Booty plans to stay for senior season - LA Times
USC Coach Pete Carroll invited quarterback John David Booty to his office on Tuesday for a conversation that had nothing to do with tipped passes or the Trojans' loss to Oregon State.

Instead, Carroll felt compelled to meet with Booty amid radio and Internet discussions that said the fourth-year junior might leave for the NFL after only one year as the starter...

...Booty said he was not considering leaving after this season.

"I've never even thought about it," he said...

Also, Tipped passes not just Booty's fault - LA Daily News
Passing still up in air - Daily Trojan

Rose Bowl would still be sweet - Daily Trojan
USC is not out of the national championship race.

If it can get help from Alabama, Florida State, Rutgers, Texas A&M and maybe a few others, it will play on Jan. 8...

...With its two toughest conference foes, Oregon and California, coming to the Coliseum, USC still controls its own destiny in the Pacific-10.

And before the boondoggle that is the Bowl Championship Series consumed the world of college football, there was nothing wrong with playing on New Year's Day in the Arroyo Seco.

Pac-10 versus the Big Ten in the granddaddy of them all...

Also, USC can still win national title with a lot of luck - Daily Trojan

Roger Hong, 65; landlord tried to rejuvenate Chinatown - LA Times
Roger Hong hated the cliche that Chinatown was insular...

Five years ago...he invited a hip, Japanese American boutique, a purveyor of underground toy art and a bohemian-minded Vietnamese cafe that would cater to the many artists that have flooded the neighborhood.

It was a sizable risk for Hong, because the business district was still little more than a weekend tourist attraction...

...From an early age, Hong expressed a flair for drawing and sketching. He went directly to architecture school at USC after graduating from high school. He was among the first Chinese Americans to join a Jewish fraternity at the university...

Coliseum, 'SC could go long-term - Daily Trojan
With the uncertainty of an NFL team in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission might reach a long-term lease with USC that would ensure Trojan football would not have to move in favor of an NFL team, said Todd Dickey...of the USC Office of the General Counsel.

As a long-term tenant, USC would provide the Coliseum with assistance in maintaining and improving the facility in aspects ranging from restrooms to scoreboards.

Currently, the commission and USC negotiate a year-to-year lease.

In return, USC would have greater access to the Coliseum.

The commitment would also ensure that the venue has a viable use for years to come even if Los Angeles does not gain an NFL team...

Also, Coliseum exploring options - LA Daily News
Shifting time for Coliseum - LA Times
Coliseum scales back on NFL - LA Times
NFL: Cost of returning to L.A. could surpass $1 billion - NBC Sports

Students angry over new downtown classrooms - Daily Trojan
The School of Social Work's last-minute move of some of its classes to the Downtown City Center has angered the affected students and made them feel disconnected from the University Park Campus.

"I signed up on accident because I had no idea what DWT was when I signed up for classes," said Paulina Arango, a first-year graduate student studying social work. "I thought it was just another building code on campus, and when I got here they told me I was a 'downtown student.'"...

..."We had insufficient adequate classrooms for graduate professional education on the University Park Campus," wrote Social Work Dean Marilyn Flynn in an open letter to students, e-mailed Sept. 22...

Once short of NFL skills, USC's Smith gives all to catch up - Daily Breeze
He's unyielding on the football field. He'll twist, turn and embarrass defenders. He'll dominate a game, a rarity for a receiver, especially in the era of 6-foot-5 game-changers.

But Steve Smith knew when to take "no'' for an answer.

It was in January, leading up to the deadline for filing for the NFL draft. The USC flanker had consulted all he could to determine what his status would be, then certainly didn't like what he heard.

"When you hear things that are negative about your game, some people say, 'They don't know what they're talking about,' and they don't want to work at that,'' the 6-foot, 200-pound Smith said Tuesday. "I wanted to work at those things to improve my all-around game. That's just helped me and made me a better player.''...

Also, Smith strong, then silent - LA Times
Idea received - OC Register

USC turns to another linebacker to play fullback - Daily Breeze
Maybe the sixth time's a charm in USC's season-long search for a fullback.

Linebacker Thomas Williams, who has already had spot duty at the position, made the switch Tuesday...

"We're going to go for it, see if we can find a spot for him where he can help us a little bit,'' Coach Pete Carroll said after practice. "We're continuing to look for a physical presence at that spot.

"He's tough and he understands a lot, he's picked up stuff so fast just from his experience at other spots playing defense. He can identify the defense which is so much a part of being a fullback. ... He understands the schemes and principles, kind of like Powdrell did.''...

Also, Linebacker to play fullback - OC Register

Quiet Time for USC - Inland Empire Press-Enterprise
It seemed like old times, circa 2000, at USC football practice Tuesday as a mere 25 fans turned out for the workout.

