Arizona State a constant bother


I hate Arizona State. I mean, I really, really, really hate Arizona State. My animosity toward that university goes back to my freshman year at USC. Let’s take a little trip down memory lane. Freshman year, I was still with my high school boyfriend (dumb, I know), who went to Arizona State. Naturally, I jumped […]

Pac-12 home to plenty of QB talent


Each week, ESPN’s Pac-12 college football blog ranks the conference’s top-five quarterbacks. Though the list is an attempt to showcase notable performances more than anything else, this Tuesday’s rankings — which put USC redshirt junior Cody Kessler in the fifth slot — got me thinking. If you had to start a college football team, which […]

Women of Troy must turn it around


To call the women’s volleyball team’s match against Washington today a rivalry game is a bit of an understatement. Though UCLA certainly still occupies the spot of Public Enemy No. 1 for Trojan sports in general, this battle between the Huskies and the Women of Troy is sure to be a particularly emotional one considering […]

USC has to clean up sloppy play


For Trojan fans, it’s going to be easy to look forward to ASU this weekend — but they shouldn’t let last Saturday’s game against Oregon State out of the rearview mirror just yet. The contest against the Beavers was the ugliest 35-10 win I’ve ever seen. Some of us will point to the 7:30 p.m. […]

USC has room to improve this year


The college football season follows a predictable pattern each year. Early on, a number of teams have standout performances, with each squad making their case for elite status. Then injuries, upsets and conference play start, and the season begins to fall into focus. This generally happens at the end of September, when almost everything crystalizes. […]

Saturday could be a turning point


Enough about Boston College already. As one of the sports editors of this newspaper, I’ve read the phrase, “Coming off a 37-31 loss to unranked Boston College, the 18th-ranked Trojan football team is focused on preparing for Oregon State” countless times over the past two weeks, and I’ve been guilty of inserting it into other […]

Kiffin still causing trouble for USC


After suffering through an agonizing upset at the hands of Boston College — the pain of which was extended by a long bye week — not much could’ve further soured the Trojan faithful’s collective mood leading up to this Saturday’s tilt with Oregon State. If we could just put our heads down and shake off […]

Water polo will overcome losses


Something very unusual happened this weekend in the world of USC sports. While the football team’s loss to Boston College last week is still hard for me to wrap my head around — even after the bye week — what happened three days ago was almost just as interesting. The men’s water polo team lost. […]

Kessler not just a game manager


The Pac-12 is no stranger to talented quarterbacks this year — Oregon signal caller Marcus Mariota sits atop ESPN’s 2014 Heisman Watch rankings as the favorite to win college football’s most prestigious individual award, with UCLA’s Brett Hundley still (somewhat) in the mix. Then there are the old hands: Arizona State’s Taylor Kelly and Oregon […]

Trojans helped by strong recruiting


This was a much-needed bye week for the Trojans, a chance to regroup. Not just from the devastating loss to the Boston College Eagles, but from a whirlwind first month of the college football season. The debut season for coach Steve Sarkisian and Co. has been chaotic to say the least. From fake stories of […]