You know the commercial.

Anyway, while flipping through this week's The Sporting News, there was a blip inside about the boys from Troy:

The NFL already has a team in L.A. It's USC. Seven former Trojans were drafted during the first two rounds. How did USC lose two games last season?

I've been scratching my head the last two years trying to figure that out. It's just one writer but he's expressing something I think a decent number of pundits may eventually be asking about USC if they have another 10-win season with the kind of talent they've amassed while riding on the legacy of the 2003 (yes, that did happen LSU fans) and 2004 title teams.

That curiosity, that sentiment, is but one word: dude.

The larger issue isn't just those two losses, but USC's declining overall body of work. Stanford and the 2006 UCLA loss are disasters unparalleled by anything since Carroll arrived at USC. The Oregon loss was to a good team, but what was USC doing struggling with Washington, Arizona, a tanking California squad, and offensively against UCLA and Oregon State? That's more than half the schedule with an absolutely loaded team.

Same thing in 2006: the aforementioned UCLA loss, a loss to a good Oregon State team (at one point rallying from being down three scores), Arizona, Washington State, Washington and California.

I'm less concerned with them not going undefeated. There's always a little bit of good fortune that goes into that. Regardless, they certainly could play a lot better than they have these last two season, especially given a ridiculous amount of talent on both sides of the ball.

Opinions are like ... well, you know. Here's our smelly take.

WHAT NFL SCOUTS ARE SAYING

Pro Football Weekly's 2008 NFL Draft Guide

Is clearly well-coached, with very sound mechanics. A pure pocket passer with functional arm strength, Booty is a West Coast, rhythm passer who will need to play in an offense that features a lot of short crosses and slants to be effective. Could develop into a solid backup, but would handicap what an offense could do as a starter.

Bonus Moment of Contradiction

Keeps his poise under pressure and does not pull the ball down to run.

Two sentences later:

Shows little awareness for pressure and can be rattled.

PROBABLY GETTING DRAFTED ...

Second day, in the third, fourth or fifth round.

GUY WHO WATCHED HIM FOR FIVE YEARS IS SAYING

One of the draft's most vexing prospects, Booty did the near impossible in transforming himself from a marvelous high school gunslinger in a shotgun system to a pure pocket passer running an NFL offense. He's one of the rare quarterbacks to successfully transition out of a system that produced highly regarded future flame-outs Josh Booty, Brock Berlin and Brent Rawls.

For years there has been talk of USC and UCLA returning to tradition and wearing contrasting uniforms at their rivalry game. Problem is, NCAA rules prohibit this practice and require that the offending team be docked a timeout.

It's a stupid rule, but to date the schools have obliged. It doesn't help that relations grew tense in the last year or two between the programs. Enter Rick Neuheisel.

In theory, the hyper-competitive Neuheisel should further the divide between the programs, but he and USC coach Pete Carroll at least publicly seem to respect each other. So much so, in fact, that next year may be an "Nixon visits China" moment in relations between the programs.

USC and UCLA are very close to announcing a novel idea to heat up their rivalry. Both teams will wear their home colors this season at UCLA's home game Dec. 6 in the Rose Bowl.

That means USC will wear maroon. The plan is for the Trojans to be penalized a timeout when they take the field in their homies. UCLA, then, at its first opportunity will call a timeout to even things up. Pete Carroll apparently has signed off on the p.r. strategy. What a way to ramp up the Trojans-Bruins rivalry.

You know what's next? Full diplomatic relations (yeh right!). Until anything happens this is all just talk and cutesy "Americans playing ping pong in China" type ice-breakers floated before the public. Hopefully it happens.

Previously at FanHouse
It's Time to Let USC and UCLA Party Like It's 1969

Interesting find in Olin Buchanan's Mailbag this week at Rivals.com: a trend has emerged in college football whereby teams winning a title ending in any year ending in an 8 experience a long, painful championship drought.

