Don't get too comfy there under center Mustain. My boy Mark will be back very soon.

-Your Gridiron Goddess

yojoe Fight On!

The 2008 Preseason Poll:

1. Georgia
2. Southern Cal
3. Ohio State
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida
6. LSU
7. Missouri
8. West Virginia
9. Clemson
10. Texas
11. Auburn
12. Wisconsin
13. Kansas
14. Texas Tech
15. Virginia Tech
16. Arizona State
17. Brigham Young
18. Tennessee
19. Illinois
20. Oregon
21. South Florida
22. Penn State
23. Wake Forest
24. Michigan
25. Fresno State

yojoe Fight On!

I wish I should say that Mannix's lost year represents a major discovery, but that's not quite the case.  Mannix was created by the team of William Link and Richard Levinson, eventually the men behind the juggernauts of Columbo and Murder She Wrote, but in 1967 just a pair of talented freelancers with credits on the likes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Burke's Law.  With Mannix, Link and Levinson attempted a revision of the private eye genre that anticipated the postmodern pulp reformations of Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye or Jeremy Kagan's The Big Fix. 

Their hero, Joe Mannix, was not the familiar hard-boiled loner archetype, operating out of a dingy office, with a wise-cracking secretary out front and a battered fedora and trenchcoat on the rack in the corner.  Instead he was a cog in a wheel, one of a fleet of impeccably dressed operatives in the employ of Intertect, a corporate detective agency crammed with high-tech equipment.  (Computers the size of a minivan that shuffled around stacks of punchcards, in other words.) 

Intertect was inspired by Link and Levinson's experiences at Universal, the first of the Hollywood studios to track its employees by computer.  The Universal of the sixties was run by former talent agents inherited from its parent company MCA, who dressed in black suits and had offices in the fearsome obsidian monolith known as "The Black Tower," a modern glass executive building that loomed over the front gates.  Lou Wickersham, the head of Intertect, was an insider joke on Lew Wasserman, the legendarily ruthless head of Universal.  (The name Wickersham was derived from "Wasserman" and Lankershim Boulevard, the North Hollywood address of Universal's main entrance.  Joseph Campanella, who played Wickersham, once told me that his slight resemblance to Wasserman was a factor in his casting.)  Joe Mannix, the series' nonconformist hero, was the only Intertect operative with the inclination to buck Wickersham's unfeeling, bottom-line approach to sleuthing.

You can see how Link and Levinson intended Mannix as a platform for venturing into some Big Ideas.  Their scenario was a genre allegory that opened the door for sideways exploration of topics like mechanization, capitalism, the dehumanizing aspects of modernity, and so on. 

But Link and Levinson were out of Mannix even before a pilot was written, and the reins were taken by Mission: Impossible honcho Bruce Geller (who executive produced) and producer Wilton Schiller.  Schiller had produced the last three seasons of Ben Casey and the final year of The Fugitive.  He was competent but uninspired, as were most of the cadre of freelance writers who had followed Schiller from one or both of the earlier shows onto Mannix: John Meredyth Lucas, Chester Krumholz, Barry Oringer, Howard Browne, Sam Ross, Walter Brough.  In their hands, the conflict between Mannix and Lou Wickersham remained a constant element of the series, but it lacked any depth or metaphorical meaning.  The two characters simply bickered like unhappy spouses, and the clash between them never varied much in content or intensity.  It is fascinating to speculate as to how Link and Levinson might have developed their idea.  Might Mannix have become a prototype for the serialized drama of the eighties, with a character conflict at its center that grew more complex and gripping as time went on?

For the second season of Mannix, Intertect disappeared without explanation and Joe Mannix worked alone out of a stylish home-office.  Now he embodied the cliche Link and Levinson sought to undermine: a hard-boiled loner type with a wise-cracking secretary.  The initial revisionist concept had devolved into a totally classical text. 

Surprisingly, this wasn't an altogether bad thing.  Mannix's new producers, veteran screenwriters Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, brought in better writers and directors.  They crafted the familiar elements of the format into an appealing blend of old-fashioned mysteries and jazzy film-noir vibes.  Mike Connors, the series' star, had a relaxed personality that fit the new Mannix better than the old one.  Connors was like that gregarious but no-nonsense uncle you knew you could count on to scare off the schoolyard bullies.

*

I first watched Mannix in 1995-1996, when the TV Land channel was rerunning it nearly every day.  I was in film school at the time, at the University of Southern California.  College was a frustrating experience, four years of searching for the intellectual stimulation I'd been promised the whole time I was growing up and finding it only on the margins of the experience - in the film archives, from exploring the city of Los Angeles,  or in long conversations with a few kindred spirits, but rarely in classes or amid the general campus population.  Often when there was a lull in the grind of studying or writing dull undergraduate papers, I'd unwind by consuming five or six Mannix segments in a row.  It was just the kind of smooth, undemanding escapism I needed.  It's kind of a shame, but those marathons of Mannix (sometimes interspersed with Thriller, airing on the Sci-Fi Channel, or Route 66, on loan from a T.A. researching a doctoral thesis on road movies) number among my fondest college memories.

When I received my copy of the Mannix DVDs, I immediately took a look at a particular episode, "Turn Every Stone" - and not because, just by coincidence, it's the only one credited to writer Jeri Emmett.  If Mannix is forever associated with USC in my memory, "Turn Every Stone" is the episode that reflects that memory back at me.

The climax of "Turn Every Stone" is a shootout between Mannix and the villains (Hampton Fancher and Nita Talbot) in the central courtyard of a tall, distinctive red-brick building.  That building is the Rufus B. Von KleinSmid Center, which stands on the east side of Trousdale Parkway, the main drag of the USC Campus.  (USC benefactors tended to have funny names; don't get me started on the Topping Center, or Fagg Park.) 

