College Athletics

Watching a Ben Howland team take the floor after consecutive losses is like watching a punished child take the backyard after standing in the corner. The sigh of relief is palpable. The need to please is visible. The energy expended is nuts. These Bruins may not be a Final Four team, but they are still a Last Straw team, pushing back hardest when they are pushed to the edge, capable of greatness even when on the verge of collapse.

With a smaller and quicker lineup this season, UCLA has been forced to work harder at rebounding, but there is a flip side to this predicament. The ninth-ranked Bruins said they expect to see a fair amount of pressure defense, probably in the form of a three-quarter-court press, when Arizona visits Pauley Pavilion tonight. That's where small and quick come in handy. "We're not worried," senior swingman Josh Shipp said. "I mean, we have good ball handlers."

Previously winless Tulane's shocking 42-32 win over McNeese State prompted another leadership change in the Bottom Ten, with Maryland taking over No. 1 from the Green Ripple. The plodding Terrapins have one victory this year -- over James Madison, most of whose players are built along the lines of the fourth President (he was 5 feet 4). Of course, if the Twerps -- whoops! the Terps -- do capture the championship trophy, will they drop it? They rank 118th in the nation in the ability to hang on to the ball, having fumbled eight times.

USC tailback Stafon Johnson said after Thursday's 38-24 Rose Bowl victory over Penn State that he would return to the Trojans next season. Johnson, a junior who rushed for a team-best 63 yards in 15 carries, applied for a draft projection from the NFL but said, "I got to come back here and win" a national title. Fellow tailback C.J. Gable is not quite as sure. The third-year sophomore said he "might do something else" -- even though he did not request a draft projection.

It's not yet certain who will start at quarterback for USC in the Sept. 5 opener against San Jose State. But the competition promises to get interesting next week. Aaron Corp took another step in his comeback from a leg injury Thursday with two sharp performances in seven-on-seven passing drills. It was Corp's first work with more than one receiver and defender since Aug. 10, when he suffered a cracked bone in his left fibula. "He had two really good practices under the circumstances," Coach Pete Carroll said.

USC was once again the choice in a Pacific 10 Conference football preseason poll, it was announced at Thursday's media day. The Trojans, who have won or shared the last seven conference championships, were the leader by a landslide, getting 28 of 32 first-place votes. Here's some more USC football news, one week before the Trojans are scheduled to open camp: No pressure?

Pete Carroll will begin searching today for clues, reasons for why California seemingly imploded a week before a showdown with the Trojans. Cal's 42-3 meltdown at Oregon dropped the Golden Bears from sixth to 24th in the Associated Press media poll. "It was so far out of character and out of line with that they'd done up until this point," Carroll said Sunday. Cal's fall makes Saturday's matchup between the Trojans and Golden Bears a game between top-25 rather than top-10 teams.

Coach Ben Howland studied tape of USC's upset victory over Arizona State, paying attention to the way the Trojans limited Sun Devils star James Harden to four points. The coach had this warning: Don't expect more of the same when No. 16 Arizona State plays No. 9 UCLA at Pauley Pavilion today. "He's not going to have another game like that," Howland said. "This guy's a great player. This guy is a lottery pick in the NBA."

Shane Horton transferred to USC so he could play on the same team with his younger brother. But he did not envision that he would start at linebacker. That, however, is what the third-year sophomore will do Saturday when seventh-ranked USC plays No. 24 California at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. Coach Pete Carroll said Thursday that Horton, who was switched from safety before training camp, would start at the weak-side spot because the Trojans have been thinned by ankle injuries suffered by Malcolm Smith and Jordan Campbell . It's more than a dream come true for the 6-foot-1, 220-pound Horton, who will join his brother, redshirt freshman defensive end Wes Horton , in the starting lineup.

Joe McKnight is not taking any chances. During USC's 2008 training camp, he suffered a bone fracture in a finger when a dorm-room door was accidentally slammed on his hand. It was one of several freakish injuries and maladies that marred the running back's sophomore season. So McKnight is playing it safe in 2009. "I've got no fingers by the door," McKnight said, chuckling. "I'm not even opening doors in camp." McKnight has completed the first two days of 2009 workouts, meetings and down time without incident.