason BCS Rankings

2019 Season (1st Qtr.)
 

2019 SEASON (1st Qtr.)


WEEK 1
vs. Georgia (0-0) *TV5*
(USC -10) USC BCS RANK: #9

We start off the season against a proud Georgia Bulldog program. It'll be a good test to see how far we've come over the offseason.

Made a lot of first contacts with recruits. We're also going to be recruiting some Tight Ends as we seriously consider a transition to a wishbone with redshirt freshman Kenny Finch being our quarterback of the future - he's a 97 QB scramble and we think that'll add a lot to our offense.

A surprisingly strong Bulldog run defense managed to contain J.B. Wilson to 101 yards on 32 carries (3.1 avg) but QB brock Dole hit wideout Ron Morrison for three scoring strikes, throwing four touchdown passes on the day to lead Southern Cal to a 48-7 rout over Georgia in front of a very pleased capacity crowd at the Rose Bowl.

Dole went 18/22 for 302 yards while throwing for four scores and getting picked once. Morrison had an explosive day, hauling in 10 catches for 187 yards and 3 TD's.

An outstanding way to open the season and get prepped for our trip to South Bend.

USC 48 -- Georgia 7
PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (1-0)


WEEK 2
@ #14 Notre Dame (1-0) *TV1*
(ND -1) USC BCS RANK: #1

Big game on national TV this week, as we travel to South Bend for our annual matchup with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Georgia did a solid job in containing J.B. Wilson, so we expect Notre Dame to try the same things against us the Dawgs did. Hope Brock Dole is up to the challenge.

OT Bobby Burgess is out for up to 9 weeks with a seperated shoulder. Not good.

Spent the recruuiting week making more first contacts. Already have a student on campus visiting, never seen a student show up that fast. Hope it's a good sign.

It was the Brock and Ron show in South Bend this week as QB Brock Dole went 20/29 for 443 yards and 4 touchdowns, connecting with Ron Morrison for three of them in leading USC to a 38-25 win over the Fighting Irish.

Morrison had a day that no doubt had pro scouts heads turning, as he caught 11 passes for 245 yards and three scores. Wideout Ed Kinman got in on the fun making 4 catches for 93 yards and a score.

Notre Dame kept J.B. Wilson relatively in check, limiting him to 126 yards and one score on 30 carries (4.2 avg).

Freshman OLB Ken Kariya led the defense with 8 tackles and a sack.

Definitely a good way to start the year.

USC 38 -- Notre Dame 25
PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (2-0)


WEEK 3
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #2

Drop to #2 behind Syracuse after our big road win. Guess we weren't impressive enough.

Continued to make more new contacts and follow up on many of the kids who are visiting campus. Getting a lot of early visits this year. That's a good thing I think.

PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (2-0)


WEEK 4
@ #20 Keene State (2-0) *TV1*
(USC -2) USC BCS RANK: #1

The year of the killer schedule continues. We have a big game against the program I built from the ground up, which has since become a national power. They'd love nothing better than to beat us and show me I was wrong to leave - and we'd love nothing better than to beat them and show people we're true contenders for a national championship.

That's what college football is all about.

What a defensive struggle. Tailback J.B. Wilson managed to grind 115 yards on 27 carries out on the ground against a tough Fighting Owl defense and wideout Ed Kinman returned a punt 91 yards for a touchdown as the Trojans nipped Keene State 20-17 at Owl Field.

Nose Tackle Trent Milton filled the gaps for Southern Cal making 8 tackles in leading a stifling USC defense. QB Brock Dole went 16/26 for 250 yards and hit FB Devin Benzer with a scoring strike, but was also picked off once on the day.

A very solid, if tough, win.

USC 20 -- Keene State 17
PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (3-0)


WEEK 5 BCS RANKINGS

2019 Season (2nd Qtr.)
 

2019 SEASON (2nd Qtr.)


WEEK 5
vs. Oregon State (1-2)
(USC -12) USC BCS RANK: #1

Back to #1 in the nation this week. What a stretch of games that was, but hopefully it has prepared us for a tough PAC-10 schedule. Winning a national championship pretty much means going undefeated, so we cab't have any let down weeks or we can kiss those hopes goodbye.

Burgess will still be out again this week and Ron Morrison is doubtful with a sprained knee.

Spent much of my time continuing to pester recruits we have already made contact with. It'll be interesting to see if we land enough tight ends to switch to a full blown wishbone next season. With Dole and Morrison graduating and Finch looking like a great running quarterback, that will be the time to do it.

Tailback J.B. Wilson scored twice and ran for 88 yards on 19 carries (4.6 avg) before leaving the game with an abdominal strain and Wingback Mercury Schultz filled the void running for another another score and 64 more yards as USC handily beat the Oregon State Beavers 31-14 at the Rose Bowl.

For redshirt OT Nate Dillon it didn't really matter who was carrying the ball, he simply dominated the line of scrimmage all day long, making 7 key run blocks to spring the Trojan backs for big gains.

ILB's Renaldo Elder and Monty Garcia had 8 and 7 tackles respectively to lead the Southern cal defense. Elder also assisted on four others.

A solid win, but JB is listed as doubtful for a couple-three weeks. Hope we can get the job done without him.

USC 31 -- Oregon State 14
PAC-10 (1-0) -- OVERALL (4-0)


WEEK 6
Week off.
USC BCS RANK: #2

We fell to #2 in the BCS rankings behind UCLA - wouldn't that be a hoot of a national championship game.

Good that we have the week off, gives Morrison and JB some time to heal.

Only 1 D and 3 D+'s at quarterly grade time - allocated each of them four coaching blocks. Pretty good academic performance this quarter.

Hrrm, recruiting tight ends is proving to be difficult. I wonder if something is built in that because I am running a flexbone - an offense that doesn't use tight ends - that getting tight ends to committ is more difficult. If so, you'd think that they wouldn't walk on to the team either - but hey, too early to tell.

We did land a QB who ran for 1400 yards this high school season, Anthony Felkey, a quarterback from Woodrow Wilson High School in Los Angeles, California. Felkey's high school atheltic program is seriously lacking in the fundamentals, so he'll be a project, but we can look at him as a longterm replacement for Finch eventually in our system - depending on how he runs in camp. Lots of rejections, mostly from TE's. Heh.

Pretty much maxed out contact with the kids who are visiting campus. Started making new contacts, trying to land one each of an OT, OG and OC. Concentrating on high academic types - we seem to land those easier than team prestige types, even though we're about the same relative to other schools in prestige and academic reputation - I think it's because out overall academic reputation is a 70, but many of our majors our in the high 90's, and the recruits take what they major into account moreso than the overall academic reputation - which is good for us.

PAC-10 (1-0) -- OVERALL (4-0)


WEEK 7
vs. Arizona (2-3) (PAC-10)
(USC -19) USC BCS RANK: #2

Injury report is a little better this week.