Here's a shot of Mike Connors and Fancher entering a classroom hallway:

And a better look at the tall, narrow interior columns, which convey the impression that the building all exterior and no interior:

An innovative use for the the basement level's sunken courtyard:

The Von KleinSmid Center (or VKC, as the students call it) is one of the main classroom buildings at USC, and I probably attended a half-dozen classes in it during my four years there.  It's one of the most commonly used locations on a campus that's famous, at least among those who've done time there, as a ubiquitous backdrop in movies and TV shows.  When I was a USC freshman, I attended a screening of Copycat (1995), wherein my fellow students went wild upon catching a glimpse of VKC's tall globe-topped spire; a few days later, I stumbled across Morgan Freeman shooting a scene for Kiss the Girls (1997) in a car being towed down Trousdale Parkway.  But the campus's onscreen history goes back beyond tacky nineties serial killer flicks.  The Von KleinSmid Center was completed in 1965, and its then-modern architecture made it a magnet for movie companies in the sixties and seventies. 

USC's most famous turn in the spotlight came during the same year that "Turn Every Stone" was filmed, in Mike Nichol's The Graduate (1967).  Northern Californians and fans of the movie will be crushed to learn that, during the scene in which Dustin Hoffman pursues Katharine Ross back to Berkeley, "UC-Berkeley" is actually . . . USC.  Our first glimpse of Hoffman on campus during the scene scored to Simon & Garfunkel's  "Scarborough Fair" comes as he's walking down the low steps that surround VKC:

Hoffman then walks up a tree-shrouded, diagonal path through Alumni Park to the neighboring building, the thirties-era Doheny Library, the basement of which contains my favorite USC hangout, the Cinema-Television Library:

Later Hoffman and Katharine Ross walk down the same outdoor corridor that we see in Mannix:

The scene where Hoffman stands outside for the duration of Ross's class was filmed inside VKC (you can tell from the narrow vertical windows), quite possibly in one of the same first-floor rooms where I had classes.  A subsequent shot was photographed through the same VKC window:

All of these buildings still look about the same today as they did forty years ago.

Parts of the USC campus also turn up for a split-second in Hitchcock's Torn Curtain (1966), and in Antonioni's Zabriskie Point (1970) - a great tracking shot that traces the route I'd take onto campus through the Jefferson Boulevard entrance, which was just across the street from my first L.A. apartment.  But since I'm a TV historian, and this a TV blog, the television appearances of the USC campus are what I've tracked with the most enthusiasm. 

In the original pilot for Harry O, a made-for-television movie called Such Dust as Dreams Are Made On (1973), the Von Kleinsmid Center is the backdrop for a conversation between David Janssen and S. John Launer (a fine character actor whom I interviewed during my USC years):

Outtakes from that sequence made it into the series' opening titles. . .

. . . giving USC a weekly cameo in Harry O , under Janssen's star billing card no less, throughout its two-year run:

Continuing its chameleonesque career of imitating other colleges, USC did a sustained impersonation of Brown University on one of my favorite shows of the past decade, The O.C., as Seth (Adam Brody) visited the Rhode Island school and his inamorata Summer (Rachel Bilson) eventually went there.  But it was another bit of USC TV-fakery that really blew my mind.

I have to indulge in a detour now and explain a bit about why college in general, and USC in particular, were so disappointing to me.  Part of it is that for years of my parents and teachers had promised that college - far more than the public education which preceded it - would be the ideal atmosphere for my adolescent nerdiness.  Their assurances did little to prepare me for the realities of the shallow, alcohol- and party-feuled student life, or the cynicism and toxic academic politics among the faculty. 

But part of it was TV's fault, because I'd put in a lot of time watching The Paper Chase when I was a pre-teen.  The Paper Chase, one of the great, underrated dramas of the eighties, was a smart, nostalgic portrait of life among law students based on John Jay Osborn's autobiographical novel.  For a twelve year-old, the distinction between undergraduate life and an idealized Ivory League law school was subtle, and so The Paper Chase - and, really, nothing but The Paper Chase - shaped my conception of what higher education would be.  I had set myself up for a major shock.

Flash forward to my junior year at USC, when I'm conducting a phone interview with Ralph Senensky, a talented episodic television director of the sixties and seventies.  The Paper Chase was Senensky's last major credit, and as we're chatting about it, Ralph drops a bombshell on me: The Paper Chase's unnamed-East Coast-university-that's-clearly-meant-to-be-Harvard was actually USC.  Every outdoor frame of it!

Later that year, on a holiday trip back to Raleigh, I dug out the last surviving tape of the Paper Chase recordings I'd made years before, and replayed the show's final episode on my father's dying Beta machine.  Sure enough, the office of Professor Kingsfield (the much-feared master teacher played to perfection by John Houseman) was located in the Bovard Administration Building, which is directly across Trousdale Parkway from the Doheny Library.  The Taper Hall of Humanities doubled as a classroom building.  I couldn't be sure exactly where the exterior of the basement office of the Law Review (which I thought was so cool as a teenager, and which the show's protagonist, James Stephens' Hart, held in some esteem too) was, but it's a redress of a side entrance to either Bovard or the neighboring Physical Education Building.

Coming near the nadir of my disillusionment with film school (I'd just completed my one grueling film production class), this seemed a particularly cruel blow.  I had gone back to revisit my cherished ideal of what college should have been and found those industrious, earnest grad students of my TV-fueled fantasy walking the same sunny SoCal campus that encircled my own dreary reality.

That moment was probably my first brush with a quality of living in Los Angeles that I later came to love.  I always get blank looks when I try to explain this to non-Angelenos (especially the ones who've been there and back and complain that there are no tourist attractions to visit), but one of the wonderful things about L.A. is the constant and somehow comforting awareness that you're living out your life in the world's biggest movie set.  The places you pass through in your daily travels are the same backdrops you see in countless movies and TV shows, and as you move through them the collective fiction of your moviegoing experience forms a sort of overlay upon your "real" life.  If you're a film buff like me, your awareness of this duality is constant.  Los Angeles is a meta-city.  Elaine and Benjamin's Berkeley is Hart and Ford's Harvard is my USC, and who am I to privilege one of these meanings over another?  Some people come for the climate, some for the laid-back attitude (which is no myth, trust me) . . . but this is why I love L.A.

