LenDale White Doesn't Like Pat Haden Now, Either...

((HT: Larry Brown Sports))

Former USC running back LenDale White has made no secret through his very vocal Twitter feed that he is not a fan of the administration at his alma mater and some of their coaching in the past few games...

White wanted to have USC fire defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox after the near melt-down in the close win last week against Arizona (28-26).

That anger was reinforced and amplified after yesterday's incident when he was escorted out of the locker room after the 56-28 win over Colorado.
((HT: USCFootball.com))


Now, he wants AD Pat Haden fired and went on another Twitter rant...

I can't believe @ADHadenUSC kicked me out of #thecoli shook my hand then had me escorted out. I'm still at a loss for words!!!

And then, there's this (redaction from LBS)

LenDale White may now be a must-read on the Twitters just because of entries like these...

Boston College Is Doing Something Cool Saturday

((HT: ESPN))

BC is playing Southern Cal Saturday and finding a really cool way to remember those impacted by 9-11 at the game...

The school is giving out 6,000 red bandannas at the game in memory of a former BC lacrosse player who was one of many heroes on that day...

The team is also wearing an Under Armour created red bandanna pattern spread all throughout their uniform display and coaching apparel.

From the school:

The Crowther family will be on hand for the 8 p.m., nationally-televised game, which is deemed Service Day, celebrating many groups and individuals from the BC community who epitomize the Univerisity's mission of "Men and Women for Others."

Here's the story of Welles Crowther so we can all never forget

Coach "O" Brings Fun Back To USC Football, And A Win Over Arizona 38-31

[HT: Los Angeles Times]

Could it be it's fun to play football again at Southern California?

It sure seems that way with USC's 38-31 win over Arizona.



Interim head coach Ed Orgeron has brought is Cajun enthusiasm to L.A. and it seems to be catching on.  You can chalk that up to what a difference a coaching change can make.

There were Trojans with "Coach 'O'" painted on their chest and it seemed USC was playing with more passion than before athletic director Pat Haden made the move to change coaches.

“Coach O was awesome,” Haden said to the Los Angeles Times. “An entirely different energy for our team.

“It was just fun watching our kids having a blast. The game is supposed to be a game of joy and they played with joy tonight.”

"I had a blast," Orgeron said.  “I think I woke up happy for the first time in my life [Thursday] morning, besides the day I married my wife and had my kids.

“I’m not a happy guy, but today I was happy. Just a feeling of happiness of being able to represent USC.”

Leave it to Arizona head coach Rich Rodriquez to bring up USC's former head coach.

"And give Lane Kiffin credit. Lane recruited those guys and their talented and they played hard." Rodriquez said.

They played hard for Coach "O".

Southern California may have found another star receiver in Nelson Agholor who caught seven passes for 161 yards and a touchdown.  Agholor had to step up against Arizona with All-American receiver Marqise Lee out with a knee injury.

USC quarterback Cody Kessler was an efficient 15-30 passing for 297 yards and a touchdown and no interceptions.

“It was awesome,” Kessler said to the Los Angeles Times as he left the field. “It was great to come out and make a statement. I think people are excited about USC football again.”

Notre Dame is next up for the Trojans.

Lane Kiffin Canned As USC Head Coach--UPDATED WITH DETAILS

USC athletic director Pat Haden has seen enough of Lane Kiffin as the head coach of the Trojans.

USC athletics sent out this tweet:

Breaking news: Lane Kiffin has been relieved of his duties as USC's head football coach per AD Pat Haden.
— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) September 29, 2013

 Haden broke the news to Kiffin when the charter arrived back to Los Angeles after USC was pummeled by Arizona State 62-41. The Trojans are 3-2 this season.

Kiffin's overall record in 4 seasons was 28-15. He got a lot of flack at the end of the 2012 season when he essentially fired his father, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.

((Update--Per @InsideUSC, writer Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News, it appears the firing happened when the team plane landed early Sunday morning at LAX. He was pulled off the team bus and notified--

Pat Haden, J.K. McKay, Steve Lopes, Mark Jackson (#USC administrators) met with Lane Kiffin at LAX parking lot to dismiss him
— InsideUSC (@InsideUSC) September 29, 2013

USC announced that athletic director Pat Haden will hold a Sunday afternoon press conference where it's expected he'll announce an interim coach and the school's plans moving forward.