We're going to sit Morrison but try and play JB. Morrison did play a bit two weeks ago but only made 1 catch. So we'll sit him down to heal up.

Landed a bunch of recruits this week - including a tight end, woo! Hope he realizes when I told him he was going to be playing in LA I meant Los Angeles and not Baton Rouge.

Dustin Wynn, a 77-- tight end from South Terrebonne High School in Bourg, Louisiana, Marty Westbrook, a wide receiver from Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra, California, Broderick Frias, an inside linebacker from Germantown High School in Germantown, Wisconsin, Jessie Pritchett, an outside linebacker from Bonita High School in La Verne, California and Amos Carpenter, a safety from Troy High School in Fullerton, California all signed letters of intent this week to play for Southern Cal in the fall.

Frias and Carpenter are the 12th and 16th rated recruits in the country according to TCY Today. Westbrook is an 85+ wideout and Pritchett an 89+ LB, but both will need a redshirt year to work on fundamentals. Wynn is a good clutch receiver - but he's a tight end and we need a few of them this class, that's what matters most. Overrated, but we'll take him.

Continued re-contacting those recruits already on our list as well as widely expanding out list and making initial contacts and invitations to visit campus.

Tailback J.B. Wilson had a bust out game this wek, rushing for 255 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries (7.9 avg) to lead Southern Cal to a 34-27 victory over the Arizona Wildcats.

QB Brock Dole floundered all day, getting picked off three times and just didn't have it without wideout Ron Morrison in the lineup.

DE's Wally Knight and Austin lew each had 1.5 sacks and Tyrus Mazzeo returned a blocked punt for a touchdown.

Not a good win, but a win is a win is a win. I'll take it.

USC 34 -- Arizona 27
PAC-10 (2-0) -- OVERALL (5-0)


WEEK 8
vs. #23 Washington State (4-1) (PAC-10) *TV3*
(USC -6) USC BCS RANK: #5

Guess our win wasn't impressive enough for the BCS folks as we drop to #5 in the rankings. Tough game this week against the Cougars. Injuries look a little better this week and Ron Morrison should play.



Lost an OLB we wanted to UCLA. No good news on the recruiting front whatsoever this week.

Tailback J.B. Wilson went down early re-straining an abdominal muscle but Wingback Mercury Schultz picked up the slack behind the dominating blocking of LG Graham Molina rushing for 112 yards and a score on 25 carries (4.4 avg) as Southern Cal handles the Cougars quite easily, 35-10.

OG Graham Molina made 6 key run blocks and opened holes all day for the Trojan running backs. WR Ron Morrison seems to be getting back in the swing of things after his injury, making 5 catches for 93 yards and a touchdown.

LB's Renaldo Elder and Ken Kariya led the defense with 9 and 8 tackles respectively. Elder also assisted on four others.

A very solid win for us.

USC 35 -- Washington State 10
PAC-10 (3-0) -- OVERALL (6-0)



WEEK 9 BCS RANKINGS

2019 Season (3rd Qtr.)
 

2019 SEASON (3rd Qtr.)


WEEK 9
@ Oregon (3-4) (PAC-10) *TV5*
(USC -8) USC BCS RANK: #2

Slid back into #2 in the BCS Rankings behind our old friends UCLA. This season is shaping up to be quite interesting.

My problem is, I just can't seem to find the right gameplan to make Brock Dole effective. The one the scout puts together makes him suck lemons - and mine aren't much better.


We'll likely play everyone but JB, who we'll sit today and help him heal. It'll be nice having Bobby Burgess back at OT, the line hasn't been as dominating as I thought it would be. Mercury Schultz will move to Tailback and redshirt junior Skipjack Walker will start at Wingback.

Landed two recruits this week. Josh Woodson, a center from Winfield High School in Winfield, Kansas and Shaun McIntyre, a defensive end from Porterville High School in Porterville, California have committed to Southern Cal for next season.

McIntyre was ranked the #5 recruit in the nation and is an 82+ run stopping DE that comes to us from an excellent atheltic and academic high school. He provides us with tremendous depth on the defensive line and may have to redshirt next year even though it's likely he'll be ready to play. Woodson is a 79++ run blocking center that comes from a high school with a decent (50) athletic program but an excellent academic school.

QB Brock Dole lit up the airways this week with perhaps the best performance of his collegiate career, going 23/32 for 385 yards and four touchdown passes while only being picked off once in leading the Trojans to a 52-24 rout over the Oregon Ducks in Eugene.

Dole hit favorite target wideout Ron Morrison (4 rec/96 yds) for two of his scoring strikes and also hit FB Devin Benzer and 3rd WR Oliver Hartl for 1 score each.

RB Mercury Schultz filled in very ably for J.B. Taylor in the Tailback position, rushing for 146 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries (5.6 avg) and Wingback Skipjack Walker added another 61 yards rushing behind the completely dominating blocking of OG Graham Molina who made 9 key run blocks on the day.

DE Austin Lew had 1.5 sacks to lead the Trojan defense.

A terrific win for us on the road. Maybe, just maybe, I've found the right combination for Dole to be effective.

USC 52 -- Oregon 24
PAC-10 (4-0) -- OVERALL (7-0)


WEEK 10
@ Stanford (1-6) (PAC-10)
(USC -25) USC BCS RANK: #2

The only thing keeping us from passing UCLA in the BCS rankings are the voter polls - we have a tougher strength of schedule and a higher computer ranking. Hopefully we'll keep playing good, solid football and it won't matter.

We're going to sit J.B. down again this week, but play everyone else on the injured list. Hopefully JB will heal up completely by next week.



Landed a few more recruits this week and only lost one to UCLA. Phillip Freeman, a 77-- wide receiver from Stephens County High School in Toccoa, Georgia, Jesse Mercer, a 59+ center from Warren High School in Downey, California, Chester Deason, a 78+ offensive guard from Northridge High School in Layton, Utah and Mario Barber, an 86++ cornerback from West High School in Oshkosh, Wisconsin all signed letters of intent to play for USC next fall.

Barber is ranked the #1 recruit in the nation by TCY Today and comes to us from an excellent high school, both atheltically and academically. It's possible he could start right away next year depending on how he looks in summer camp.

The Cardinal made a game of it, holding Southern Cal to 44 net yards rushing, but QB Brock Dole hit wideout Ron Morrison on two scoring strikes and the Trojans prevailed on the road, 27-13.

Morrison had another ballistic day, making 7 receptions for 174 yards and two scores with 89 yards after catch. Dole went 16/26 for 277 yards, throwing two touchdowns and no interceptions. A good solid day, the kind we'd like him to have down the stretch.

DE Austin Lew and backup NT Andrew Francis each had a sack and a half to lead the Trojan defense.

A solid, if unspectacular win for us, on the road and without JB.

