Sportaholic College Football Preview: USC Trojans

College Football is just around the corner with the first games scheduled on September 1. So with that in mind, we here at the Sportaholic.com figured it was about time to rev up the college football machine and review some local team in our area. With our expanded roster, we now can cover teams from all over the nation but we will start with our home teams. Each week leading up to the season we will have capsules on the University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University, and Tennessee State University. We will follow those teams with some of the national powers as well, just to make sure we cover all of our bases.

As we continue our journey to the beginning of the college football season, we have a special guest contributor this time around by the name of Trenise Ferreira. She was so gracious to accept our invitation on posting a preview for her beloved USC Trojans. Trenise is the host of her own radio show titled the USC Cold Hard Facts from 10-12 P.M every Friday (So make sure to tune in) and writes her columns for http://www.socalsportshub.com/. We here at the Sportaholic appreciate Trenise for sharing her expertise of the Trojans with us, even if its profiling one of the more despised teams in our state of Tennessee. So without further ado, we present USC's season preview.



USC Football: The Boys Are Back In Town!


By Trenise Ferreira

Well, it’s that time of year again: USC Students are slowly trickling back to campus for the fall semster and the University Bookstore has restocked all things cardinal and gold. This can only mean one thing—football season is upon us!

It’s time for the Trojans to once again put it all on the line and show why we run the Pac-10, er…Pac-12. Last season the Trojans fell short of expectations, but with the tumultuous offseason the team faced, it’s really no surprise. 8-5 for some teams is a good, maybe even great record—not so for the Trojans. The team is definitely entering this season with a Traveler-sized chip on its shoulders.

Because the NCAA upheld its ruling against USC, the Trojans will be ineligible to compete in the inaugural Pac-12 Championship game, which they likely would qualify for.

Outside of that, the Trojans also have a reputation to reestablish after embarrassing back-to-back losses by a field goal to Washington and Stanford, getting destroyed by Oregon for the second year in a row, an unusually sloppy defeat by Oregon State and an I-don’t-even-want-to-talk-about-it loss to Notre Dame.

If we continue to lose to teams that we’ve steamrolled in the past decade, we risk losing our status as a perennial powerhouse. This could negatively impact recruiting with the new additions to the conference and the continued emergence of Stanford and Oregon.

The Trojans will indeed have their work cut out for them, but if quarterback Matt Barkley can utilize all of the offensive weapons he has: Bilitnekoff award prospect and all-world receiver Robert Woods (as well as all the other receivers he can throw to), a talented running back corps that looks to be second only to Oregon in terms of raw talent, and a few incoming freshman that are poised to make an immediate impact—then Trojan fans can expect big things this season.

The Trojan defense—which struggled to adjust to Monte Kiffin’s system—has had a year to work the kinks out and condition themselves to the demands of one of the most versatile defenses to be implemented on any level. Fans can look forward to a more experienced secondary, led by cornerback Nickell Robey and safety TJ McDonald, to bring back the hard-hitting big plays that we’ve all missed.

Even with all the optimism surrounding USC, there is still one very pressing concern for Trojan Nation: Who will be the Trojan’s biggest competition this season?

At the outset, it looks as if Arizona State has emerged as a potential dark horse to win the Pac-12 title, either by default or outright. USC will have to bring it’s A-game to burn out linebacker Vontaze Burfict as well as the Sun Devils’ potent secondary. Pac-12 newcomer Utah also could be a threat to USC, but since Urban Meyer left the school to create a dynasty at Florida, the Utes have struggled against upper echelon BCS opponents.

UCLA is still UCLA, so no challenge there, and Colorado has never beaten the Trojans in school history. USC also faces out of conference opponents Syracuse and Minnesota, but they simply don’t have the firepower to keep up with a squad with the capabilities of USC. Arizona might give the Trojans some trouble because they have a fantastic signal-caller and potential first round pick in Nick Foles, but historically the Trojans have always faired well against the Wildcats.

Washington has beaten ‘SC on a fluke last-minute field goal two years in a row now, but with quarterback Jake Locker now calling shots as a Tennessee Titan, their offense will not be as potent. USC could upstage the Huskies in the Coliseum this season.

Stanford does have one of the best quarterbacks in the Pac-12 and the consensus No. 1 pick for the 2012 NFL Draft. However, USC has a good chance of beating the Cardinal if our defense can step up in big pass situations, which is what killed us last season. We’re helped greatly by the departure of Jim Harbaurgh and 3/5ths of the Stanford offensive line, which created the time that Luck enjoyed in the pocket last year.

The Oregon Ducks will undoubtedly be the Trojans’ toughest match up, and if the Trojans cannot find a way to shut down The Blur for four full quarters—at Oregon nonetheless—the Trojans will once again fall to the Ducks.

The Trojans also will travel to South Bend to face Notre Dame, and after last season’s embarrassing loss the Irish believe that they have what it takes to beat USC.

What they fail to remember is that former 5-star prospect Barkley didn’t play in the game at all, and the offense suffered tremendously under Mitch Mustain’s direction. If Barkley can come into and finish this game strong—which he struggled to do towards the latter half of the season—then the Trojans have a good chance of winning this rivalry game.

The Trojans have a month to get all their ducks in a row, and come out ready to prove that in spite of all the adversity, they are still one of the dominate teams in the Pac-12.

And soon enough it will be time to don to cardinal and gold gear, kick the flag pole for luck, file into the Coliseum, throw up the Fight On, and kick off what will hopefully be a USC-Caliber season.

Game on.