Thanks to David Gebhard and Robert Winter's An Architectural Guide to Los Angeles for the crash course in campus architecture.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Friday Night Blog Lines here at Gridiron Goddess.net! Feel free to submit interesting sports blogging posts to me each week for inclusion in this feature.

• Over at Playing the Field, Sarah interviews the U.S.'s most decorated Olympian, swimmer Jenny Thompson.

• My pal Tracy of Hit by a Pitch incited a near riot both on her blog and over at Deadspin with her Asshole's Guide to Insulting Women.

• The Ladies... discuss Pink Hat Syndrome.

• And in the oldies but goodies category, here's one from July 2007 from Kissing Suzy Kolber: The Offseason Adventures of Michael Vick: Episode 7 The Airport.

This weekend I'll be back at work on my BCS Previews, I've got some Brett Favre karaoke coming up, as well as some thoughts on Mike Williams getting cut from the Tennessee Titans.

So Until then, I remain-

-Your Gridiron Goddess

*Used up redshirt year

HEAD COACH: Pete Carroll (Pacific, 1973), Eighth Year

ASSISTANT COACHES: Brennan Carroll, Tight Ends/Recruiting Coordinator (Pittsburgh, 2001); Nick Holt, Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line (Pacific, 1986); Todd McNair, Running Backs/Special Teams Coordinator (Temple); John Morton, Passing Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers (Western Michigan, 1997); Ken Norton Jr., Linebackers (UCLA, 1998); Kris Richard, Secondary Graduate Assistant (USC, 2002); Yogi Roth, Quarterbacks Graduate Assistant (Pittsburgh, 2004); Pat Ruel, Offensive Line (Miami, 1972); Steve Sarkisian, Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks (BYU, 1997); Rocky Seto, Secondary (USC, 1999); David Watson, Defensive Line (Western Illinois, 2001)

STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH: Chris Carlisle (Chadron State, 1985)

DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL OPERATIONS: Dennis Slutak (Florida State, 1995)

5/1/08

Information found at:

And as free agency has slowed to standstill, there is not much to talk about. Mats Sundin should announce his decision by Friday, but that situation has been drawn out so long that I barely even care anymore.

Also, as my last rant talked about, the Pirates traded Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to the Yankees for several prospects. Whatever, it was going to happen and. And as most Pirates fans have learned to do, I prepared myself to see talent leave.

Something interesting this week was Carson Palmer speaking out about his hatred toward Ohio State and its fans. I'm going to have to agree with him on that.

Being a student at Kent State University and not caring a cent about Ohio State vs. Michigan, I have found Ohio State fans to be a bit unbearable myself. There is an arrogance about them, but deservingly so.

The Buckeyes have been on top of the college football world for some time now. If Pitt was a pre-season favorite to win the BCS National Championship game I would have an arrogance about me as well.

Nevertheless, I felt the true meaning of what he said.

"It's amazing to hear what those guys think about that university and what they think about that football program and Tressel and all the crap I gotta put up with being back there.I just can't wait for two years from now when SC comes to the 'Shoe and hopefully we'll have a home game that weekend and I can go up there and watch us pound on them in their own turf."

He continued:

"I'm really getting sick of it and I just can't wait for this game to get here so they can come out to the Coliseum and experience LA and get an old-fashioned Pac-10 butt-whoopin' and go back to the Big Ten."

It would be nice to see some new teams pop up in the Top 10, which brings me to Pitt.

I'm extremely excited for this coming season, and camp opens in five days for the Panthers. I expect an eight win season, and I plan to have a preview coming in the next week or so.

Also, very soon, I will be mapping out each NHL team's strengths and weaknesses en route to picking the standings for each division. I will start with the Southeast Division. Expect to see the first installment in the next 12 hours or less.

So that's pretty much it. Limas Sweed is going to be nasty. Daniel Sepulveda is out for the year...tear.

Lets go Pens, thanks for reading!

Deadline: AUGUST 10, 2008

Cinematic (time-based) media seem particularly predisposed to treat time as space, duration as distance, the past and future as more or less exotic terrain to be visited, explored, and occupied. As such, cinema has a special relationship with the fictional technology of the time machine. This panel looks into the shared history, salient links, and irreducible differences between cinematic/mediated experience and time travel. What insights might be gained into the expressive powers of film and media (e.g., as historiography) by figuring cinema as a time machine or, conversely, by considering the time machine “cinematic?” Papers might approach the topic from any direction, e.g., via the durable narrative motif of time travel in its many forms: literary, filmic, televisual, or otherwise. Proposals taking advantage of the relevance of the topic to the conference theme, "Mobilizing the Future/Screening the Past," are especially welcome. Please submit a brief abstract by email to rbruckne@usc.edu no later than midnight, PST, August 10, 2008.

René T. Bruckner
Div. of Critical Studies, School of Cinematic Arts
Lucas 405
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2211
Email: rbruckne@usc.edu

1. USC
2. Arizona State
3. Oregon
4. California
5. UCLA
6. Oregon State
7. Arizona
8. Washington
9. Stanford
10. Washington State

USC football Coach Pete Carroll began a heated debate over helmet-to-helmet hits:

"This stuff just happens and it has nothing to do with the guy's intent,"

Coach Carroll assessed Joe McKnight,

``Joe McKnight has gained 20 pounds since he showed up a year ago,'' Carroll said. ``He's a big-play tailback who can catch the ball out of the backfield and line up as a receiver. He runs routes as a receiver better than Reggie did.''

Coach Carroll also had some opening remarks, 

"This is the day that marks the start to the next challenge and I can't tell you how excited we are about this. We've had a terrific run with the kids that have been in the program, that have won national championships, but they've all left us. To see the change in leadership and the emergence of the leadership, we sense a whole new excitement and I've never been more pumped up. There was energy, intensity and competitiveness in the spring practice. It seems like it's the first time for us. We have tremendous challenges and a schedule that will give us an opportunity to do everything in college football. Every game is a championship game for us, so here we go. There is great anticipation and a I look forward to doing something special. There is a changing of the guard. I'm really proud to be part of this team, we don't start camp until August 5 and Cush [Brian Cushing] and I are going to go one-on-one in the hallway to get pumped up."

