Go ahead and mount that dartboard with Lane Kiffin’s (usually) smug mug on it.
Place it next to the one of NCAA president Mark Emmert or any others considered villains in the fallout from the severe sanctions placed on Penn State’s football program. Ask how and why the NCAA cleared the way for a star player to transfer from one program on probation to another.
But don’t blame Silas Redd. He’s no Benedict Arnold or Brutus. He’s an extremely talented football player who had to make the best decision for his future.
Continue reading at ESPN.com – Big Ten Blog
Penn State junior running back Silas Redd is meeting Thursday morning with USC coach Lane Kiffin about the possibility of Redd leaving Penn State and playing this season for the Trojans, sources told ESPN.
Redd originally was scheduled to represent Penn State on Thursday in Chicago at Big Ten media days.
On Wednesday, Penn State decided not to bring any players to the event, at which Penn State coach Bill O’Brien will speak, but the Nittany Lions changed course on Thursday, bringing linebacker Michael Mauti, defensive lineman Jordan Hill and guard John Urschel.
Continue reading at ESPN.com – Big Ten Blog
Penn State junior running back Silas Redd is meeting Thursday morning with USC coach Lane Kiffin about the possibility of Redd leaving Penn State and playing this season for the Trojans, sources told ESPN.
Redd originally was scheduled to represent Penn State on Thursday in Chicago at Big Ten media days.
On Wednesday, Penn State decided not to bring any players to the event, at which Penn State coach Bill O’Brien will speak, but the Nittany Lions changed course on Thursday, bringing linebacker Michael Mauti, defensive lineman Jordan Hill and guard John Urschel.
Continue reading at ESPN.com – Big Ten Blog
Penn State junior running back Silas Redd is meeting Thursday morning with USC coach Lane Kiffin about the possibility of Redd leaving Penn State and playing this season for the Trojans, sources told ESPN.
Redd originally was scheduled to represent Penn State on Thursday in Chicago at Big Ten media days.
On Wednesday, Penn State decided not to bring any players to the event, at which Penn State coach Bill O’Brien will speak, but the Nittany Lions changed course on Thursday, bringing linebacker Michael Mauti, defensive lineman Jordan Hill and guard John Urschel.
Continue reading at ESPN.com – Big Ten Blog
Well, the Wolverines have done great work on the recruiting trail, but now ESPN likes another school a little better. USC has overtaken Michigan for the top spot in the latest class rankings, which were released yesterday .
The Trojans have 16 commitments for 2013, 12 of whom are in the ESPN 150. The Wolverines, by contrast, have 22 pledges and half of those are in the ESPN 150.
Continue reading at ESPN.com – Big Ten Blog
College Football News
ESPN – The injury bug has been nipping at the USC Trojans all spring, as wide receivers and tight ends have missed time with nagging injuries.
But during Thursday’s practice it took a big bite out of the Trojans’ running back depth, as tailback Tre Madden tore a ligament in his knee and will be out for the 2012 season, according to a school news release.
It happened on a run in which Madden was untouched and but went to the ground after attempting to make a cut in the open field.
USC LT Matt Kalil has all the tangible and intangible qualities teams seek in the ever-important position known for protecting the blind sides of quarterbacks. The 6-6, 306-pound former bodyguard for Trojans QB Matt Barkley the last two seasons did not allow a sack during USC’s 2011 campaign. Kalil decided to forgo his final year of eligibility with many experts projecting him as a top-five pick and likely first offensive lineman selected in April’s draft.
Kalil’s father, Frank, who was drafted in 1982 by the Bills, played center during two seasons for the Arizona Wranglers of the defunct USFL. Kalil’s brother, Ryan, was a second-round pick of the Panthers in 2007 and last year became the league’s highest-paid center with a six-year, $50-million deal.
