Mark Saxon, Orange County Register

For  a team bent on proving it is the best in the nation despite its baffling midseason loss to Stanford, USC didn’t exactly get the perfect platform. The No. 6 Trojans were paired with No. 13 Illinois in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. Beating a three-loss team from the Big Ten doesn’t figure to give USC enough bounce in the Associated Press poll to threaten the No. 1 spot, no matter how well it plays… continue