Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott just announced that with the addition of Colorado and Utah – expected to be for the 2012 football season –  the Pac-10 will change its name to the Pacific 12.
Meanwhile, the Big Ten, which has had 11 teams since Penn State joined the Midwest conference in the 1990s, recently announced that it will still be the Big Ten, despite adding a 12th team – Nebraska in 2011.
I guess they know how to add out west.
No word yet on the Big 12, which is slated to be reduced to 10 teams after Nebraska bolts for the Big Ten in 2011 and Colorado for the Pac-12 in 2012.
There was no announcement of how the new Pac-12 will divide the divisions or if a conference championship game in football will be held, as most experts expect, or where it might be held.
I still say the Rose Bowl would be the best site.
Conference athletic directors, according to reports, are slated to meet on Friday and discuss division alignment.

USC just announced that effective Aug. 3 that West Covina native Pat Haden will replace Mike Garrett as the school’s athletic director.
This is a move, sans the hiring of Haden, that most have speculated would come in the wake of the NCAA putting the football program on a two-year bowl ban and reducing the team’s scholarship limit to 15 per year over the next three seasons, down from 25 a year.
Garrett, in my opinion, sealed his fate when his first and only response to the sanctions was that he believed they were the result of “jealousy and envy” by the other institutions in the NCAA.
The 1965 Heisman Trophy winner has always come across with a personality and attitude that acted like he would put up with the so-called cheating as long as winning was the end result.
Pat Haden is completely different. He, like anyone else who competes, wants to win, but he wants to do it within the rules. It was true when he was setting the San Gabriel Valley record for most touchdown passes in area history while at Bishop Amat, when he was quarterbacking USC to an 18-17 victory over Ohio State in the 1975 Rose Bowl and in recent years when he was lead analyst for Notre Dame football telecasts on NBC and as a member of USC’s Board of Trustees.
USC couldn’t have picked a better man for the job.
I can guarantee he would never fire a coach via voice mail.

Alabama and coach Nick Saban are the favorites to hoist the BCS crystal ball in 2010.

The more things change, the more they stay same.
At least that’s the way it’s looking for the upcoming college football season, where the same candidates who vied for the Bowl Championship Series title are expected to re-up for another year.
With most conference media days slated to be held over the coming week, including the Pac-10, which is slated for next Thursday at the Rose Bowl, this seems like the perfect time to come with our preseason Top 5, and our best bet for which two teams will spend the New Year’s in Glendale, Ariz., the site of the 2011 BCS championship game.

Continue reading “Preseason Top 5: Roll Tide” »

The NCAA came down like a hammer with USC’s football team taking the part of the nail Thursday.
It handed downed one of the governing bodies stiffest penalties, imposing a two-year bowl ban, the loss of 30 scholarships over a three-year probational period that will limit USC to just 75 per season, down from 85. The Trojans were also forced to forfeit all victories from the 2005 season. The NCAA declared running back Reggie Bush, who is now with the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, ineligible during the 2005 season, which could result in Bush losing the Heisman Trophy, which most believe will be vacated.
The NCAA cited a lack of institutional control, both for the Bush scandal and a later situation in 2007 with former basketball star O.J. Mayo. The NCAA ruled that USC’s self-imposed postseason ban for this past season was sufficient punishment.

Steve’s take: This is a major hit that will take USC a few years to recover from. ESPN’s Jesse Palmer noted today that the situation is very similar to what Miami received in 1995. The Hurricanes, after winning four national titles from 1983-92, received a similar penalty in regards to loss of scholarships, and it took Miami six years for the Hurricanes to get back to a major bowl. I’m don’t think it will take USC that long to get back to the elite, but the hit will show its face. USC should still get top recruits, but their depth will take a hit, which won’t bode well if the rumors are true about Texas and Oklahoma forming a a super Pac-16.

Above: Diamond Ranch’s Brandon Sermons, now at UCLA, broke a femur bone during spring practice on Saturday.

Brandon Sermons, a defensive back from Diamond Ranch High School who is now at UCLA, suffered a broken femur during an individual contact drill during the Bruins’ third spring practice on Saturday.
UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said it was freak injury ton a 1-on-1 drill and there is no word when he will be back, but it won’t be before fall practice begins in August.
Continue reading “Diamond Ranch’s Sermons breaks femur during Day 3 of UCLA spring practice” »

Above: USC’s Matt Barkley will be a key factor for the USC football team in the fall. The sophomore and his fellow Trojans begin spring practice today.