Full story on USA Today
Making a list of differences between USC and Stanford could take a while before we even get to the way they conduct on the football field and sidelines. USC has a certain swagger, an edge or cool factor. They’re USC, and they are not afraid to let everyone know about it. Or so that is how it comes off at times, especially when USC is at the top of their game (which may be the case in 2012). But when it comes to college football supremacy in the state of California the last couple years there is no doubt that it has been Stanford on top of the heap.
Check out the Video and Full story on No 2-Minute Warning
USC offensive tackle Matt Kalil has decided to forgo his senior season and seek entry into the 2012 NFL draft.
Kalil, a projected top-five pick, informed Trojans coach Lane Kiffin, other staff members and teammates of his decision to turn pro. Kalil has received numerous All-American honors this year.
The 6-foot-7, 295-pound Kalil redshirted as a freshman, was backup to Charles Brown his second year and then started his final two years for the Trojans at left tackle.
USC Trojans junior quarterback Matt Barkley has submitted paperwork to the NFL draft advisory board seeking its input on where he could be selected in next April’s draft.
It’s standard procedure for a draft-eligible junior. More than 150 players from across the country typically request evaluations each year. It also has been Barkley’s plan for some time; he told ESPNLosAngeles.com earlier this month he would submit the paperwork soon after the season ended.
Along with Barkley, there are three other USC juniors contemplating entering the draft early: left tackle Matt Kalil, defensive end Nick Perry and safety T.J. McDonald.
Story from ESPN.com
2011 NCAA Football Rankings Week 14 – AP Top 25
1 LSU (60) 12-0 1500
2 Alabama 11-1 1440
3 Oklahoma State 10-1 1286
4 Stanford 11-1 1281
5 Virginia Tech 11-1 1196
6 Arkansas 10-2 1060
7 Houston 12-0 1055
8 Oregon 10-2 1054
9 Boise State 10-1 1053
9 USC 10-2 1053
11 Michigan State 10-2 866
12 Georgia 10-2 825
13 Oklahoma 9-2 808
14 South Carolina 10-2 796
15 Wisconsin 10-2 749
16 Kansas State 9-2 658
17 Michigan 10-2 570
18 TCU 9-2 488
19 Baylor 8-3 468
20 Nebraska 9-3 352
21 Clemson 9-3 258
22 West Virginia 8-3 196
23 Penn State 9-3 151
24 Southern Miss 10-2 78
25 Florida State 8-4 58
Dropped from rankings: Notre Dame 22, Virginia 24, Georgia Tech 25
Others receiving votes: Notre Dame 53, Texas 45, Cincinnati 23, Arkansas State 18, Georgia Tech 16, Brigham Young 13, Missouri 13, Virginia 9, Tulsa 7, Louisville 3, Northern Illinois 1
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Matt Barkley was confident that No. 18 USC was headed for an upset all along, even when fourth-ranked Oregon mounted a comeback.
“We expected to shock everybody except ourselves,” he said after throwing for 323 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-35 victory over the Ducks on Saturday night.
The loss snapped a 21-game winning streak for Oregon (9-2, 7-1 Pac-12) at Autzen Stadium, which was the longest in the nation. It also stopped a 19-game winning streak in conference games.
But even more significantly, the loss derailed Oregon’s hope for a second-straight berth in the BCS championship game. The Ducks were poised to move up in the BCS standings after No. 2 Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State 37-31on Friday night.
“I think this was a defining game for us,” Barkley said. “We set ourselves apart on both sides of the ball.”
Trailing 24-7 in the third quarter, Oregon launched a comeback and narrowed the margin to just three points on LaMichael James’ 1-yard touchdown run with 7:05 left in the fourth quarter.
Barkley led his team to the Oregon 15, but Marc Tyler fumbled and the ball was recovered by the Ducks with 2:54 to go. Oregon marched down the field but Alejandro Maldondado’s 37-yard field goal attempt, which was brought 5 yards closer because of a USC penalty, went wide left.