Who Didn't See This Coming?: Mike Hamilton Steps Down As University of Tennessee’s AD:



The news of Mike Hamilton stepping down as UT’s AD should really not come as a surprise to those who closely monitored the situation. His tenure as AD was the most tumultuous in Tennessee’s long and storied athletic department history. He oversaw three coaching changes in Tennessee’s usually stable football program including the firing of UT legend Phil Fulmer and the hiring of Lane Kiffin (Kiffin is a curse word around these parts). Kiffin replaced Fulmer and everyone knows how that one ended. Derek Dooley is still working to get the Kiffin’s stench out of Knoxville. Hamilton also hired and fired former men’s beloved basketball coach Bruce Pearl. Pearl was Hamilton’s best hire until Pearl’s scandal and allegations led to his eventual firing amid a media firestorm. Tennessee has been charged with 12 major violations since Hamilton has taken over in 2003. There were multiple player suspensions from the likes of fighting, robbery, drug charges, gun charges and many more. Now all of this wasn’t his fault, as it was the coaches’ job to control their players. But Hamilton DID hire those coaches who were take care of that side for him. He has always been accustomed to change as AD of Tennessee, because it was the one constant he has dealt with while serving.

Furthermore, Hamilton hasn’t had the support base of the Tennessee family for some time now. His handling of the Fulmer and Pearl situation left many doubters. He always seemed a step behind when it came to having the right amount of fortitude and leniency on his coaches. Kiffin was able to get away with many violations right under Hamilton’s nose and the same can be said about Pearl. Those two were direct hires of Hamilton’s. Just listen in to one the sports shows in town and when someone mentions Hamilton the conversation immediately takes a downward spiral. There are websites dedicated to Hamilton titled “FireHamilton.com” and some other ones I can’t even mention due to vulgar language. He will join the long list of coaches who were bought out by UT including Fulmer, Pearl, former baseball coach Todd Raleigh. The sum of those parts are costing the University $3.1 million dollars annually and when you throw in Hamilton’s projected buy out at $1.3 million, your looking at a staggering amount of money for guys who are not on the sidelines.

It will be interesting to see what Hamilton’s legacy is remembered for at UT. He did hire the most successful men’s basketball coach in the school’s history in Pearl. He did fire one of the most loved coaches in UT history as well in Phil Fulmer. The school was always in the media rather it is for the right or wrong things. He wasn’t the most well like man but he had the have support of the right people at UT and that has to be one of the reasons he kept his job as long as he did. Chancellor Jimmy Cheek had to know inevitably this day was coming soon. From what he said in the press conference lets you know as much as he stated he did not force Hamilton out BUT DID NOT TRY TO CONVINCE HIM TO STAY EITHER. Wow, that about sums it up best. No one in Tennessee wanted to force him out but now that he is gone most of the Tennessee faithful are breathing a sigh of relief.

Universtiy of Tennesse charged by NCAA for Violations

The University of Tennessee finally was served by the NCAA for various rule violations in their men’s basketball, football and baseball teams. This comes as no surprise as most have known for months the day of reckoning was coming as the school has been investigated the last 22 months. Tennessee was citied for 12 various violations in both programs under the watch of former football coach Lane Kiffin (Insert your own bad word here UT fans) and current head basketball coach Bruce Pearl. The baseball team, although investigated was not charged with any wrongdoing.

The penalties on the football side were about as good as it could it be in this situation for the Vols. Most of the penalties levied against the program are going west to follow Lane Kiffin. Kiffin and his assistants were accused of making improper phone call to recruits after UT officials admonished Kiffin and his staff about making those types of calls. The dates of the allegations are Jan 03-09, 2010 and of course those dates came just before Kiffin resigned at UT and jetted his way to USC. The NCAA stated that Kiffin “Failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance of NCAA rules within their programs.” The happiest man in Tennessee right now should be current head football coach Derek Dooley. He can recruit now knowing with a peace of mind. The program can now begin to move on from this scandal that was brought onto from Kiffin. The light is visible at the end of tunnel for the football team.

However, as for the aforementioned Bruce Pearl and the men’s basketball team, not so much. Pearl faces a gauntlet of allegations that could possibly cause him his job. Pearl and his staff have been charged with unethical conduct after he lied to NCAA investigators in a June interview about hosting high school players at a cookout at his home in September of 2008. He also called John Craft, the father of Aaron Craft, to sway some influence onto the younger Craft’s statement to NCAA agents. Not to be forgotten in this is that UT has already docked Pearl’s salary by $1.5 million dollars as well as banning him from off-campus recruitment for a year. SEC commish Mike Slive also stepped in as he suspended Pearl for the first eight games of the conference season. It wasn’t just Pearl who was charged as his assistants Tony Jones, Steve Forbes and Jason Shay were accused of “violating the NCAA principles of honesty” for making up to 96 impermissible calls to 12 recruits.



This is a bad situation for all involved. Not only could Pearl lose his job but he also makes a huge distraction for his team. After playing their best game of the season against Vandy, they get hit with news like this. AD Mike Hamilton now has three programs including football, basketball and baseball all under investigation under his watch and has to take some heat for hiring Kiffin and Pearl. Hamilton could also possibly lose his job but from what I hear, he is safe. The scandal has marred all of UT’s athletics as it has given the entire department a bad name. Pearl still has his support and seems to be on solid footing with Hamilton. Most fans still support Pearl as he has developed Tennessee men’s basketball team into a top 10 or 15 programs nationally. The rub with me on this issue is if Pearl stays on as the coach, what kind of message does it send about UT athletics? Is it a win at all cost mentality? It must be because I know if Buzz Peterson were the coach during all these accusations, he would have been shown the door a long time ago. In the cut-throat world of the SEC, winning is the only thing that matters at most schools but sometime you can’t just go with the status quo. I am a big Pearl supporter as he is a personable guy and a damn good basketball coach but he made his mistakes and must pay for them like everyone else. The ball is in UT’s court. The decision that they make on Pearl will let us know what UT athletics is all about.