Open Forum, First Round

Pete Carroll said he never considered a medical redshirt for Brian Cushing.

Stafon Johnson will get less touches than Chauncey Washington but more than Allen Bradford.

The biggest weakness of this team remains the lack of a breakaway threat which prevents quick scores although Joe McKnight finally offered a glimpse last week.

I didn't see John David Booty laugh, but I thought I detected a smirk in the second quarter.

I think the coaches expected about what they got from Mark Sanchez, perhaps with one less interception. They kept things conservative to avoid mistakes and just did not want to put a lot of pressure on him. Things should open up more this week.
My honest opinion is that's about what I expected. I never expected a savior, that's too much pressure on a backup. Just someone to survive and maybe gain some experience.

I don't know why a segment here dislikes Mark Sanchez. But I also do not know why a segment is also obsessed with Mitch Mustain. Maybe that's the problem.

The only program I know that USC utilizes is having the crowd noise provided by a campus dept. that studied how to replicate a large crowd with the best acoustics to make Howard Jones Field sound like a sold-out stadium. Maybe they should pipe that noise from the empty sections of the Coliseum that are currently being counted as fans for the attendance figure.

I guess O.J. Mayo will be the highest profile player this year but he might get a run for his money from Brynn Cameron. But I only expect the basketball team to be ranked higher than the football team because the season has not started yet.

Broderick Green is practicing and slowly getting back into the swing of things. He made the trip to Notre Dame but will not play. Everson Griffen played perhaps his best game of the season last week but still has a lot to learn.

Mitch Mustain is humble and unassuming but lately he's also let his sense of humor emerge with his teammates and is feeling more comfortable. But he is like Carson Palmer in that regard, yes.

My over/under for punts is 5.

``I have seen several references to "Caesar" and "Roman Meal" by you in the past. Please advise what are the tie-in's with P.C. and these names ?''

I refer to Peter C. Carroll as Caesar for two reasons: his middle initial is C and he and Caesar share complete control over their legions with no questions asked. But I concede Caesar never lost to Stanford. However, I don't see the Senate revolting yet against Peter Caesar Carroll. Due to the great response from the nickname, Roman Meal became an official sponsor of this blog.

Brendan Beal remains intensely interested in USC. There's a lot of rumors that USC might benefit from Notre Dame's poor season and possibly get back into the hunt with quarterback Dayne Christ.

Kris O'Dowd should return next week and might share time with Matt Spanos.

Since South Florida lost Thursday night, I guess I don't have to answer the BCS question.

I have a hard time predicting the tailback rotation because I think Caesar's botched it all season long. Actually, I think the use of the tailbacks might be the worst coaching through the first half of the season.

I doubt Caesar would drastically reduce the intensity of practices because of injuries but he's been forced to shorten some drills because he ran out of healthy bodies and when some of the injured players return, they can't go through all the drills because they would risk hurting themselves again.

It's going to be a reach to expect Aaron Corp to start next season but at least he should get an honest try because the job is wide open and the coaches don't have a favorite. And with an injury or two, like at UCLA this season, Corp would be playing in a game. So he'll get his share of snaps in the spring.

Do I see Pete Carroll leaving for the NFL? I actually think a better question is would the NFL really want Pete Carroll? Think about it. The Trojans have more or less been on equal terms talent wise the past three games and Pete Carroll's not dominated anyone from an X's and O's standpoint.
This is the way it would be in the NFL. Similar talent. Win one week. Lose the next. And what NFL team gets anything from hiring Carroll after a ``down'' season at USC? I've never felt the NFL was all that enamored with Carroll and now his stock would seem to be less. But that is only my opinion.

Rey Maualuga's NFL decision will not be affected by whether USC goes to the Rose Bowl. It will be determined by whether those who are closest to him advise him to go pro or if he feels financially it makes sense.
If he did leave, Luthur Brown would have to fight off Chris Galippo, assuming Galippo fully recovers in time from back surgery, which he is expected to do.

USC does not have an official special teams coach because Caesar decided he would rather have an assistant defensive line coach to help Nick Holt, who is defensive coordinator and defensive line coach.

I'm not Mel Kiper, but Keith Rivers would probably be late first/early second round.

Luthur Brown's playing time (or lack) is a coaching decision. They obviously don't feel like he's ready to start the way Thomas Williams got sent over to middle linebacker when Rey Maualuga got hurt.

I'm not a big fan of comparing stats from last year to this year. And here's one reason. Last year, USC played a 10-4 Arkansas team and 9-5 Nebraska team in its first six games. This year, they played Idaho and perhaps the worst Nebraska team in 50 years. So how can you compare with vast schedule differences?

UCLA would not hire Jim Harbaugh because he is viewed as a loose cannon. For that matter, neither would USC. That doesn't mean he can't coach. It just means you might get more than you bargain for. It sounds like DeWayne Walker is a natural candidate at UCLA and some are mentioning Kentucky coach Rich Brooks, but he's too old and said Kentucky would be his last job. The problem is the guy they wouldn't mind hiring -- Steve Mariucci -- wants too much money.

Every network gets up-to-date injury information provided to it by the teams during a broadcast. But USC tends to be very lax about updating injury information during games. Last week, Arizona updates were more detailed than USC and it was a USC home game. I'd love to blame Versus but this is more of a USC issue. You should have seen how many times the explanation for injuries to Chilo Rachal and Kris O'Dowd changed during the game. Knee, ankle, knee, ankle, knee.

I generally do not read comments outside the Open Forum, however, last week I was still at the Coliseum and thought I would stay a little later and blog some items because I assume you readers want as much info as possible after a game.
That led to a weak moment where I read the comments attacking me for posting stats supplied by USC sports information.
And in a related vein, I've gotten some emails from people this week telling me how Pete Carroll and I must not get along with my nickname for him, etc.
I guess this will be one of those urban legends on the Internet. My relationship with Carroll is as strong as ever. I've appreciated some things he's done more than ever recently and I talk to him 7 days a week. This should satisfy the critics for about one day.