Afterward, Ducks’ fans stood stunned while the Trojans (9-2, 6-2) celebrated on the field. Once in the locker room, the team was so boisterous that they at times drowned out coach Lane Kiffin speaking to reporters in an adjoining room.
The victory was huge for USC, which cannot play in the postseason because of NCAA sanctions.
“We needed this,” Barkley said.
Robert Woods, who was held out of some practices this week with ankle and shoulder injuries, caught seven passes for 53 yards and two scores. Freshman Marqise Lee caught eight passes for 187 yards and a score.
Darron Thomas threw for 265 yards and a score for Oregon, while Kenjon Barner ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns. The Ducks, ranked fifth in the nation with nearly 292 rushing yards per game, were held to 209 yards by USC’s defense.
“We lost a game,” said James, who rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown. “Life goes on.”
Against the Trojans, Oregon was playing catch up from the start.
The Trojans scored first on Barkley’s 59-yard touchdown pass to Lee in the first quarter, then added Barkley’s 12-yard scoring pass to Woods early in the second to go up 14-0.
The Ducks didn’t’ look like themselves until an efficient scoring drive midway through the second quarter. Thomas hit freshman Colt Lyerla with a 35-yard pass before hitting fellow frosh De’Anthony Thomas with a 29-yarder for the touchdown. The seven-play drive covered 88 yards in just 2:15.
But USC answered with Barkley’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Woods. The TD, Barkley’s 73rd, moved him past Carson Palmer for second on Southern California’s career touchdown list. Matt Leinart had 99 for the Trojans.
The Ducks had a chance to narrow it before the half, but De’Anthony Thomas was out of bounds when he pulled down a Darron Thomas pass to the end zone. On the next play, James fumbled and the ball was recovered by USC.
James, who dislocated his elbow earlier in the season and missed two games, was hit in the arm on the play, and was holding the elbow as he was helped up by trainers.
The Trojans opened the second half with Andre Heidari’s 26-yard field goal to make it 24-7, but Oregon again showed a flash of its usual speedy offense with a quick drive capped by Barner’s 10-yard touchdown run.
The Ducks, known for their second half adjustments, couldn’t slow USC’s momentum and the Trojans scored on the subsequent series with Marc Tyler’s 3-yard run. Barkley added a 5-yard scoring pass to Randall Telfer to make it 38-14.
De’Anthony Thomas narrowed it again for the Ducks with a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and the Autzen Stadium crowd got back into the game with 3:28 left in the third quarter.
Barner had an 8-yard touchdown run to close the Ducks to within 38-27 with 12:44 left in the game. The Trojans ate a lot of time up with their next series, but Barkley was intercepted by John Boyett, putting the Ducks in business on their own 40. Oregon scored on James’ 1-yard run, and the 2-point conversion pass was ruled good after review to make it 38-35.
“I never felt comfortable,” Kiffin said. “You can’t get comfortable. They’re just so explosive.”
It was USC’s first victory in the state of Oregon since 2005.
USC has one final game, next week against Los Angeles rival UCLA. The league’s southern representative in the inaugural Pac-12 championship is still up for grabs between Arizona State, Utah and UCLA.
The Ducks still need only to win at home next week against Oregon State to clinch the Pac-12 North Division.
After the game, coach Chip Kelly was asked if perhaps Oregon’s guard was down against the Trojans after a decisive victory over then-No. 3 Stanford last week.
“I didn’t feel like it was a hangover. The credit goes to that other team. That’s a good football team,” said Kelly, who after the game went to the Trojans locker room to congratulate USC assistant Monte Kiffin, Lane’s father.
The loss was Chip Kelly’s first at Autzen as Oregon’s head coach.
There were cheers before the game started when NBA stars LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony and several others showed up on the sidelines. James and Anthony even tossed around a football.
The players have been working out at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., just outside of Portland.