SC linebacker Brian Cushing commented on his senior year,

I think overall coming into this program and knowing that one day I wanted to be a leader on this team was very important to me. I learned from the older guys, understanding what the program is about and the philosophy of coach Carroll. Hopefully I can give the same competitive leadership to the younger guys and lead this team through the season.

yojoe Fight On!

Your 2008 Pac-10 Preview

by Amy Lamare of www.gridirongoddess.net

I can make this real quick football fiends: USC will win its 7^th straight Pac 10 championship and head to a BCS bowl game.

And that concludes your 2008 Pac-10 Preview. UCLA, Stanford, Cal, Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona and Arizona State - all y'all might as well stay home. Rey Maualuga, Mark Sanchez, Joe McKnight and the boys have got this one sewn up.

In all seriousness though, the Pac-10 does not back down from a challenge when scheduling its non-conference games. This year teams in the Pac-10 face: Ohio State, Georgia, Tennessee, BYU, Boise State, Oklahoma, Penn State and Purdue, just to name a handful. No 1-AA cupcake rivals here!

ARIZONA WILDCATS:

It's do or die time for Coach Mike Stoops. He's going to have to get his Wildcats to win 6 games to at least have a shot at keeping his job. If he can do this, Arizona will get to Bear Down for their first bowl game since 1998. I'm betting in Stoops' favor since his non-conference lineup is fairly easy with games against Idaho and Toledo and at New Mexico.

Senior QB Willie Tuitama is going to have to step it up and generate some scoring this season for the Wildcats to be competitive in the Pac-10. The defense returns only 3 starters, and that's not the only bad news for the Wildcat D. Their most experienced defensive lineman, Jonathan Turner, was suspended from the team's summer practices after being charged with sexual assault last spring. He is awaiting his trial.

Junior college transfer Nick Booth hopes to boost the Arizona running game. This 225 pound running back joins Nic Grisby, Xavier Smith and true freshman Keola Antolin on the Wildcat depth chart.

Arizona's Non Conference Schedule: Idaho, Toledo, New Mexico

Arizona reports to pre-season camp on August 4^th

ARIZONA STATE SUNDEVILS:

ASU was picked to finish 2^nd behind USC in the pre-season Pac-10 poll. The Sun Devils are prepping for their second season under Coach Dennis Erickson and they have one MAJOR issue: The Offensive Line. They don't have one. Seriously, last season QB Rudy Carpenter spent so much time on his back that I started to wonder if those were not linemen lined up in front of him, but rather, Fatheads.

Dennis Erickson is incorporating a quick release spread offense this season to help Carpenter's protection. A good portion of his 55 sacks last season were due to him holding onto the ball too long. Five players have left the team since the conclusion of spring practices, including tight end Dane Guthrie. (Academic reasons for former defensive end Guthrie.)

ASU plays a doozy of a non conference game when it faces Georgia on September 20^th. If the Sun Devils do not solve their offensive line woes before then, they will not get out of that game alive. Ditto for their conference games against USC and Oregon.

If Carpenter gets the protection he needs either from his O-Line or the new offense, look out Tempe, your Sun Devils could crack the AP/USA Today top 10 with potentially their only losses coming at the hands of Georgia and USC. A Holiday Bowl berth, or should USC play for the BCS title, a Rose Bowl berth is yours for the taking.

ASU's Non Conference Schedule: Northern Arizona, UNLV, Georgia

Arizona State reports to pre-season camp on August 4^th

CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS:

Last season Cal went from #2 in the country to losing six of its eight final games to end up 7-6. A QB controversy rages in Berkeley, and it's looking at the moment like we have a Sam Keller/Rudy Carpenter ASU flip flop of QBs brewing.

At the Pac-10 Media Day, Coach Jeff Tedford said:

"We'll pick a starter probably the week of the first game... It may take both of them to help us reach our goals...They are both going to get some game time."

Really Tedford? Look I know Longshore flailed around a lot in the second half of last season while he battled his ankle injury. And Kevin Riley lit it up in your Bowl Game. Against Air Force. Air Force. Is Riley really the guy you want facing USC and Oregon, or is seasoned senior Longshore your guy? Just remember Arizona 2006, Coach Koetter, Sam Keller and Rudy Carpenter and what a mess that whole situation was.

It seems from all I've heard and read that Tedford is leaning towards Riley. And sure, he knows things we do not know. Whoever gets the nod as QB has a whole new group of WRs to throw to. Juco transfer RB Javid Best comes with hype, but he's also undersized.

Tedford and Co have a lot to address offensively. That said, they should finish in the top ½ of the Pac-10s final standings.

Cal's Non Conference Schedule: Michigan State, Maryland, Colorado State

Cal reports to pre-season camp on August 4^th

OREGON DUCKS:

Oregon lost their star QB Dennis Dixon to the NFL, but expect to reload quickly with new QB Nate Costa.

Oregon has a powerful defense with one of the best secondaries in the nation. Last year, Oregon ended up 9-4, largely due to Dixon's season ending injury against Arizona, sending the Ducks into a 3 game losing streak.

Three Ducks are recovering from off season knee surgeries and are expected to be good to go by the first game. (QB Costa, TB Jeremiah Johnson, LB John Bacon) Tight End Na'Derris Ward, a UGA transfer joins juco transfers Jeremiah Masoli (QB) and Ellis Krout (WR) as new Ducks this season.

Oregon's secondary is scary. Three Ducks are on the Thorpe Award Watch list: Patrick Chung, Walter Thurmond III, and Jarius Boyd.

Oregon was voted #3 in the Pac-10 pre-season poll. Look for them to challenge ASU for #2 behind USC.

Oregon's Non Conference Schedule: Utah State, Purdue, Boise State

Oregon reports to pre-season camp on August 4^th

OREGON STATE BEAVERS:

Oregon State's program has put up an impressive 19 wins in the past 2 seasons, including a 2006 upset of USC. Their strong defense has been the key to their success of late. The Beavers face a challenge going into this season as they have to completely rebuild the front seven on their D, including S Brian Payton. Payton left the program this summer with no explanation. Beavs and Trojans alike may remember him as the player who had the key interception in the Beavers 2006 upset of Troy. So, good news for Trojans! (Like we need more good news, eh?)

