Paciifc Life Holiday Bowl should pursue USC

Bobby Bowden should be commended for his 44 seasons as a college football head coach.

Charlie Weis should be able to find a job as an offensive coordinator in the NFL.

Tiger Woods should be ashamed of his extra-marital affairs.

OK, since that’s out of the way, let’s get on with what the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl should be doing.

The Holiday Bowl gets the No. 2 pick from the Pac 10, but it should not take the loser of Thursday night’s Oregon-Oregon State game.

Why? Because this is the first chance the Holiday Bowl will ever have to secure the USC Trojans for the game.

Oregon has been to the Holiday Bowl for two of the past four years. And while Oregon State has never played in the game, it certainly doesn’t bring the prestige of USC.

After all, an event such as the Holiday Bowl will only get the Trojans in a “down” year (they are 8-3 going into Saturday’s regular-season finale vs. Arizona.)

USC does not have its weapons of the past, but the Trojans are building with younger players who could be in the Holiday Bowl in 2009 … and in the BCS Championship within the next couple of years.

It will be interesting to see how freshman QB Matt Barkley continues to develop under coach Pete Carroll and his staff. Junior running back Joe McKnight is within 21 yards of a 1,000-yard rushing season, and the defense has such rising stars as sophomore linebacker Chris Galippo and junior defensive end Everson Griffen.

As for an opponent, the Holiday Bowl should take Nebraska in a second if it loses to Texas in the Big 12 Championship.

After all, few bowls outside of a BCS game will ever get a USC-Nebraska match-up.

Holiday Bowl: USC vs. Oklahoma?

How would this be for a Pacific Life Holiday Bowl match-up in 2009?

Try the University of Southern California Trojans vs. the Oklahoma Sooners!

In a good year, the two schools could be playing for the BCS championship. But in a “down” year such as this, it might be the best chance ever for the Holiday Bowl to get a USC vs. Oklahoma billing.

Talk about getting the top non-BCS or New Year’s Day game if you could sign such a deal.

The Holiday Bowl is in the final year of an agreement where it gets the No. 2 pick from the Pac 10 vs. the No. 3 selection from the Big 12.

No. 12 USC (6-2) is virtually out of the Rose Bowl race with Saturday’s loss at Oregon. But the Trojans still have wins over the likes of Ohio State, Notre Dame and California on their 2009 resume.

No. 20 Oklahoma (5-3) is without QB Sam Bradford for the rest of the season, but the Sooners still have much national respect. Don’t forget that they only lost by three points to No. 2 Texas without the injured Bradford for a majority of the game.

USC vs. Oklahoma. Pete Carroll vs. Bob Stoops.

The Holiday Bowl better latch on to this great match-up while it still has the opportunity.

Rivalries promise great weekend of college football

This weekend is just about as good as it gets in college football rivalries with USC vs. Notre Dame and Oklahoma vs. Texas.

Problem is these games just don’t mean as much as they used to.

With USC, it’s a matter of always losing a game early to fall out of the BCS championship picture. With Notre Dame, it’s a matter of too many losses in recent years.

In the case of Oklahoma-Texas, it’s that the winner of this game doesn’t necessarily get bonus points when it counts the most.

Remember when Texas beat Oklahoma last year, only to lose to Texas Tech and later watch Oklahoma lose (again) in the BCS title game?

Or how about USC with its early season loss to Washington this year that has all but eliminated the Trojans from the national title picture?

It’s too bad that USC doesn’t play in the Big 12 or the Southeastern Conference. In those conferences, coach Pete Carroll’s Trojans could redeem themselves by winning out and playing in a conference championship game (which the Pac 10 does not have yet.)

That’s a sure way to get to the BCS championship (see the Big 12 and SEC.)

As for Oklahoma-Texas, this is a year when the Longhorns can actually make a win over Oklahoma matter more than last year. With a win over the Sooners, don’t be surprised to see Texas ride it out all the way to the BCS finals.

Colt McCoy vs. Sam Bradford. Jimmy Clausen vs. USC becoming tailback university … again.

It should make for an interesting weekend of college football.

Predictions:
USC 24, Notre Dame 14
Texas 27, Oklahoma 23