© 2011 The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Although Curtis McNeal’s fumble ended Southern California’s triple-overtime loss to Stanford last weekend, the Trojans won’t hesitate to put the ball right back in his hands.
That fumble should turn out to be no more than a footnote in the undersized junior’s breakout season for No. 21 USC (6-2, 3-2 Pac-12).
Coach Lane Kiffin says McNeal will start when the Trojans visit Colorado on Friday night, and McNeal could end up playing nearly every snap if senior Marc Tyler is still limited by injury.
McNeal was devastated after he fumbled into the end zone to end the No. 4 Cardinal’s 56-48 win. Yet the Trojans almost certainly wouldn’t have made it to extra time without McNeal, who scored on two long runs in the second half of his career-best 145-yard game.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Stepfan Taylor ran for the tying touchdown with 38 seconds left in regulation and the go-ahead score in the third overtime, and Stanford’s defense preserved its 16-game winning streak by forcing Curtis McNeal’s fumble into the end zone to finish a 56-48 victory over No. 20 Southern California on Saturday night.
Andrew Luck burnished his Heisman Trophy credentials by engineering four late scoring drives for No. 4 Stanford (8-0, 6-0 Pac-12), though he nearly cost the Cardinal the game by throwing a crucial interception late in the fourth quarter.
“I was very disappointed in myself,” Luck said. “For a couple of seconds, I wanted to go dig a hole and bury myself in it, but guys believed in me. I was so happy to still see time on the game clock. It was another chance to get out there.”
Four years after Stanford stunned USC (6-2, 3-2) with a one-point victory as a 41-point underdog, the schools played another classic on a cool Coliseum night – and once again, the Cardinal ruled.
Both teams scored in the first two overtimes. After Taylor’s run in the third OT, Coby Fleener caught the 2-point conversion pass.
USC quickly got to first-and-goal at the 4, but Terrence Stephens forced the ball from McNeal. It squirted into the end zone and A.J. Tarpley jumped on it. After a lengthy Stanford celebration, Luck was among the last players to leave the Coliseum field, sprinting to the locker room while thrusting his arms triumphantly in the air.
Luck passed for 325 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a key score, but the Cardinal were in serious trouble after he made a rare mistake. Nickell Robey intercepted his pass and returned it 33 yards for a score to make it 34-27 with 3:08 left in regulation, but Luck calmly engineered a 76-yard drive capped by Taylor’s short score.
Matt Barkley passed for 284 yards and three scores in his third straight loss to Luck. He got the Trojans into Stanford territory in the final seconds of regulation, but Robert Woods used up the final 9 seconds running to the sideline, preventing USC from trying a long field goal. USC coach Lane Kiffin said he was “very disappointed” the officials didn’t allow him to call a timeout before it ended.
McNeal rushed for 146 yards and two long second-half touchdowns before committing the key mistake for the bowl-banned Trojans, whose three-game winning streak ended.
The Cardinal were truly tested for the first time since the middle of last season, which ended with an Orange Bowl victory. USC nearly pulled off another upset last season at Stanford Stadium, sticking with the Cardinal until Luck engineered a last-minute drive ending in a field goal for a two-point victory.
Although the bowl-banned Trojans fell agonizingly short of the biggest win in Kiffin’s two seasons, USC chipped away much of Stanford’s dominant aura accumulated during the nation’s longest winning streak.
Stanford fell behind by 10 points in the third quarter, and the Cardinal won by fewer than 25 points for the first time in 11 games since last November. Stanford’s defense had limited its last 13 opponents to 21 points or fewer, the school’s longest stretch since 1939-41, before USC scored 34 points in regulation.
Stanford had gone three-and-out on offense just four times all season before USC forced three more three-and-outs. Luck had been sacked just twice all season before the Trojans put him down twice, including a huge third-down sack by Devon Kennard that knocked Stanford out of range for a potential tying field goal with less than 9 minutes to play.
