Leinart focused on becoming A-list QB - East Valley Tribune
It’s easy to forget that Matt Leinart is a football player. What with his cameo in an upcoming Adam Sandler movie, his Hollywood friends and the dispute with his son’s mother...

...Leinart has become a modern-day version of Joe Namath, sans the panty hose commercial.

“I hate that guy. He’s so stuck up,” Cardinals guard Deuce Lutui said.

For a second, you wonder if jealously is going to come between Leinart and his offensive line. Then Lutui starts to laugh...

Also, Offensive line earns early kudos - East Valley Tribune

Cassel won’t pass on chance - Boston Herald
To Matt Cassel, training camp is no prelude and preseason games are no warm-up act.

This is the time for a backup quarterback to prove himself. Once the season starts, his practice reps will take a serious hit and his game snaps - barring a blowout or an injury - will become nonexistent.

So while some players work to survive this time of year, Cassel has to thrive, especially on days like yesterday, when starter Tom Brady was given a day to rest his arm and his backup was given all the first-team reps.

“It’s an opportunity for me to go out and showcase to the coaches that I’ve learned...

What does it take to win a Heisman? - Northwest Arkansas Times
...“The SID’s role is vastly overrated, ” said USC SID Tim Tessalone, who’s orchestrated the winning campaigns of Carson Palmer (’ 02 ), Matt Leinart (04 ) and Reggie Bush (05 ). “ Players perform and win the Heisman. We can only enhance that a little bit. Ultimately, it’s not us, it’s them.”...

...Prior to Carson Palmer winning the Heisman in 2002, USC had vigorously promoted its candidates during the preseason. A robust campaign preceded Charles White and Marcus Allen winning the Heisman in 1979 and 1981.

While they were highly touted during the run up to the season, Palmer wasn’t esteemed enough to merit a spot on the Trojan’s media guide. Safety Troy Polamalu graced the cover of the 2002 edition after Palmer had thrown more interceptions than touchdowns to go along with a 16-16 record during his first three years at USC...

2007 CFN Preseason Rankings - College Football News
...This is the best defense Pete Carroll has had at USC. The second-team linebacking unit would start at about 100 other places, while the starters from one to 11 are, at the very least, All-Pac 10 caliber. There are at least seven defenders worthy of All-America consideration, and enough talented depth to quickly step in if and when one of the future millionaires gets hurt. Offensively, John David Booty is now a crusty veteran after having been in the program, seemingly, since the John McKay days. The skill players might not be known names quite yet outside of recruiting circles, but if you're not a five-star running back or receiver prospect, you needn't apply for a spot on the two deep depth chart, and three deep in some cases. It's not a stretch by any means to consider this team the most talented, at least in terms of high school prospects, in the history of college football. At this point, around the country, other teams are comparing their star players by saying they likely could've played at USC...

Also, 2007 CFN All-Americans & Top Players - QBs - College Football News
2007 CFN All-Americans & Top Players - OTs - College Football News

[Maisel] Savory Southern fare highlights 2007 season cookbook - ESPN
...The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.

So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.

USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster...

...USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess...

[McGuire] Too good to be No. 2? - Albany Times-Union
In yet another rookie-on-rookie training camp battle last week, wide receiver Steve Smith made a sharp cut on corner Aaron Ross, quickly established inside position and began to pull away.

The pass went to the other side of the field.

On this play, Steve Smith was the other guy. Again.

Since earning playing time as a freshman at USC, Smith has always been the other guy, the complementary player -- the No. 2, just like the jersey number he wore for the Trojans...

...Smith was a second-round pick. C'mon: Steve Smith isn't even the best receiver in the NFL named Steve Smith...

Also, Steve Smith making big play at New York Giants training camp - AP via USA Today

Trojans enter camp as nation's No. 1 again - Inland Empire Press-Enterprise
Here they go again. Wire to wire, anyone?

The USC Trojans managed to pull it off in 2004, ranking No. 1 from the start of practice to the end of the season. Then they missed by 19 seconds the next season when they tried to repeat, as Vince Young and Texas snatched the crown at the very end.

Now for the third time in four seasons, the Trojans get a chance to run the table as the nation's top-ranked team. But a lot can happen from the start of practice Monday to the BCS championship game Jan. 7 in New Orleans.

And much will take place on the road, with five of USC's six toughest games away from the Coliseum...

