Fall of Troy

Well the mighty walls of the college power came tumbling down today, the NCAA sanctions against USC finally came out. It doesn't look good for a program that was definitely on a decline this year and Carroll hasty exit to the NFL. And with the looming possibility of a Pac-10 super conference that includes Texas and Oklahoma, it looks like it might be the end of its domination of the west coast.

The major sanctions that came out were a 2 year ban on post season play, so no bowl games. They will mostly be playing spoiler for schools I guess, they have nothing to lose which might make them a more dangerous team. Kiffin still has to have a high win to lose ratio, but I'm not sure people can expect for him to keep his team motivated since there is nothing for them at the end of the season road.

They will also have scholarship reduction and recruiting limitations put on the program, so you basically inflicting a talent drain on the program. Considering how competitive it will be now that you are in a conference, possibly anyway, with Texas and Oklahoma; seems like USC's future continues to become dim. Kiffin, if he can whether the next couple of years and its not like any of this is his fault, will have quite a challenge on his hands to rebuild the program. He did a great job of making Tennessee better and he has the personality to do it, but it will be daunting. They will no longer be the big fish in a conference but possible a second tier school with Texas looming over all.

Guess it was true

Brian Cushing, former USC Trojan and current Houston Texan, was suspended for four games this coming football season for breaking the NFL's steroid policy. Rumors about Cushing's steroid use have been going on since his days at USC, and this picture is often used to point to that. So he finally gets busted and will have to sit out for four games, and two of them are rather important games. One is with their intra-division rivals the Colts and one is the intra-state rivals the Cowboys. The Texans will definitely be hurting without him, he has been an incredibly play and was the rookie defensive player of the year.

I'm actually a fan of his, and it really doesn't change my opinion of him. I pretty much assume that steroids are used in pro sports to varying degrees; the nature of the beast now is to perform at a superman human level to justify the expense of money. I think it was an open secret as USC what was going on, Pete Carroll had to have noticed the dramatic improvement in size...or someone on the staff did. College has become the same kind of environment that the NFL is, its very much about making money.

Oh well, he's still hot.