Trojans hope NCAA appeal is not fruitless


By
 in ,
During all the hooting and hollering erupting from the NCAA bowl season, USC was conspicuously silent. The Trojans, muzzled by NCAA sanctions, have known since the summer that no matter how well they performed this year, they would be sitting at home during the postseason. It must have been hard watching Stanford smash Virginia Tech […]

Jingle all the way to the Rose Bowl


By
 in ,
As you may or may not know, this is the last Daily Trojan issue of the semester. It’s been a wild, crazy, bacon-wrapped-hot-dog-filled ride, but all good things must come to an end (right Pete Carroll?). With that in mind, this is the last chance to print something about the current football season. It seems […]

Teenager’s courage a good lesson for Trojans


By
 in ,
The murmurs I’m hearing through the grapevine signal a sense of uneasiness in Southern California, as the calendar changes to 2011 in just more than a month. To put it mildly, the last 330 days around this neck of the woods haven’t exactly been hallmark material for the USC football program. Coaching departures, NCAA-imposed sanctions, […]

Season’s end can’t come soon enough for USC


By
 2 Comments/in ,
Dear 2010 USC football season: I never thought I’d be asking you this, not after all the good times we’ve had in the past. But, respectfully of course, I have a simple request: Just end already. Look, I knew things were going to be difficult this year. I was prepared for less flash and more […]

Significant challenges stand in way for USC


By
 2 Comments/in ,
How things can change in a week. Last week I wrote that USC was on track for a 10-win season and that it would finish the season on a roll much like it has in previous years. Now, everything that seemed so certain a week ago is mired in doubt. Everything changed after the Trojans […]

USC has no answer for Corvallis


By
 in ,
There was a lot to be said about the Trojans’ impressive win against Arizona two Saturdays ago. But after a week of sub-par practices culminated in a shocking 36-7 upset loss to Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore., on Saturday, not many words remained. “I don’t know what it is. I don’t know,” senior tailback C.J. […]

Recruiting the future never stops with Kiffin


By
 1 Comment/in ,
In the midst of an up-and-down campaign on the field for his football team, USC coach Lane Kiffin is quietly doing what he does best off of it: recruiting. With scholarship reductions set to kick in once the NCAA decides on USC’s sanctions appeal, this year’s recruiting season might be the Trojans’ last chance to […]

It’s time to break the curse of Corvallis


By
 5 Comments/in ,
These days, nobody is immune from curses. There’s the Curse of the Bambino, which affected the Boston Red Sox for 86 years. Then there’s the Unforgivable Curses, which did not come from Harry Potter but actually that YouTube guy who just wanted a chicken sandwich and some waffle fries. Anybody in theater knows about the […]

Vucevic used to adapting to change


By
 2 Comments/in ,
As a child, he watched his father run up and down the court, unaware of the sights and sounds that passed him by. When he grew old enough to appreciate the significance of sports, it was soccer — not basketball — that first caught his eye. But for USC’s junior power forward Nikola Vucevic, whether […]

USC comes full circle in Arizona win


By
 1 Comment/in ,
It took almost 14 months to the day for USC to extract revenge from one of the four opponents it lost to last season. For the Trojans, that moment couldn’t come soon enough. As sophomore quarterback Matt Barkley knelt the ball to expire the clock and secure a 24-21 advantage over Arizona late in the […]