College Athletics

There was a distinctly medical tone to the USC football practice on Thursday, and the prognosis was encouraging. The good news started with a visit from a doctor who is treating Stafon Johnson for the severe throat injury the tailback suffered in a weightlifting accident last week. Johnson had undergone a series of tests earlier in the day. "They were beside themselves with the wonderful results they got, to see how everything they worked on is looking great at this point," Coach Pete Carroll said.

Tennessee's NCAA women's title defense ended sooner than expected, wrapping up the worst season ever for Pat Summitt's storied program. Ball State, seeded 12th, stunned the two-time defending national champions, 71-55, Sunday in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Bowling Green, Ky., ending one of the more remarkable streaks in college basketball history. The fifth-seeded Lady Volunteers (22-11) had never before lost on the opening weekend of the tournament, going 42-0 through the years.

This is the fifth in a series of seven 2009 college football story lines. Next week, columnist Chris Dufresne begins a daily countdown of his preseason top 25. Five questions as college football camps open: 1. Is Notre Dame really a national title contender? Get a grip, Gipper. That said . . .

USC said goodbye to one assistant coach and welcomed back another Tuesday. A few hours after Nick Holt was introduced as Washington's new defensive coordinator, USC Coach Pete Carroll announced that Carl Smith would return as quarterbacks coach and that he would also call plays. "His background and his work with quarterbacks over the years gives us a tremendous asset," Carroll said of Smith, a member of USC's staff in 2004 and a former NFL offensive coordinator.

Richard Brehaut stood in the Rose Bowl tunnel with the rest of the UCLA team, waiting to take the field against San Diego State two weeks ago. Up to the moment, it had been business as usual. Then it hit him. This was his first college game. "I realized this was all I had worked for," said Brehaut, a freshman, who a year ago was playing for Rancho Cucamonga Los Osos High. "This feeling came over me that I can't even describe. I was proud and anxious and ready to get on with it."

Matt Barkley enjoyed the relative comfort of home in his debut as USC's starting quarterback, more than 85,000 fans cheering the freshman as he led the Trojans to a season-opening victory over San Jose State. The atmosphere will be about 100,000 times more hostile Saturday when the Trojans play Ohio State at the "Horseshoe" in Columbus. More than 105,000 fans are expected to fill Ohio Stadium to root on the Buckeyes and make things especially tough on a true freshman quarterback playing his first road game.

For a while Wednesday, the trainers-table area at USC's practice facility looked like a convention for injured Trojans starters. Quarterback Matt Barkley sat on a folding chair with an ice pack on his right shoulder. All-American safety Taylor Mays camped on the table, taking weight off his sprained right knee. And tailback Joe McKnight , suffering from migraine headaches, stood with a towel wrapped around his head to shield his eyes from the sun and his ears from music blaring from loudspeakers.

USC's Marcus Simmons was alive and well, and upright, Monday afternoon. It was a dramatic change from when he was last seen, ice packs on his left ankle and left knee after spending three days chasing around smaller guards in the Pacific 10 Conference tournament. From California's Jerome Randle to UCLA's Darren Collision to Arizona State's Derek Glasser, it was a tiring, but rewarding, weekend for Simmons. "After that last game, I was exhausted," the 6-foot-6 sophomore said.

USC's basketball team is beef-jerky tough, something for Boston College to chew on. Those inside the Trojans' locker room are certain about that after facing "win-or-go-home" situations the last week, freshman forward DeMar DeRozan said. They found ways to win the Pacific 10 Conference tournament and now go to Minneapolis to face the Eagles in the NCAA tournament.

UCLA tight end Logan Paulsen is awaiting results of a CT scan on his right foot, injured during Saturday's scrimmage. The injury left the Bruins short-handed at tight end in spring practice, resulting in the seemingly annual position switch for Nate Chandler, who was back at tight end Monday. "We'll probably leave him at that position," said Coach Rick Neuheisel. "It's imperative we have some depth at tight end."