Maybe it was Halloween, maybe it was the time change, or maybe it was the loss to Oregon State.

Coach Pete Carroll didn't seem to care. It had been quiet in the USC locker room...and quiet on the team bus after assistant coach Todd McNair pulled a few laughing freshmen off the bus to advise them how to handle the situation.

And except for the coaches correcting the players, it was quiet at practice Monday and Tuesday...

Also, Loss no joke for coaches - LA Daily News

UCLA ticket lines run down Trousdale - Daily Trojan
The Ticket Office was jam-packed Monday with students waiting to purchase USC-UCLA football tickets.

The line stretched beyond the office's open doors and extended outside of the Student Union Building, spilling onto Trousdale Parkway.

Many students worried the Ticket Office would close its doors and they wouldn't be able to buy their tickets; however, the office decided to accommodate students by remaining open well past its 5 p.m. closing time...

Also, USC and UCLA to end up close by on the road - LA Times

Pac-10 Catches On - Inland Empire Press-Enterprise
...The league has caught on to the Trojans' act. What was once cutting-edge stuff is now just something to gameplan against.

While the rest of the Pac-10 uses USC's history against it, the Trojans seem almost trapped in it.

Teach all you want, but to expect any of this year's Trojans to replicate the ball-hawking, takeaway-producing ways of Troy Polamalu, Matt Grootegoed and Lofa Tatupu is folly. Their ball skills, unique physical talents and football instincts come along once in a lifetime -- and that once has happened for USC. Even now after...the current Trojans practice those drills with a relaxed nonchalance that Polamalu, Grootegoed and Tatupu would neither understand nor stand for. USC controlled games, and its destiny, with a defense that would not be dominated...

Also, History of bouncing back - Inland Empire Press-Enterprise
Trojans 'Holding on for Dear Life' - Inland Empire Press-Enterprise
Rare loss doesn't faze the Trojans - Daily Breeze
The aftermath - Daily Trojan
Players look to each other when things get tough - Daily Trojan
Trojans held to ridiculous standard by spoiled fans - Daily Trojan
Players humbled in wake of loss - LA Times
[Adande] Their BCS dance was a masquerade all along - LA Times
Trojans ready to start new win streak - OC Register

[Curtis] A momentary pause to honor USC's great run - SF Chron
...we devote much of our six R's to Trojans.

Respect
The loss does not erase the fact that USC's four-year run is one of the most impressive in college football history...It is probably more of a tribute than a condemnation that the Trojans managed to win so many close games...

...Regression
With USC's reliance on new starters at key positions, it was assumed USC would improve as the season progressed. The opposite has happened...

...Reasons
Turnovers and big plays...have turned against USC this season...

Also, Pac-10 Analysis - Daily Californian
Schedule heats up after Trojans' loss - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
USC's loss could be upsetting to others - Boston Globe
[Markazi] Up and down - CNNSI
[Hayes] The Trojans' loss gives hope to many - Sporting News

Lynn Swann: With star power...he makes first electoral bid - Philly Inquirer
Even a cinder-block fire hall, a sparse crowd, and bad lighting can't diminish Lynn Swann's star power.

When he enters the Vigilant Fire Company, looking football-fit at 54 and wearing a suit and tie, the few dozen audience members pop out of their fold-up chairs to cheer him.

Swann flashes a megawatt smile, grabs a stool at the front of the room, and tells them why he left a comfortable life as a celebrity broadcaster to run for governor of Pennsylvania.

"If I didn't think we needed a change, I'd be content to stay at home, do the football thing, and play with my kids," Swann told the audience, most of them older residents...

Also, Struggling Swann needs 4th quarter rally Chicago Sun-Times
Ex-NFL players Swann, Shuler seek comebacks as political stars - USA Today

'Poster boy' for death - Deseret News
This past year hasn't been kind to Art Buchwald, the 80-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning political satirist who...has poked fun at politicians for 50 years.

Buchwald lost a leg in February...his kidneys failed due to diabetes...a poor candidate for a transplant. And dialysis, a five-hour "washing-machine process," did not cheer him up.

So he told his family at the end of February that he would pass on daily dialysis and accept the fact that it was his time to go...

...Buchwald never finished high school. He ran away to join the Marines instead. Afterward, he enrolled at the University of Southern California on the G.I. Bill. He was editor of Wampus...and he wrote a column for the college newspaper, The Daily Trojan...

Marlin McKeever, 66; former USC All-American, L.A. Rams linebacker - LA Times
...McKeever was in charge of the Trojan Football Alumni Club and had been one of a handful of former Trojan greats issued a sideline credential for the 2006 Rose Bowl against Texas.

USC's leading receiver in 1959 and 1960, he caught a 21-yard touchdown pass during an eventual 17-6 upset victory over No. 11 UCLA in 1960, earning him honors as the Trojans' player of the game. Legendary USC Coach John McKay, then in his first year with the Trojans, would later say that the victory saved his job.