USC 27 -- Stanford 13
PAC-10 (5-0) -- OVERALL (8-0)


WEEK 11
vs. California (4-4) (PAC-10) *TV4*
(USC -15) USC BCS RANK: #2

We remain barely ahead of Syracuse for the #2 spot in the BCS rankings - didn't they offer me a job recently? We're playing solid football and we get J.B. Wilson back all nice and healed up this week. We're going to need him because Cal always plays us tough.

We'll sit Wally Knight this week because of his injury. Everyone else plays.


Heh, lost a Tight End recruit to Keene State - ain't that a kick in the teeth.

We did land one recruit this week, Ricardo Carley, a tight end from Lawrenceburg High School in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, signed a letter of intent to play for Southern Cal next season. He's a 77+ but his prep athletic program is only fair, so he's a project. But it's a start to adding TE's - he's the second we have landed this season.

QB Brock Dole didn't try and do too much and played mistake free football as he went 12/20 for 166 yards and two touchdown passes in leading USC to a tough 27-20 victory of Cal.

Dole hit FB Devin Benzer and wideout Ed Kidman with his scoring strikes, while Tailback J.B. Wilson worked overtime for the games he missed, carrying the ball 38 times for 122 yards rushing (3.2 avg) and one touchdown run. The Golden Bears did a pretty good job containing JB, but he got the tough yards when we needed them.

5th year senior NT Trent Milton sacked the Golden Bear QB twice on the day, and Safety Jared Esparza and ILB Monty Garcia had 8 and 7 tackles respectively to lead the Trojan defense.

A nice solid win that keeps us in the hunt for both the PAC-10 title and the National Championship.

USC 27 -- California 20
PAC-10 (6-0) -- OVERALL (9-0)


WEEK 12
@ #18 Washington (8-1) (PAC-10) *TV3*
(Wash -1) USC BCS RANK: #2

Going to be a tough game this week, on the road against a very good Huskies team. With UCLA at (10-0/7-0) we've got to win this one to have any chance at the titles. We're going to need J.B. Wilson and Brock Dole to step up big for us this week.

Got hit with the injury bug, as Knight will be out again and ILB Renaldo Elder will also sit due to injury. Elder will be gone until next year. Starting in his place will be redshirt sophomore Walt Whalen.


We landed two recruits this week, and that brings our rrecruiting class to fifteen. We only had fifteen scholarships to offer, so we're hoping one of the students we invited to walk-on agrees to do so.

Signing letters of intent with us this week were Fred Hastings, a 76-- tight end from Villisca Community High School in Villisca, Iowa and Ryan Gash, an 81+ offensive tackle from Woodcreek High School in Roseville, California. Not big news, but they'll help us out eventually.

Wideout Ron Morrison returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown and scored twice more on pass receptions to lead the Southern Cal Trojans to a big road win against Washington, 35-17.

Besides his kickoff return for a score, Morrison had 5 catches on the day for 155 yards and two more touchdowns - including a 63 yard scoring strike from QB Brock Dole. It was the kind of dominating day the 1st team All PAC-10 receiver has begun to become known for and he no doubt turned some NFL scouts' heads yet again.

QB Brock Dole did not play particularly well, going 14/29 for 262 yards and two touchdowns, but he was also picked off twice on the day. Tailback J.B. Wilson only had 18 carries but he made the most of them, gaining 88 yards (4.8 avg), and one has to wonder about Offensive Coordinator Zach Fuchs' playcalling in this one.

The Southern Cal victory today creates a showdown between two undefeated teams, USC and UCLA, with the PAC-10 championship on the line, and perhaps much, much more.

USC 35 -- Washington 17
PAC-10 (7-0) -- OVERALL (10-0)


WEEK 13 BCS RANKINGS

Let's go Trojans -- clap, clap, clap clap clap
Let's go Trojans -- clap, clap, clap clap clap

Thanks for the support man!

2019 Season (4th Qtr.)
 

2019 SEASON (4th Qtr.)


WEEK 13
@ #1 UCLA (10-0) (PAC-10) *TV1*
(UCLA -5) USC BCS RANK: #2

Unstoppable force meets immovable object. Things at rest stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Ten wins no losses vs. ten wins no losses, 7-0 PAC-10 record vs. 7-0 PAC-10 record. Maroon and gold vs. powder blue and yellow. Arch-rivals in their annual showdown game - cue the Star Wars theme, because this is what it's all about.

Easily the biggest game of my college football coaching career to date. A win, we win the PAC-10 and likely get an invite to the National Championship game in the Rose Bowl. A loss, we remain second class citizens in southern California to UCLA and have to start all over again next year.

These are the games where heroes are made - where bigtime players show they are bigtime.


Everyone but Elder and Knight will suit up.

But alas, first comes the ABC's.

Quarterly grades came out this week. Pretty good this quarter, one D-, one D, two D+'s. Gave them each some coaching blocs, but looking pretty solid academically.

Received an email from my trainer that stated " Brock Dole, a quarterback, is considered completely recovered from his most recent injury."

I can only hope he meant Brock's recent rash of Interceptionitis.

A capacity crowd of 111,100 fans filled the Los Angeles Coliseum to witness the biggest game Los Angeles had seen since the LA Xpress faced He Hate Me. As Pete Caroll would say, everyone was pumped and jacked.

Southern Cal's redshirt senior kicker Rodney Gardner booted a 39 yard field goal to give USC a 3-0 lead with 5:58 left in the first. That was it for the quarter.

End of 1st: USC 3-0

Early in the second, Southern Cal drives to the Bruin one yard line, where Brock Dole throws a little swing pass to Wingback Gabe Schultz for six points. Gardner makes the XP and follows with a field goal a couple of minutes later. UCLA can't answer.

End of 2nd: USC 13-0

We go in at halftime with a 13-0 lead. I'm not quite what you'd call confident, just I'd rather be on our side of the score than their's. UCLA is a mighty fine football program and I have no doubt they can put two TD's on the board in a jiffy. But again, I'd rather be up 13-0 than down 13-0.

Defenses absolutely dominate the third quarter and no one comes within a sniff of a score. You can just feel the crowd waiting for something, anything to break open between these two high powered offenses, but it doesn't happen in the third.

End of the 3rd: USC 13-0

Something has to give. The fans can feel it, the defensive players on both sides are exhausted, and two of the most explosive offenses in the nation have fifteen minutes of football left to play.

The final quarter drags on, defenses stiffening, playing beyond exhaustion, knowing this is the biggest game of their lives. One, two, then three minutes pass, still no one scores. The tension in the stands builds, still no one has scored in the second half and USC's 13 point lead has held.

UCLA is driving and has the ball at the Trojan 30. It looks like they're finally going to put some points on the board. 3rd add 19 due to a holding call, UCLA QB and PAC-10 MVP from last season Rod Gilmore drops back to pass and gets hammerred by Trojan ILB Monty Garcia for a loss of 6, moving the Bruins out of field goal range.

The Bruins decide to go for it, knowing Southern Cal will be stacked against the pass. In a call that will no doubt be questioned on talk radio everywhere, Gilmore calls his own number and runs off tackle for 6 yards and Southern Cal takes over on downs at their own 30 with 11:31 left.

