For the Trojans, the ASU game was “Like the Washington Game”

How bad was USC on third downs at Arizona State?

Try Washington-bad, says Freedomblogging.com.  

So said Trojans coach Pete Carroll, who compared his team’s 2-of-13 effort vs. the Sun Devils to its infamous 0-of-10 vs. the Huskies on Sept. 19.

“It was like the Washington game in a sense,” Carroll said. “You don’t convert on third down, you don’t get your chances. It became a very conservative game for us. We just played off the defense.”

USC seemed to be getting better on third downs. But in the past two weeks, the Trojans are 6 of 27. They rank 106th in the nation at 32.41 percent, one spot behind … gulp … UCLA.

“We had 3-4 weeks where we improved,” Carroll said. “We have not been consistent at all.

“Third downs and the red zone are always the hardest for new quarterbacks. It’s been that way for years.”

So wait, this is a Matt Barkley thing?

Read more:  http://usc.freedomblogging.com/

Did Neanderthals Have Sex with Modern Humans?

We are currently the only human species alive, but as recently as 24,000 years ago another one walked the earth — the Neanderthals.

These extinct humans were the closest relatives we had, and tantalizing new hints from researchers suggest that we might have been intimately close indeed. The mystery of whether Neanderthals and us had sex might be solved if the entire Neanderthal genome is reported soon as expected. The matter of why they died and we succeeded, however, remains an open question.

Maybe not nasty and brutish, but still short

First recognized in the Neander Valley in Germany in 1856, Neanderthals revealed that modern humans possess a rich and complex family tree that includes now-extinct relatives.

Read more:  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,572575,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g4:r4:c0.000000:b28773781:z10

 

It’s Time for Sarkisian to Unleash Locker

When Washington quarterback Jake Locker was a freshman in 2007, he rushed for 986 yards and 14 touchdowns.  He was playing for former coach Tyrone Willingham and offensive coordinator Tim Lappano, who basically threw Locker out there to run a version of street ball.

Now that Steve Sarkisian is Washington’s head coach, he’s placed great emphasis on keeping Locker in the pocket and minimizing the number of hits his quarterback absorbs from defenders.

The desire to keep Locker healthy is understandable.  But as the 2009 season has moved into November, the Washington offense is digressing.  The team is now 3-6 and the odds for a bowl game are fading for a 7th consecutive season.

It’s time for Sarkisian to call an additonal 10 runs for Locker per game, and use Locker’s greatest strength (his mobility) as an asset for an offense that desperately needs more productivity while keeping the other team’s offense off the field.

Neuheisel hoping for Fresh Start for his UCLA Bruins

Although it’s tough to imagine John Wooden’s UCLA basketball teams ever struggling through a five-game losing streak, the Bruins’ current football coach realizes the Wizard of Westwood has plenty to teach him about the Bruins’ plight.
Rick Neuheisel has turned to Wooden’s writings for instruction and solace during UCLA’s skid, which didn’t quite end in last weekend’s 26-19 loss at Oregon State.

“While winning is important, it’s not the way you judge yourself,” Neuheisel said Monday, paraphrasing Wooden’s words. “You keep judging yourself by how you’re learning and how you’re trying, and if you continue to work hard, those wins will come.”

The Bruins’ history lesson for the week doesn’t end with Wooden. UCLA (3-5, 0-5 Pac-10) will don powder-blue throwback jerseys for Saturday’s visit from Washington (3-5, 2-3) in hopes of recapturing the spirit of the 1967 team led by quarterback Gary Beban, the only Bruins player to win the Heisman Trophy.

For 15 surprising minutes against the Beavers, the UCLA offense finally looked as sharp as Neuheisel expected it would be all season long. Quarterback Kevin Prince led two touchdown drives capped by two-point conversions in the fourth quarter, tying Oregon State at 19 with 2:06 left.

 Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_13697193

UW Donor buys Dawgs of War for Skyline, Roosevelt players

A UW donor who wishes to remain anonymous has purchased copies of The Dawgs of War: a Remembrance for the players on the Skyline and Roosevelt football teams.

This donor has been a supporter of my writing for several years and I appreciate the gesture very much.  It’s good to know the book will reach the hands of so many young football players in the Seattle area.

We live in a Brave New World where Oregon is atop the conference standings and Washington has been the west coast’s laughingstock for several years now.  Teenagers of today don’t fully understand Washington’s glorious football past.  The Dawgs of War, which details quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo’s 2000 UW Huskies Rose Bowl team, is a vivid reminder of that history.

Time for Sarkisian to make pitch for Northwest Championship

… or something akin.

Washington’s all-time record against its Northwest foes may be 178-101-15, but you wouldn’t know it from the way Oregon carved up the Husky defense yesterday like a Thanksgiving Turkey.  From that abysmal performance, it seems Washington has not closed the gap with Oregon, who has whipped Washington six years in a row.