((UPDATE 11:45am---ESPN reports former Ole Miss coach and current USC assistant Ed Orgeron will take over the team for the rest of the 2013 season))

Haden had supported Kiffin the past few weeks when others were calling for his head.  While Southern California was off to a 3-1 start heading into Saturday nights game against Arizona State those wins were very uninspiring.

Losing to Washington State in the L.A. Coliseum 10-7 in the second week of the season was inexcusable to Trojan fans.  Barely defeating Utah State 17-14 at home drove those fans crazy.

Haden stuck with Kiffin.

Then Saturday night during USC's first road game in hostile territory the Trojans rolled over and died.



USC's defense, which was one of the nations best, gave up 612 yards of total offense to Arizona State.  To add insult to injury the Sun Devils put up 62 points on the Trojans.

At times the Trojans looked uninterested and showed no enthusiasm.  Lane Kiffin looked like he was staring into space, almost totally lost.

Haden had seen enough.  The USC brand is way too important to college football.  It's the gold standard on the west coast.

God forbid that school in the powder blue, UCLA, should over take USC in L.A.

The move was made.  Lane Kiffin is unemployed before the season ended.

Now the question is what kind of rebuilding job is at stake for USC to maintain their brand in college football and out west.

Some heavy lifting is needed.

OSG COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Thursday Night Previews

North Carolina at South Carolina

Forget about Jadeveon Clowney, all eyes will be on North Carolina's offensive tackle James Hurst who will be matched up on Clowney.

"Obviously it's the biggest match-up in my college career." Hurst said.  "I do think about it all the time.  Everytime I do a football activity it's related to that match-up."

Hurst is one of the best offensive lineman in the ACC and is on the pre-season Outland and Lombardi trophy watch lists.  Thursday night he's going up against a freak of nature.

South Carolina will win this battle.

Ole Miss at Vanderbilt

This game should be appointment TV for your Thursday night.  Ole Miss and Vandy are two teams who a eager to have a seat at the big boy table within the SEC.

Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze will try to run as many plays as possible on offense and gas the Commodore defense.  You can bet Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin will be in the ear of an SEC official making sure the Rebel offense doesn't have an advantage.

"When the ball is snapped I want everyone set." Franklin said.  "We went back and looked at (film of game vs) Ole Miss last year and there were probably 10 to 12 plays we they snapped the ball their offense wasn't set. The officials had a hard time keeping up with the pace to get into position to do that."

"So as long as everyone is playing by the same rules and this isn't Canadian football where people are running toward the line of scrimmage when they snap the football, I'm good with that."

Franklin would be good with a loss and that's what should happen.  Ole Miss will get it done in Music City.

USC at Hawaii

Southern Cal quarterbacks Max Wittek and Cody Kessler will play against Hawaii.  This should be a Trojan blowout.

Utah State at Utah

If your looking for a Thursday night upset this might be the one. Last year Utah State won in Logan.

"Utah State is a very good opponent." Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "They have most everyone back. They have a new head coach and a lot of the same assistant staff. We expect that they are going to be every bit as good as last year and we have a big challenge ahead of us."

Those of us in the OSG HQ are calling and upset.  Utah State makes it two in a row over the Utes.

USC's Matt Barkley Bounces Back VS Utah, Throws For 3 TD's And No Interceptions

Southern California quarterback Matt Barkley had a lot to prove Thursday night against Utah.  The stench of a stinker of a performance against Stanford has lingered. 

In Salt Lake City Thursday night the Trojans found themselves down two touchdowns to open to game to the fired up Utes.

Barkley didn’t make the same mistakes he did against the Cardinal nor did he throw an interception.  Barkley was just locked on to his receivers.

In the 2^nd half alone Barkley threw three touchdown passes of  23 yards, 6 yards and the hat trick was an 83 yard bomb to Marqise Lee that doomed Utah. USC heads back home with a 38-28 win and a 4-1 record.

"The quarterback [Barkley] played really well, to go on the road versus a defense that can give you some problems.”  USC head coach Lane Kiffin said. “To complete over 70 percent of his passes, no interceptions, no sacks, three touchdowns and was maybe two catches away from a huge night, it's good to see; because we all know what happened the last time we went on the road with our offensive line. So, back-to-back no sacks, it was good."