The Trojans can't move the ball, J.B. Wilson is stuffed on first and 2nd down for losses. On 3rd and 12, with Coach Bear Growlz dreading a Brock Dole game-changing pick in our own territory, Dole drops back and finds All-World WR Ron Morrison for 19 and a first down.

Dole keeps the rhythm going. After a run by Wilson to keep the defense honest - he's stuffed for a loss again, Dole finds FB Devin Benzer for 10, setting up 3rd and 1 at the Bruin 44.

Offensive Coordinator Zach Fuchs calls JB's number again, figuring they can't stop him every play, and OT Bobby Burgess opens a huge hole for Wilson, who gains 8 and the first down.

1st and 10 on the UCLA 36, the Bruins D looking to stuff JB once again. Dole takes the snap, play action fake to JB, and bang - Dole nails Ron Morrison with a 36 yard scoring strike to break open the game. The crowd is deathly quiet, stunned as Rod Gardner kicks the extra point making it 20-0 USC.

We kickoff and both sides get a few yellow flags. 1st and five on the UCLA 24. UCLA QB Rod Gilmore drops back to pass and freshman OLB Ken Kariya nails him for a loss of 10. Big, big play for the freshman. UCLA gains a few yards on third but is forced to punt from their own 21 on 4th down.

It was a nice enough punt, 43 yards, but I guess the Bruins were just a little more tired than we were, as Ed Kidman broke free and returned the kick 41 yards to the UCLA 23 with 6:11 left and time running out on the Bruins season.

UCLA had to hold here, their entire season depended on it, and they knew who was getting the ball.

J.B. Wilson.

And they were right, 1st and ten from the Bruin 23, Brock Dole took the snap and pitched to JB who ran off right guard, where redshirt sophomore tackle Nate Dillon simply leveled his man, and Wilson was off to the races for a 23 yard touchdown run. Gardner kicked the single and all of a sudden it's 27-0 USC in the LA Coliseum.

UCLA still had more than five minutes on the clock, but they go three and out thanks to a sack by DE Austin Lew. Southern Cal takes over at our own 46 with 4:37 left on the clock.

The Bruins wisely look for the run. They stop Wingback Gabe Schultz for a gain of one - heck even gods like JB get tired once in awhile. 2nd and 9 and Brock Dole, playing the game of his life like that dude in "Heaven Can Wait" that ws played by Warren Beatty, drops back and connects with Wingback Gabe Schultz on a 30 yarder and the Trojans are in position to put the final nail in the coffin of their arch-rivals.

And boy do we want to swing that hammer.

1st and 10 at the UCLA 38, 3:52 on the clock. RB Skipjack Walker scampers around left end for a gain of 5 thanks to a great block by OT Bobby Burgess. The Bruins stuff Schultz for no gain on 2nd down. 3rd and 5 and Brock - who are you and what have you done with my quarterback? - Dole drops back and hits Skipjack Walker for 10 yards and a first down, but the inexperienced Walker goes out of bounds.

1st and 10 from the UCLA 28, Bruins looking to stuff the run again and Offensive Coordinator Zach Fuchs crosses them up. Dole drops back and nails WR Oliver Hartl for 19 yards before he's forced out of bounds at the Bruin 9.

1st and goal from the Bruin 9, and they're again looking to stuff the run - they really don't have much choice at this point - but they're just a little too eager and Dole forces them offsides with a hard snap count. Half the distance and it's 1st and goal from the 5.

You can only stop a great running back so many times before sheer exhaustion wears you down. And that's what happened here. Brock Dole takes the snap, pitches to J.B. Wilson, who gets a great block from backup OT Dan Aska and it's 5 yards untouched into the endzone. Garnder boots the single and all of a sudden what had been a 13-0 defensive struggle was Southern Cal 34, UCLA 0.

The Bruins got the ball back but the life had been drained from them. They completed a couple of passes downfield before time ran out and The USC Trojans are the 2019 PAC-10 Champions with a perfect 11-0 and 8-0 conference record.

Brock Dole was easily the star of the day with his clutch passing, going 17/24 for 276 yards and making two touchdown throws while avoiding any mistakes. UCLA made J.B. earn every yard as Wilson ran for two scores and 118 yards but it took him 34 carries (3.4 avg) to do so.

Redshirt sophomore DE Floyd Jeffers had 3 sacks on the day and ILB Monty Garcia made 8 tackles, sacked the quarterback once and also picked off a pass to lead the stifling Trojan D.

The game was a tough dogfight until midway through the fourth when we just blew it open. What a satisfying win and it had to be this way, against UCLA - our arch-rivals.

Damn that feels good.

USC 34 -- UCLA 0
PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-0)


WEEK 14
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #1

As expected, with our huge win over UCLA, we move into #1 in the BCS Rankings with an incredibly low 5.43 score (#2 Syracuse has a 10.13 for comparison). Still no respect from the polls though, as the Coaches Poll has us as #3 behind 10-0 Virginia and 9-1 Florida, and the Fans Poll has us at #2 behind Virginia.

Our season is done. All we can do now is sit and see where the cards fall, and which bowl game we'll be going to.

PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-0)


WEEK 15
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #1

Us, Syracuse and Virginia are all 11-0, ranked 1-2-3 respectively. Florida sits at 10-1 but has a 12th game because the SEC has a championship game. Both voter polls have Virginia at #1, but they're 1.2 points behind Syracuse in the BCS rankings. Syracuse is still just over three points behind us in the rankings, so it looks like we'll finish #1 in the BCS rankings and get a shot at the national title.

Just don't know whether it will be against Syracuse (probably), Virginia (certainly possible) or Florida (outside shot).

We wait and see.

PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-0)


WEEK 16
MINOR BOWL TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #1

A feel good story about the last player in our recruiting class - Conrad Mogolov, a tight end from Alta Loma High School in Alta Loma, California. Conrad has agreed to come out for the team as a walk-on. He grew up a fan of USC and now he'll get a chance to don the maroon and gold. He's not a very gifted player, but he's the "everyman" who dreamed of playing for his favorite college football team.

Now he'll have that chance.

Right about now I'd say there's a lot of pissed off college football fans in Charlottesville, Syracuse and Louisville as the University of Florida Gators at 11-1 get to play in the Rose Bowl for the National Championship rather than the undefeated Virginia Cavaliers, Syracuse Orangemen or Louisville Cardinals.

Florida just squeaked by Syracuse in the rankings with a 9.09 score compared to the Orange's 9.28 (our BCS score was 6.21 for comparison). The difference for Florida? Strength of schedule. The Gators schedule was rated at 1.84 (ours was 1.96 for comparison sake) as opposed to Cuse's 4.28. Interestingly enough however, both the Coaches and Fans Polls still rank Virginia #1 (we're #3 and #2 in the coaches and fan polls respectively).

PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-0)


WEEK 17 BCS RANKINGS

Interesting to note, Syracuse jumped back ahead of Florida in the BCS rankings this week, but the Bowl Bids went out already - so it'll still be us against the Gators in the National Championship game.

Talk about controversy.

Congratz Coach! :D Now, finish with a flurry... :eek:

Thanks! Finally felt good to get that damn monkey . . . er bruin, off my back. ;)

2019 Season (Final)
 

2019 SEASON (FINAL)


WEEK 17
MAJOR BOWL TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #1

Redshirt freshman Safety Amos McCollum committed "a serious violation of team rules". The NCAA chose not to act in the matter, but to maintain order and team morale I have chosen to suspend Amos for the rest of the year. He's very talented with lots of potential, hopefully he'll get his head on straight and come back next season.

Quarterly grades came out this week, 1 D-, 1 D, and 4 D+'s. Allocated coaching blocs to each of those students to help them prepare for exams and that uses them all up for the year. Needless to say one of the students was a late season walk on - which begs the question, if it was needless to say why did I....

Put the kids through some light workouts and going over film of Florida. They've got one helluva program down in Gainesville, not far removed from winning three consecutive national titles. It's likely going to be the toughest challenge we have ever faced.

I think we're ready.

PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-0)


WEEK 18
FOUR STAR TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #1

Just working with the kids getting ready for the big game. We're still pumped and jacked from the big win at UCLA. Hopefully that'll carry over when we play the Gators.

PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-0)


WEEK 19
NEW YEAR'S TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #1

Virginia plays this week in their Bowl Game, and the polls still have them as #1. Our players are really big on this no respect angle - I hope they'll use it as a positive like the New England Patriots did in the 2000's and whip some Gator ass.

PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-0)


WEEK 20
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
ROSE BOWL: vs. Florida (11-1) *TV1*
(USC -2) USC BCS RANK: #1

What a mess the polls are. Virginia won their game and leapfrogged both Florida and Syracuse into 2nd in the BCS rankings - Florida has dropped to #4.

Unbe-frackin-lievable.

The good news is that aside from Renaldo Elder, we're completely healthy.



My 12th season at USC. Never been more nervous before a game. This is it. This is what they hired me for - to bring Southern Cal back to the ranks of the major football powers in the nation. I brought in the players, I brought in the coaches, I brought in the dollars and the fans.

Now I just have to bring in the W.

The game doesn't start well for us. Holding on the kickoff return and we start off backed up to our own 7.

Seven straight pounding carries by Tailback J.B. Wilson puts us at the Gator 39. We're just chewing up the clock against this Florida team that passes and runs equally well. The best defense is just keeping possession.

A penalty on us and then Brock Dole throws his first pass of the day, a 26 yard bullet that takes us to the Florida 7. They stuff JB twice before he sprints to the outside and OG Nate Dillon nails the only man who can touch him and Wilson scores from 6 yards out. With the XP it's 7-0 and we've eaten up 7 minutes to start the game.

The Gators start moving the ball but DE Wally Knight and NT Trent Dillon put a stop to that with a QB sack. Gators punt - we take over at our own 28.

Florida stops us cold and they take over at their own 11. War of field position is in our favor right now - I want to keep it that way.

The Gators get a pretty good drive going and change the field position situation fast. The quarter ends with the Gators still driving.

End of 1st: USC 7-0

The short break between quarters must have helped us catch our breath, because we defend a couple of passes and the Gators have to punt. We take over at our own 15 - they're winning the field position war now.

Brock Dole changes that in a hurry, hitting three quick passes in a row for 7, 24, and 33 yards and all of a sudden it's first and ten at the Gator 26. the drive stalls at the 22 but Rodney Gardner gets us the 3 point consolation and we're up 10-0.

Florida starts off with pretty decent field position at their 32 and they drive the length of the field on the arm of QB Jamie Singhi. That cuts our lead to 10-7.

Ronnie Morrison returns the ensuing kickoff and gives us great field position at our own 47 and Brock Dole goes right to work. He hits Tailback J.B. Wilson for 13, then Fullback Devin Benzer for 17 and takes us down to the Gator 2, where he hits Ronnie Morrison on a little out pattern for the score. Gardner converts and it's 17-7.

Florida drives right back down and puts up 7 thanks to the running of RB B.J. Kanellitsas and the passing of Jamie Singhi. 17-14 good guys.

Florida would not score again.

J.B. Wilson and Brock Dole just simply took over the game at this point - it was as if they had been waiting for this moment their entire lives. JB carried the ball 40 times and rushed for 223 yards (5.5 avg) and 3 touchdowns and Brock Dole threw for 2 more scores, simply picking apart the Gator secondary as he went 17/23 for 346 yards and no picks.

Southern Cal just overwhelmed Florida, putting up 589 yards of total offense as the Trojans captured the National Championship, 41-14 over the Florida Gators.

Ed Kidman was Dole's favorite target on the day, making 4 catches - one a touchdown - for 131 yards. OT Graham Molina had a good day on the line of scrimmage, making 5 key run blocks. But where the offensive line really shined was that they didn't allow a sack of Brock Dole all day, giving the 5th year senior quarterback all the time he needed to shred the Florida secondary.

And as I said, the best defense is keeping your defense off the field, as USC controlled the ball for over 36 minutes of the game, keeping our defenders fresh and the Gator crew tired.

So, a perfect season, one that started way back in Week 1 with a 48-7 thwapping of Georgia, comes full circle and sees us win a national title by beating another SEC team, hammering them 41-14.

And Brock Dole...Brock Dole...the kid played the two best games of his life against UCLA and Florida. He played so far superior to what he had ever played, and he was so in command - he just took charge and seemed to be in a zone for our last two games.

And what more can you say about J.B. Wilson. Just sheer willpower alone - 34 carries against UCLA and a whopping 40 carries today - all I can say is wow.

And really, what else is there left to say?

Wow.


National Championship Game
The Rose Bowl
USC 41 -- Florida 14
PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (12-0)
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS


2019 FINAL BCS RANKINGS

Great read (even though I'm not a SC fan).

Makes me want to jump back into TCY (or BBCF)

Good job, Bear ... sounds like the BCS is just as much of a mess in the future as it is now ... so is USC now "home" ?

Thanks Cat. Appreciate the read and the praise.


Thanks again Az.

Your bring up a really interesting question. The title "Bear Goes Home" originally referred to me, being a New Englander living in the south, going back to my alma mater and starting a Division 1-A football program.

But after twelve years at Southern Cal, winning a national championship, and really getting into the heated rivalries against Notre Dame and especially UCLA, I find it difficult to even remotely consider other college jobs now.

At one point I even turned down Notre Dame, which was to me the penultimate college coaching position in America - because I had gotten so attached to the program I had built at USC.

If this were a Hollywood film, of course the story would end right here - USC wins national championship, coach gets carried off the field yadda yadda yadda.

But it isn't, so i don't think it will.

