It's true, USC just can't win the little one
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Times college football expert Chris Dufresne takes time out (he gets two per half) each Friday during the season to answer your questions on college football.
Question: Please tell me that USC should drop at least 15 spots?
Mark Grandpre
Answer: Oh, you saw the Oregon State game?
You're right, Mark, USC has a big problem with spots. Maybe Pete Carroll should do a commercial for laundry detergent.
Two years ago, the Trojans spotted Oregon State a 33-10 lead before charging back to make it 33-31, and last night, in Corvallis, they handed the Beavers a 21-0 lead before realizing the Pacific 10 Conference season had actually started.
That was a bad, ugly, stink-hole defeat for USC, one of the worst of the Carroll era.
The shocker was how Oregon State manhandled USC on the lines of scrimmage. Shouldn't it have been the other way around?
And next time the Trojans face that Oregon State back, Jacquizz Rodgers, they should practice by trying to catch a fly in a jelly jar, because that's what it was like.
Carroll's reputation as a big-game coach is being seriously challenged by his inability to win the little game.
USC has not lost a nonconference regular season game since September of 2002, a stunning accomplishment, but the Trojans have lost five conference games since 2006.
How does that happen?
In two of the last three, against Stanford and Oregon State, the Trojans were favored by a total of 66 points. The other defeat, at Oregon last year, was understandable given Oregon was a top-10 team and USC was playing without starting quarterback John David Booty.
We're not going to know the fallout of USC's defeat until Saturday's games are played. No. 8 Alabama plays at No. 3 Georgia, and No. 2 Oklahoma has a tough home game against No. 24 Texas Christian, which beat the Sooners two years ago in Norman.
Some Harris Voters I talked to Friday are ready to give USC the trap-door poll treatment, but how far USC drops depends on how others in the top 25 fare.
Some might not drop USC out of the top 10.
It's probably safe to say, though, that if No. 12 Penn State wins its Big Ten home opener against Illinois in Happy Valley, voters will use comparative scores and move Penn State ahead of USC.
Penn State beat Oregon State, 45-14.
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Q: You need to be realistic. Come out of your fantasy world. Come to terms with how bad the SUC-10, the Ohio States and Notre Dames of college football really are.
Ben White, Huntsville, Ala.
