Tag Archives: USC Trojans

Budget games Week 1

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Possible new logo for the Sun Belt Conference this week

Possible new logo for the Sun Belt Conference this week

College football is back, and while some match-ups are enticing this weekend, others are a cakewalk. Here are some games where a powerhouse football program is paying a FBS mid-major in need of funds (typically around $1 million) to take a beating.

Arkansas State at No. 8 USC

The Red Wolves went 7-6 last season and played in its fourth straight GoDaddy Bowl. That’s an impressive achievement for the ASU program. Unfortunately, the University of Southern California doesn’t really care about that. The Trojans see a Sun Belt program that should go down easy.

Arkansas State might actually make USC nervous for tiny bit but the Trojans should be able to score at will in this one. Three of ASU’s top four tacklers are gone from a year ago and that’s big problem against USC. Trojans roll.

Louisiana-Monroe at No. 9 Georgia

The good news for Louisana-Monroe is that it defeated a power conference school last season. The bad news is that was Wake Forest. The Warhawks went 4-8 last year and was held to under 100 yards in it’s 31-0 loss at LSU. ULM also lost at Kentucky 48-14. So I doubt Georgia will have much fear here.

Throw in the fact Georgia has won 17 of its last 18 home openers and you have a very long day for ULM in Athens.

Texas State at No. 10 Florida State

Texas State has been bowl eligible the past two seasons (did not get selected) and has a great chance to finally get in. That might not be seen in its opener at Florida State. The Seminoles are 10-1 all-time against current Sun Belt teams.

Florida State is in transition with a new quarterback so maybe Texas State can hang around in this game for a quarter or two. Eventually though, the Bobcat defense with four of its five best tacklers gone from last season will collapse. It won’t be pretty when it does.

L.A. is the Tennis Mecca

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Now they just need to fight the USC men's team to the death.

Now they just need to fight the USC men’s team to the death.

Congratulations Los Angeles. You are the epicenter of collegiate tennis.

On Tuesday the No. 5 ranked UCLA women claimed the title defeating No. 7 North Carolina 4-3 in an all sky blue battle. The women’s bracket was all chalk for most of the tournament until the quarterfinals. At the end of it was UCLA claiming their 2nd title in women’s tennis and 111th championship in school history.

USC men won their fifth title in six years defeating Oklahoma 4-2. The bracket held to form as the top seeded Trojans tangled with the No. 2 Sooners. USC won their 21st title in men’s tennis and yes that’s more than anyone else. More importantly it was the school’s 100th national championship overall. USC won despite losing the double’s point. Something that rarely happens.

So congratulations UCLA and USC, you are better at a typically outdoor sport than the Big Ten. What a shock.

College tennis tries to steal the show

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Spring championship season for the NCAA is here and the sport on deck this weekend is tennis. The men’s and women’s titles will be on Tuesday in Athens, Georgia. Why does the NCAA have all their championships on Mondays (football, men’s basketball) or a Tuesday (women’s basketball)? For an organization that values academics, they sure do put a lot of big events during class time.Obscurity Report new It’s also interesting that out of the top 16 seeds in the field of 64 for the men only two failed to make it to the round of 16. So if you’re looking for upsets in “May Madness” you might need to find a different spring sport. The fact that upsets are rare makes the failures of No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 11 Duke that much more embarrassing though.

The phrase “hard-fought” is PR speak for “we screwed up.” The good news though is that the elite eight of the field will truly be elite. Get your Cinderellas out of here because the big guys need room for the next three days in Athens. USC is the No. 1 seed but it did lose to Ohio State and twice to UCLA. Both are still in the field. On the women’s side parity is even harder to see as 15 of the top 16 seeds made it to the round of 16. Only No. 15 Northwestern faltered as it was edged out 4-3 by Notre Dame.

The attitude on the Northwestern side was just a little bit down in comparison.

There has been some drama though as No. 1 seed Georgia barely survived No. 16 USC 4-3 on Thursday. That would have been a disaster for the Bulldogs to blow their title hopes so quickly on their home court.

Georgia will play 2012 champion Florida on Saturday. The SEC will be going for Georgia vs. No. 2 Alabama championship match. I’m sure Big 10 fans will accuse Alabama of giving cars to their women’s tennis players too.