So in answer to your question, I guess USC is "home" now. Given what's transpired over the past sixteen years (four at Keene State and twelve at USC) I don't think Coach Bear the "character" in the dynasty, would ever seek another college coaching job. Given the program I've built, it's not likely (always possible though) that I get fired.

That would leave me three options I suppose.

1. End the story now like a Hollywood movie would.

2. Continue coaching at USC until I grow bored with this game and retire from there.

3. Figure out some way to start FOF2k7 in the year 2020, make one of the teams horribly bad, place it in LA - the only way Bear would leave USC at this point would be to bring the fans of LA, his new "home", an NFL franchise - and pretend it was an expansion team and try and turn it into a super bowl winner and thus be one of the few (only?) Coach/GM to win a National Championship and a Super Bowl.

Number three sounds really intriguing and would present another big challenge to Bear. I started the career in 2004 when I was 38 and have coached 14 years. That makes me 52. That gives me another 13-18 years (65 to 70 years old) before I'd bow out.

Thoughts anyone?

2019 Season Summary and Review
 

2019 SEASON SUMMARY & REVIEW


SEASON REVIEW

What an exciting season. 2019 was the culmination of everything I had started out to do at Southern Cal. When USC hired me twelve years ago, the program had fallen into a sad state of disarray. My first two years here were difficult, we had little talent and a declining reputation as a football program and academic institution. Now we've won the national championship, restored our prestige as a national football powerhouse, and built an academic reputation amongst the finest in the land.

Mission accomplished.

Key to our success in 2019 was that we simply didn't turn the ball over. As a team, we had only 11 turnovers in 12 games. On defense, we caused 27 turnovers giving us a whopping +16 turnover margin, 7th best in the nation. Much of the improvement in our turnover ratio was the maturation of Brock Dole as a quarterback. He simply did an amazing job for us down the stretch.

That's one of the real surprises of 2019. We always thought Brock could be a good quarterback. But we're a running team in a running offense in a running program. We're known for the J.B. Wilson's and Donnell Cash's, the O.J. Simpson's and Marcus Allen's. But we won the National Championship because Brock Dole threw and threw and threw some more - that coupled with JB carrying the ball 74 times in our final two games.

Southern Cal has once again become one of the dominant football programs in the nation. 2019 was merely the culmination of a process which began way back in 2008. 2019 and the glory it brought the Trojan Tradition are merely the fruits of the hard work that started those long twelve years ago.

And we're proud to have restored that Trojan Tradition to its rightful place in the southern California sun.


2019 USC Award Winners




2019 USC Team Summary




Coach Bear Growlz Coaching Record

OK Bear, what have you done for me lately ... I mean that Pete Carroll guy won multiple championships before he left USC ... John Wooden at UCLA won 10 freakin' titles in basketball. Can you do that?? Huh, can ya???

;)

Az,

Good question.

But after I read your post, all I can think of is what an absolutely amazing feat John Wooden accomplished.

I'm not at all sure there wasn't a pact with ol'scratch involved. ;)

Yeah, if Coach K from Duke can't win that many (and I don't think he or Roy Williams at UNC ever will), that record won't fall for a long, long time ...

Of course, a certain guy by the name of Steve Victory might try to make a run at that legacy in a dynasty sequel coming soon to a message board near you ... (shameless plug, shameless plug)... ;)

2020 Preseason (Winter/January)
 

2020 PRESEASON


Winter (January), 2020

What do you do after you do what you were hired to do in the first place and the job is done?

That's a damn fine question.

A damn fine one indeed.

It's not like I didn't have many options. In fact, the interegnum between the 2019 and 2020 seasons were the busiest of my coaching career. Schools with big name cachet such as Nebraska and Oklahoma came a courting. The fact that neither school had much success the past few years and had seen their once great football programs fall in prestige matterred not - the big name cachet was still there, always would be.

I got a really big offer from Hawaii. Hawaii's no slouch anymore, they've become a very prestigious school (Excellent-83, 11th most prestigious in the nation - for comparison USC is now up to an Excellent-91 rating, 6th highest in the land, see end of this post for a complete listing of prestige ratings) these days, far more prestigious than Oklahoma or Nebraska. If I was ready to retire, man I'd snap that up in a heartbeat.

I even had an offer from a group of businessmen to be the lead frontman/pitchman of their group that was trying to bring an NFL franchise to Los Angeles again. LA had gotten an NFL franchise which Pete Carroll had left USC to coach, but we lost that team to Oakland when Al Davis moved the Raiders to Pyongyang to play in the 150,000 seat Rungnado May Day Stadium - incidentally changing the Raiders motto to, well, I can't write Korean characters and I can't read Korean, so I don't actually know what he changed it to. But he changed it. I think so anyway.

So to make a long story short, the LA Showtime moved on up to the Bay Area and LA was looking for an NFL team - again. I was really intrigued by the offer. They wanted me to come on in and be the GM of the club if we could land one for southern cal. But they had already picked out a head coach - and I wasn't it. They wanted 70 year old Denny Green to coach the team - and in the end I just wasn't ready to give up coaching yet.

Denny Green?

I guess in sixteen years of coaching I kind have gotten the reputation of being an outstanding recruiter but just a decent X's and O's guy. And with never having coached in the NFL - not even as an assistant, well they just didn't want me as coach. Not that being asked to be the General Manager/Player Personnel guy wasn't an honor, don't get me wrong, it was.

But Denny Green?

That's when I was hit with an epiphany - sort of like when you get really, really drunk and finish worshipping the porcelain goddess, and it suddenly hits you, hey there's more beer.

Denny Green?

That's when I realized these were not guys I wanted to be involved with.

In the end, I decided USC was where I belonged now. When I started coaching college football sixteen years ago, I was a burned out social worker and was the only guy my alma mater Keene State College could find that was dumb enough to take the job - and they were the only school dumb enough to even think about hiring me. I never dreamed Southern Cal (and Oklahoma) would come knocking at my door four years later asking me to take over their programs.

I guess in the end, I bleed maroon and gold now. How else to explain me turning down the Notre Dame job - a job I admit I had always fantasized about - to stay at Southern Cal?

I know we're not going to be as good as we were in 2019. We're making a transition this year from a flexbone to wishbone, our tight ends that have any talent are all frosh, and our starting QB is going to be a redshirt sophomore who can run like crazy but hasn't matured as a passer yet. They say a smart coach knows when to leave a program or team, and maybe a smarter coach would find this year to be that year to move on - and he'd probably be right.

But in the end I'm a USC Trojan now, so this is where I stay.

(Author's note: Which is kind of funny, because I've never actually been a Southern Cal fan. I've always been a Notre Dame fan, and then when I moved to Georgia, I started rooting for UGA. But the game just kind of pulled me in - big credit to TCY creator Jim Gindin for creating such a terrific game that I've found so immersing and emotionally satisfying. If you're reading this, thanks Jim.)

