USC Football
Here is a great article I found.
Andrew Bagnato
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 28, 2005 12:00 AM
LOS ANGELES
If you care anything about college football, it's hard not to be impressed when you walk into Heritage Hall.
How many trophy cases have elevators? advertisement
On Tuesday, a visitor gawked at the glass cases displaying the cardinal-and-gold jerseys of Southern California's first five Heisman Trophy winners - Mike Garrett, O.J. Simpson, Charles White, Marcus Allen and Carson Palmer.
"When is Matt Leinart's jersey going to be installed?" the visitor asked a USC official.
"When he's done wearing it," the official replied.
Arrogance and achievement: USC is heavy on both counts. And it makes it easy to loathe the Trojans, winners of 25 consecutive games and back-to-back national titles, and their smug, latte-sipping followers.
But step back for a moment and answer this question: Is USC's dynasty a good thing for college football?
We ask because (a) you don't want to read another column about Reggie Bush; and (b) it has become a hot topic across Car Flag Nation.
"They're the best team I've ever seen," Arkansas defensive coordinator Reggie Herring said after the Trojans buried the Hogs 70-17 in the Los Angeles Coliseum two weeks ago. "They need to hurry up and graduate, because if they don't, they're going to ruin college football."
I beg to differ. The Trojans are doing the sport a favor.
They've turned every week of the regular season into an event.
Would Arizona State be preparing for a sellout this weekend if USC weren't ranked atop every poll from here to Pluto? In 2000, the 3-5 Trojans visited Sun Devil Stadium. Total attendance: 49,865.
ESPN's GameDay crew would not be pitching their tent in Tempe this weekend if Stanford was on the docket.
Some have wondered whether the Trojans' rise has diminished the rest of the Pac-10. Don't believe it for a minute. Who would you rather have as your BCS representative - USC or Pitt, which conquered the mighty Big East last year?
Parity is fun. But college football needs an occasional monster team to keep us on the edge of our seats.
In the 1940s, Army was the monster. In the 1950s, it was Oklahoma. Over the years Alabama, Texas and Notre Dame, to name a few, have all assumed the role.
In the 1980s, Miami inspired fear and loathing everywhere it went. But every Penn State fan of a certain age can tell you where he was the night the Nittany Lions throttled Vinny Testaverde and the 'Canes in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl.
Nebraska was the monster of the 1990s. I remember where I was the night the Sun Devils brought down the mighty Cornhuskers in 1996 - holed up in a hotel room in Knoxville after covering a University of Tennessee game. The phone rang.
"Did you hear the score?" the voice on the other end shouted.
I didn't have to say, "What score?" My friend's tone said it all: Another monster slain.
Someday, Troy will come tumbling down, and good luck getting a cellphone signal in that stadium on that night.
This doesn't happen in the NFL, where mediocrity reigns and the regular season is diminished every time a 9-7 team slithers into the playoffs. It doesn't matter that the defending two-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots already have lost a game. New England loses a couple of times every year.
Parity has been good in college - Wisconsin and Virginia Tech as we know them wouldn't exist without it - but the sport needs a monster.
At the moment, USC is the monster. Hide the children. It's coming to town Saturday.
Andrew Bagnato
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 28, 2005 12:00 AM
LOS ANGELES
If you care anything about college football, it's hard not to be impressed when you walk into Heritage Hall.
How many trophy cases have elevators? advertisement
On Tuesday, a visitor gawked at the glass cases displaying the cardinal-and-gold jerseys of Southern California's first five Heisman Trophy winners - Mike Garrett, O.J. Simpson, Charles White, Marcus Allen and Carson Palmer.
"When is Matt Leinart's jersey going to be installed?" the visitor asked a USC official.
"When he's done wearing it," the official replied.
Arrogance and achievement: USC is heavy on both counts. And it makes it easy to loathe the Trojans, winners of 25 consecutive games and back-to-back national titles, and their smug, latte-sipping followers.
But step back for a moment and answer this question: Is USC's dynasty a good thing for college football?
We ask because (a) you don't want to read another column about Reggie Bush; and (b) it has become a hot topic across Car Flag Nation.
"They're the best team I've ever seen," Arkansas defensive coordinator Reggie Herring said after the Trojans buried the Hogs 70-17 in the Los Angeles Coliseum two weeks ago. "They need to hurry up and graduate, because if they don't, they're going to ruin college football."
I beg to differ. The Trojans are doing the sport a favor.
They've turned every week of the regular season into an event.
Would Arizona State be preparing for a sellout this weekend if USC weren't ranked atop every poll from here to Pluto? In 2000, the 3-5 Trojans visited Sun Devil Stadium. Total attendance: 49,865.
ESPN's GameDay crew would not be pitching their tent in Tempe this weekend if Stanford was on the docket.
Some have wondered whether the Trojans' rise has diminished the rest of the Pac-10. Don't believe it for a minute. Who would you rather have as your BCS representative - USC or Pitt, which conquered the mighty Big East last year?
Parity is fun. But college football needs an occasional monster team to keep us on the edge of our seats.
In the 1940s, Army was the monster. In the 1950s, it was Oklahoma. Over the years Alabama, Texas and Notre Dame, to name a few, have all assumed the role.
In the 1980s, Miami inspired fear and loathing everywhere it went. But every Penn State fan of a certain age can tell you where he was the night the Nittany Lions throttled Vinny Testaverde and the 'Canes in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl.
Nebraska was the monster of the 1990s. I remember where I was the night the Sun Devils brought down the mighty Cornhuskers in 1996 - holed up in a hotel room in Knoxville after covering a University of Tennessee game. The phone rang.
"Did you hear the score?" the voice on the other end shouted.
I didn't have to say, "What score?" My friend's tone said it all: Another monster slain.
Someday, Troy will come tumbling down, and good luck getting a cellphone signal in that stadium on that night.
This doesn't happen in the NFL, where mediocrity reigns and the regular season is diminished every time a 9-7 team slithers into the playoffs. It doesn't matter that the defending two-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots already have lost a game. New England loses a couple of times every year.
Parity has been good in college - Wisconsin and Virginia Tech as we know them wouldn't exist without it - but the sport needs a monster.
At the moment, USC is the monster. Hide the children. It's coming to town Saturday.