Recent victims: Notre Dame has not won a title since 1988. USC waited until 2003 after claiming the 1978 crown. Ohio State endured a more than 30-year wait between their 1968 and 2002 crowns. Scary stuff here.

Everyone wants a championship, but maybe it's a devil's bargain in reaching for this year's title?

Other victims of years ending in "8":

TCU was named the Associated Press national champion in 1938 – the third year of the poll – and even though players such as Bob Lilly and LaDainian Tomlinson have since come through Fort Worth, the Horned Frogs have not won another crown.

Michigan won in 1948 and did not win another national title until 1997, and that one was split with Nebraska. The '58 champion was LSU, which waited 45 years before celebrating another national championship.

Ok so maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing for TCU to win a championship this year. They've waited long enough, maybe another drought is worth the price of ending the current agony.

The start of Spring Football could not come a day sooner for the USC Trojans after the heralded Men of Troy Basketball squad went one-and-done in the NCAA Tournament--and there is good reason to pay attention to what's happening on Howard Jones Field.

Mark Sanchez, Aaron Corp and Arkansas-transfer Mitch Mustain will be battling it out to determine who will replace John David Booty in the fall. Redshirt Junior Sanchez has the leg up according to head coach Pete Carroll, "It will be interesting to see if Mitch and (freshman) Aaron (Corp) can catch up. That's what we'll have to find out."

For Mustain to catch up and win the starting job, he must make sure that time is on his side, and make the coaching staff prolong their decisionmaking process into the fall.

"If it doesn't get decided, it looks better for Aaron or I," Mustain told the Daily News. "From August, it's like night and day for me. And even from December, it's a huge difference, even with where I stand on the team in terms of leadership since (Booty) left. I'm not going to be reluctant to exercise it."

Ohio State is scheduled to travel out west this fall to play USC in a much-anticipated contest between national powers.

This won't be the first go-round between the teams, as the two played in the 1980 Rose Bowl. USC ended up winning that matchup 17-16 thanks to a game-winning late touchdown drive punctuated by tailback Charles White going "over the top" of the pile and into the end zone.

Smart television executives will be sure to make a play on all these 28 weeks/months later films, and note that USC/Ohio State '08 marks the 28-year anniversary of the 1980 Rose Bowl.

Notable:

Frank Sinatra (RIP) made the official coin toss. Heisman Trophy winner Charles White was named game MVP rushing for over 200 yards. Future Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Allen paid his dues as a fullback until White graduated. Current USC coach Pete Carroll was a defensive assistant for Ohio State in this game (related video here). O.J. Simpson conducts the postgame interview of Trojan coach John Robinson.

The man doesn't sleep, so pretty much everyone outside the 99th percentile where he resides faces that fire

"I don't want to sound like a jerk," [USC coach Pete] Carroll says, "But other coaches ... they're just lazy."

Carroll is gripping about the NCAA's ban on off-campus visits during the spring evaluation period (April 15 to May 31). That's a period of time where coaches like Carroll commit to life on the road and find those margins in recruiting and evaluation. Ostensibly, the legislation was an attempt to curb coaches from violating the NCAA's "bump" rule that limits personal contact with recruits at their schools.

For someone like Carroll, this is an unnecessary and unfair "time out". The poor man's got nothing to do except work on his jumper, apparently. Says The Sporting News' Matt Hayes:

The reality is the new rule penalizes those who work hard and build relationships and rewards those who are, yep, lazy.

Nick Saban visited more than 100 high schools in last spring's evaluation period. Urban Meyer's spring jaunts are legendary, and Ron Zook once visited more than 70 schools in 30 days. See the common thread yet?

Those who work hard reap the rewards.

Any coach can watch tape and see potential. The difference is in the details: talking to high school coaches and guidance counselors and teachers early on and getting a feel for intangibles that don't show on grainy video.

