USC remained sixth in the latest BCS standings and its computer ranking held steady at eighth, but the Trojans are no longer alone in the standings.

Oregon State jumped into the standings at No. 21 and state rival Oregon is just behind at No. 24.

The Beavers are also ranked 21st in the Harris, AP and coaches' polls, while Oregon is 22nd in the Harris and coaches' polls and 24th with the AP.

USC is sixth in every poll.

Revelations from the past weekend's action:

USC's offensive inconsistency is consistent: For the second time in three weeks, USC scored just 17 points in a victory. In the 17-3 win over Cal, unlike the 17-10 win over Arizona, the Trojans moved the ball fairly consistently. They just couldn't make plays once they got inside Cal territory, which happened nine times. It wasn't turnovers; the Trojans had just one. Cal's defense, just like Arizona's, deserves some credit, but 17 points was well below the 21 the Bears have been giving up this season. Afterwards, coach Pete Carroll said the game plan was conservative because of how many takeaways the Cal defense has forced this year, and he praised quarterback Mark Sanchez. Sure, a win is a win, but it's clear that the Trojans offense is the character actor while the defense is laden with leading men.

California's quarterback situation is no less murky today: Coach Jeff Tedford started Nate Longshore but benched him at halftime for Kevin Riley. Then he stuck with Riley while he played much worse than Longshore had. Longshore completed 11 of 15 for 79 yards with no interceptions in the first half, though a pair of apparent picks were killed by penalties. He was sacked once. Riley, who was sacked three time despite his superior mobility, completed 4 of 16 passes for 59 yards with an interception. His only impressive play, a 31-yard completion, was mostly about a circus catch by Verran Tucker. Nine games into the season and heading into a critical matchup with Oregon State, the answer to who should be the starting quarterback isn't clear. Here's a guess that, fully recovered from his concussion, Riley still will get the call at Oregon State on Saturday.

It's time to put Oregon's quarterback debate to bed; Jeremiah Masoli is the man: Masoli didn't post huge numbers in the comeback win over Stanford, and the sophomore is still developing as a passer. And a pair of fumbles won't charm fans or coaches. But his clutch play suggests he's got the mental side whipped, which might be the most important quality a quarterback can possess. He only completed 11 of 21 passes for 144 yards, but he led the Ducks 74 yards in 11 plays for the winning touchdown, completing 3 of 6 passes for 39 yards and running for 30 more, including a 25-yard scramble on third-and-8 to the Stanford 8-yard line. It appears that this question already has been answered in coach Mike Bellotti's mind -- Justin Roper didn't play in the 35-28 win.

Oregon State appears ready to face the meat of its schedule with the Rose Bowl on the line: The Beavers have won four in a row since a 2-3 start. The four wins have come vs. teams with a combined 7-30 record. The three teams that remain between them and the Rose Bowl all have winning records and are a combined 19-9. Yet the Beavers' second-half surge against UCLA -- they outscored the Bruins 31-3 after the break -- suggests this team is (again) peaking late in the season. What's more, while other teams are still struggling at quarterback, Sean Canfield's performance shows Oregon State has two quarterbacks it can win with. Stepping in for starter Lyle Moevao, Canfield completed 16 of 22 passes for 222 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Of course, Canfield got a lot of help from the Rodgers brothers: freshman Jacquizz (31 carries for 144 yards) and sophomore James (6 receptions, 115 yards).

The state of Washington still has a small spark of fight left: In their showdowns with the state of Arizona, Washington and Washington State both turned in semi-respectable performances and perhaps -- for the moment -- dispelled feelings that both teams had quit on their respective miserable seasons. Washington was actually leading 19-16 in the third quarter over Arizona State before Rudy Carpenter rallied the Sun Devils for a 39-19 win, the Huskies school-record 11th defeat in a row. Meanwhile, Washington State scored a season-high 28 points -- against FBS competition -- and didn't surrender more than 60 points for a fifth time this season in a 59-28 loss to Arizona. Sure, the Wildcats had 531 total yards, including 317 on the ground, against the woeful Cougars defense, but it's something, right?

Went 3-1 last week as the mix-and-match California offensive line proved me wrong. Will it again this week? Season record stands at 44-12.

USC 35, California 13: USC needs to make a statement to enliven its fading BCS title game chances. Cal is looking to hurdle its biggest obstacle toward the program's first Rose Bowl since 1959. But will the Bears be able to score enough on the road against the nation's best defense, particularly with a banged up offensive line and questions (again) at quarterback -- will it be Nate Longshore (likely) or Kevin Riley (who's trying to come back from a concussion)?

