College Confidential

USC's Kiffin sitting on college football's hottest coaching seat; KU's Weis at No. 3, Texas' Brown at No. 9

For those wondering about the availability of Monte Kiffin, the leading candidate to become the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator after spending the past four seasons coaching in the college ranks, here’s the skinny about his former boss _ son Lane Kiffin, Southern California’s head football coach.

The younger Kiffin, who led the Trojans from a pre-season No. 1 ranking in the college football polls to a 7-6 record in 2012, is now No. 1 in another ranking: the one put together by editors at Coaches Hot Seat, who rank college football’s most embattled coaches.

In its updated post-bowl rankings, Lane Kiffin stands at No. 1 heading into the 2013 season, one spot ahead of Maryland coach Randy Edsall. Kansas coach Charlie Weis, after only one season with the Jayhawks (1-11, 0-9 in Big 12), is No. 3.

Texas coach Mack Brown checks in at No. 9 despite his team’s Alamo Bowl victory over Oregon State, which allowed the Longhorns (9-4) to climb to No. 19 in the final AP poll and 18^th in the coaches poll. But Brown’s team has compiled only a 22-16 record over the last three seasons, with the 9-4 mark being Texas’ best in that stretch.

For a full breakdown of the website’s post-bowl rankings, hit this link:

 

http://www.coacheshotseat.com/

 

_ Jimmy Burch

 

The madness begins: Beavers beat Trojans, 27-21

Oregon State did it right from the very beginning.
The Beavers didn't trick up their gameplan to face No.1 USC on Thursday night in Corvallis. Instead, Oregon State went right at the Trojans defense, pounding away at them with the help of Texas native Jacquizz Rodgers, daring them to do something.
And USC couldn't.
Oregon State (2-2, 1-1) - a 25-point underdog - held on to topple the Trojans 27-21, shaking up the top 10 rankings, the BCS and putting another major dent in the USC (2-1, 0-1) mystique.
This game just continues a pattern that began in 2007, when the top 10 rankings were jolted on a weekly basis by shocking upsets. There's no reason to expect that to change, especially with this weekend's games and others looming in the coming weeks like OU-Texas.
If you're a fan of Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia or Missouri, Thursday's result simply clears one team out of your way, but in the big picture does very little in terms of national title hopes. All four schools still have to survive playing in the Big 12 and SEC, which are the two toughest conferences in the country this year. Do good there, and conference championships loom the first week in December.
The biggest questions that loom from this game are with the Trojans. Are they a good team? Sure. Oustanding? Hardly. Outstanding teams don't lose these games, and certainly don't trail 21-0 like the Trojans did at halftime on Thursday. This is the third straight year USC has now lost a game it should've won handily. Go back to 2006, when it last lost to Oregon State in Corvallis 33-31, then there was last year's 24-23 loss at home to Stanford (a 41-point underdog).
What you saw on Thursday night was a USC team that was all hype, and no substance. Once again, ESPN and other national media outlets rolled out their Trojan hype machine in the preseason, and with Don King-like gusto, proclaimed USC to be superior to everyone else in the college football universe. A model of perfection. All that was missing were ludicrous comparisons to Tom Osborne's Nebraska teams in the late 1990s, or the Miami Hurricanes during their glory days.
Those teams became legendary because they beat the teams they were supposed to.
As they showed again on Thursday, that's something USC struggles with.
-Trae Thompson

Ridiculously off base

While reading my blogs earlier today, I was a little stunned to see USC coach Pete Carroll refer to his team's Pac 10 schedule as "ridiculously difficult." I thought I was missing something, so I checked the latest AP Poll. Other Pac 10 teams besides USC in the rankings? Zero. The current record of USC's conference opponents: 15-17.

A closer look at the "ridiculously difficult" schedule the Trojans face entering tonight:

tonight, at Oregon State (1-2)
The Beavers have won two of the last three in Corvallis, but opponents have score 30 or more points in Oregon State's two losses. Penn State finished with 454 total yards in a 45-14 victory.

10/4 vs. Oregon (3-1)
Beat Washington 44-10 in their season opener, but gave up 424 total yards in last week's 37-32 loss to Boise State.

10/11 vs. Arizona State (2-2)
Lost to UNLV 23-20 and had four yards rushing in last week's 27-10 loss to Georgia.

10/18 at Wash. State (1-3)
Its first win came against Portland State, a championship subdivision team.

10/25 at Arizona (3-1)
Wins over Idaho and Toledo, and opened Pac 10 play with a 31-10 victory over UCLA, which was 4-of-17 on third down conversions and had 196 total yards.

11/1 vs. Washington (0-3)
The Huskies' 41-point loss to Oklahoma was its largest at home since a 48-0 loss to USC in 1929.

11/8 vs. Cal (2-1)
Cal lost to a Maryland team whose only loss is to Middle Tennessee State (1-3).

11/15 at Stanford (2-2)
Jim Harbaugh's team has a bright future, but lost to Arizona State 41-17 and allowed San Jose State to control the clock longer in last week's 23-10 win.

12/6 at UCLA (1-2)
BYU finished with 521 total yards in a 59-0 victory over the Bruins.

-Trae Thompson