So it’s the beginning of bowl season and already two teams have upset the favorite: Wyoming over Fresno State and Middle Tennessee over Southern Miss. In my 7 seasons of following College Football (all be it only about 5 of those years have I followed it fairly closely) I have learned that you must not put all of your faith into a few teams. This bowl season, I put my faith into a few of those teams. I have entered into two different pick ‘em games, one for fun/bragging rights and another for real cold hard cash (to the tune of up to $1200). The fun/bragging rights pick ‘em is ESPN’s College Bowl Mania. So far I am 1 for 3 and have a whopping 30 points with 47 points lost to the College Football Gods. Although the lovely SpaceCowgirl only has 5 points so far (although she has only lost 36 points). We had chosen the same teams to win: Fresno, Rutgers and Southern Miss.

So…in honor and recognition of my mistake of putting too much faith in the team of “Bulldogs” (one of the teams on my “Don’t Be Surprised if they Fail…Again” list) Vote4Tommy presents:

Teams on Vote4Tommy’s “Don’t Be Surprised if they Fail when they are supposed to win…Again” list BOWL EDITION (insert theme music here)! Note: italicized teams are on the list.

Fresno State to beat Wyoming: My, my. What an excellent pick I had here…I should have remembered the smack they talked back in ’05 when they were supposed to come into the coliseum and ruin the hopes and dreams of a NCG berth. I also should have remembered that the Trojans crushed their spirit and the only win they had for the next 12 games was against Nevada. Not to mention that they lost to Wisconsin (another team on v4t’s list) AND Nevada this year. 28 points lost.

Clemson over Kentucky: OK, I know Kentucky is lucky to be in a bowl this year, but add two factors: Clemson is always said to be a “powerhouse” only to fail within a few weeks of the beginning of the season and UK has some upset-ability. We should look back to ’07 when the Bayou Tigers came into Lexington only to be dashed aside and beaten by the lower class of the SEC. Let us also note UK’s wins over Georgia, Auburn AND Louisville this year. Clemson might fail…again. Points wagered: 6.

Utah over Cal: Oh Cal, the lovely “never know what they are going to do next” team of the PAC 10. One week they are blasting teams out of the water, then the next week they are losing to Oregon State and Washington. And then in 2007 they beat Oregon AT Autzen Stadium…and they lost their number 2 ranking by losing to three lower end PAC 10 teams back to back to back…Oh yeah, and Lee Corso ALWAYS picks them as a contender nationally EVERY year, but they always find some way to fail. Points wagered: 21.

Miami over Wisconsin: Although Wisconsin is NOT favored in this game, they have been on v4t’s list for some time now. They too are usually a contender to win their conference, but somehow fall short year after year. they have gotten close, but don’t seem to show up for that BIG game. And then when you lose to Northwestern twice out of three meetings… points wagered: 1.

Oregon over Ohio State: This is a VERY interesting match up of TWO teams from v4t’s list. This year the game should be dubbed the “Don’t Be Surprised if they Fail when they are supposed to win…Again” Rose Bowl presented by Citi. Ohio State has a great year. They play week after week with only one bye and finish the season before Thanksgiving, when other conferences still have 2-3 games and a championship to play a couple of weeks later. But not OSU. The Buckeyes have over a month to brood over plans of beating their foe in their bowl game. Is it too much time? Well…they haven’t been able to win a bowl game since 2005 when they beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. Maybe this is the year?!? And Oregon. Over the past couple of years, for some reason, it scares Oregon when they are atop the PAC 10. They have tripped on teams like Arizona and Oregon State. But that is the regular season. This is the bowl season where they are 2 for 7 since ’03! (but those 2 wins did come in the past 2 years.) Let’s hope their bowl winning streak continues. Points wagered: 32

And yes…I know it is terrible to think about…but the following team has made this year’s list.

USC over Boston College: As any Trojan knows from the past few seasons, SC football has hit many stumbling blocks along the way. They can’t seem to get the W in the state of Oregon. Losing to teams like Stanford and Arizona at home. And also the loss to UCLA which kept the Trojans out of the NCG in ’07. BUT this is a new day, a new game, a new streak. Let’s end with a bang, and a very Happy New Year! I feel 34+ wins and a few national championships coming along! Let the Trojans be not only the team of 2000′s (unofficial thus far), but also the team of the 2010′s! Points wagered: 34!

An article in which  Chris Foster has compiled two great quotes from actors of note doing what every Trojan loves to do best… bash UCLA, well that and eat at Tommy’s. But there’s no reason why you can’t do both, right?!?! right. On with the bashing!!!

“UCLA hasn’t come this far east of the Mississippi River in 30 years,” [actor Bill Cosby] said. “We got them now.”

As for the week’s activities, Cosby said, “We are going to reenact George Washington crossing the Delaware by putting the whole UCLA team in open boats. That will take the place of the Disneyland visit. By the time that’s done, they will have just enough time to get to the stadium and we will win.”