With the hopes of a bowl game fading to black, UW’s first year coach Steve Sarkisian needs to conjur up new ways to get the team motivated.  Long-time Husky fans can remember when former coach Rick Neuheisel conjured up the idea of the “Northwest Championship” to infuse motiviation into his 4-5 team.  That team responded by going 3-0 against Oregon, Oregon State and Washington State. 

In Sarkisian’s case, the loss to Oregon nullifies the possibility of going 3-0.  But he needs to provide them with a realistic goal to strive for.  Yesterday against Oregon, the team seemed to regress to the same defeated body language and effort that pockmarked the Tyrone Willimgham era.

Rick Neuheisel’s Northwest Championship

Cal’s Formula for Getting to the Next Level: Fire Tedford, Hire Mora

Cal coach Jeff Tedford

When the Cal Bears came to Husky Stadium in 2002, Washington fans viewed the game as standard fare. After all, the Bears hadn’t beaten the Huskies in 26 years. Cal was also coming off a 1-10 season from the year before. The Huskies, meanwhile, were only two years removed from their Rose Bowl Championship. The expectations in Seattle were for a comfortable Washington win.

But the Bears arrived with first-year coach Jeff Tedford. The Pac-10 didn’t yet realize it, but he was in the midst of transforming the entire football culture at Berkeley. It was certainly on display that day against the Huskies. Tedford had his safeties come right up to the line of scrimmage and manhandle Washington’s star receiver Reggie Williams. The Bears roughhoused their way to a 34-27 victory—which sent shockwaves throughout the Pac-10. After the game, as the Bears gathered in the visitor’s locker room, they chanted “76,000 disappointed fans! 76,000 disappointed fans!”

By the end of that year, the Bears finished the season at 7-5—a remarkable 6-game turnaround. The next season featured a watershed moment. In triple overtime at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, the Bears stunned top-ranked USC 34-31. As gleeful fans stormed the field, it was an epic moment under the lights. The consensus along the west coast was that California Bears football was about to ascend into the stratosphere.

Six years have passed since that time. Tedford’s Bears have not become the Pac-10’s colossus. They’re like an airplane sitting idly on the tarmac and not getting airborne. There have been 10-win seasons in 2004 and 2006, but no appearances in BCS bowls.

The 2009 season was supposed to finally be Tedford’s moment to challenge USC’s supremacy. Running back Jahvid Best was a Heisman Trophy candidate and Syd’Quan Thompson a premier cornerback. The Bears opened up with a 3-0 start and twice topped 50 points. Their national ranking climbed to #6.

Then came games against Oregon and USC, in which the Bears became stunningly bad. They lost to the Ducks 42-3 and the Trojans 30-3. They went back-to-back games without scoring a touchdown. Their quarterback, Kevin Riley, has completed a dreadful 38% of his passes. Defensive players hace been constantly out of position while the wide receivers are dropping passes like an assembly line. All this has dropped the team from the national rankings. And to top it off, rumors are circulating that Cal players are increasingly recalcitrant to Tedford’s gruff ways.

After eight seasons to evaluate Tedford’s performance, it’s evident the Bears have reached a ceiling. The problem is that expectations for greatness are now a part of culture at Cal. Therein lies Tedford’s self-created problem: the more he succeeds, the higher he’s expected to climb.

Seahawks coach Jim Mora

Meanwhile in Seattle, Jim L. Mora is coaching the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. The team is 2-3, coming off a win over Jacksonville. Mora is a coach in the Pete Carroll mode—young, energetic and defensive minded. He relates very well to his players, and speaks their language. From his days as defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers, Mora is renown as a defensive mastermind and dynamic presence. Respected players that have played for him, like ex-Husky Lawyer Milloy, rave about Mora’s ability to get his team enthusiastic. Others, like ex-Husky Lincoln Kennedy, have described Mora’s reputation throughout the NFL as being almost too much of a player’s coach. These characteristics are indeed geared more for the college game and are Carrollesque.

Mora has now entered a situation in Seattle where he followed future Hall of Fame coach Mike Holmgren. But the team’s core is aging and a mere shell of its ‘05 self that played in the Super Bowl. Mora has already been fired from the Atlanta Falcons in 2006 and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him under pressure by the end of the 2010 or 2011 seasons, if a string of 6-10 and 5-11 seasons occur. In earlier times, Pete Carroll struggled twice as a head coach in the NFL and was fired both times. Then he was hired by the USC Trojans, and the rest is history. The NFL is jokingly known as “Not For Long” for a reason.

If by 2010 the Seahawks are struggling…. and if the Bears finish with another 8-win season and requisite Holiday Bowl berth, firing Tedford and bringing in Mora could be the key to challenging USC for Pac-10 supremacy.

Derek Johnson’s book The Dawgs of War: a Remembrance can be purchased at Derekjohnsonbooks.com

Interview with Elise Woodward about The Dawgs of War

Earlier this week I was interviewed by KJR’s Elise Woodward about The Dawgs of War: a Remembrance.

Click here to listen.

Mason Foster’s Game-Winning Interception to beat Arizona

Last four Minutes of Washington vs. USC (September 19, 2009)