Mailbag: Controversy and scandal galore!

[Do you] think USC would actually move to the Rose Bowl? -- Scott

I doubt it, especially after seeing one of the ploys the school used last week. Remember that this is just about dividing up money and power. Regardless of who "wins" on that end, everybody will lose if USC winds up in Pasadena. The school, Coliseum Commission, local community, Rose Bowl, and even UCLA are united behind keeping the Trojans in Exposition Park.

What ploy caught my attention? After the Coliseum Commission meeting, a USC representative promised to sign an offer from the Rose Bowl as soon as it was on the table -- potentially the following day.

But the next day, a different USC representative acknowledged that they were aware the offer needed UCLA's approval. Translation: "This isn't possible for another few weeks."

Suddenly the threat wasn't as serious. But in the few hours the elapsed between those statements, USC forced the Coliseum Commission to begin negotiating from a weakened position. Talk about shrewd tactics!

Even if this backfires, USC would only be gone for a year. UCLA won't agree to more than that (they have the right of first refusal at the Rose Bowl), and USC can't find anywhere else that seats 90,000+. After one season, USC will have made its point and the parties will have figured out how to return the Trojans to the Coliseum.

Any word on why the Coliseum lights went out so early after the UCLA game?  The band was still playing and I was just outside (only 20 minutes after the end of the game) when half the lights were turned off. -- Bobak

No conspiracy theory necessary. When the lights go down in the city ... it's frequently a car hitting a transformer. We're not sure if that's exactly what happened in this case, but a representative for the Coliseum confirmed that the lights went off early due to a local power outage. It started somewhere well outside the perimeter of the stadium and affected a lot of Exposition Park and the surrounding neighborhood. The Coliseum's sign off the 110 Freeway went down, too.

Some lights were powered by backup generators, so there was ample lumination for people leaving the area. Though stadium officials haven't dealt with a situation like that mid-game, presumably they could get backup power turned on fast enough to finish playing. If not, maybe that's one of the renovations that should be done.

Which Hollywood starlet reportedly slept with the entire USC football team? -- David

This seems like a Matt Leinart joke in reverse. Anyway, Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon" reportedly said Clara Bow was the Trojans' biggest, um, fan back in the 1920s. Snopes says it's not true. I'm inclined to believe the latter.

Plenty more after the jump, including Reggie Bush and the NCAA Death Penalty, Mark Sanchez vs. Mitch Mustain, the Sears Cup and Lexus Gauntlet, and Hershel Dennis and Championship Streaks ...

Yahoo! Sports really seems to have it in for USC ... Do you really think this whole [Reggie Bush] things has legs, bad enough that we could end up getting decimated with sanctions, perhaps even as bad as SMU? -- Scott

SMU was given the so-called "death penalty" because they were already on probation and there was some serious corruption at the core of the program. USC is not on probation, and there's nothing to indicate internal ethical problems. Even if this turns out badly for USC because it failed to monitor the situation, I think the school stands a greater chance of punishment against historical records (vacating wins, giving up trophies/honors) than against the program's future (taking away scholarships). They certainly won't suffer a punishment as severe as SMU's.

This whole situation is painfully speculative. There's finally a January deadline for the release of third-party evidence (see this post, which includes an active discussion in the comments). Of course, the NCAA could act earlier ... or much later. It seems odd that this has dragged on for so long without any evidence being produced publicly. While Bush may have done something wrong, I'm starting to feel like it's a case of the felon-marketer who cried wolf. We'll know more next month.

Are [you] pro Sanchez or pro Mustain? I am sick and tired of reading about Mark being held hostage by the court of public opinion. The Mustain followers keep bashing him, dragging the alleged dropped rape charges. -- Luis

Both are excellent players. Sanchez has more passion and probably better mobility than Mustain. All indications are that Sanchez has the edge on starting next season because of his experience this year, but it's still very early.

Mustain has enormous potential. It's tough to take his Arkansas record at face value because of its emphasis on the running game. In practice he's been leading the scout team, which makes it harder to evaluate how he'll do in the regular USC system. Still, Sanchez has shown some rough edges (interceptions). If he doesn't look a little more polished in pre-bowl practice and spring camp, that could give Mustain an opening.

As for the court of public opinion, I don't think most people are holding the old charges against Sanchez. They were dropped, and I've only seen one columnist bring it up this year. Prior to his first start, the fans at USC were going all-out to show their support. Many took yellow tape to convert #5 Reggie Bush jerseys to #6 for Mark Sanchez. Others wore custom-made Sanchez shirts. He lived up to the hype and won a lot of fans for his gutty performance in the three games.

Bottom line, both quarterbacks would be good for USC -- and the competition between them should push one of them to be great. While Mustain supporters/haters may have had some pull in Arkansas, you can be sure that Carroll and his staff will evaluate the players fairly and make the best determination for the team based on what they see on the field.