And Arnold had a thing or two to say as well when his USC alum daughter tried to explain to him about the importance of the Victory Bell: “She sat me down and she told me it weighs 295 pounds and how the winner of the annual football game between USC and UCLA takes this bell and gets to paint it in the school colors. And I stopped her in the middle of talking, I said, ‘Wait a minute, Katherine, back up a little bit. UCLA has a football team?’ “

AND for good measure… Mr. Huxtable gave a great quote about the Big-10′s history in the Rose Bowls of late…”those poor kids from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, come to Southern California, and they load them up on steak. Then they take them to Hollywood and Vine and show them the stars. Then they take them to Disneyland to meet Mickey Mouse, Snow White, Dopey and Goofy, and then they lose.”

AH…Bowl Season starts tomorrow!!! Can’t WAIT!!!!

3 straight wins against UCLA

6 straight wins against CAL

10 straight wins against ASU (A full decade’s worth)

7 straight wins against Wazzu

8 straights wins against ND

Oregon teams haven’t beaten us in the Coliseum since 2000

Have not lost to a Big Ten school since 1996 (Illinois ’96, Purdue ’98, Iowa ’02, Michigan ’03, Michigan ’06, Illinois ’07, Ohio State ’07, Penn State ’08, Ohio State ’09)

11 straight home opener wins

8 straight road opener wins

64 straight weeks* on the BCS top 15/25** Rankings

Remember Trojans! There is still a lot to play for and keep fighting on for! The glory of Ol’ SC will be back with a vengeance next season…but first… BEAT THE EAGLES!!!

*BCS only posts the last 8 weeks of season

** 2002 and previous polls only posted the top 15 of BCS Rankings

I guess someone doesn't like Clemson very much

Oregon (9-2, 7-1) HAS to beat Oregon State (8-3, 6-2)

Reason being that if Oregon State wins this game, they will be off to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1965, a game in which Michigan trounced Oregon State 34-7. Oregon who will be 7-2 in conference would be the only other two conference loss team, so they would get the Holiday Bowl nod. Leaving USC, Cal, and Stanford to fight over the Sun Bowl, Vegas Bowl, and Emerald Bowl.

So, come Thursday night we will have an answer to the Rose Bowl question and it will remain unknown who will head to San Diego on December 30th, unless, of course, the worst happens and Oregon forgets to show up to Autzen Stadium on Thursday night.

I have a feeling this wasn't a mistake...but am actually kind of jealous of that bRuin.

As the Bruins received the ball after the kick off, the USC students began cheering “We are… ‘SC.” I did not support this move of the student body, nor did I appreciate the pulling out of keys in the Bruin’s faces. If the Arizona/Oregon game has taught us anything…it is that jinxes do and will happen! As I watched that game last week, I saw students jumping the berm of the field anticipating rushing the field in a post-Wild Cat victory frenzy. The students made me feel appalled. I yelled at my television (as I will often do because I am a very interactive television watcher), “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? You will ruin this!” Even the sportscasters calling the game joked that the students jumping from the stands will have a great seat to watch overtime. And what happened? Oregon got the ball back, scored with less than a minute left, and the game went into OT. Oregon ended up winning that game, leaving a sheepish feeling among the students for their premature celebration.

What I ask is this…If your team is up by 5+ touchdowns, and there are less than 5:00 left in the game, any of the “Hurry up and lose” type cheers are fair game. As the touchdowns dwindle, take more time off the clock. I.E. if you are only up by 2 touchdowns, 1:30 is not the time for celebration…especially when your enemy has the ball.

What also would be nice to see:

Failure of Stanford to Notre Dame (Charlie’s last game wearing his Notre Dame hoodie)

Oregon creaming Oregon State in the “Civil War”

Arizona beating ASU (which will mean we beat a “good” AZ team)

Cal losing to Washington (This does not really HAVE to happen, but it would be fun to see nonetheless.)

All of these scenarios do not necessarily have to happen, but they all help our case. The Trojans really control their own destiny from here on out, as long as we win the next two games definitively, the Holiday Bowl will welcome Traveler into Qualcomm Stadium with open arms. They know we bring lots of money and lots of ticket sales with us. CHACHING And also, no one does a Bowl Game like USC under Pete Carroll. Give him a month to prepare, and he will definitely give you a great show worth the price of admission!

Here is a parting question to be pondered:

If the Apple Cup is played and no one is around to see it, does anybody care?

Let me start off by introducing myself. I am a grad student at the University of Southern California, who also earned his Bachelor’s from the same fine institution of higher learning. I have been to just about every home game since 2003 (missing 3 due to shows that I was in) but have been to many, many away games which to me, has made up for the poor choice in showtime choices during the fall (You would think these directors would look at a football schedule and plan to have performances on Bye weekends!!)

This season I went to Ohio State (second best away game of my life so far!!), Cal, Oregon, and ASU, hence missing only two games all season long…Notre Dame and Washington. From 03-08 I went to Notre Dame three times, Cal three times, the Farm three times, ASU twice (I so do miss seeing Rudy Carpenter eating grass just about every play), Washington once, Oregon State once (for the lovely fog bowl), and Arkansas (YEEHAW). You could say that I’m an avid fan…

What I hope to accomplish with this blog is very simple: to create and promote the Trojan Spirit through humor, analysis, and stories. I wish to bring just a little bit of joy to you, the reader everyday by sharing my thoughts on subjects that I feel impact the Trojan Family, college football, and the world at large.

I hope you enjoy reading and FIGHT ON!!!