Also, USC freshmen to get a chance early - LA Daily News
Booty could engineer a happy 'dome-coming - LA Times
The search for answers begins - LA Times
USC: Just the right fit - OC Register
No sneaking up on anyone this year: Trojans No. 1 - Decatur Herald & Review
Booty carrying on USC's quarterback tradition - USA Today

[Boclair] Numbers don't tell story of Matthews - Murfreesboro Daily News-Journal
There was no real way to compare Bruce Matthews' career to that of any other offensive lineman in the league. After all, they don't keep track of how many times a guy correctly picked up a blitz or blocked multiple players on a single play or got lower than the opposing defensive lineman on a short-yardage or goal line play.

Yet, in the case of Matthews, one of six players enshrined (the first who played as a Tennessee Titan) Saturday, it was obvious that his career was beyond compare. And he actually has the numbers to prove it.

He played under six different head coaches and blocked for 27 different running backs...He started at least a season's worth of games at every position: 99 games at left guard, 87 at center, 67 at right guard, 22 at right tackle and 17 at left tackle...

Also, INSIDE THE SPEECH: Matthews - Canton Repository
Class worked just as hard in practice - Canton Repository
Matthews credits family, others for his success - Canton Repository
This night was just right - Canton Repository

Coaches tab USC as team to beat - USA Today via Asbury Park Press
...traditional powerhouses are prominently represented. The top four teams … No. 1 Southern California, No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Florida and No. 4 Texas … each have a BCS title in the last four years. It's the third time USC has started No. 1 in the last four seasons.

USC received no votes lower than No. 3...

[Maisel] Sarkisian: Nice head start but early arrival no guarantee - ESPN
With the benefit of four years of hindsight, USC quarterback John David Booty can see the folly.

Never mind that the Trojans were coming off an Orange Bowl victory and a top-five finish. Never mind that the guy who won the job, a third-year sophomore by the name of Matt Leinart, would go on to win a Heisman Trophy. Or that another quarterback, Matt Cassel, would be drafted off the USC bench by the New England Patriots in 2005.

When Booty arrived in Los Angeles in January 2003 from Shreveport, La., fresh from the recruiting wars, he believed he could play right away...

[Celizik] Carroll could be the next Rockne - AP via MSNBC
When I think about Pete Carroll, the name that keeps jumping into my head is Knute Rockne. I keep telling myself that there have to be better analogies, and there probably are. But my brain won’t cooperate. It keeps whispering “Rockne.”

This isn’t an opinion based on careful analysis. It’s a gut feeling. If it were anything else, I’d flippantly fling it in the recycle bin and move on.

It shouldn’t be hard to do. Carroll isn’t anything like Rockne, college football’s first celebrity coach. Rockne was born in Norway and worked in the U.S. Post Office in Chicago before enrolling at Notre Dame. He was a star end at the age of 25 on the team that beat Army in 1913 and introduced the nation to the forward pass...

Also, [Video] Trojan Pride - MSNBC

USC: Leader of the Pac - Daily Californian
...“I think they should be in that league I was so successful in,” said new Arizona State head coach Dennis Erickson, referring to his unsuccessful stints as an NFL head coach...

“USC’s not only the best team in the country, but maybe the best team in the history of college football,” Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh said of USC’s 2007 squad.

While the new Cardinal head coach’s praise may be a bit overstated, there is no denying the fact that in many preseason polls, the Trojans are the top team in the country. USC is projected to be so good that it garnered only the third unanimous No. 1 conference ranking in the 46-year history of the media poll. The other two teams? The 2004 and 2005 Trojans which featured Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and LenDale White...

[Maisel] Carroll's coaching propels USC to top of decade ranking - ESPN
...Mix all of that together and it's a recipe for two consecutive national championships -- and a few seconds away from a third.

USC got off to a slow start in the last 10 years. Carroll didn't arrive until December 2000, and anyone who recalls that the coaches in the previous four years were Paul Hackett and John Robinson either is a diehard Trojan or needs a hobby.

The point is that you could make the case that USC didn't dominate the decade long enough to deserve to be No. 1...

...USC has been a member of the Pac-10 in its various forms since 1922. Over the last decade, however, the Trojans have been in a league of their own.

[Buchanan] No. 1 Southern California - Yahoo Sports
...Southern California doesn't have a 1,000-yard rusher returning, and no wide receiver on the roster managed even 30 catches in 2006. But the Trojans...aren't too concerned...

...Some believe the 2007 Southern Cal defense could be the best in school history. That seems like a stretch considering the defensive units that John McKay and John Robinson put on the field in the 1960s and 1970s. Yet, there is no debate that the Trojans defense should rank among the best...

...Assistant coaches keep coming and going, but Southern California keeps winning. In fact, the Trojans have posted at least 11 victories in five of their six seasons under Carroll, who has shown he can recruit and strategize with the best of them...