Big things are expected of true freshman WR Jordan Bishop from West Salem (OR) H.S. Ditto to DE and juco transfer Simi Kuli, he is being touted as the key to making the new D-Line gel.

Good news for the OSU Squad: Guard Jeremy Perry is expected to be ready to play by the start of the season. He is one of, if not the best guards in the Pac-10. Perry missed most of 2007 with a broken leg and is recovering from knee surgery this spring.

The Beavers have a tough schedule, not only do they face conference rivals USC, ASU and Oregon; they have a rough non-conference schedule this year as well. I expect the Beavers to finish near the middle of the Pac. (Pun intended)

OSU's Non Conference Schedule: Penn State, Hawaii, Utah

Oregon State reports to pre-season camp on August 1^st.

STANFORD CARDINAL:

Yes I know. We were 41 point favorites. Yes I know, biggest upset in college football. (but? Really? Michigan-Appalachian State comes to mind as being a bigger upset.) But I point out that John David Booty should have sat out when he broke his finger, not thrown 4 interceptions.

Bygones.

The Cardinal has some questions in this second season under showboating Coach Jim Harbaugh. Sure they return a conference high sixteen starters from last year's squad, with seven of those on offense, but who is their QB? And let's not forget that despite their (fluke) upset of Southern California, this is the offense ranked last in its conference in yards and points per game. So yeah, the Cardinal, he has some questions to be answered. Such as will injured starters Allen Smith (OT, kneecap) and Jim Dray (TE, knee) be ready to play at some point this season. Cardinal blogs report that we may not see either of these players in 2008.

Notre Dame transfer Konrad Reuland is expected to take on the Tight End duties this year; Oct 4 should be interesting for him. (Stanford faces the Fighting Irish on this day.)

The QB slot is a three man battle between Tavita Prichard, Jason Forcier and Alex Loukas, but highly touted freshman recruit Andrew Luck could be the man the Cardinal needs at QB.

This program faces an uphill battle with the high academic standards required just to achieve admission to Leland Stanford Junior University. Can Harbaugh bring wins to Palo Alto? Sure he can-but he'll need several years of recruiting to do it. After all, he's not just looking for explosive athletes, he's also looking for exceptional academics as well.

Look for Stanford to finish 7^th or lower in the Pac-10.

Stanford's Non Conference Schedule: TCU, San Jose State, Notre Dame

Stanford reports to pre-season camp on August 1^st.

UCLA BRUINS:

High up in the hills of Westwood, offensive to the lumberjack's eyes, Lies the Cal extension campus known as Westwood High. Fight! Fight! Fight! Home of all the Bruin bear cubs, UGLY is its name. The student body's vile, The campus is a pile, and the football team's a shame! Fight! Fight! Fight! U. G. L. Y, UGLY Eat my shorts!

At least that's the way we sing it at USC. In all seriousness though, this is not looking like a good year for those Bruins who wear the powder blue jerseys. It could be considered a successful season if UCLA is bowl eligible at season's end.

I mean, what are you going to do without a QB or an Offensive Line? Or, more accurately, a just coming off his umpteenth injury QB and no O-Line? Norm Chow may be the guru that helped Coach Carroll resurrect the storied tradition of Trojan football, but you've got to have PLAYERS to build a football team.

I am biased, that is not a secret. There is not a lot of love for the Bruins from this Trojan. So let's just look at some of the facts.

• They have the 10^th ranked offensive line in the Pac-10
• Both Ben Olson and Patrick Cowan were injured on the same day in Spring practice. Patrick Cowan is out for the season with his injury.
• Olson is insanely injury prone himself.
• Rick Neuheisel is in his first year as Head Coach in Westwood. Norm Chow is in his first year as Offensive Coordinator in Westwood (traitor!). Much of the rest of the coaching staff is brand new.
• The pitiful O-Line needs to replace 4 starters from last year's so-so squad.
• Projected starting RT Sean Sheller is out for the season with injuries sustained in an ATV accident. That's 5 Offensive Linemen needing replacement now.
• Junior tailback Christian Ramirez will miss the season because he did not meet NCAA eligibility requirements.
• If QB Olson somehow remains healthy all season and makes it to the USC game, he will most assuredly be Maualugaed.

Do I need to go on? Neuheisel, Chow and co. walk into a bit of a mess over there in Westwood. Do they have the chops to turn it around and return UCLA to glory? Yes, they do. It's just not going to happen THIS year.

UCLA's Non Conference Schedule: Tennessee, BYU, Fresno State

UCLA reports to pre-season camp on August 5^th.

USC TROJANS:

Look for USC to meet Georgia for the BCS Title. We were anointed the pre-season #1 at the Pac-10 media day today and we are a favorite to win the Nat'l Championship. Not only do we face formidable conference rivals Oregon and ASU but we've got a September 20^th date with the Buckeyes of Ohio State at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum too.

Do it better than it's ever been done before and never stop competing. Win Forever. Always Compete.

These are but a few of our team mottoes.

Consider these facts. Under Pete Carroll, USC has:

• Six Consecutive Pac-10 titles
• A record Six straight BCS bowls
• A record five BCS bowl wins
• Three Heisman Trophy Winners
• Two National Championships
• A Nationwide high 10 players drafted into the NFL in the 2008 Draft
• An NCAA record of 63 straight games scoring 20 or more points
• A national record of 33 straight weeks as the AP #1
• Six consecutive AP finishes in the top 4.
• A 76-14 (84.4%) record

The question is not: Will USC be good? The question is: Can USC be beat? And if so, how?

Mark Sanchez, the 6'3", 223lb junior takes over as QB this year. Coming out of high school in 2004 he was everybody's All American. One Pac-10 coach said Sanchez was the best QB he'd ever seen on film.

Now he gets a chance to show the Nation how good he is.

