There’s a chink in the Trojans’ armor. The dynasty that has for so long been hyped and glamorized by the media has been disassembled by a single loss. They were embarrassed by our neighbors to the north and the aura of invincibility no longer exists. USC is still a great team, but is certainly more flawed than in previous years.
Talking to the Oregon football players this week, you’d think that the Ducks were playing last year’s USC team – you know the team that had that one guy, Reggie or something. That guy whose initials were the same as the position he played. He’s gone now after trading his books for an NFL paycheck.
But that doesn’t matter to the Oregon players. They have too much respect for USC to say that losing that talent should make them easier to beat. They say that the one loss doesn’t matter to them – they’re still USC, the team that’s won 52 of the past 55 games.
The Ducks’ respect for the Trojans is well warranted, but this year’s team is nowhere near the echelon of USC teams in the past. There’s no Bush, no White, no Leinart.
These guys have shown they can be beaten and by the Beavers, no less.
The Oregon football players are being too politically correct about playing the Trojans and that’s what worries me. For most of them, there doesn’t seem to be that passion of wanting to raise expectations of beating the vaunted Trojans. The image of Bush juking every single defensive player on the field in USC’s 45-13 win last year has burned a lasting image into the minds of the Oregon players.
In 2002, USC quarterback Carson Palmer came into Autzen and picked apart the Oregon defense for a 44-33 win. The Trojans relished the victory after seeing Oregon’s billboards near their campus and considering the Ducks an arrogant team full of self-made hype.
“I loved every second of it,” Palmer said after the win. “There’s nothing better than playing in this place and beating these guys.”
Oregon needs to play with that same type of passion if they want to beat the Trojans this Saturday. USC is living off its past and is a team many consider to be full of hype and without substance.
Before the loss to Cal, I would have easily picked the Ducks to beat USC no matter where the game was played. USC outscored Washington State by six points, while the Oregon offense continued to look unstoppable. I thought for sure this was the year the USC dynasty crumbled and the Ducks regained the conference crown.
But it wasn’t meant to be. Playing on the road has been a challenge for this year’s football team. Against Cal and Washington State, the offense was bottled up and the running game was nonexistent once the Ducks were forced to play with a deficit.
Cal’s proven it’s the team to beat, and the Bears are the ones that are likely to ensure USC does not win another Pac-10 title.
If Oregon wants something better than the Sun Bowl, it can’t respect USC because of its history. Palmer and his team didn’t do the same for Oregon. They didn’t compliment the Ducks on how good they had been in recent years.
Now it’s time for the Ducks to tell USC what they really think.
I mean, if Oregon State quarterback Matt Moore beat them, Dennis Dixon can too. Can’t he?
[email protected]