No. 1 Trojans' toughest test may be Pac-10 - Inland Empire Press-Enterprise
...Outside the conference, USC enjoyed double-digit wins over Southeastern Conference West champ Arkansas (50-14), Notre Dame (44-24) and Michigan (32-18) in the Rose Bowl.

"That just goes to show how good the Pac-10 is," said Arizona State senior center Mike Pollak, despite LSU coach Les Miles' recent disparaging comments about the ease of USC's conference schedule.

Having faced LSU in 2005 (a 35-31 loss), Pollak said: "I would say USC is tougher (physically) than those guys."

But how much better will USC be against an encouraged and experienced Pac-10 that returns, according to Commissioner Tom Hansen, 165 starters?...

Also, Pac-10's assignment is to go the extra mile in '07 - LA Times
[Withers] Trojans' competition limited to rhetoric - Seattle Times
2007 CFN Pac 10 Preview - College Football News

As Usual, U.S.C. Is Loaded, but Now It’s on Defense - NY Times
...The Trojans enter this season with inexperienced receivers and tailbacks around the senior quarterback John David Booty, so the team’s identity, especially early on, will come from a defense that returns 10 starters...

...The most talent-rich position may be linebacker, where U.S.C. is so deep that a backup last year, Oscar Lua, was selected by New England in the seventh round of the N.F.L. draft. This year’s linebackers include three players in contention for the Bednarik Award, which is given to the top defensive player in college football. In Phil Steele’s positional rankings in his preseason magazine, he has outside linebackers Keith Rivers and Brian Cushing ranked as the No. 1 and No. 2 outside linebackers in the country and Ray Maualuga as the third-best middle linebacker...

Also, It's unanimous: USC favored in Pac-10 - LA Times
Pac-10 coaches come not to bury the Trojans but praise them - LA Times
The greatest ever? - OC Register
USC the unanimous pick - VC Star
USC is lauded as all-time best - Sac Bee
Trojans draw universal praise - Spokane Spokesman-Review
[Forde] Harbaugh declaration delivers Pac-10 jolt - ESPN

The mystery of the Olympic champion - Vancouver North Shore Outlook
While searching microfilmed newspapers for something else, I spotted a tiny item in The North Shore Press of Aug. 2, 1932.

It read, “When news came through from Los Angeles that Duncan MacNaughton...had carried off first honors in the high jump at the Olympic Games, congratulations...were forwarded to MacNaughton...

...He then enrolled at the University of Southern California, a fortunate choice. That’s where he met high jumper Bob Van Osdel who became a lifelong friend. And the proximity to the site of the Olympics became critical...

...After more than three hours, the competition was captured by McNaughton...when Osdel, who informally coached McNaughton at USC, suggested the Canadian concentrate on his kick. It worked...

Miles still talking Pac-10 as he prepares for SEC media day - Monroe News-Star
...LSU coach Les Miles, meanwhile, has been ridiculing the Pac-10's and USC's schedules compared to those of SEC teams. He will take the pulpit on Friday....

...Miles has said he'd love to meet USC for the BCS national title...

..."I would like nothing better than to play USC for the title," Miles said recently. "I can tell you they have a much easier road to travel. They're going to play real knockdown drag-outs with UCLA and Cal-Berkley, Stanford — some real juggernauts there. They've got it good out there. I would like that path for us. The SEC provides much stiffer competition."...

Pac-10 teams, though, routinely play better non-conference opponents than the SEC...

Also, USC's seniors back to handle "unfinished business" - Inland Empire Press-Enterprise
Miles downplays USC comments - Baton Rouge Advocate
[Gimino] THE BATTLE FOR NO. 2 - Tucson Citizen

USC's Top 10 Athletes in Photos - CNNSI
1. Marcus Allen
2. OJ Simpson
3. Cheryl Miller
4. Matt Leinart
5. Reggie Bush
6. Stan Smith
7. Lisa Leslie
8. Carson Palmer
9. Lenny Krayzelburg
10. Mark McGwire

USC 2007 Preview - Athlon Sports
It is a measure of how far Pete Carroll has taken the USC program that an 11–2 season, highlighted by a victory over Michigan in the Rose Bowl, was considered a disappointment by many of the Trojans’ boosters.

Now, the expectations at USC now are the BCS Championship Game or bust. Missing it for the first time in three years was difficult for Trojans fans to take...

...But Carroll — with 15 starters returning, including 10 on defense, and a banner recruiting class overflowing with blue-chip athletes — should have the Trojans right back in the thick of the BCS title race.

The key will be juicing up a running game that sputtered badly...