Folks, not much needs to be said about my Trojans. We will dominate if we stay focused. And focus is not something Pete Carroll's teams lack.

In Pete We Trust.

Fight on!

USC's Non Conference Schedule: Virginia, Ohio State, Notre Dame

USC reports to pre-season camp on August 6^th.

WASHINGTON HUSKIES:

Tyrone Willingham is another Pac-10 coach on the hot seat. He meets his former team, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame on October 25^th at Husky Stadium but the discomfort of that is nothing compared to the November 15^th date the Huskies have with the Bruins. See, Rick Neuheisel is the Anti-Christ to Husky Nation. His very existence reminds U Dub fans of how elite their program once was and what his role was in dismantling it.

Washington has been slow in improving under Willingham's tutelage. And slow is not what Husky fans want. They want a return to the days of glory. To winning the Pac-10-which they haven't done since Rick Neuheisel's second season in 2000. To winning the National Championship-their last was in 1991. Not to another 4-9 season and bottom of the Pac-10 finish.

This is the program Neuheisel destroyed in the eyes of Husky Nation. I hope he has bodyguards for the November 15^th game in Seattle.

Look at it like this: Willingham is going into his third season and is 9-16 overall. When Pete Carroll ended his second full season at USC, he was 17-8 overall and coming off an 11-2 season and top 4 AP finish. In his 3^rd season USC won a share of the National Championship with a 12-1 record.
This is the sort of thing Husky fans expect from their Coach. Miracles.

For Willingham to be successful at retaining his job-which we'll define by a 6 win season and bowl berth-he will have to instill confidence in his squad. He will have to imbue them with the will to win. That's going to be hard to do if he starts off 0-3 which is very likely considering the first three teams the Huskies face are Oregon, BYU and Oklahoma.

Ouch.

On the one hand, you've gotta respect a guy with a program trying to battle it's way up from the doldrums of the conference who goes out and schedules BYU and Oklahoma as two of his team's three non-conference games. (The third being his date with Notre Dame.)

On the other hand, you've got to wonder if he's drinking some spiked Kool-Aid that makes him think his 2-7 in the Pac-10 last year team can post a winning season with these kinds of odds stacked against them.

It's going to be interesting to sit back and see how it unfolds this season. Husky fans, you have my sympathy-after all, USC Football in the 1990's was very painful, I know how it feels.

Washington's Non Conference Schedule: BYU, Oklahoma, Notre Dame

Washington reports to pre-season camp on August 4^th.

WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS:

41 year old Paul Wulff is new to the Wazzou coaching job. He's inheriting a team with issues up the Wazzou. (pun intended.) What Cougar fans will like is that Wulff is a former Cougar player himself. He played offensive line for the Washington State Cougars from 1986 to 1989.

The Cougar's have a stellar receiver in First Team All Pac-10 senior Brandon Gibson. They have a new QB in 6'7", 233lb Gary Rogers. And Coach Wulff is bringing a new offense to Pullman. Will Gibson and Rogers be up to Wulff's no-huddle attack? We'll know soon enough.

Wulff also has inherited a team with a bunch of off-field issues. They lost eight scholarships when they failed to meet the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate Standards. 25 Cougar players have been arrested in the past 18 months. Safety Xavier Hicks is spending 45 days in jail, and missing the first 3 games of the season after pleading guilty to 2 gross misdemeanors. Defensive lineman Andy Roof's troubled past has left his fate as a Cougar player up in the air.

But signs of change are already apparent. Coach Wulff cut QB recruit Calvin Schmidtke from the team because of a number of controlled-substance violations.

With the kind of problems this team faces, a former Cougar may just be the man to clean up the face of the program while steadily improving the team. The Cougars were 5-7 last year. I don't expect much of an improvement this year, though it could be said that maintaining a 5-7 record would be an improvement with all the changes that need to be made and questions that need to be answered in Pullman.

Wazzou's Non Conference Schedule: Oklahoma State, Baylor, Portland State

Washington State reports to pre-season camp on August 5^th.

And that concludes Your 2008 Pac-10 Preview my football fiends. Next up is the Big 10. Give me a couple of days, this one took 2 days to do. (I'm betting because it is MY conference. I'm HOPING because it is MY conference. And because it is over 3,000 words maybe?)

-Your Gridiron Goddess

I am currently working on the Pac 10 Preview and hope to get it up tonight. Tomorrow I will be working on the Big 10 preview. Sunday on either the Big East or Big 12, next Tues on whichever is left. ND will be in there somewhere.

I've been hard at work on some of the exciting things I have planned for this football season here at GridironGoddess.net!

For now I'll leave you with a question: Do you think UCLA is going to crash and burn as badly as I do? Sure I am admittedly biased, but consider the QB situation--or lack thereof, and then consider that UCLA has about the worst O-Line in the Pac-10. And anyone who watched ASU's Rudy Carpenter get repeatedly sacked last year knows that to be worse than ASU's O-Line is a very bad no good thing.

So, UCLA crash and burn or not? Do we expect a 5 win or less season?

-Your Gridiron Goddess

Two years ago, the Trojans got a taste of life without a fullback when Stanley Havili became the third fullback to suffer a season-ending injury within the team’s first three games.
Last year, Havili recovered nicely and put together a solid redshirt freshman season.  Although he may be remembered unfairly for the fumble against Oregon that led to the Ducks’ game-winning touchdown, Havili was one of the key elements in a vastly improved offensive attack in 2007.
Behind Havili, the Trojans had three 500-yard rushers, including Chauncey Washington’s near 1,000-yard season.  Havili may not be the kind of bruising, physical fullback seen on rosters around the country, but he’s a perfect fit in the Trojan offense.  He’s a willing and very productive lead blocker and he combines that with the athleticism needed to be a threat either running or receiving the ball.
Last season, Havili had at least one reception in every game and at least one rushing attempt in all but three.  His 34 receptions were good for fourth on the team, which he converted into 248 yards and five touchdowns.  He also rushed for 134 yards and two more scores.
In 2008, Havili will again have plenty of pressure on him to remain healthy and productive throughout the season.  As the only fullback with considerable playing time, he’ll be asked to carry the load for most of the season.

yojoe Fight On!