Oregon State 24, UCLA 17: Oregon State coach Mike Riley has never beaten UCLA, but his Beavers should be highly motivated: They're four wins away from the Rose Bowl. Both teams have issues. It appears that the Beavers will go with backup quarterback Sean Canfield because starter Lyle Moevao is still nursing a shoulder injury. The Bruins, meanwhile, suspended three players, including two from their thin offensive line, for team rules violations. Mistakes might decide this one: Canfield and UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft both have a tendency to be careless with the football.

Oregon 41, Stanford 30: Neither team can pass or defend the pass, so is this one going to feature 80 runs? Hard to believe a former NFL quarterback, Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, and one of the nation's most respected offensive minds, Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, would settle for that. Both teams are sticking with their quarterbacks, though both might use more than one -- and Oregon's Jeremiah Masoli is nursing a foot/ankle injury. The Ducks should be on upset alert. Stanford is desperately searching for a sixth win and bowl eligibility, while Oregon might come out a little flat after the disappointing result last weekend at Cal.

Arizona 48, Washington State 10: The only question: Is there any mixture of an overconfident Arizona team, a suddenly inspired Washington State squad and a surprise appearance by Lady Luck in Pullman that could distill an upset from dirt and air of the Palouse? The most reasonable answer: No.

Arizona State 44, Washington 13: It's been a frustrating year for Arizona State, but it's hard to imagine any Sun Devil is more frustrated than quarterback Rudy Carpenter. He began the year as the consensus pick as the Pac-10s best quarterback and a potential All-American, but injuries and inconsistency have riddled him and the offense as a whole. He has limped along as an afterthought while the Sun Devils dropped six games in a row. But, oh, how he must be salivating over the Huskies, who own the worst pass defense in the nation and are completely incapable of sacking a quarterback. Feed Rudy. Feed.

Pretty empty for tonight's game, but its great just to see a game at Galen again! It is really amazing where Floyd has taken this program in three short years as USC is ranked #18 in the preseason AP after once again losing their top two scorers.

More Pics After the Jump!

Derozan looks for a lane, but the defenders have already collapsed into the middle

Casey and Mamadou fight for a rebound. 

Taj boxes out hi opponents and gets set to pull down the board.

Demar performs an inadvertent pirouette as he (gracefully) drops the ball into the hoop.

Donte leads the charge down court

Keith with an authoritative dunk!

Taj powers his way to the hoop

And the last of the dunk pictures, takes it up in the open court. Sadly without an acrobatics.

It seemed like Taj was at the free throw line every couple minutes, but...

Team free throw shooting was absolutely atrocious at one point.

Demar with a nice pull up jumper.

There were a surprising number of APU students there. Who would have thought? Maybe they heard about Mercer?

Donte played solid D the whole game

Dwight went leaping into the press after trying to pull down a long rebound

Final Score

Casey Cunningham had a great game and will be a big boost off the bench or even as an occasional starter. Donte Smith was also huge with excellent play on defense and double digits in assists. Daniel Hackett and Leonard Washington did not play for some reason, and Alex Stepheson was not allowed to play either as the team has yet to hear from the NCAA about his eligibility this season. One thing that I think everyone in attendance had to have noticed was USC's size and depth. Floyd experimented with a lot of combinations of players (Dunleavy even saw the court in the waning minutes), and the Trojans will have a lot of options with regards to who they want to play for any given situation. It was obvious that the game was basically a scrimmage and that the players were just having some fun, but it was still nice to see USC hoops in action once again. Fight On and beat the Anteaters!

.

Ten things to consider, underline or anticipate heading into the weekend.

1. Can anybody win on the road (USC, Oregon, UCLA)? The best road win in conference play thus far is Arizona's 31-10 victory at UCLA. Otherwise bupkis (wins at Washington and Washington State don't count this season because everyone wins there). Even the Trojans aren't immune. Last time USC played a quality conference foe on the road it got Oregon Stated. To win the conference -- or to earn a good bowl berth -- a team needs to figure out how to win on the road.

2. Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen should feel at home against Washington's pass defense: Washington ranks last -- 119th -- in the nation in pass efficiency defense. It's yielded 18 TD passes and grabbed only two interceptions. Opponents are completing passes at nearly a 73 percent clip. Enter Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who's shown dramatic improvement this year. He's tossed 14 TD passes and has thrown for 730 yards over his last two games. Odds are he's headed for another 300-yard-plus day through the air.

