Football Media Day I: "It definitely seems crazy"

Senior safety Dennis Keyes understands that the 6-5 Bruins are in an unusual position, playing for a possible Rose Bowl berth.

"It definitely seems crazy," he said at Monday’s news conference. "Everybody counted us out after we went through our little mid-season slide. To be playing this game with a possible chance to go to the Rose Bowl is definitely crazy and is something that we didn’t envision happening this way. But one of our goals was to do this anyway. We just have to come out and just play our game and not even think about that. All we can think about right now is SC and winning that game and the rest will take care of itself."

Keyes and the rest of the defense had a study session on Sunday and wasn’t surprised after his first detailed look at USC. "They looked relatively the same; they have new personnel at the wide-out position," he noted. "They’ve got guys they just plug in to do the same exact thing. We just have to come out this week and make sure we’re on top of everything."

Two years ago, USC hammered the Bruins at the Coliseum, winning 66-19, with the Rose Bowl on the line for both teams. "It wasn’t pretty, that’s for sure. We didn’t execute that game, two years ago, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re completely focused on this game and not being distracted by anything else [but the game itself]. If we can do that, we’ll be fine."

Keyes' memories of last year’s game were better, as the Bruins won, 13-9. Asked what he remembered most, he said "I think it was the effort we played with. I think we played our hearts out last year for a full 60 minutes. That’s what I remember most; just guys playing relentless football, just flying around and attacking all day."

Noting that "We’ve played some tremendous games this year and we’ve played some horrible games this year," Keyes thought the return of Chris Markey at running back and Ben Olson at quarterback will really help this week. "It definitely feels like we’re getting a second start, especially being in contention for the Rose Bowl."

And Keyes underscored one of the themes stressed all year by defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker, that the defense has to help the offense out by staying on the field. "We’ve got to help each other out, offensively and defensively," Keyes said. "The offense has to do a good job of keeping the ball in our possession and we have to do a great of getting the ball back for our offense."

Dennis Keyes photo by David LaPeer.