So check out a sport other than basketball and football for a change this weekend. You might even become a die-hard college tennis fan. Just don’t count on it.

2013 College Football’s Wheel of Mediocrity

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While many are focused on the Top 25 teams this time of year there is also a second tier of schools to pay attention too. The goal for these teams is to get to six wins and become bowl eligible. For some this is a regression but for others going 6-6 is the Holy Grail. Welcome to the Wheel of Mediocrity.

Arizona: 3-2 record, No. 36 Sagarin ranking

The Wildcats started the year off strong winning their first three games but played nobody. The average Sagarin ranking of those three teams was 124. When Zona moved into PAC-12 play it was knocked out at No. 16 Washington 31-13 and failed to win at lame duck USC 38-31. The Trojans just fired their coach so how can you lose to them?

Where mediocre football teams can't buy a vowel.

Where mediocre football teams can’t buy a vowel.

Odds of getting to six wins: 40 percent

Arizona still has to play ranked conference schools Oregon and UCLA so that’s two losses right there. Winning at Arizona State will be a stretch. The two bottom feeders in the conference in California and Colorado are on the road. Arizona must win two of its next three games against Colorado, Cal and this Saturday hosting Utah to give itself a chance. It will be a tall order to achieve mediocrity for the Wildcats.

Boston College: 3-3 record, No. 64 Sagarin ranking

Like Arizona, Boston College had a bad loss to USC only it was a terrible score of 35-7. The good news is BC avoided getting blown out when it played top ranked Florida State and Clemson. At 3-3, Boston College has more wins than last year (2-10) and is making fun of the several experts who thought it would finish dead last the Atlantic division.

Odds of getting to six wins: 55 percent

The Eagles have an easier schedule to close out the year with only one ranked team remaining (Virginia Tech).  Problem is four out its six last games are on the road where BC is 0-2 on the year. One of those is cupcake New Mexico State. The other three are middle to back of the pack ACC teams. The Eagles should get six wins but it will need to prove itself against teams like North Carolina and Syracuse on the road to do so.

Indiana: 3-3 record, No. 47 Sagarin ranking

Here is a school where a .500 record causes a championship level celebration. The Hoosiers went 1-11 just two years ago and now they have improved to the point of beating Penn State by 20 points. Forget the fact the defense is horrid, Indiana football has finally advanced to mediocrity’s doorstep! Hallelujah!

Odds of getting to six wins: 60 percent

IU will lose at Michigan, at Wisconsin and at Ohio State.  This means it must win hosting Minnesota, Illinois and Purdue. Those latter three teams are all struggling right now and the Hoosiers get them all at home. Minnesota might be the trickiest win and maybe Purdue too being a rivalry game. But if Indiana can beat Penn State then it should win out in Bloomington to become bowl eligible.

Mississippi State: 3-3 record, No. 52 Sagarin ranking

Mississippi State has not proven much this season losing when it was an underdog and beating the teams it was favored against. That was almost not the case as it darn near blew last week’s game against MAC underdog Bowling Green State. The Falcons had a dropped pass on fourth down allowing the Bulldogs to win 21-20 and avoid snickering from around the nation.

Odds of getting to six wins: 35 percent

Miss. State has three upcoming losses in South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Alabama. The good news is home games against Kentucky, rival Ole Miss, and at 3-4 Arkansas are also upcoming. The Bulldogs will be favored against Kentucky and it will be even against Ole Miss and Arkansas. Winning all three though will require some lucky breaks and big strides in the passing game. I think it will be too much to handle this season.

North Texas: (3-3) record, No. 76 Sagarin ranking

The North Texas Mean Green has adjusted to life in Conference USA rather well with a big conference win over Middle Tennessee State and handed Ball State its only loss on the year. Not bad for a team that was previously picked by some to finish 6th out the seven teams in Conference USA West division.

Odds of getting to six wins: 90 percent

North Texas has games against 2-4 Louisiana Tech, 2-4 Tulsa, 2-5 UTSA, 1-5 UTEP, and 0-5 Southern Miss. The Mean Green only needs to win three of those five so no excuses here. Congrats North Texas, you are at least mediocre if not slightly better.