3. Another Mighty Mouse wants a piece of the USC defense: Arizona true freshman running back Keola Antolin burst onto the scene last week against California, rushing for 149 yards and three touchdowns. His stature -- 5-foot-7, 180 pounds -- notably approximated Oregon State's Jacquizz Rodgers, who gashed USC for 186 yards rushing. The Trojans defense has given up 316 yards rushing in its other five games total. Maybe small running backs are an Achilles' heel for the Trojans D?

4. Who's California's quarterback this week? Kevin Riley won the Bears starting quarterback job in a tight race in the preseason and went 3-1, but lost the job the past two games to Nate Longshore, the starter the previous two seasons. Longshore went 1-1. Coach Jeff Tedford said the competition is open and the starter Saturday against UCLA will be the guy who performs best with the game plan during practices. The more mobile, less mistake-prone Riley is decidedly the fan favorite. If Longshore takes the field, count on more than a few hoots from the crowd, which blames him for Cal's inconsistency. That has to register in Tedford's mind.

5. And what about Oregon's quarterback situation? The Ducks quarterback quandary is less controversial but just as vague this week as Oregon heads to Arizona State. Coach Mike Bellotti said that either Justin Roper, who began the season as the starter before injuring his knee, or Jeremiah Masoli, a first-year junior college transfer who's filled in, could start. And both could play. Roper is the more refined passer, and the Ducks passing game has been lacking. But Masoli's running skills are superior.

6. Will the return of Keegan Herring help the Arizona State running game?: The Sun Devils lack of any semblance of a running game -- they rank 117th in the nation with 83.7 yards per game -- has crippled the offense. Herring, the Pac-10's active career rushing leader, has struggled all season with a hamstring injury. He's played in only three games, turning in his best work when he went for 59 yards on 12 carries against Stanford before aggravating the hamstring. If he's back to his old quick, slashing self, he should give the ground attack a lift against the Ducks.

7. Get rid of the ball, Rudy!: While a run threat would help protect Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter and his bum ankle more than anything, it's unlikely it will perk up enough to carry the offense. And when Rudy throws, the Ducks will come after him hard. In last year's game, Oregon sacked Carpenter nine times. This year, the Ducks lead the Pac-10 with 3.57 sacks per game. The Sun Devils' game plan, with an extra week to refine it, likely will feature quick throws and a moving pocket. Anything to protect Carpenter, who can help himself by not holding onto the ball so long, looking for the big play downfield.

8. Will UCLA get Crafty on the road? UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft has led the Bruins to a pair of dramatic fourth-quarter comebacks, and both came after he played poorly in the first half. So he's shown he can bounce back during crunch time. But both performances came at home. Will a slow start at California create too wide a gap for Craft to bring the Bruins back? Can Craft put a complete game together? UCLA hasn't won in Berkeley since 1998. The Bruins also are riding a five-game road losing streak and have lost 12 of 15 on the road. It would be as thrilling for Bruins fans to see that run reversed as to see late-game heroics.

9. Speaking of bouncing back in crunch time, Cal: If California loses at home to a UCLA team the Bears should beat, then it will be impossible not to wonder if the program is headed for a repeat of last season's second-half collapse (though obviously the Bears never climbed to No. 2 in the polls this season). Forget the quarterback controversy: Cal needs to show resiliency. Its defense needs to recover its mojo after flopping in the second half against Arizona. The running game needs to give whoever plays quarterback a lift. And whoever plays quarterback needs to avoid making momentum-quashing mistakes.

10. USC needs another dominant performance: This likely will be a weekly "what to watch." If the Trojans are going to re-emerge in the national title hunt, they need to make statements every week because, at present, the remaining schedule doesn't including any ranked teams. Arizona is a solid foe and its stadium is going to be packed and frenzied. If USC stomps that enthusiasm and wins going away, a lot of Big 12 and SEC fans are going to start getting nervous because nobody wants a part of the Trojans in a championship game.

Filed under: USC, Washington State, Pac 10, General CFB Insanity

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Regarding Joe McKnight’s case, which had him in a boot Monday, USC coach Pete Carroll said: “This is a hard one to tell. Obviously this is a real critical and painful injury for a running back particularly, but it’s hard on everybody.”

With Stafon Johnson (illness) and Allen Bradford (hip) also missing practice, redshirt freshman Broderick Green moved up to the No. 2 tailback spot behind C.J. Gable.

Related link:

• McKnight in a boot
• Mark Sanchez stays the course

From The Daily News.

