Kiffin brings different feeling to USC practice


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After just four practices, there is no question Lane Kiffin is running things a bit differently than Pete Carroll. Practices, while still up-tempo, are more intense. Players touch every line in sprints. If someone is out of line or makes an unforgivable mistake, that player runs a lap, regardless if it’s Matt Barkley or a […]

What Joe couldn’t do, maybe Dillon can


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The comparison began the minute running back Joe McKnight committed to play football for USC rather than homestate Louisiana State University in 2007. He was going to be the next Reggie Bush. Bush, who declared for the NFL draft in 2006, left a legacy at USC after winning the Heisman Trophy in 2005 and cementing […]

Kreuter’s team must start to win sometime


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Have you ever been really unlucky for a long period of time? How about for almost four years? And every time you were about to get on a positive run of some sort — every single time you started wondering if you were about to break your cold streak and snap out of it — […]

Floyd moving on by returning to his roots


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Ask around and it’s not hard to see that Tim Floyd doesn’t have the greatest of reputations on the USC campus. Sure, the former men’s basketball coach — who was hired March 29 to take the helm at the University of Texas at El Paso — compiled a very respectable 85-50 record in his four […]

Trojans find small chances on pro day


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Even with all of the fans lining the barrier of Cromwell Field on Wednesday, USC’s annual pro day was a somewhat subdued spectacle. Maybe it was Texas’ concurrent pro day drawing away scouts. Maybe it was the fact that Pete Carroll didn’t make a return to Los Angeles — instead he was in Austin, Texas, […]

Pro day always a real sight to be seen


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The following is an excerpt of a 1922 ad published in the New York Times about USC’s pro day: “ … is promised to be the biggest collection of spangles, gilt, glitter, sawdust, lemonade as pink as the blush of a maid, aerialists, freaks, clowns, trained wild animals, zoological types, elephants, gymnasts, wire walkers, bee-you-ti-ful […]

USC could have been a force to reckon with


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With very little doubt in my mind, I can strongly say that this is the best March Madness that I’ve ever watched. I doubt you know a single person who picked a Final Four of Butler, Michigan State, West Virginia and Duke. And I doubt you’ve seen very many NCAA tournament games that can match […]

Madness delivers unrivaled storylines


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Did you watch that Kansas State-Xavier game? I sure hope you did. Because what a game it was, complete with just about every attribute and storyline you’d want out of a sporting event as a neutral observer. First, you’ve got a great pre-game scenario — a small underdog in Xavier, a big opportunity to reach […]

Madness needs not be extended beyond 65


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Explain to me again why expanding the NCAA tournament is a good idea. Because it’s not. Plain and simple, it just doesn’t make any sense. There are those who say more is always better. But when it comes to the tournament, less is more. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to prove that the current […]

Smaller schools still fight for respect


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One of tonight’s Sweet 16 matchups will pit Cornell against Kentucky in perhaps one of the best examples of brain against brawn. Kentucky has four players who will be eventual NBA lottery picks. Cornell backup forward Eitan Chemerinsky can solve a Rubik’s Cube in three minutes. Not since the Notre Dame-Miami “Catholics versus Convicts” game […]