Come on Kiffykins, call you quarterback by name not just “the quarterback”.  Barkley did a nice job in a hostile environment and led the Trojans to a well earned win on the road. 

Here’s the highlights from Salt Lake City.  (Thanks KSL-TV)
Southern Cal’s D.J. Morgan rushed for 46 yards against Utah and offered his thoughts after the game. (Thanks USC Athletics)

Lane Kiffin with shortest press conference ever

Well, not really, but it wasn't too far from that.

Coach Kiffykins, a perennial favorite of Sports Bloggers world wide kind of outdid himself Wednesday morning.

Kiffin took questions following practice. Ok..well, actually he only took one of them before looking away and leaving.



Total Presser Time :28 seconds.

He already had endeared himself to the L.A media last week after banning L.A Times reporter Scott Wolf from practices and games for reporting that USC kicker Andre Heidari had knee surgery and was out for at least 3 weeks.

USC was appalled and claimed Wolf had violated their rules of not reporting injuries. Kiffykins eventually relented and Wolf was reinstated, but his team was...a bit choked up.

The Trojans summarily went out and got beat by a Tree. Stanford took down the then #2 Trojans 21-14 Saturday night.

It appears, at least by this clip, Kiffy was peeved at a question about someone's health during this mornings presser. And he REALLY needs to lighten up.

Perhaps his tight sphincter explains his team being so tight, but then again, we got to see this act in the SEC. Kiffy making no friends in Tennessee or the SEC after laying waste to the Volunteers program.

Remember this SEC and Vols fans?



Thought so....

Life Is Good On The Farm As Stanford Defeats #2 Southern California 21-14

The post Andrew Luck era at Stanford appears to be just as good.

Saturday night Stanford head coach David Shaw told his Cardinal team to live in the moment before the game against #2 Southern California.

Stanford quarterback Josh Nunes threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns.  Nunes second was the biggest, a 37 yard scoring strike to Zach Ertz early in the fourth quarter put the Cardinal up for good 21-14.  That will be a moment Nunes and Erst won’t forget.

The Stanford defense harassed Southern California quarterback Matt Barkley all night sacking the Trojan quarterback four times.   A moment they won’t forget.

And when the fans stormed the field after the game was probably the best moment of them all.

Here’s a great video of the game from Stanford Athletics.

Southern California quarterback Matt Barkley threw for 259 yards but no touchdowns and two interceptions. 

Hard to believe but Stanford has dominated this series recently.  The win is Stanford’s fourth in a row over USC and that’s never happened.

Which Team Is Heading To The Pac-12 Championship Game? The One Who Was Shutout By 50.

The UCLA Bruins are heading to the Pac-12 Championship Game after a pathetic performance against USC Saturday. The Trojans clobbered the Bruins 50-0 and so UCLA will be playing for a BCS bid.

Such is the BCS this season.

Here's the highlights from L.A. (Thanks Fox Sports)



"We can't feel sorry for ourselves." UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel said after the game. "We've got to get up and get back to work and see if we can play a much better game in the conference championship game."

They better as to not embarrass the Pac-12. It would shock no one in the OSG HQ if Neuheisel is fired by UCLA following next weeks Pac-12 championship game.

If they were eligible USC might have been in the BCS title game mix. A USC/LSU BCS Championship Game would be appointment TV.

By the way, Trojan quarterback Matt Barkley was brilliant Saturday night against the Bruins. Barkley threw for 423 yards and six touchdowns in what might be his final game at USC.

Stanford Gets "Lucky" Over USC

Right now is their any doubt Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck is going to win the Heisman Trophy.

Unless Luck suffers a season ending injury and Stanford folds the tents a la the Indianapolis Colts (And Luck may end up in Indy) the Heisman appears to be Luck's to lose.

Saturday against the Southern California Trojans Luck threw for 330 yards and three touchdowns as the Cardinal survived 56-48 in triple overtime over the Trojans.

Here are the highlights. (Thanks Fox Sports)

<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=37c2c466-6e30-4367-96bb-6f0c4f5111d4" target="_new" title="">Highlights: (6) Stanford - USC</a>

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck meets the media after the game. (Thanks CSN Bay Area)