Craig Fertig, a record-setting quarterback for USC's teams of the 1960s who went on to be one of John McKay's top assistants and later a broadcaster on the Trojans' TV telecast, died Saturday of kidney failure. He was 66.

Fertig had been battling poor health the past several years. He died at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach.

"He embodied what it meant to be a Trojan," USC athletic director Mike Garrett said in a release. "He was one of the great storytellers and we all loved listening to his anecdotes delivered with his well-known sense of humor. We'll miss him dearly."

Fertig was a teammate of Garrett's in 1963 and 1964, when the quarterback set eight USC passing records. Fertig was also a member of USC's 1962 national championship team.

Fertig is remembered for throwing the winning touchdown pass to Rod Sherman in the final two minutes of the 1964 game against Notre Dame to lead USC back from a 17-point halftime deficit and upset the unbeaten, top-ranked Irish.

He helped lead USC to two national titles and six championship games as an assistant coach to McKay from 1965 to 1973. After stints as the head coach at Oregon State (1976-79) and West Coast talent scout for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (under McKay), Fertig in 1992 began an 11-year run as an analyst on the Prime Ticket broadcasts of Trojans' football with Tom Kelly.

Here is a little more from the LAT.

Even after his official connection with the university ended several years ago, Fertig was a welcome presence, always ready with a story or joke told in the dry wit of his former coach, the legendary John McKay.

"Craig knew everybody, and everybody knew Craig," said Athletic Director Mike Garrett, who played alongside Fertig in the early 1960s. "He was one of the great storytellers."

Fertig was a sophomore playing behind Pete Beathard and Bill Nelson on the 1962 team, which went undefeated and won a national championship. He started only one season, in 1964, but threw one of the most memorable passes in school history.

That fall, undefeated Notre Dame arrived at the Coliseum with quarterback John Huarte, who had won the Heisman Trophy a few days earlier.

The Irish built a 17-0 lead, but USC scrambled back in the second half, closing the gap to four points, then driving to within 15 yards of the end zone in the final two minutes. On fourth down, Fertig completed a slant pass to Rod Sherman for the winning touchdown.

I can just imagine his interactions with John McKay. I would also love to hear Alan Page's thoughts once he heard of Fertig's passing. There have to be some incredible back stories in a game like that.

We pass on our deepest sympathies to the Fertig Family.

Fight On Craig!

The junior, who hasn’t caught a pass the past two games and has been bothered by sore ankles, asked Coach Pete Carroll whether he could redshirt this season. It isn’t as simple as that, as I’ll explain below, but the act of asking illustrates Hazelton’s fragile state of mind.

“There’s a lot of things going on,” Hazelton said after practice Wednesday. “I think I need to grow up as a person in certain areas.”

Asked what he meant by that, Hazelton said: “Just some personal stuff. As a football player too. … If I was to get the year, I think it would be good for me personally.”

Hazelton spent about five minutes after practice talking one-on-one with offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian. Hazelton clearly is frustrated about his diminished role behind Patrick Turner, Damian Williams and Ronald Johnson.

Hazleton’s health is an issue too. After spraining his right ankle during the season opener at Virginia, Hazelton turned his left ankle at the end of the Oregon State game last week. He isn’t quite right physically, and he’s having a hard time battling through that.

“I feel like I could go out and play,” Hazelton said. “I feel like I could be better.”

Hazelton can’t redshirt just because he feels like it. Because he already has played this season, his only option is to be granted a medical waiver. That’s a possibility if his ankles worsen, but he has been well enough to practice this week. He would lose that option if he played Saturday against Oregon, which would be his fourth appearance of the season.

Carroll hadn’t given Hazelton an answer as of Wednesday evening and said it’s too early in the season to definitively designate redshirts.

Here’s my take on Hazelton, based on a conversation with a coach:

Hazelton is sulking about his situation and needs to toughen up and play better. If he doesn’t, he risks falling further down the depth chart.

Can't disagree with anything he said. On a large scale, you could argue that USC plays to the level of its opponent because it's motivated for big games, not for would-be "gimmes" like this one. I really don't think the Trojans took the Beavers seriously and have heard a lot of anecdotal evidence to back that up. There's no need to go on an inquisition. They botched it. Let's see if they learn -- this time.

If I'm Carroll, I start motivating with the mind-set of somebody who's been through a near-death experience. Every moment is precious, and this team needs to live in the moment -- relishing every opportunity to play the game. Perhaps that's why Sourena Vasseghi gave the team a motivational speech today.

-- Adam Rose