Friday, May 23, 2008

[Griffin] Young, Bush among select group of iconic talents - ESPN
...the individual players who helped shape and define the last 10 seasons...

...2. Reggie Bush: ...Pete Carroll gave him a tape of Gale Sayers when he arrived at college. Bush spent the next three seasons emulating and eventually bettering the accomplishments of the iconic running back...

...3. Matt Leinart: ...His team won a share of two national championships and played for another one. Life is pretty good for a successful quarterback at Southern California, so it's no surprise that Leinart wanted to stretch his college career as long as possible...

Thursday, May 22, 2008

[Miller] Trojans had no BCS peer once Carroll arrived - ESPN
...As for the perception that the Pac-10 has become USC and the nine dwarfs during the BCS Era, that's a recent phenomenon. From 1995 to 2001, seven different teams went to the Rose Bowl as Pac-10 champions (or co-champions). In 2000 and 2002, the conference produced two BCS participants.

Of course, 2002 was the first year one of those teams was USC, which was enjoying coach Pete Carroll's second season. The Trojans dynasty emerged and has yet to face a consistent challenge, even though six of its eight losses over the past six seasons have come against conference foes.

This dominance has made USC a national villain, and Hansen is quick to point out that the BCS has advanced college football...to a national fascination, where every game in the regular season is meaningful...