Open Forum Answers, Part II

I give Pete Carroll a lot of credit for going 9-2 and being on the verge of the Rose Bowl despite a lot of early injuries. In fact, it would be a banner season if not for one small fact: Everyone picked USC to be No. 1 this season.

USC was actually going to announce its Rose Bowl intentions next week. But I agree the timing is still dubious. It's not really impressive that the Rose Bowl and UCLA modified what USC said about it's possible lease agreement the next day.

Q: Would you say you are a happy person Scott? Do you love your job?
A: I would say I'm happiest when I get to answer Open Forum questions. And who wouldn't love a job where they get to ask Pete Carroll if he was embarassed losing to UCLA last season?

I've seen Caesar fine-tune his approach at times, with modifications to the passing game, etc. A good example is when he went to Tampa Bay to learn some plays for left-handed QB's. But the general schemes remain the same and I think that's become a slight handicap in recent seasons. You could argue some teams are catching on to USC's schemes, but I think it's more a case of the players are not as talented as a couple years ago running those same plays.

Mike Williams has not stuck anywhere yet. So it's hard to predict he will last long with Tennessee.

Mitch Mustain throws fine. Check every previous Open Forum for answers to the same question.

The Coliseum Commission made some cocky comments because they were irritated by USC's grandstanding. But it's either put up or shut up for both sides. I recall USC taking about 50 years to build an on-campus arena despite decrepit conditions for its basketball fans, so it's a little hypocritical here too.