The same Trojans defense that yielded 43 points at Arizona State and 41 by Arizona in consecutive games earlier this season played quite well against Luck and the Cardinal until the score ballooned late.
USC took a 20-10 lead shortly after halftime with McNeal’s TD runs of 61 and 25 yards. Luck rushed for a go-ahead score in the third quarter, but the Trojans pushed back ahead on Marqise Lee’s 28-yard TD catch with 13:04 to play.
Stanford’s Eric Whitaker tied it at 27 on a 29-yard field goal with 5:10 left.
Luck rallied the Cardinal back, overcoming his fourth interception of the season to force the first overtime game at the sold-out Coliseum since 2003.
Jeremy Stewart scored on a dive over the line to cap Stanford’s first possession of overtime, but Barkley hit Woods in the corner for a 15-yard score to even it. Freshman tight end Randall Telfer turned a short pass from Barkley into a TD to start the second OT, but Luck found Levine Toilolo with a cross-field TD pass moments later, and Whitaker knuckled home the extra point.
Woods had nine catches for 89 yards and a score.
Luck threw early TD passes to Tyler Gaffney and Ryan Hewitt, but he was at his best on the Cardinal’s final drive of regulation. He completed 10 straight passes down the stretch, yet still got help after throwing an incompletion on third down near midfield when USC safety T.J. McDonald needlessly leveled receiver Chris Owusu, keeping the drive alive.
After Robey’s TD, the Coliseum announcer warned fans in the sold-out stadium against rushing the field after the final gun.
Turns out, that gun was still about an hour away.
Stanford is USC’s oldest rival, and the schools have an eventful recent history during the Cardinal’s improbable rise as a football power. Stanford posted one of the most shocking upsets in recent college football history here four years ago before a 55-21 rout of USC in 2009 that included the most points allowed in USC history – until the latest unforgettable night at the Coliseum.
© 2011 The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lane Kiffin could have bemoaned yet another ugly twist in his rather unusual coaching career when the NCAA hammered Southern California’s storied football program with heavy sanctions just a few months after he returned.
Instead, Kiffin and his staff went to work on a detailed plan to keep the Trojans competitive while they ride out a half-decade of restrictions and bans.
Nearly two seasons in, the plan appears to be holding USC together.
Although USC has been hobbled and humbled by a bowl ban that ends this winter and scholarship restrictions that haven’t even started, the 20th-ranked Trojans are fighting on. They don’t flatten opponents with their accustomed flair or ferocity, yet they’re still off to a 6-1 start heading into their showdown Saturday against No. 4 Stanford.
“I think we feel that mojo, that swagger that we need to have on both sides of the ball,” said quarterback Matt Barkley, who has passed for 2,006 yards and 19 touchdowns with just four interceptions. “We’ve felt it on offense before this year, but as a team, that full team aspect of having that swagger is back.”
After an early season run that included several unimpressive wins and one blowout loss at Arizona State, USC got its groove back last weekend in the biggest victory in Kiffin’s tenure, winning 31-17 at Notre Dame in a prime-time matchup that was tremendously hyped in South Bend. Kiffin’s favorite part of that comfortable victory was a bit hidden.
“What Trojan fans should be excited about, we went into South Bend and played 45 initial scholarship players in that game,” Kiffin said, deliberately excluding a few walk-ons who have earned scholarships in the past two years. “And so I think everybody’s concern is what’s coming (with) the (scholarship) reductions, and we’re already getting practice at it. So it’s good to see that we can perform at a high level with those types of numbers, and we’ve been dealing with that for two years already.”
Indeed, the Trojans realize they’re about to get caught up in an ugly numbers game: USC will be able to award just 15 scholarships per season in each of the next three recruiting classes, with just 75 total scholarship players on its roster. Other schools can sign 25 players and have 85 total scholarships.
