Quest for #1 Resumes

Here we go again! College football is back, which means I will DVR College GameDay every Saturday morning, watching it at a more decent hour (and hopefully before the University of Southern California game begins).

GameDay broadcasts live at 4 a.m. and as much as I enjoy the game, I am NOT going to wake up for a 4 a.m. program and try to stay awake for two hours. Nope, I’d rather sleep a few more hours first.

My football interests generally just involve the USC Trojans as I have my master’s degree from there, and have followed them since I first went to the 1964 USC-Notre Dame game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The Trojans are exciting. They are almost always in the conversation every season as a possible contender for the national title, especially since Pete Carroll took over as head coach and his teams have produced three Heisman Trophy winners – Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, and Reggie Bush.

I had a little bit of trepidation before yesterday’s season opener against the San Jose State Spartans. I am familiar with their coach – Dick Tomey – who used to coach the University of Hawaii Rainbows, bringing excitement back to Hawaii football back in the ‘70s. He’s done great things with teams he’s put together.

Also, for the first time in its history, the Trojans opened their season with a true freshman at quarterback. Matt Barkley was All-Everything in high school, hailing from Mater Dei High School in Chula Vista, near San Diego.

I figured he was pretty good due to Coach Carroll’s effusive praise of him following spring camp and later following August camp. He beat out Aaron Corp (another all-everything), and Mitch Mustain (an Arkansas all-everything who was going to be a star at the University of Arkansas).

It looks like I needn’t have worried. He had a great game on Saturday as the coaches called a pretty conservative game with no long down-the-field passes. The awesome (and I use that word in its truest, non-trite sense) Trojan running game opened everything up and USC soundly trounced the Spartans.

The first quarter was all San Jose State. In its first six possessions, USC punted, fumbled, punted, fumbled and punted again. Uh-oh, I thought, don’t tell me …

As it turned out, San Jose State won the first quarter, 3-0. USC won the second quarter, 28-0; and both the third and fourth quarters, 14-0 each. Final score: 56-3.

Matt Barkely was pulled from the game, Aaron Corp came in and lead the team to another touchdown. Even Mitch Mustain got to play.

Games like this are great. Not because of the runaway score, but because everybody gets a chance to play and earn some valuable experience that will be useful down the road as the season gets hotter and we get into conference play where every game is crucial.

I was very worried before the season about our game at Ohio State University next week. If you recall, USC smeared them last year in Los Angeles and they will be looking for some revenge in their home stadium on Saturday. I’m sure they were licking their chops before their struggle against Navy yesterday, imagining how they were going to welcome the young Trojan quarterback to big-time college football.

Well, I’m not so worried any more. Matt Barkley impressed me with his poise and maturity. I hope he can keep it all together for our big games, specifically against Oregon, California, Notre Dame and UCLA. And here’s hoping the Trojans won’t allow anyone to sneak up on them as they are prone to do at least once every year.

We are … SC!