Collegefootballnews.com: Perspective Piece

USC vs. California, Nov. 12

By Matthew Zemek

Yes, the bloom is off California’s rose, but that doesn’t mean the Bears can’t remove USC from the Rose Bowl. On paper, no one would dare say that Cal is a fair match for the Trojans. The Bears don’t have the swagger they possessed against SC the previous two seasons, when they pushed Troy to the limit in two games, winning once. Jeff Tedford’s team doesn’t have Aaron Rodgers, a leader with a bit of piss and vinegar who had laser-like focus in big games. Without a confident quarterback who can galvanize teammates and inspire in the locker room, Tedford lacks the kind of field general who can engineer an upset of a team that owns a 31-game winning streak. Quarterback Joe Ayoob and Cal’s receivers have played so poorly in recent weeks that the Bears—with their impotent passing game—don’t figure to be able to expose USC’s greatest team weakness: its undersized corners. Without the aerial attack needed to keep the Trojans’ suspect defense off balance, Cal seems ill equipped to pull off this upset. But then again, the very fact that Cal is struggling makes this game no less dangerous for USC. In fact, one could say that the Bears’ downward spiral makes this contest even tougher for the Trojans. You find this all the time in college football, especially as the season winds toward its conclusion: teams that underachieve, when placed against a signature program, turn that one game into a bowl game, a 60-minute season. It’s precisely on these occasions when teams pour all their emotional energy into one afternoon, all their mental eggs into one brain-busting basket. When this happens, matchups that look lopsided on paper become quickly and clearly competitive. Cal will not play with the listlessness of previous weeks on Saturday in Berkeley; the Bears, a dinged up team that won’t get a premium bowl destination, will play with a fire and passion unmatched at any other point in this 2005 season. Cal’s big uglies will do their level best to gash USC’s defense and open up lanes to spring Marshawn Lynch on breakaway touchdown runs.

Against the team that last beat him, Pete Carroll will make sure his players are on “upset alert,” and the fact that every Pac-10 opponent gives USC supreme focus and attention will enable the Trojans to be somewhat on guard in the shadows of Strawberry Canyon. But despite that reality, you cannot contain or manufacture emotion. Once it develops and builds, it can acquire runaway force despite the best of intentions. Cal—if it gets a few good breaks early on (much as Oregon and Arizona State did against the Trojans in Pac-10 roadies for the West Coast’s colossus)—could jump-start a steamroller that Carroll, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush will have difficulty stopping. The point is plain and clear: USC is an evidently superior club, but in college sports (think Villanova-Georgetown, not just football, to remind yourself of this reality), you only have to be better for one game on one day, and Cal—while dinged up and inferior—does have a chance to be better for one day. After all, the Bears—and no one else—can say they have beaten Mr. Leinart and Friends. Yes, USC rates as a strong favorite in a game that outwardly figures to be less competitive than it did at the start of the season, when Tedford’s Bears had more buzz and more cause for optimism. But the upset potential for this game is probably greater than any other game remaining for both USC and Texas. If a Trojans-Longhorns Rose Bowl gets blown up, it won’t come from the Austin side of the divide (the Big XII is too pathetic for that to happen); THIS GAME will dash a lot of plans and open the door for an Alabama, Penn State or Miami to potentially sneak into Pasadena.

USC’s home games against Fresno State and even UCLA shouldn’t pose too much trouble. Fresno is a quality program, but just not blessed with the Trojans’ level of athleticism. The Bruins have athleticism, but not the physicality or consistency of Troy. It’s this last road game that serves as the biggest obstacle to Matt Leinart’s hopes of a third straight national title. He’ll need to play a solid first quarter—and his team will need to be authoritative early—if this seemingly lopsided matchup is to be decided before the fourth quarter. Cal—who has made Pete Carroll walk off the field a loser once before—deserves the respect of a team that knows how to play USC tough. That’s what makes this game worth viewing... perhaps for more than just the first half.