USC began this season overrated, just as it began the past six seasons overrated. The effect of the NCAA scholarship penalties handed down in 2010 is just now ending. And yet we continue to fall for the hype.
It has everything to do with Trojan tradition and how much all of us bought into what Pete Carroll sold so well for nine seasons. He has been gone for seven years, and the two decades before he arrived weren't so hot, either.
We spend a lot more time talking about the Trojans than their play has warranted. With that, the first three items in this column mention USC. Fight On?
1. Wisconsin and USC benched their veteran quarterbacks this week for redshirt freshmen backups, and I'm not surprised at all. For one thing, both the Badgers' Alex Hornibrook and the Trojans' Sam Darnold provided a spark off the bench in the first three games. More important, coaches are conservative by nature. They are going to start with experience. It struck me that in the case of both Wisconsin fifth-year senior Bart Houston and USC fourth-year junior Max Browne, neither had been able to win playing time before this year for a reason. I say that in full hypocrisy as someone who decries quarterbacks transferring the minute they don't get to play.
2. Nebraska head coach Mike Riley tossed off a comment Monday that he coached against Northwestern, the No. 20 Huskers' opponent Saturday, in the Rose Bowl. He didn't just coach in that game 21 seasons ago. USC coach John Robinson said Riley, his offensive coordinator, made the difference in the No. 17 Trojans' 41-32 upset of No. 3 Northwestern. In "Cardinal and Gold," the recently published oral history of USC football written by my ESPN colleague Steve Delsohn, Robinson said Riley came up with the idea of going shotgun and no-huddle against Northwestern. "That was one of the better coaching efforts that I remember anyone on my staff making," Robinson said.
3. Last week, USC head coach Clay Helton said Stanford is the model for his program. This week, the UCLA that welcomes the No. 7 Cardinal into the Rose Bowl (ABC, 8 p.m. ET) looks very much like Stanford in one important way. The Bruins' average possession time in the fourth quarter in their three games this season is nearly ten-and-a-half minutes. Everything in Stanford's game plan points toward wearing down teams so that they are easy pickings in the fourth quarter. Against the Trojans, the Cardinal ran the ball 15 times and threw one pass, holding the ball for 9:36 in the last quarter of the 27-10 victory. One other item that makes the fourth quarter relevant: Stanford has won eight straight over UCLA.
4. It would be fitting for No. 14 Tennessee's long climb back toward national prominence to include a victory over No. 19 Florida, whom the Vols welcome to Knoxville on Saturday. The Gators have won 24 of the past 30 games in this SEC East rivalry, including the past 11. While you may hear over and over that Florida won the past two games by one point each, eight of the other nine victories came by at least two-score margins. If Tennessee can exorcise these demons, that will bode well for No. 1 Alabama's visit three weeks later. The Crimson Tide have won nine straight over the Vols.
5. Oklahoma freshman quarterback Austin Kendall called the Ohio State defense "basic," and after the Buckeyes thrashed the Sooners 45-24, Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops called Kendall's comment "ridiculous." No, what's ridiculous is Stoops using Kendall's mistake as an excuse to withhold younger players from contact with the media in the future. I'm sure Kendall is mortified, and I'm sure he won't do it again. And I'm sure his teammates understand that. Teach the young guys what to do and move on. What does a media ban teach them?
6. The father of Iowa junior linebacker Ben Niemann will see him play Saturday for the only time this season. The Hawkeyes play at Rutgers, where Jay Niemann is the defensive coordinator. This is the only regular-season game Jay Niemann will see Iowa play because Rutgers and Iowa both have Oct. 29 as their open date. On Tuesday, Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz said he still felt uncomfortable about luring away Ben from playing for his dad, who was on the Northern Illinois staff at the time. "I felt awful," Ferentz said. "I mean, it was a really painful conversation in some ways, just because I know as a coach how special it is to have a son on the team." Ferentz's three sons played for him at Iowa; Brian Ferentz coaches the Hawkeye offensive line.
7. Of course it's more complicated than this, but I can't remember an offense as dependent on a dual-threat quarterback as Gus Malzahn's spread at Auburn. When Malzahn ran the offense in the 2010 national championship season, Cam Newton led the Tigers to 499 yards and 41 points per game. The next season, without Newton, production fell to 338 and 25.7, respectively. When Malzahn came back as head coach and had Nick Marshall running his offense for two seasons, Auburn averaged 493 yards and 37.5 points per game. Since the beginning of last season, those numbers have fallen to 386 and 27.3, respectively. Not to mention 8-8 overall, 2-7 in the SEC and 1-5 vs. ranked opponents.