USC Vs. Michigan

Geez, I don'ty know if I can attend three losses at the Rose Bowl in 12 months.

I'll have my two tickets on stubhub by the end of the week.

Hope the Trojans don't mail this one in. There is no pressure on them now - hopefully, they can bounce back and build some momentum going into recruiting season and Spring practice.

USC beats Michigan soundly in the Rose Bowl and Florida beats Ohio State by a couple of touchdowns. Then who ends up #2 in the final poll?

Lamar Woodley is going to have a field day with Kyle Williams.

And this game will be make it or break it for SarKiffen.

Nice though Dale..we wouldn't end up at #2 though. We have 2 losses to unranked teams. Nope..we will be lucky to get a #5 or #6.

And, after seeing that mess I saw on Saturday, I would say the Rose Bowl will be about 40-10 Michigan. I don't even know how to comment on what I saw..terrible play calls, no running game, a QB playing scared, penalties everywhere..they looked like a bad high school team.

I have no idea what is going on with PC and staff but it looked like they took the team to Hawaii this week for a vacation instead of practicing.

More shows like this and Petey will be working at Subway.

why is it the beef bowl?
and USC played Iowa, Mich, OK and Texas last four years...what is meant by third time in four years?

Michigan (UM) is much better than ucla. UM didn't allow the domers to get close even in the 4th quarter with the scrubs in. "Shine" is right on the money, michigan will win in a blowout unless the coaches and players get the $!&$ together

Michigan Trojan is funny...Pete will be working at Subway if he has more 2 loss seasons and Rose Bowl appearances? There may be firings after this season but Pete won't be going anywhere until he decides he is ready to go. How quickly we forget.

I too attedned the game at the Rose Bowl. Usc will play a great game against Michigan. (Tradition comes back)A victory in this game gives us the final nail in the top recruiting class and a great start for the 2007-2008 season

hey frustrated michigan trojan, post your ignorant comments somewhere else.

Players are disappointed? Well isn't that terrible, considering they couldn't do anything to prevent it...oh wait, that's right. Two losses thanks to two tipped passes. You're a nice enough guy Booty, but you're too short and you just don't have "it."

Sanchez for starter in '07.

you guys are giving Michigan too much credit, they dont impress me much. The Trojans will bounce back although covering Manningham will be no easy task but then again what did Samarjhdbhjhakljdhlkajdh do??

It's small consolation, but I want to get one thing out there to set the record straight. USC did not lose to two unranked opponents. Oregon State finished #22 in the BCS standings, and UCLA finished #25. Yes, both teams were unranked when we played them, but it's where they finish that should be the measuring stick. Otherwise, you could beat an overrated ranked team in Week 1 or 2 that ends up finishing 3-8 and get credit for it.

I heard Urban Meyer take credit for Florida having played six ranked teams this year on the BCS selection show, but they actually faced four teams that ended up in the BCS Top 25, winning three of the four games. By comparison, USC played six BCS Top 25 teams, going 4-2, and LSU played four, going 2-2. (Incidentally, UCLA was 2-2 against the BCS Top 25, same as LSU.) No one played (or beat) more BCS Top 25 teams than USC.

I am not arguing that USC should be ranked ahead of Florida, just setting the record straight. Not that it makes any difference--we'd still be in the Rose Bowl-- but we should be ranked ahead of LSU.

Shine, I agree with you. Lamar Woodley is going to run circles around Kyle Williams

The only pressure for this game will be on PC. Can he motivate a team that is not motivated for the Rose Bowl.

I hate to sound like someone who does not want to win NC's every year, but does anyone find it somewhat pathetic that everyone is whining about "Having" to play in the Rose Bowl. I mean we are talking about one of the richest(literally) bowl games of them all in tradition.

Its obvious the players are in pain, and they can afford to be for the next couple of weeks, but once that game plan is implemented, its time to focus. That goes for the players, coaches and fans.

Everyone needs to pick up their intensity to an all time high and finish off the season with great style (as PC would say)

And for all the people who want Kiffin gone. Hey, how about Hue Jackson or Paul Hackett for Offensive Coordinator?

Yeah, I didn't think so!

the beef bowl is not the Rose Bowl. It is an event hosted by Lawrey's each year where both teams go and eat as much prime rib as possible and the team which eats the most wins.

It's cheap publicity for Lawrey's.

Hey, Michigan, wear a longer skirt please, your panties are showing?

Panic city, ladies?

Michigan is a Big Ten team and we have always played Big Ten teams well, particularly in the Rose Bowl, and, our defense will make this a close game, either way.

As for Booty, with no blocking, no running game and no adjustments from the OC, he passed for 274 yards on the run, more than his per game average and didn't have a to until the end. Pretty damn good for no support.

Get a sex change.

Unless something happens between now and Jan 1, we still have booty and kiffin, we are fighting a losing battle fellas

Although the PC rumors to Arizona should die down pretty much after last weeks pathetic no show of a coaching job

Finally, UM wants to be here even less than SC

JD Booty wasn't the reason USC lost to UCLA. He had a solid game despite getting no protection. Also, Expo Park, check the roster. Booty and Sanchez are the same height. Lay off the guy. Statistically he had one of the better seasons of any QB in college football.

