USC 49 Illinois 17

USC dominated the Granddaddy of ‘Em All and wrecked an outmatched Illinois team. We finally got to see the team that we had all hoped USC could become back in August. The game was never in question and it was basically over when the plane that the Fightin’ Illini were traveling in touched down at LAX. John David Booty capped his career at USC with 255 yards passing and 3 TD’s in his final appearance with the Trojans. Hell, even our neighbor Garrett Green threw a touchdown pass to Desmond Reed. I had forgotten USC had that kind of trickeration in the playbook after sitting through a boring season of 5 yard slants and hitch passes. On the defensive side of the ball, Rey Maualuga proved his beastliness with an interception and 3 sacks in the first half. Even our shitty cornerbacks made plays with Terrell Thomas stripping the ball in the red zone and Cary Harris intercepting Juice Williams.

The entire team was making plays and USC made their case for being the best team in the country. Sure, we were playing against the Big Ten’s 2nd place team and Illinois maybe didn’t deserve the Rose Bowl bid, but the way USC has played lately, there’s no question the Trojans are playing the best football right now. You can put Ohio St, Oklahoma or even those cunts from LSU on the other side of the ball and USC will still hit them in the mouth and win. There is no playoff system in college football though, so we have to end the season with this Rose Bowl victory, but I’m glad USC took care of business.

Probably the best moment of the game came when RB Hershel Dennis scored his last touchdown for the Trojans. Dennis, a 6th year senior who battled knee problems and an ever-growing line of 5 star running backs never gave up and ended his Trojan career on a good note. I know I wasn’t the only USC Sports Talk contributor who had a tear in the eye when Hersh scored. If he had scored on the last play of the game, I might have erupted in tears in joy.

USC ends this season on a high, although we all would have liked for another crystal ball to be heading to Heritage Hall. Nevertheless, USC finishes the Rose Bowl Champ, the Pac-10 Champ and gives Carroll a 5-1 record in BCS Bowls. We bid farewell to some key seniors, but with the top recruiting classes the last couple of years, USC should still be a dominant force for years to come. This season is at an end, but I’m sure we’ll have plenty more to say about the season, the early entrants to the NFL draft and whatever random shit pops up. I leave you with some more images of today’s game and a slighty modified quote from the movie Troy:

“May the Gods keep the women in our beds, and the wolves in the SEC fans’ beds.”

Cheers to that.

Fight On!