As challenges loom, Cal is a must-win test


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When I wrote my last column, USC was 4-0. Undefeated. The fans were happy. Now, just two weeks later, USC is 4-2, the Trojans having lost two consecutive games for the first time since 2001. The fans, as you might guess, are not happy. What’s changed? Two things: one, a sad-but-true realization and an incredible […]

Defensive woes with new scheme expected


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Let me start off by dispelling the notion that patience is a virtue when it comes to following sports. In fact, I am convinced that whoever came up with that thought-provoking proverb never had to experience the agony of watching his team lose on gut-wrenching, last-second drives two weeks in a row. We live in […]

Stanford game a fork in the road for Trojans


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Gen. George S. Patton, who led U.S. forces during World War II, experienced some crushing defeats in his career. His ability to recover after a loss, however, made him an icon of military leadership. “Success is how high you bounce after you hit the bottom,” Patton once said. During the last nine years, USC built […]

The legacy of USC’s own ‘Dancing Doll’


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What if I told you the man who truly paved the way for the likes of Charles White, O.J. Simpson, Marcus Allen and Reggie Bush never won a Heisman Trophy, a national championship or found himself heading up the backfield for an NFL team? Would you believe me? Odds are, unless you knew the history […]

Defensive inefficiencies doom Trojans


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Defense wins games. So is it any surprise that USC lost 32-31 Saturday against the pesky Huskies? The Trojan defense looked utterly anemic this weekend, as Washington quarterback Jake Locker led an offensive charge that picked apart and read USC like a science class dissection lab. Locker threw for 310 yards and a touchdown on […]

Pac-10 depth good for USC


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For the second straight week, ESPN’s College GameDay will feature a matchup with a Pac-10 team. For the second straight week, USC is not that team. In the previous decade, this would have been unthinkable. Pete Carroll invaded the Pac-10 and the Trojans were soon lords of the empire. Only a few times during USC’s […]