How’s the summer going?

“It’s going good, we’re finishing our summer workouts strong, like usual. We’re inching down to the final days of summer workouts and summer school. Just getting ready for that last hump and the start of (fall) camp.”

Are you happy with your decision to return for your senior year?

“I don’t want to make a mistake in coming back. And I don’t want to be the same person as I was last year. I’m hoping to come back and learn from the best – the coaches, and compete with the best guys.”

What’s your goal in terms of not being the same person as last year?

“Just coming out here and working hard. You know, I look up to guys like Thomas Williams, Keith Rivers, Sedrick Ellis and Lawrence Jackson, and how hard they worked.”

“How they came back an extra year and got better. It’s my last year, so I’ll put a bunch of things on my shoulders – I’ll put this team on my shoulders. Just go out there and do the best we can. I’m ready for it.”

So you’re going to take an active role in leadership?

“No doubt about that. It’s not so much that it’s my senior year, you know, I’ve been here for a while, Brian Cushing, Fili Moala and Kevin Ellison on the defensive side, we’re just going to do our best to lead this team. It’s the 2005 (recruiting) class, so there’s a couple older guys like Jeff Byers.”

What was the deciding factor for you to return for your senior season?

“It’s just watching Keith Rivers and those guys, how much better they became and how ready they were at the end of the season. By watching them…I know I’ve got a lot to work on and I have a lot to learn.”

In coming to this decision, you spent time with your family; talking and praying, expand on that.

“I talked to my mom; she’s a ‘big’ spiritual leader. She told me it was all up to me, and she’ll back-up my decision. I’m glad that I have the mother that I have. She’ll wait another year.”

And what do you think the goal for the team this year will be?

“Take it week by week and win one game at a time. We can’t look too far ahead. We need to play Virginia, then Ohio State, then Oregon. It’s one team at a time. We can’t have a mentality that we look past Stanford or Washington State…”

Are you graduating this year?

Yeah, yeah, I’ll be graduating in the spring. Nothing’s more precious than walking down that stage. My major is Sociology.

So maybe you’ll be a Sociologist someday?

Nah, maybe a law enforcement officer.

yojoe Fight On!

In other SC news, the recently honored Matt Barkley explained that he does not plan to party as much as Matt Leinart. 

yojoe Fight On!

Master P and Romeo in their P.Miller Designs clothing line, available at Wal-Mart in August 2008

Father-and-son duo, Master P and Romeo, recently returned to their hometown in New Orleans for the Essence Music Festival.

There, not as performers but as motivational speakers, the two shared messages of hope and revealed one of the reasons for starting their new clothing line at Wal-Mart.

"New Orleans is my home, it's where I was born and raised," said Master P.

"I was able to overcome an environment filled with poverty, drugs, and violence through education, setting goals, and dreaming big. I understand the financial struggles faced by inner-city families, so I created high fashion clothing at affordable prices that will be available at Wal-Mart in August for back-to-school season. I look forward to coming back to Essence year after year to empower our youth and watch my people grow."

That's awesome!

We ♥ when celebs give back!

Say Southern California goes 12-0. Say Florida, Auburn or Georgia finishes 11-2 with an SEC championship. Those teams' schedules are much harsher then Ohio State's slate. The conference in which they play is projected to be much tougher than the Big Ten.

So what then?

Does a voter take into consideration Ohio State's previous title game meltdowns

the past two seasons? Does a voter give into the national perception that the SEC is the most powerful conference and give the Gators, Tigers or Bulldogs the nod over Ohio State?

This IS the BCS we're talking about, though. The flawed system utilizes common sense like Gwinnettians utilize MARTA.

In recently speaking with Mark Schlabach, good friend and ESPN.com college football writer, he's talked to several voters who would contemplate putting a two-loss SEC team ahead of Ohio State if its one-loss scenario came to fruition. He said their reasoning was based on the fact that Ohio State had benefited from a top-heavy conference the last two seasons and that was proven in national title losses to Florida and LSU. The voters he spoke with would be willing to give an SEC team the benefit because of the SEC's recent track record in title games.

But truly, is that fair to Ohio State? Is it fair to the current players who had nothing to do with their team's previous transgressions?

Of course, Georgia's following would be all for bucking the Buckeyes if the Bulldogs were in the running. They might have a legitimate case, too, with the meat grinder coach Mark Richt and his team are about to endure.

But take Georgia out of the equation and clear out conference loyalty. If Florida or Tennessee or LSU is the two-loss SEC Champion, would one of them deserve a seat at the table in Miami over Ohio State?

yojoe Fight On!

Today, the 6-foot-5 Williams is down nearly 30 pounds to 242 from his weight in January. He opened eyes in practices open to media in May and June, which got the attention of his teammates. But when someone paid him a compliment on the last day of organized workouts, he had a matter-of-fact reply. Williams, more than anyone, knows he's done nothing yet.

When Mike Williams played at USC he was listed at 6-5/230.  According to the story, he was up to 272.  Remember, he is a wide receiver to a center.

Best of luck to Williams, SC fans want nothing more than to see him return to his prior glory.

Not that the Trojans need any further motivation when they face the Ohio State Buckeyes on 13SEP08, after all this game will feature the #1 and #4 teams in the land during the second week of the 2008 season.  But, Trojan fans remember that it was Buckeye running back, turned felon, Maurice Clarett who caused Williams to declare early.

In 2004, a federal judge ruled that the NFL's rule restricting younger players from entering the draft violated antitrust laws.  The lawsuit was initiated by Clarett.  The judge was later overturned, so Williams and Clarett were not eligible for the draft for another year.

So thanks Judge Scheindlin and Maurice Clarett for robbing SC of the talents of Williams.  The Men of Troy can get some revenge against Ohio State this year on the field.  Judge Scheindlin received her slap down from the Second Circuit.

Carroll failed out in two tries in the NFL, including being terrible for my Patriots, but hey apparently is unstoppable in college. I think we found out why, it's all the shirtless parties with young men!