Both McKeevers also competed in the discus throw and shot put for the USC track team.

They also had brief acting careers, appearing together in "The Three Stooges Meet Hercules" (1962) and as football players in the 1961 Disney film "The Absent-Minded Professor."...

Also, [Krikorian] McKeever's state is tough - Long Beach Press-Telegram
USC All-American Marlin McKeever Dies - Official USC Website

Carroll comes to Trojans' defense - OC Register
...Instead of playing backups, the Trojans (6-0, 4-0 in the Pac-10) have had to hold on for three weeks in a row, with narrow victories over Washington State, Washington and Arizona State.

"I felt in control of those games, which is different from when you feel out of control and you're just hanging on for dear life," Carroll said. "It hasn't felt like that."

Maybe not, but an occasional lack of swagger from quarterback John David Booty's offense and a season-long lack of ball-hawking by the USC defense has left the Trojans more susceptible-looking than they have been in three years...

Also, Air might be the way for Trojans to go - LA Daily News

Ex-USC star gains by losing - OC Register
..."This is the new me," announces Anthony Davis...

...Davis, 54, runs a hand over the smooth line of three buttons fastening his coat. Trim is the stomach that he used to call "my big frog belly." Healthier is his body – "that shell," he called it – that had once swelled to almost 300 pounds and disguised his past as a fleet-footed athlete.

He shuffles his feet in a soft-soled Meringue, wiggles his slender hips wildly enough to flutter the bottoms of his pleated trousers, shakes his broad shoulders and smiles – Ta-da! Touchdown! – like a newly crowned champion.

"Actually it's the old me. It's me!" he celebrates. "How do I look?"...

OSU optimistic as USC looks vulnerable - Salem Statesman-Journal
The numbers are staggering. Twenty-seven straight Pacific-10 Conference wins, a 51-2 record since losing to Washington State in October of 2002, and two national championships in the past three years.

Yes, No. 3 USC resides among the super powers of college football, taking a backseat to no one.

But Oregon State won't be playing against the Trojans' mystique today at Reser Stadium.

"We could be playing the New England Patriots. It's just another game," quarterback Matt Moore said. "You have to look at it like that. If you go in cutting yourself short, that's not a good start."...

Also, Inside Oregon State-USC - Salem Statesman-Journal
Injury might bench Bernard - Portland Oregonian
Polk is ready if Bernard can’t play - Corvallis Gazette-Times
'Old man' and the Beavers look to reel in Trojans - Daily Breeze

Aiming to come out of its fog - Inland Empire Press-Enterprise
..."The whole week has been right on the money," Carroll said of the week of practice following USC's bye week. "If we take a step . . . we have a chance to significantly change some things."...

...The young Trojans, with just one senior starter on defense, "are getting more confident," said cornerback Terrell Thomas.

Ditto for the offense, said quarterback John David Booty, who heads into his seventh career start.

Don't expect the Trojans to look different today, at least not that much, Booty said. But "we do have some new wrinkles," he admitted...

Also, No. 3 USC at Oregon State - Inland Empire Press-Enterprise
USC expects dawn of a brighter day - Daily Breeze
Scouting Report: USC vs. Oregon State - Daily Breeze
USC turning down the pressure - LA Times
Trojans try on their game face a day before the game - LA Times
USC KEYS TO THE GAME - LA Times

Former USC, NFL star McKeever dies from head injuries - AP via CBS Sportsline
Marlin McKeever, a two-time All-American at Southern California who played 13 years in the NFL, died Friday of head injuries from a fall at his home earlier this week. He was 66.

Kathleen O'Guin, director of public relations and marketing at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, said McKeever died at the hospital with his family at his bedside.

The family issued a statement through the hospital announcing McKeever's death and saying it had been "overwhelmed by the love, support and prayers received in the last few days."...

...McKeever was a fullback-defensive end and punter at USC from 1958-60, and was the Trojans' leading receiver in his junior and senior years...

Trojans great McKeever in critical condition - OC Register
Coach Pete Carroll asked defensive end Lawrence Jackson to lead the USC football team in prayer after practice Thursday, and Carroll remained rattled by the sudden decline of Marlin McKeever, a two-time All-American at USC.

McKeever, 66, was comatose and in critical condition in a Long Beach hospital after a fall at his home. Carroll made it back just in time for practice after visiting the hospital early in the afternoon.

"It's just a tragic situation," Carroll said...

...McKeever runs the Trojan Alumni Club, and Carroll, who arrived in 2001, relied on him as his bridge to USC's storied past. McKeever was a fullback, defensive end and punter at USC from 1958-60...

Also, [Krikorian] USC great Marlin McKeever in coma - Long Beach Press-Telegram