Kiffin and recruiting guru Ed Orgeron have a plan, however: Using their skill as two of the nation’s top recruiters, they signed a bumper crop of talent in each of the last two offseasons, and then redshirted a good portion of it. USC can sign a handful of midyear enrollees this winter, but the Trojans realize a major run of recruiting mistakes, academic problems or transfers could leave them with distressing depth problems.
Kiffin is concerned, but not frightened — and he’s particularly encouraged by this season.
“If you look at a team that’s 6-1, none of those teams (with similar records) are playing with free agency having happened to them, and reductions and stuff,” Kiffin said. “I just think it’s good for our fans. I’ve read so many things over the years about how bad it’s going to get and how bad it’s going to be, and to come and play like that with that few players is very good to see.”
The Trojans have stopped fighting the sanctions that arose from misdeeds surrounding Heisman Trophy-winning tailback Reggie Bush under the watch of former coach Pete Carroll and athletic director Mike Garrett. Under new school president Max Nikias and squeaky-clean new athletic director Pat Haden, USC decided not to sue the NCAA after its appeal was denied earlier this year, electing to ride out the punishment.
While the bowl ban was a disappointment for a team that finished 8-5 last year and already has enough wins to qualify this fall, Kiffin was more disappointed by the NCAA’s decision to allow players to leave USC without any loss or delay in eligibility, saying it amounted to “free agency.” The Trojans’ depth was hurt by a handful of defections, but relatively few players exercised the option to leave.
Sure, the Trojans don’t frighten opponents the way they did when Bush, Matt Leinart, Troy Polamalu and their teammates led them to seven straight Pac-10 titles and two national championships. They haven’t beaten an opponent by more than 21 points this season, with most of their games still close in the final minutes, while Stanford hasn’t won by fewer than 25 points in its last 10 games.
Yet the Trojans are still stocked with talent that came to USC and stayed despite the sanctions. Barkley says he never considered leaving, even stepping into a role as the players’ unofficial spokesman during the struggles, while star receiver Robert Woods didn’t waver on his lifelong dream to play at USC. Talented freshmen such as receiver Marqise Lee and starting linebackers Dion Bailey and Hayes Pullard declined overtures from the likes of Oregon, UCLA and schools across the country, sticking with Kiffin and the Trojans.
“This is always where I wanted to be,” said Woods, who has 72 catches for 908 yards and eight touchdowns. “We want to get SC back to where it was. This is a great school, and we want to get that reputation back that the football team had before.”
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Andrew Luck and Matt Barkley will hardly be the only top NFL talent on the field when Stanford and Southern California meet.
USC’s Matt Kalil and Stanford’s Jonathan Martin are the top left tackles in the nation and expected to be among the first 10 picks in April’s draft. They also protect two of college football’s best quarterbacks, Luck and Barkley, making the position all the more important on their teams.
The offensive linemen bring a scintillating subplot to Saturday night’s matchup at the Coliseum between fourth-ranked Stanford and No. 20 Southern California. The national stage is a chance to showcase their talents together and create some separation on draft boards everywhere.
Call it the Battle of the Blind Sides.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Name-calling is the least of Notre Dame’s worries these days.
Irish coach Brian Kelly again downplayed claims by some USC players that Notre Dame “quit” in the final minutes of the Trojans’ 31-17 victory Saturday night, saying Tuesday that his players have no room to complain after such a lopsided loss.
“Our guys know what happened. They got their butts beat,” Kelly said. “They didn’t play very well, and that comes with it. You get what you deserve.”
After opening the season with back-to-back losses, Notre Dame (4-3) appeared to be on the right track again with four straight wins, the last two in blowout territory. Even after giving up two quick touchdowns to the Trojans, the Irish were on the verge of tying the game late in the third, advancing to the USC 1. But Dayne Crist fumbled the snap, and the Trojans returned it for a score. Two more turnovers ended whatever comeback hopes the Irish had, and USC ground Notre Dame down with a final drive that lasted nearly seven minutes and featured 10 consecutive runs by tailback Curtis McNeal.
