Tuesday News and Notes

by Paragon SC on Jul 24, 2007 7:35 PM PDT in News Comment 0 comments

USC has released their 2007 pre-season notes.

There is a lot of information there.

Pre-season rankings
Pre-season honors
Watch Lists
Quotes from Pete Carroll

There is an interesting article over at RealFootball365.com about how USC now owns the QB position.

Years ago, many believed that the Miami Hurricanes were a Quarterback U. of sorts. After all, they had Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testaverde, Steve Walsh and Gino Torretta to make their argument for them. However, the BYU Cougars certainly had some believing that they were the place to be for quarterbacks, as well, with Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Ty Detmer and Robbie Bosco manning their helm at one time or another in a short span.

[...]Today, there is no question who owns the QB position in the NCAA. It's the USC Trojans . Just take a look at the last three players who have guided their offense.

For a program that has always been know as Tailback USC is starting to get the reputation as a QB school. Of course there has been a lot of talk about how the influence of Norm Chow has made it that way but three years after Chow's departure the question is his influence still lingering or has one of his former Protégé's in Steve Sarkisian charted his own path in regards to the QB situation at USC.

SI.com has a great highlight real of incoming freshman Joe McKnight.

You can see it here.

With all the talk about Les Miles' comments about USC and the Pac 10 Fox Sports has their own little message for friends down south...Toughen Up!

With minimal objection, most watchdogs agree that the top-heavy Southeastern Conference almost always checks in at No. 1.

Please note that this admission rarely placates SEC fans, who become irritable when we forget to suggest the league also is stronger than the AFC North.

Anyway, despite its impressive pedigree, the SEC has produced only two BCS Championship Game participants in the last eight years. By contrast, the Big 12 has sent five teams to the BCS interpretation of the final dance in that time frame.

According to most sharpies, the issue confronting the SEC is the tribulation of going through the conference schedule unscathed. Amen to that. With traditional powers such as LSU, Tennessee, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, Alabama (yeah, the Tide will roll back in) and Arkansas (OK, we have to go back a ways) in the fold, the SEC is tougher to get through than an entire hour of Charmed.

But, despite the statistical cred established by these frequent donnybrooks, the computers aren't exactly thrilled with other aspects of an SEC schedule. Like every BCS league, the SEC has its share of historical non-powerhouses.

Nothing-new here for us non-MSM types. A lot of bloggers have noted that the SEC has always had their share of bottom feeders and a weak OOC schedule. I am also not interested in the conference championship argument either. I realize its not the players fault but when the school presidents and conference big wigs went for the money grab they had no idea how much tougher they would make it on some of their top tier programs. Miles has opened this Pandora's box a little bit more with his comments. He's writing checks his body can't cash.