College Football is Back

It's been a long off-season for the USC Trojans -- seven long months, to be exact. Actually, seven and a half months since my alma mater was banned from post-season play last season.

This year is the second of three penalty years for USC, but hopefully we'll come out of it okay. The pundits predict we'll go 8 and 4, which ordinarily would make us bowl-eligible. It might even be good for a Pac-12 South Division championship, but if we do qualify for that, we won't be able to play for the conference championship because of the NCAA penalties.

Our first opponent was the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who came into Los Angeles today and nearly pulled off a win. The final score was USC 19, Minnesota 17; it could have been a disaster for USC if it weren't for a game-saving interception as the Gophers were driving toward the goal line.

Just like last year ... we'd score enough to lead going into the fourth quarter, and then poop out and lose the game because the team couldn't finish up. Except this time, they held their own.

There is heavy speculation that junior quarterback Matt Barkley may opt to enter the NFL draft in 2012, eschewing his senior season on the football team. I hope he doesn't, but who could blame him? He's got practically all that it takes to become a successful pro quarterback.

Ah well, those things are entirely beyond my control, so I'll just settle back and enjoy the ride.

Fight on!