(Author's Note 2: From this point on, you'll notice the storyline will be a little less intensive on the particular details of recruiting. I'll still discuss it, but won't be listing every player we land ad nauseum. I'll be focusing more on the games and the story. I post the recruiting list with player details at the start of the next season anyway, so i don't think much will be lost, and I think the story will be easier to follow.)


School Prestige Ratings Through 2019

202 Preseason (Winter: Feb-Mar)
 

2020 PRESEASON


Winter (February-March), 2020

As I was afraid he would, Safety Amos McCollum left the team because I suspended him last season. Well, it is what it is, good luck to him wherever he goes.

Received an email from a Fullback named Jeffrey Rosales at Central Florida. He expressed an interest to transfer to Southern Cal. Never gotten one of those before, think I'll check him out.

He's a redshirt junior (3 years of eligibility left - which means he would have two years left for us after he sat out the transfer year) with decent grades and a high potential. But I don't have any scholarships left. Wonder if he'll still transfer?

The answer to my own question would be a resounding "no."

My next question would be if I cut a scholarship player does that free up a scholarship. So we shall see.

The help file says yes, indeed it would free up scholarship. So, I look to see if there's anyone I'm giving a full boat to that sucks rocks - I really could use another Fullback.

I release Freshman OC Jesse Mercer from his scholarship with us as it's clear he's never going to see the field for us and arrange for him to go play at Georgia Southern where he may be able to start as an upperclassman in a couple of years.

Unfortunately, I am still listed as having zero scholarships available and Rosales won't transfer without a scholarship.

So, I decide to count my scholarship players.

Wow. I have 73 players with scholarships now. Didn't think that was possible.

Well, guess ol'Jeffrey isn't going to be coming to Southern Cal anytime soon. Tis a Shame. Could have used him.


Had a long meeting with Zach Fuchs, our Offensive Coordinator. Zach was not at all happy about my intention to switch us over to a full wishbone offense this year. Can't say I blame him as he switched to the flexbone for me when I hired him and another switch just makes him even less attractive to prospective employers looking for a new Offensive Coordinator. So we mutually agreed he wouldn't be returning this year.

Zach was immediately hired by Arizona and will be running a Trips formation there - much more to his liking.

In Zach's place we hired 48 year old Spencer Farley away from the University of Nebraska, where he was their Offensive Coordinator. Spencer has twenty years of experience running a wishbone program, so that should help our transition immensely.

The rest of the staff remains intact.


Apparently I was wrong about improving USC's academic reputation. This season saw a rise - albeit slight - in Southern Ca's academic reputation from Very Good (70) to Very Good (71). I was quite surprised to see that, as despite our program having had the highest GPA in the nation, I hadn't been able to get it above 70. That gives USC the 10th best academic reputation in the country. Once again we had the highest GPA, 3.25 this year, barely edging out a rapidly increasing Rice GPA of 3.21.

School Academic Reputations as of 2020




We had another fantastic recruiting class according to TCY Today, which ranked our incoming freshmen as second best in the nation. Here's a look at our incoming freshmen.


USC 2019 Recruiting Class

2020 PRESEASON


Spring, 2020

Our schedule is full already, as we have our annual game against Notre Dame and the second part of two home and homes - one with Keene State, the other with Georgia. As in every year, there is one PAC-10 team we don't play. This season that school is Washington. Here's a look at our 2020 schedule.

2020 USC Schedule

2020 Preseason (Summer)
 

2020 PRESEASON


Summer, 2020

Spent much of the summer dealing with freshman academic scheduling and player time management. We've attracted a good quality of student to the football program in recent years, so that's a big plus when it comes to football related activities - they need less time studying so they can more fully develop their potential.

One thing I did notice was the abject inability of Defensive Coordinator Clarence Ackerman to make any progress in developing our young linebackers. Clarence has a number of other superb traits that make him a fine coordinator, but developing LB's just isn't one of them. We'll likely switch to a 4-3 in camp because of this.

(Author's Note: TCY allows you to change your defensive formation every week. I play with a house rule that treats my defensive formation the same as my offensive - I can switch prior to the first game, but it has to stay that way all season long.)

After putting the kids through summer two-a-days, it became evident a switch to the 4-3 just wasn't very practical. We have enough talented defensive tackles to start in a 4-3, but not much depth and while Ackerman hasn't developed any stud linebackers in his two seasons with us, we do have a lot of depth there - well, at least moreso than at DT.

So we stick with the 3-4.

Defensively at the nose we'll have 5th year senior Andrew Francis, a run-stopper. He'll be flanked by defensive ends Wally Knight, who excells at putting pressure on the quarterback, and redshirt junior Floyd Jeffers, who has developed into a very good all around end.

Up the middle at ILB we'll have 5th year senior Renaldo Elder and redshirt junior Walt Whalen. Elder is a really well developed player left remaining from when Bucky Riley was Defensive Coordinator. Elder can do everything well and is really a polished player.

Where our weakness shows is on the outside. Despite starting 12 games as a freshman, Kenneth Kariya really hasn't shown significant development under Ackerman. He'll be starting at WLB, but I've got some real concerns about his development. Our other scholarship athletes at OLB either haven't developed well the past two years or are redshirt freshmen - so redshirt senior Wayne Biakabatuka - who was a recruited walk-on four years ago, earned the starting job at SLB. In normal years, Wayne would be a good solid backup, but this year he's our best OLB. He's good enough to be a scholarship player, but not really good enough to start in a major college program. Still, he's the best we've got.

In three short years our secondary went from easily being the weakness of this program to being a tremendous strength of the program. Redshirt junior Brad Knight plays the shutdown corner position withiout equal and his opposite number, 5th year senior Max Fitzgerald, more thana dequately covers our opponent's second receiver.

At safety is the incomparable Lawrence Abdul-Jabbar, who led the team with 10 picks last season and stops the run, defends the pass and creates turnovers. The 1st Team All PAC-10 Safety is entering his junior year with us. At the other safety position is returning starter, redshirt junior Jared Esparza. Esparza really developed well this off season and rounds out what is a terrific secondary.

As previously noted, on offense we've brought in Spencer Farley as Offensive Coordinator to switch to, and develop, our new wishbone offense. Farley was running the wishbone at Nebraska when we hired him, and he has run a wishbone offense for twenty years. His expertise will be invaluable in integrating our players into that offensive system.

My first fourteen years of recruiting I took my scouts word for it when they said "This QB likes to run all the time". More often than not - far more often than not - they were wrong and the kid couldn't run worth a pitcher of warm spit. So the past two years I've started taking a more in depth look at the high school rushing statistics of quarterbacks I might potentially recruit, with the idea towards finding a running QB that could also throw - but with an emphasis on running a wishbone.

While he has yet to fully develop his potential as a passer, I think we've found the perfect kid to run this offense - redshirt sophomore QB Kenny Finch. Finch ran for over 1400 yards in his senior season in high school and redshirted last season behind Brock Dole. His running skills appear well developed and I think he'll only get better as a passer. This first year might be rough with him calling the signals, but we're committed to sticking with him as we think he'll make an outstanding wishbone quarterback.

