Bad weekend for SoCal's 'elite' football teams

You could see the USC Trojans’ loss coming from a mile away over the weekend.

For the San Diego Chargers, you could see it from more like seven yards away (thanks Ray Lewis.)

The difference between the Chargers losing in the NFL and USC losing in the NCAA is huge: The Chargers could probably lose seven more games and still have a chance at winning the Super Bowl. USC is out of losses for a chance at the national championship.

Why is it that Pete Carroll can always win the big games at USC, yet the little one seems to escape him each year?

It happened with Stanford in 2007, Oregon State in 2008 and last weekend at the University of Washington.

Each year, that one stumble has kept/will keep the Trojans out of the title hunt.

It’s really too bad that the Trojans play on the West Coast because one loss and you’re out. Play in the more publicized Southeastern Conference or Big Ten and one loss keeps you in the hunt.

As for the Chargers, they’re in such a bad division that an 8-8 record likely gets them to the playoffs.

Still, that’s not excuse for the horrible play calling in the end with a fourth-and-2 at the Baltimore Ravens 15.

The Chargers had been averaging 2.5 yards per rush and were getting blown off the line of scrimmage with an injury-depleted offensive line. Yet coach Norv Turner still went with the run on the decisive play when everyone at Qualcomm Stadium (especially Ray Lewis) could see that it was going to be a run by Darren Sproles.

San Diego has still yet to block Lewis on that play.

It was a bad weekend for the Chargers; a horrible one for USC. See you next year, Trojans!

San Diego State hoops needs big-time wins

San Diego State needs to beat someone of significance if it hopes to receive an NCAA Tournament bid in men’s basketball this season.

The Aztecs may be off to a 13-5 start, but they have yet to post a win to get them over the hump when tournament selection time comes.

SDSU has faced three certain NCAA participants thus far – Arizona State, Arizona and Saint Mary’s. The Aztecs lost to all three.

Of the 13 wins, Utah has been the biggest-named opponent. And the Utes are no certain bet for the NCAAs.

Coach Steve Fisher has done a good job in his near-decade on Montezuma Mesa in turning the Aztecs from a horrible to middle-of-the-pack team. The program is good enough to make the NIT just about every year; yet you can only count on an NCAA berth (and loss) about once every five years.

Unless the Aztecs win the Mountain West Conference’s automatic NCAA bid this year, it’s going to be the same old thing:

Play in the NIT and hope for the best.

Has SDSU finally met its match?

Colorado State has the longest football losing streak in the nation at 11 games.

The Rams are favored to win by 13 ½ points in their Mountain West Conference opener Saturday.

Must be a mistake, right?

Wrong.

Colorado State is hosting San Diego State, which also is opening its conference season.

With the Rams being on an 11-game losing streak and favored by so many points, it can only tell you one thing: The opposition must be horrible.

And it is.

Take away a win against Sacramento State of Division I-AA (or whatever the NCAA calls it these days), and the Aztecs would be winless this season.

Sure, two of their three losses were to teams currently in the Top 25 (Arizona State and Cincinnati.) The other was to Washington State of the Pac-10. All three games were blowouts.

At least Colorado State has been competitive against arguably a tougher schedule than SDSU has faced.

The Rams only lost by a field goal in overtime to Colorado, which beat then No. 3-ranked Oklahoma last weekend. They also came within six points of a California team now ranked third in the nation.

Any wonder why the Rams are favored so heavily?

At Coach Sonny Lubick’s weekly press conference, he was asked about his Colorado State team having an easier schedule ahead.

“You look to it as a real chance,” he said. “However, if we get foolish, and start thinking ahead too much, then you've got a major problem.”

With the nation’s longest losing streak, don’t expect the Rams to look ahead this week.

Prediction: Colorado State 27, SDSU 17