The Mourning After: College Football Week 3

It's Monday mourning and people everywhere are still talking about USC's loss to Washington. Everyone is talking about how come USC loses these types of games but they can go on the road to Columbus and beat Ohio State and win the majority of their bowl games. It's real simple, coaching.

For all the negative talk about Jim Tressel never winning the big game, more people need to look at Pete Carroll always losing the little game. Carroll does a tremendous job preparing his team for tough games. That's why USC can go on the road and beat Ohio State in Columbus. But Carroll does a horrendous job preparing his team for games like the Washington one.

Take a look at last year. USC was coming off a commanding win over Ohio State. A lot of people were saying last year that USC could probably make a run at the national title. But coming off that victory against Ohio State, USC had to travel to Oregon State for a ESPN Thursday night game. And everyone knows what happened next.

Now take a look at this year. USC was coming off a very close, but impressive win over Ohio State in Columbus. People were wondering if USC could make a bid for the national title with a Freshman quarterback. But things started to go downhill once that Freshman quarterback Matt Barkley injured his shoulder. There was no way Barkley was going to play on Saturday and USC was also going to be without their heart on defense with Taylor Mays.

Once again Carroll did a terrible job preparing this team for Washington. He didn't prepare them to play without Barkley or Mays. Carroll didn't prepare them to play against their former offensive coordinator now Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian and their former defensive coordinator Nick Holt. Carroll should have known that both Sarkisian and Holt knew what was coming. Carroll should have done a better job at preparing the defense to play without Mays. Offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates should have done a better job at preparing Aaron Corp to play on Saturday. But they didn't and now look at them.

USC dropped in the AP 25 all the way down to 12th. Even if they win the rest of their games this season, they will never get a chance at the national title. They will once again have to settle for the Rose Bowl, which isn't that bad, but it's a been there done that for USC once again.

Pete Carroll is one of the best coaches in college football. The man does have two national titles to his resume. Carroll though the last few years has done a terrible job preparing his teams for Pac-10 competition. The rest of the nation might not care about how good the Pac-10 is, but Carroll shouldn't be one of them. He knows that every Pac-10 team plays each other every year. There are no secrets. Other Pac-10 teams know how physical USC is and they know what weakness USC has.

Carroll needs to stop spending so much time Twittering, wondering if Will Ferrell or Snoop Dog will be at Saturday's games and spend more time preparing his team for Pac-10 play. Or the same thing will happen every year and once again USC is standing outside of the national title picture.

Call of the Week: I have to agree with JFein on this one. Sean McDonough is one of the best play-by-play announcers in sports. People forget that McDonough called Joe Carter's home run in the 1993 World Series. Once again this week, McDonough got to call another last minute dramatic call.

With Virginia Tech losing to Nebraska, Tyrod Taylor lead the Hokies down the field. Taylor threw a game-winning touchdown for Virginia Tech. Let McDonough do the rest of the explaining.



Heisman Watch: Each week I will keep you updated on my projected Heisman candidates.
1) Tim Tebow, Florida
2) Jahvid Best, Cal
3) Colt McCoy, Texas

Tebow will continue to stay at the top of the list. As much as I would want to see Jahvid win the Heisman, this award is nothing but a popularity contest. Colt McCoy will also get overlooked because he doesn't put up the same type of numbers that Tebow does or the type of numbers Sam Bradford has put up.

Swagger?: I was wondering if Miami regained their swagger after their Labor Day victory over Florida State. Well after their 24-17 shellacking of Georgia Tech, I'm prepared to say that Miami has their swagger back.

The Hurricanes have to be the most impressive team so far in this college football season. Quarterback Jacory Harris has been getting great protection from his offensive line which has allowed him to make some great throws to his receivers. The offensive line has improved under new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple, which has allowed the running game to improve and has allowed Harris to stand in the pocket to make throws.

Miami though still has a tough schedule from here. Next week they play Virginia Tech and the following week at home against a Oklahoma team that should have Sam Bradford back. If Miami wants to send a message to the rest of the college football world, they have to win at least one of those games.

Injuries, Injuries: Three weeks into the season and injuries are already playing a huge part into the season. Injuries have already hurt Oklahoma and USC, with both of their starting quarterbacks missing time. Now injuries have taken a toll on other teams.

South Florida's quarterback Matt Grothe tore his ACL on Saturday and is done for the year. South Florida had a great look at the Big East title, but with Grothe injured South Florida's chances at the Big East has since dimmed.

Also Notre Dame will be without receiver Michael Floyd who broke his collarbone against Michigan State. Jimmy Clausen has improved this year in part to the dangerous deep threat that is Michael Floyd. With Floyd injured the Irish will have one less deep threat.

Fear the Stache!: When Landry Jones had to replace an injured Sam Bradford in the BYU game for Oklahoma, he looked so overmatched that many people thought Oklahoma was done for the year. Well a six touchdown performance on Saturday and Landy Jones has already become a cult figure in Norman, Oklahoma. Jones has his own section of fans who have created T-shirts in honor of his porno stache. FEAR THE STACHE!

Al Groh Alert!: I said last week that somehow Virginia coach Al Groh manages to keep his job. Groh and Virginia always start the year off poorly, but somehow manage to win games late in the season and make a bowl game. Well this year it might not be the case.

Already after losing to William & Mary, Virginia jumped out to a 27-10 lead against a very good Southern Mississippi team. Then Virginia faded in the 2nd half to lose to Southern Miss 34-27. Al Groh may have run out of his nine lives this season.

You decide: A lot of people have been arguing who won this battle. In one corner is Saint Timmy Tebow. In the other corner is Tennessee safety Eric Berry. You decide who won this battle.