Finch will have plenty of tools to run the ground attack with. Returning for his fourth year as a starter is Tailback J.B. Wilson, coming off a tremendous national championship run in which he carried the ball 74 times in our final two games. Wilson is simply a fantastic back and if he stays healthy - unlike last season - we expect a huge season from him. At Wingback, after sitting out a season redshirting because we had such a talent surplus at running back, will be redshirt junior Ike Daugherty. Ike hasn't developed as well as I had hoped, but he's still a pretty good back. Backing JB and Daugherty up will be redshirt sophomores Jeff Thompson and Al Snyder, both of whom figure prominently in our program's future.

This season, in order to take advantage of the increased ability for power running a true wishbone offers, we've incorporated a tight end into the offense, dropping down to one wideout instead of two. Our starting wideout will be 5th year senior Ed Kidman, who was a key component to our national championship run of a year ago. He'll be backed up by junior Glen jacobs and redshirt senior Oliver Hartl. At the Tight End position, we basically had to start from scratch. We've found a pretty solid freshman starter - Fred Hastings. The other frosh we recruited that looks really good at this position is Ricardo Carley, but we're going to redshirt him this year to start building year to year depth at this position. Backing up Hastings though will be freshman Dustin Wynn and recruited walk-on Conrad Mogolov - the kid who has idolized USC since he was a kid and is a real feel good story. Well, Mogolov showed up at summer camp with quite a bit more talent than we thought and we won't be afraid to use him during his four years here at Southern Cal.

That's really a feel good story.

On special teams Ed Kidman and Max Fitzgerald will be returning punts while Brad Knight and Kidman handle kickoffs. There's a lot of potential from all three returners to make some explosive, game changing plays here. Our placekicker will be 5th year senior Rodney Gardner and punting will be redshirt senior Xavier Eason. All in all, this is a pretty solid unit.

There's not going to be a repeat national championship this season - at least I don't think so. But I am hopeful we'll be in the midst of the hunt for the PAC-10 title and you never know. But however far we go much depends on how well Kenny Finch can run the new wishbone offense we've put in. If that goes well - and it may very well given Spencer Foley's longtime experience coordinating such an offense - then Finch's unpolished passing skills will be far less of a detriment to our success than they would otherwise be. It should make for a very interesting season.

2020 USC Roster





2020 Preseason BCS Rankings

2020 Season (1st Qtr)
 

2020 SEASON (1st Qtr.)


Week 1
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #6

Been working with Spencer Foley on the wishbone - the man's knowledge and expertise in the system is amazing. I think we've got the perfect personnel in here to run it successfully, it'll just take some time to get the offense through shakedown cruise mode and fine tune it a bit.

My scouts continue to tell me "this quarterback likes to run all the time" and he has 7 carries through 6 games in high school. Ha! Been there, done that - those guys don't turn out to be good runners at all. My scouts need a visene colonic.

Some of our prime targets in recruiting this year are a running QB from Nevada named Thomas Kluge, a run-stopping DE named Warren Bunn, and a couple of ILB Alan Brantley and Walter Nadeau. Those four recruits alone would have a significant impact on our program for years to come.

PAC-10 (0-0) --- OVERALL (0-0)


WEEK 2
vs. Keene State (0-0)
(USC -7) USC BCS RANK: --

As we all know by now, the early BCS rankings are silly. We fell from #6 to out of the top 25 after not playing. I don't start taking them seriously until week 5 or so.

Tough game against Keene State this week at the Rose Bowl. They're still running that wishbone I put in - in fact it's still Ernie Stuart running it. Ernie's a good coordinator, I'm sure he'll have his running attack primed for us.

We continue to expand our primary recruiting list - at the same time we narrow the types of players we look for. When I first took over this program, we were grabbing talented players no matter how raw they were, and weren't too concerned about academics. As we got a solid foundation laid we began concentrating on better student-athletes, academically better that is. Now, in addition to good academics we're looking for high tier, high athetic preperation guys - players that can help us immediately if we need them to, and who know how to hit the books so as to maximize their development time.

Our game with KSC this week started out slow, with us taking a 3-0 lead after the first. We then ran off 27 unanswered points and completely shut down the Owls offense en route to a 30-3 win.

Ecven with our other backs getting 12 carries, JB's number got called 40 times in this new offense and he had a terrific day, rushing for 209 yards (5.2 avg) and two touchdowns.

QB Kenny Finch surprised a lot of people with a superb day throwing the ball, going 15/17 for 224 yards and a 26 yard touchdown strike to TE Fred Hastings. WR Eddie Kidman was Finch's favorite target on the day, making 5 catches for 95 yards.

Some terrific defense held KSC to 51 net rushing yards on 25 carries. The Owls only managed 133 total yards as Southern Cal controlled the ball for over 38 minutes of play.

A good start with our new system.

USC 30 -- Keene State 3
PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (1-0)


WEEK 3
@ Georgia (0-1)
(USC -2) USC BCS RANK: #18

The BCS rankings are still screwey, as is to be expected. Right now we're 6th in the coaches poll.

Right now we're still at full strength, so no one will be out for this week's game against Georgia.


Also started recruiting for a kicker and a punter. We'll need a new kicker next season and punter the season after.

Bobby Burgess had a dominant day at the line of scrimmage, making six key run blocks and opening up some big holes for the Southern Cal wishbone and the USC defense held Georgia to -13 net rushing yards as the Trojans walked away with a 35-15 victory at Sanford Stadium in Athens.

The Dawgs kept J.B. Wilson in check most of the day, as the star Tailback was held to 119 yards on 44 carries - though he got the yards when they matterred most, running for three scores and getting a fourth touchdown on the day receiving. QB Kenny Finch had a solid day running the ball, gaining 59 yards on 10 carries as the quarterback option was working with him keeping the ball today.

Finch had a rocky day throwing the ball - we're still not sure why we let him throw 23 passes, but hey - getting picked off three times while throwing for two touchdowns. Ed Kidman was again Kenny's favorite target, making 6 catches for 116 yards.

Reserve OLB Matt Blackston had 2 sacks on the day in leading a Trojan defense that limited Georgia to just 88 total yards. Southern Cal's wishbone offense controlled the ball for just over 39 minutes on the day.

A nice win, but now the tough part of our schedule begins.

USC 35 -- Georgia 14
PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (2-0)


WEEK 4
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #4

We're off this week prior to opening up our conference schedule. Two solid victories have given us some good ideas about whatw e're doing right and wrong with the new wishbone attack, and the defense has played extremely well.

We've got a large number of recruits on campus visiting. Southern Cal becomes more and more attractive to prospective players every year. We have been really spending a lot of time making follow up contacts and are experiencing a lot of competition from UCLA and Iowa this year. Hopefully we'll land more than we lose.

PAC-10 (0-0) -- OVERALL (2-0)


WEEK 5 BCS RANKINGS