Are we in the running for the Sears Cup or whatever other all-sports trophy is out there? -- Brett

USC had its best finish in the Director's Cup last year when it came in fifth. This year's standings will be updated on Thursday, but as of right now USC isn't even in the top 50. Don't hold your breath -- and don't put too much stock in it.

According to the Cup's rules, all sports are weighed equally. That means field hockey counts the same as football or basketball. The Cup factors in men's cross country, I-AA football, men's soccer, men's/women's indoor track and field, and softball. Since USC doesn't compete in any of those, winning the Cup isn't a realistic goal.

After North Carolina took the inaugural trophy in 1993, Stanford has won for the last 13 years in a row. When you think of athletic dominance, you probably don't think of a jiggly tree. The Cardinal's success has to do with playing a lot of obscure sports. So consider your priorities; would you rather be competitive in the Director's Cup, or the BCS and March Madness?

A more realistic multi-sport competition is the Lexus Gauntlet, which is a head-to-head matchup between USC and UCLA and is measured with greater weight on the more popular sports. If only somebody would combine the best elements of both awards!

FYI, the Director's Cup is presented by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and was started in 1993. Sears funded it for 10 years, but now it's sponsored by the United States Sports Academy.

Something struck me the other day: Hershel Dennis is certainly the first player to be a part of six Pac-10 Championship squads (2002-07 -- especially since no team has ever won that many in a row) ... how about NCAA-wide?  Is Dennis the first player in any D-IA conference to be on six championship squads? -- Bobak

That's a tough question to answer NCAA-wide, because it's such an obscure accomplishment. What if a player transfered and had streaks with two different teams? It's also complicated by the possibility that a player left for a couple years and still somehow retained eligibility (ex: going to war). USC won four titles in a row from 1966-69, and then three in a row from 1972-74. Could a player have missed '70 and '71 in Vietnam, then gained a couple more years of eligibility a-la-Dennis? Doubtful, but you can see why it's hard to be 100% sure with so many conferences and teams in the nation's 100+ years of college football.

To simplify things, we could call it "consecutive championship squads." There are five other major conference streaks equal to or longer than USC's: Oklahoma (Big-6/7/8, 1946-1959), BYU (WAC, 1976-1985), Oklahoma (Big-8, 1972-1980), Florida State (ACC, 1992-2000), and Ohio State (Big-10, 1972-1977, though 5 were split with Michigan). I'm checking into whether those programs had 6th-year players, but the answer may not be so easy.

While looking over conference record books, it was interesting to note that Alabama almost made a clean sweep of the SEC in the 1970s (missing out only in 1970 and 1976), and Boise State had a WAC streak concurrent to USC's Pac-10 streak -- until Hawaii beat the Broncos last month.

Comments

[John Wanderman]

In the literal sense, yes, only one COLUMNIST has written about Sanchez's arrest for rape in 2006 this year. However, it was brought up again by quite a few reporters (not necessarily "columnists") in October, including here in the LA Times, OC Register, as well as numerous national media. Sanchez's off the field issues are also a major cause of concern among USC alumni. Try attending an athletic department function sometime and hear for yourself.

Regarding your statement that he "lived up to the hype and won a lot of fans for his gutty performance in the three games," are you even being serious? He was generally lambasted for his performances, especially against Oregon. He's a turnover machine. Pete Carroll and Steve Sarkisian even went so far as to criticize his performances, which they never publicly do when it comes to QBs, including Sark stating that "he did a lot of things we wished he didn't do."

Re: mobility. Attend practice to see for yourself. Aaron Corp is the most mobile QB on the roster, followed by Mitch Mustain, then Sanchez. Sanchez is far too slow and runs the slowest 40 of all the QBs, including Booty.

[Bobak]

What's the current state of Mitch Mustain's relationship with the dysfunctional Arkansas athletic department? I read an article in a November issue of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he filed a Freedom of Information request on October 22, 2007 requesting all records and documents of surrounding the strange emails he got from boosters and people related to the football program. Now that Coach Nutt is gone, do they care as much anymore?

[DavidR]

It's true, Sanchez hurt himself rather than helped himself when Booty was out. He was dreadful. Arizona was a horrible team that we barely beat and the 2007 Notre Dame team was one of the worst Division I teams of the past 15 years. The Oregon loss was squarely on his shoulders. He has very poor judgment. Who's ever heard of someone throwing in double and triple coverage? Trashing Booty after the ND game and saying he should start over him was completely classless. Glad he got benched. All things being equal on the field, can't imagine how Sanchez will ever beat out Mustain. If Sanchez were good, he would have started over Booty. He wasn't. I think he's benched for good now.

[yours truly, Johnny Dollar]

During the '50s when teams had 10-game schedules, Oklahoma won
47-games in a row (freshmen did not play varsity); that meant that
four straight Oklahoma senior classes never lost a college football
game. That is a run that will be hard to match.
(Notre Dame was on both ends of that 47-game streak).

[El Capitán]

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