Bob Toledo

10-2 in a rebuilding season, a pac-10 championship, and a BCS game...what is there to be concerned about? I have total respect for what the men of Troy pulled off this season. In a year in which a rebuilt team can do as the trojans did, there is nothing to hang heads about. Credit to the Bruins...but beware to all in 07; The Men of Troy 2 will be amazing. Fight On!

...Kiffins got to go

In my humble opinion, USC simply ran out if gas. You say -- That's crazy; they were playing their cross-town rivals.

Well, yea, BUT --

They had just run the gauntlet of playing Oregon, Cal and Notre Dame back-to-back. Nationally televised showdowns, all with implications toward the championship. They built up to a crescendo that was the ND game. If you go back and listen to what the players were saying after the game, it sounded like that was the last game of the season.

Oh, but wait, there was one game left. That's right. UCLA. A team they clobbered last year 66-19.

It was human nature for them to have peaked and had a let down. They did not play their best game, even if their defense did hold the Bruins to just 13 points and 235 yards.

I offer this not as an excuse, but as a point of consideration.

As for the Kiffin detractors, I agree with one of the previous posters here -- you want Paul Hackett back?

And Booty? Well, as cool as the kid is, it is not coincidence that in both of USC's losses this year, the games sort of ended on tipped passes. I don't think (as hard as they tried) the coaches could get Booty out of that tendency. Unfortunate.

But then again, USC should not have been in a position to have had to come back with a minute left in the game, right? It was a team loss.

Finally, when all is said and done about 2006, USC finished 10-2, winning a 5th straight conference championship, a trip to the Rose Bowl, a #5 national ranking in the BCS, and a romp win over Notre Dame. Really -- after losing 11 players to the NFL in the off-season, and starting a backfield of freshman running backs, don't you think this is a heck of an accomplishment?

I do.

Good luck to them in the Rose Bowl!

Fight On!

To:

Ray - You must not work with any Bruins.

Trodent - Very interesting considering fUCLA has a former Trojan assistant. And he is much more creative than KIffin will ever be. Maybe under Carroll he'll learn a thing or 2.

Greg B - Agreed, layoff on the height thing. If anything Booty doesn't have enuff touch on his passes. The always seem to be bullets.

FT ON - Ok then just throw Kiffin in that pile of offensive coaching crap. Change the offensive coordinator until it gets worse and the blue chips realize they will not grow under "Kiffin's" system.

All the guys complaining about JDB need to shut up - he play a good game considering that he constantly had 2-3 Bruins in his face all night.

The O-line was playing like high schoolers - that was JDB's problem.

The teams problem lies completely with the coach in the booth - Kiffin couldn't coach his way out of a wet paper bag with Edward Scissorhands has his lead blocker!!

He has only looked like a decent coach because we have great talent. I'll give him credit that he has been getting top talent over the past couple of years, but like someone else mentioned, how hard is it when you can use SC's record and 3 of the past 5 Heisman trophy winners as recruiting material?

Kiffin HAS GOT to go!!

Lets face it. Every year UCLA plays for a victory over USC and USC plays for a national championship. UCLA just made it's whole year and we are complaining about a 5th consecutive Pac 10 championship!

Proud to be a Trojan.

Fight On!

Mexifornian - If you are not impressed with Michigan, you apparently did not watch them play this year and you need to watch a little more college football before you write uninformed comments on this blog.

And who cares who impresses you, people were not impressed with UCLA, and guess what, we are not going to the National Championship Game this year. You got to give props to teams that deserve it. And this years Rose Bowl is very similar to the 2004 Game except this year Michigan got shafted by the BCS because voters decided they did not want to see an OSU/UM rematch...and like USC in 2003, Michigan is out to prove something. That aside Carroll will have the boys ready to go, and I would take Carroll over Carr anyday.

Ez_e - The Rose Bowl teams have a prime rib eating contest every year before the Rose Bowl. And USC played Michigan in 2004, played Texas in 2006 and will play Michigan again in 2007 = 3 out of 4 years. Brian please double-check my math.

Brian - Whay aren't we playing LSU? BCS breakdown - do your numbers show that Michigan got shafted?

Some great posts. No, as disturbing as Kiffen has been, he does not need to go. Ruel and the OL could not block. No FB was inserted to help slow up the DE Davis. The TE could have been shifted to the other side. Baker was handling Hickman. Many mistakes by several coaches were made. PC is accountable. He could have insisted on some changes. It did not happen. The players had a great year for all of the reasons mentioned in earlier posts. USC will come out and clobber Michigan in the Rose Bowl. USC is 21-9 and Michigan is 8-11 in the Rose Bowl. Guess why, we have more talent year in and year out. These teams lately cetainly have more talent than Michigan. Michigan gets one decent team finally and everybody thinks their all that. A couple of things to remember: the PAC-10 is a far superior conference than the Big 10 and always has been - and, UCLA and Oregon State are not exactly "dog meat". UCLA was 10-2 last year (ranked 12th) and Oregon State is much better than people may think. In fact, every team in the Pac 10 is rated in the Top 40 of some poll, sans Stanford. That means that the Trojans played 11 games against very good teams. A brutal schedule to say the least and so far ranks #2 behind Stanford. After the Rose Bowl - it may go down as the most difficult schedule ever played. So, how does 11-2 sound under those conditions? Not bad at all. A win over Michigan will propel this team into the #1 ranking entering next season. Oh, how spoiled have we become? Let's not do that. Let our great coaches figure out the mistakes like we know that they will.

Tommie T