The cold reality is the coaching biz rewards the guys who never leave the office and keep family and social commitments to a minimum in pursuit of every possible edge. Someone like Carroll is willing to make those sacrifices others won't. I wouldn't call other coaches lazy (although some are!), but for a competitive freak like Carroll it's probably near-impossible to see things in any other light.

Previously at FanHouse
Pete Carroll Can Not Be Profiled
Pete Carroll Tag

Here's why athletic directors are frowning today...

It's time to play Guess The Misdemeanor!: As a coach, Greg Schiano has to make decisions. Most of them are easy, like "should I blitz against Syracuse" (yes) and "should I sell an internal organ in order to bribe Ray Rice to stay" (yes again--the left kidney and a lobe of the liver).

When it comes to player discipline, the answers aren't so simple. So when Schiano found out defensive tackle Justin Francis was arrested, he suspended the young man, then informed the media. Nobody likes a secretive coach, after all. But he decided not to provide the specifics of the arrest itself, which we celebrate as an even better decision. Why? Because it allows us the opportunity to engage in reckless speculation! AOL cannot attest to the veracity of any of these rumors, of course--mainly because this author making them up right now--but we're confidently narrowing down the list of possible infractions to the ones listed below.

• Riding a puma through the drive-thru at the local Arby's. Pumas are endangered, pal!
• Running an illegal bronzer smuggling ring. Yes, it's Jersey, so the market's there, but get a permit, for crissakes.
• Parking fifteen stolen cars on the tarmac at Newark International Airport. Pilots do not appreciate "obstacle courses."
• Puma bombing. Again with the pumas!

Will the drama never cease?

Lloyd Lake walked out on Tuesday before giving a scheduled deposition in connection with the lawsuit he filed against New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush.

At issue was a person in attendance in possession of a gun, which apparently spooked Lake. Yahoo! News, which appears to be 100% in the bag for Lake, recounts what appeared to be a menacing person staring directly at him and revealing a gun during the deposition. It appears based on the ESPN story that this person was a member of Bush's private security outfit.

Lake, fearing for his safety, said no mas to the scheduled deposition after that.

From ESPN's story, Bush's side contends that Lake had made a pair of threats in December against Bush. Law enforcement and private security allegedly advised Bush to take extra precaution especially after Lake's attorney allegedly told Bush's attorney that he could not control Lake, a former alleged gang member, if Bush didn't pay up. Got all that?

Basically, welcome to civil court hell, but with guns and intimidation. Don't ever get divorced, kids. Or allegedly leave a business partner in the lurch for large sums of cash.

Here's hoping your school isn't using whiskey as mouthwash thinking about who it woke up next to this morning

Themes

USC Soars Late, Pulls Shocker

Tallahassee Lincoln kids love to flirt, and they're never lacking for suitors. But when push comes to shove, the vast majority of them break hearts and stick with the hometown Seminoles. So it came as a complete shock to many people when highly regarded cornerback T.J. Bryant cast his lot with Pete Carroll and USC.

USC lost out on Alabama linebacker Jerrell Harris, but did pull in Bryant, Michigan linebacker Nick Perry and Los Angeles linebacker Uona Kavienga throughout the second half of the day to slide into 7th place in the Rivals.com rankings. It's been a great month of recruiting overall as USC recently got a pledge from the nation's top player for 2009 in quarterback Matt Barkley along with several other preliminary top 100 recruits. Damn.

Back To The Future

As expertly stated by EDSBS, the top of the recruiting rankings have a certain 1985 feel. Alabama, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Miami ... thank heaven for moth balls.

Miscellany

Notre Dame has a great deal to prove on the field after last year's disaster and two consecutive BCS flops. However, the Irish were magnificent in holding together their recruiting class and finding some decent guys in the trenches (at least on defense, anyway). The same can be said for UCLA after the departure of coach Karl Dorrell.

Jumpin' Sam McGuffie briefly flirted with California, but he's come home now and will stick with Michigan.