USC will take to the field for the first time in 2010 when it begins spring practice today.
But one question lingers: Can the mice run the asylum?
During the 2000s, no program in college football enjoyed success like USC, winning outright or sharing a Pac-10 title seven consecutive seasons, while also advancing to seven consecutive Bowl Championship Series bowls along with winning two mythical national titles.
That was under Pete Carroll, who has now taken his act back to the NFL to try and turnaround the Seattle Seahawks.
The optimism around Heritage Hall after Carroll left was that USC athletic director Mike Garrett, sans former offensive coordinator Norm Chow, who is at rival UCLA, was able to bring in the same coaching staff during the back-to-back championship reign, including Lane Kiffin as head coach and Ed Orgeron as one of his assistants.
But again I ask: Can the hens run the hen house without the top rooster?
We’re about to find out, and as far as Kiffin is concerned, the answer is a definite yes.

Continue reading “USC: Out with old, in with the new?” »

Above: Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, left, is back
at spring practice as Alabma began preparations to repeat as BCS champions.
(Staff Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz)/

Alabama, which won the Bowl Championship Series title game with a 37-21 victory over Texas in the BCS championship game at the Rose Bowl in January, is in the middle of its preparation to repeat, joining a handful of teams who began spring practice earlier this month.
The Crimson Tide, which lost several All-Americans on defense, include All-American’s Javier Arenas and Rolando McClain, are picked as many to repeat. Alabama, with Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram back at running back, and a much more confident Greg McElroy at quarterback, along with Julio Jones at receiver, the Tide is expected to much strong on the offensive side.
Continue reading “Tide looking to Roll again,” »

Above: Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli has been sacked for the season after pleading guilty to burglary charges this week..

Oregon coach Chip Kelly, whose Ducks were expected to be favored to repeat at Pac-10 champs this coming season, laid down the law of two key players – quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and LaMichael James – who both plead guilty to misdemeanor charges in separate cases.
Masoli, the key figure to the Ducks’ high-powered offense last season,  plead guilty to a burglary charge, was suspended for the season. Kelly said he still has a redshirt year available. He will remain on scholarship.
James, who rushed for more than 1,500 yards in  his red-shirt freshman season, was suspended for the Ducks’ season opener against New Mexico on Sept. 4 in Eugene.
Here’s a story from Sports Illustrated.com about the suspensions and the disciplinary actions Kelly has issued since the Ducks lost to Ohio State 26-17 in the Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 1

Steve’s take: This was a move Kelly had to make, especially after reports were starting to surface that he was showing favoritism to key impact players. On the football side, the Ducks, who came into spring practice returning all they keg cogs from last season, now drop back into the mix of teams that includes USC, Cal and even Oregon State. USC should now be the favorite going into the season.

Oregon has fallen on it’s head since playing in the Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 1

Oregon was a team of destiny last season, surviving early-season controversy to win the Pac-10 and advance to its first Rose Bowl Game in 15 years.
The Ducks were the feel-good story, with first-year coach Chip Kelly the orchestrator for a high-powered offensive machine that include arguably one of the top quarterbacks in the country in Jeremiah Masoli and the running back tandem of LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner.
But suddenly the Ducks seemed jinx, at least it’s seemed that win since the off-season.
Four players have been arrested, with four players kicked off the team, and another suspended. James and Masoli are right in the middle of it.
James, the high-octane running back who made Oregon fans forget about LeGarrette Blount, was arrested recently after his girlfriend informed police that he grabbed her neck during an argument and threw her to the ground. He has pleaded not guilty to domestic violence charges.
Masoli’s troubles are more transparent. A report says he and receiver Garrett Embry stole two computers from a fraternity. But no charges have been filed and police have yet to make the report public. Embry has been released from the team for what Kelly said was a violation of a team rule.
But the rumors fly, the question is will the Ducks next.
Stay tuned.

Above: Alabama is a good bet to celebrate like this again next year.

Who’s No. 1?
It’s the same question that’s been asked at the conclusion of the
college football season since the Associated Press began appointing a
mythical national champion in 1936.
The answer is obvious today. While there are those who are clamoring
for a Division I playoff, as they do every year, no one can dispute
Alabama being the best team in the country.

Continue reading “Alabama good bet to repeat” »