Busy day here with the family and all so I will throw a few things up today before we jump in with both feet with Ohio State tomorrow...
I wasn't going to comment on this but it seems to be picking up steam within the local press and I did see and here it with my own eyes and ears...It would appear that Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News continues his hard-on for Pete Carroll while his love fest for Urban Meyer begins to blossom.
t's always interesting to hear what media on the East Coast think about West Coast teams, but I was completely taken aback by New York Daily News sports columnist Mike Lupica's implicit criticism of USC's Pete Carroll during Sunday's weekly edition of "The Sports Reporters" on ESPN.
Would you believe Lupica thinks the Trojans actually have "underachieved" under Carroll? That was his word.
After Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe supported Carroll's decision to start freshman Matt Barkley ("We're talking about a guy who has given us great quarterback after great quarterback after great quarterback. I think he knows something about quarterbacks."), Lupica changed the subject and launched into this off-the-wall diatribe.
"Every year, every year, I think SC is going to win (it all)," Lupica said, his voice rising and his hands waving to accentuate his point. "As good as Florida looks — and, by the way, I think Urban Meyer is the best football coach in the world — Carroll is in ninth year there. His record is 89-15, and I swear they have underachieved.
"I really believe SC should have won more national championships than it's won on Pete Carroll's watch."
Really??
As the article goes onto say...
[...] I guess Lupica isn't impressed by Carroll's .856 winning percentage (tops among active Division I coaches), USC's seven consecutive top-four Associated Press finishes, seven consecutive Pac-10 titles, seven consecutive BCS bowls and two national titles in that span....
What about all those players Pete Carroll has put into the NFL?
What about the flawed system that punishes schools for an in conference loss while subsequently rewarding other conferences play Div. II cupcakes?
If Lupica is going to use that analogy for underachieving then he better bring up Miami and Florida State because they put an awful lot of talent on their rosters that ended up in the NFL and they only have one MNC during the BCS era.
If Pete Carroll has underachieved then tell me who has done better?
This was the same clown (Lupica) who went on Imus right before the BCS Title game ripping SC and the Pac-10 for being overrated and that Oklahoma was going to expose SC...
Yeah, we all saw how that worked out...
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Cocky or Confident...
Here are a couple of quotes from Matt Barkley after Saturday's win against SJSU
Here is the first...
Quarterback Matt Barkley was asked after the game why he was not more emotional when he threw his first touchdown pass.
``I'm not a Tim Tebow-like quarterback,'' Barkley said.
I'm fine with this...each player has his own way of celebrating with his team. What Tebow does works for Tebow...not for Matt.
Here is the second...
Among other things, Barkley was asked by a reporter on the field what he had learned about himself as a quarterback.
"That this is fun. This is easy. This is what I was made to do," Barkley said.
I asked Barkley if there was anything that was difficult.
"The run up the tunnel at halftime," he said. "That was brutal."
Hmmm...Uh, easy there big fella. lets not get too far ahead of ourselves. I am sure this was fun, I am sure this is what you were made to do but lets not take one win against a very over matched SJSU team and think that it is always going to be easy. I won't even agree with that statement if we beat tOSU, which will not be a cake walk, because the tough games come in conference. Cal is looking pretty good, UW is improved, Oregon can be dangerous once they get their heads out and ucla will always be tough rivalry. I do not see any game as easy.
Now, this is one of those moenets where you see Barkley's inexperience in dealing with the media and already we see some of the punditry running with it in an attempt to break his stones over it (while also getting a shot in at Pete Carroll).
Barkley is going to face a very tough crowd next weekend. He will make some mistakes and he is going to have a few tough games...the question is will he be able to learn from it and minimize his mistakes going forward...
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Here are some links...
Pete Carroll College GameDay commercial "Bathroom key"
Pete Carroll and Kirk Herbstreit appear in this funny ESPN College GameDay commercial that debuted on Sept. 5.
Ripsit Blog
Ohio State preview
Stopping run USC's Pryor-ity - LA Daily News
Scott Wolf - always with the negative vibes...
Terrelle Pryor is ‘very much like Vince Young’ - OCRegister.com
More on Pryor...
SEEKING respect - OCRegister.com
tOSU looks for some payback
Barkley Wins Debut As USC Romps SJ State - ESPN Video - ESPN