I didn't think sports could get more homoerotic, and then BAM! it comes back and give you something else, I'll never doubt again.

[With Leather]

Urban Dictionary has just added this term to it's growing lexicon.  And how flipping appropriate it is.

Rey Maualuga,  USC's ubiquitous middle linebacker, is known for his hard hitting, punishing ways. And he doesn't limit it to opponents either.  He even does it to his own teammates in practices. (Dear Patrick Turner, how's that shoulder stinger Rey inflicted in practice?)

Maualuga has 194 tackles to date.  He is a senior standing 6'2 and weighing in at 260lbs. He is on the "watch list" for the 2008 Lombardi Award and Bronko Nagurski Award.   

UVA, Ohio State, Notre Dame, UCLA, UW, Wash State, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, ASU, Cal, Stanford: You've been warned.

-Your Gridiron Goddess

Your ACC Preview - Coastal Division

by Walker Sports

Welcome back to part two of Walker-Sports ACC preview. In this section we will take a look at the Coastal Division. Of the two divisions the Coatal is without a doubt the tightest, and will prove to be the most competitive. It could also make for some interesting results come November once all these teams have tangled and a couple upsets go down.

Virginia Tech Hokies: The Hokies have been a terror to the ACC since the day they arrived in the league. They have played in 3 out of 4 ACC Championships. There is no doubt the ACC made the right move bringing these guys in. This year the Hokies are likely the only legitimate threat to the Clemson Tigers if the two can meet in the ACC Championship game. However, this year will take a little more effort than Beamer and company are used to. The Hokies lost several key players on both sides of the ball including star running back Brandon Ore and linebackers Xavier Adibi. The Hokies will also continue their battle at quarterback that began last season between Sean Glennon and Tyrod Taylor. Lucky for the Hokies they have the best of both worlds with these guys, Glennon being a scrambler and Taylor a drop back passer.

No matter who is at the helm at QB you can bank that Virginia Tech will play solid defense and great special teams. That will make them a top contender in the ACC and a possible factor in the BCS.

Record: 10-2

Key Games: East Carolina, Nebraska, Florida State

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: Change was the theme of the off-season for the Yellow Jackets. Paul Johnson's option offense scared off a couple players, but they will be stronger because of it. Josh Nesbitt will be charged with running the offensive this season, and he has the tools to make it happen, if he stays healthy, a groin injury has sidelined him for much of the spring.

What the Rambling Wreck will do very well this year, is attack opposing offenses. The Yellow Jackets have one of the top ends and one of the top tackles in the league, Michael Johnson and Vance Walker will test any offensive line. The D-Line alone will keep the Yellow Jackets in most any game they play this season.

Record: 7-5

Key Games: Florida State, Mississippi State, Georgia

Miami Hurricanes: Don't go crazy with this one, the ‘Canes fell into this spot by accident, not because they have done anything special. Miami will be pretty much all freshmen or first year players. Lucky for them their freshmen tend to be better than an average teams seniors.

The Hurricanes are moving in the right direction, and they appear to be doing it the right way. That meant getting rid of a lot of players and coaches. That will lead to disappointment in the short term, but if the Alumni can hang in there and just trust in their coach, they will find themselves back on track, especially with this talented group of freshmen.

Record: 7-5

Key Games: UCF, Virginia, Texas A&M

Virginia Cavaliers: Al Groh must go, was the chant heard round Charlottesville after an embarrassing opening lost on the road to Wyoming. However, a 9-4 campaign seemed to make many Cavalier fans forget Groh's shortcomings and he even received a contract extension. However, after a meltdown in the Gator Bowl and an embarrassing off season that saw seven players kicked out of school perhaps Groh's job should still be on the line.

Despite all the setbacks the Cavaliers are looking to employ a more wide open attack and actually toss the ball down field some this year, Combine a revamped passing game with the return of Cedric Peermen and Mikell Simpson at running back and the Cav's could have a decent offense, but don't hold your breath.

Seven wins this season would be a phenomenal achievement. (Your Gridiron Goddess says: ESPECIALLY since they open their season against USC.)

Record 6-6

Key Games: Miami, East Carolina, Clemson, USC

North Carolina Tar Heels: Butch Davis is entering his second year as head coach in Chapel Hill, and while that does mean something, Davis alone is not enough to put the Tar Heels back on the winning track. The Heels will be much better than their 4-8 mark of their last year, however due to a tough schedule; the improvement may not be seen in the win column. Out of conference games against Rutgers, Notre Dame and UConn can mean trouble for the Heels.

The bulk of their success will depend on how their backfield gels together. Greg Little is the sophomore who moved to tailback from receiver late last year and he will carry the load this season. T.J. Yates is supposed to be the starter at QB comes August, but he has not thrown much at all since shoulder surgery in December. If he is unable to go the Tar Heels will depend on backups Paulus and Sexton to step up and run the offense.

Record: 5-7

Key Games: UConn, Boston College, North Carolina State

Duke Blue Devils: I won't lie this is just hard to do because, I don't want to be too tongue and cheek, and Walker-Sports is not about sugar coat anything, so sorry Blue Devil fans. David Cuttcliffe has challenged his team to improve their fitness, and their team speed. To this point the team has responded well. However, Duke simply does not have the athletes to compete at the high levels of the ACC. Nonetheless, the Blue Devils will be an improved team.
Record: 2-10

Key Games, James Madison, Northwestern

ACC Championship Game: Clemson vs. Virginia Tech

Clemson wins ACC Title and Tommy Bowden goes to the Orange Bowl where the ACC can hopefully regain some respect on the national level.

That's it for me, hope you enjoyed the preview feel free to drop a line with your comments. This is going to be a special year in college football, there's a lot of variables out there, and a lot of new faces on the scene so buckle up and get ready for what will be a hellUVA a ride.

[Your Gridiron Goddess says: S-O-U-T-H-ERN C-A-L-I-FORNIA SOUTHERN CALIFORRRRRRRNIA. AUGUST 30TH BABY!]