Pete Carroll is a Golden God...

...as long as he remains where he is.

ESPN is reporting that Carroll has expressed itnerest in the open head coach position with the Atlanta Falcons. Granted, there is a story like this nearly every offseason. Carroll is one of the top (if not THE top) Division I-A college football coach in the nation. His .844 winning percentage is the highest among all active college coaches in the nation with at least five seasons of coaching experience. He swiftly and surely turned the Trojans' football program around into one of the Top 5 teams in the nation with a wink and a smile.

SMASH! (Again.)

All previous rumors have come to naught. If there ever were official offers, he turned them down. Carroll always says he's very happy where he is. upposedly, nothing short of full creative control over an NFL team would even possibly sway him to leave. However, that's exactly what the Falcons are (reportedly) offering him.

Carroll got burned in the NFL with the Jets and the Patriots and their fans haven't forgotten his "failings" (I can't enter into a conversation with my Boston friends that has the words "Pete Carroll" in it without them going off on a tangent about him...and don't even get me started on Bill Simmons). As the title of this blog states, as a college coach he is a golden god. Seemingly uncriticizable, untouchable, the greatest of the great. I have no trouble believing that Pete Carroll could ask for the moon and Mike Garrett would be on the phone 2.4 seconds later trying to figure out how to get it for him.

Oh, Petey. We love you so (Never ever ever gonna let you go).

I'm not quite sure why this story makes me uneasy. Like I said, he's been courted by the NFL before and has always stayed firmly rooted at USC. But that was before we stumbled this season. Before the rumblings of a crumbling dynasty started. Before Carroll (I keep having to stop myself from calling him "Petey" like many other Trojans I know do, he's that much "our guy") righted the ship by season's end, made Illinois look silly and had those critics eating their words. I don't know why I'm worried. I don't really think he'll leave.

I don't think he'll leave...until he does. If it happens, remind me to find a place to hide until the Trojan fury dies down. It won't be pretty. We don't let of our golden gods without a fight.

BCS: The "C" stands for "Chaos"

I have yet to find a single person who disagrees with the idea that this college football season (especially since the dust from the bowl selections has finally settled) proved, more than any other, that the BCS system is severely flawed.

Every year, multiple articles bemoan that very same fact, however. There's always some team that gets overlooked because it's in the wrong conference or it lost at the wrong time or having it in that particular bowl game isn't the best monetary decision (and, we all know, that last part is what REALLY skews things).

Ohio State is the No. 1 team because of a soft non-conference schedule, a final week bye and a top ranking in a completely unimpressive Big 10. Hawaii is the only undefeated team in the nation, but playing in the WAC and not being a college football "heavyweight" (read: lacking the pedigree and the ability to draw in the big money like a top team in the Big 10, Big 12 or SEC could) means a No. 10 ranking and a spot in the Sugar Bowl. Not too shabby, but still...

We're Number One!

Really? REALLY?!

This isn't fair. But it isn't unfair, either. It's not an argument I really want to go anywhere near, because there's just no way to satisfactorily resolve it under the current system.

Almost every other NCAA sport had a playoff system in place. I realize that implementing such a system in college football has huge hurdles - the largest of which is a big, fat dollar sign. I wish sportsmanship and the spirit of competition and drive to prove who REALLY is number one still took precedence over who could draw the most sponsorship money. But you know what they say about wishes...

Still, there's something clean and satisfying about a playoff system. You fight all year to MAKE the playoffs, but once you get there, everyone is on equal footing again. You have to prove yourself all over again. In a year where it seems like no one REALLY, CLEARLY belongs at the top, playoffs seem like the thing that would calm the chaos. Make those two-loss teams (nearly all of whom suffered an embarrassing, heart-wrenching upset) lock helmets and EARN it. Can you just imagine the football games we'd get to see? I'm getting excited just sitting here thinking about the mere possibility.

Damnit. I always do that, though. Get really, really excited about things that will never happen. Because money always wins out. Always (though I will cast a sidelong, puppy dog glance at the BCS committee that says "please, boys. Prove me wrong.").

Barring my pipe dream, here are my gut picks (sans any real analysis...yet).

ROSE: USC over Illinois

SUGAR: Georgia over Hawaii

FIESTA: Oklahoma over West Virginia
ORANGE: Virginia Tech over Kansas

BCS CHAMPIONSHIP: (I hate both of these teams, but) LSU over Ohio State

The mighty Trojan Nation

As I sit here watching USC play OSU, I feel sort of like an old biddy in a rocking hair, reminiscing about the glory of days gone by. Yeah yeah, I'm a spoiled little football bitch (and a smug one at that). No one needs to tell me this; I am fully aware. Two National Championships (and very nearly a third...but I can't talk about that), three Heisman Trophy winners in four years and a record of 48-4.

I come from the era of thunder and lightning, Pete Carroll, "the push," repeated stomping of rivals UCLA and Notre Dame and more oranges and roses than we knew what to do with. My classmates and I don't really understand the meaning of that big, ugly "L" (though I WAS at that fateful 2006 Rose Bowl and I'm still not going to talk about it...) Sports columnists touted us as one of the greatest college football teams EVER. We took over as THE Los Angeles team (because the Dodgers, Kings, Clippers and Lakers sure weren't doing much in that stretch). Even our harshest critics' hurled insults were so feeble, they were laughable.

Then came Oregon State. And the baffling 13-9 UCLA loss. Everyone was just a bit too eager to turn on the top dog. So we went to the Rose Bowl and thoroughly dominated Michigan (again) and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. A funny thing happened during the 2007 off season, though. The Pac-10 (which previously consisted of USC and...um...I'm out) started stepping up their game.















The 2007 season features a fantastic Oregon team, a bafflingly good Arizona State team, and solid Cal and UCLA teams. That's not even getting into one of the craziest, David-beats-Goliath seasons college football has seen in years (kicked off by *hee-hee* Michigan and Appalachian State). We inexcusably lost to Stanford at home, breaking a 35-game home winning streak. We understandably lost to Oregon.

With a month left in the season, we sit at #19...an unimaginable number. I can make arguments about Booty's middle finger and an offensive line decimated by injuries. But I won't. Many in the Trojan Nation are full of sputtering excuses and a lot of sports columnists are smugly touting that they "knew it was coming."


Don't fool yourselves. The Trojan dynasty has not died. Our defense still puts most others in the nation to shame. Our offense is still play making just fine, thanks. Being a two-loss team shouldn't inspire "end of the world" hand-wringing. Sure, it takes us down a peg or two, but everyone needs to be force-fed a healthy dose of reality every once in a while. We're not invincible. But we're also not to be dismissed or counted out...ever.


Besides, it's a great ploy for the mightiest to lull everyone else into a false sense of security for a while before turning around and leveling everyone in their path (Hey, I may have been taken down a peg or two, but my football ego remains firmly intact).