Some USC players said afterward they were surprised Notre Dame didn’t call a timeout during the final drive, with Trojans linebacker Chris Galippo flat-out saying the Irish had quit. USC quarterback Matt Barkley echoed that on a Los Angeles radio show on Monday, saying it seemed as if the Irish had given up.
Kelly said he did consider calling a timeout during USC’s drive, but the timing never seemed right.
“I think we were in a number of second and shorts, and where the ball was — I don’t know, intuitively, instinctively, I didn’t pull the trigger on a timeout,” he said. “It had nothing to do with, ‘Hey, we quit,’ or ‘We give up.’”
Galippo apologized Monday, and USC coach Lane Kiffin also called Kelly.
While Kelly said he appreciated Kiffin’s call, he’s not overly concerned with the Trojans’ trash talk.
“Words don’t mean much. We don’t spend much time on that,” he said. “We got beat, and they can say whatever they want.”
What does concern Kelly, however, is how his team prepared for USC, a highly charged rivalry that took on even more hype than usual because of a rare night game at Notre Dame Stadium.
The Irish had a bye the weekend before playing USC, and Notre Dame was on fall break last week. Instead of getting crisper and more focused with the extra rest, however, the departure from their routine left the Irish out of sorts.
“During the week, it was a bit of a battle because there wasn’t that regimen,” Kelly said. “I could sense it. I screamed about it. I yelled about it.”
Even the energy and electricity in the stadium didn’t help. Notre Dame was outgained by a whopping 128-14 in the first quarter alone, and trailed 17-0 a few minutes before halftime.
“I think we all saw by the way we played in the first 20 minutes of the game, we didn’t play the same way that we played all year,” Kelly said. “So I told our team yesterday, ‘I’ll take full responsibility for the preparation. You need to take full responsibility about the way you play and the level that you need to play at.’”
Those are lessons the Irish are still learning in their second year under Kelly — lessons that will only come with experience.
“I think they have to be in that situation and see where maybe they didn’t rise to the occasion and find out why. What are the reasons why you weren’t able to be the best when your best was needed?” Kelly said. “So I think they’ve got to experience it. I think that’s the best way of teaching it. And then building off that, which we’ll do all this week.”
Notre Dame now plays Navy (2-5), which ran all over the Irish in last year’s 35-17 victory at the Meadowlands. Notre Dame had no answer for the triple option or Navy’s unbalanced line as the Midshipmen rushed for 367 yards, a Navy high in a rivalry that dates back 85 years.
It was Navy’s third win over Notre Dame in four years, and gave the Midshipmen consecutive victories for the first time in 49 years.
Much-hyped USC running back Dillon Baxter no longer is a member of the team but is still enrolled at the school, coach Lane Kiffin announced Tuesday.
Baxter, a sophomore, did not make the trip with the Trojans to South Bend for USC’s game vs. Notre Dame last week, instead heading home to San Diego for the weekend. He skipped a practice last week because of what was called a “family issue,” and arrived late to another session because of what was called an “academic issue.”
“The decision has been made for Dillon Baxter to focus on his academics,” Kiffin said in a statement Tuesday. “As he does so, he will not be part of our football program.
“However, we will continue to support him with our academic services department.”
Dillon Baxter had 29 yards on nine carries this season for the Trojans.
During the weekend, Kiffin declined to add more context to the situation or to comment on Baxter’s status, first immediately after the Trojans’ 31-17 win over Notre Dame and then during his weekly conference call with the media on Sunday, when he said he’d wait to address Baxter’s status until it was “finalized,” leading to rampant speculation that the second-year player would transfer to another school.
But as of Tuesday, he remains enrolled at USC. Kiffin also has set a precedent of allowing players kicked off the team to return, as was the case last season of then-freshman receiver Markeith Ambles, who re-joined the team in January after a two-month hiatus.
Full story at espn
