4th and 1: The Real USC, Butch Davis and Trust, LSU and the Clock…
Mid-point of season approaching too rapidly.
1st. Ever heard anyone refer to South Carolina as USC-East? Or a super SEC fan call Southern Cal USC-East? Sure you have. It happens all the time. If you talk to the average college football fan, they probably will defer to the team with the brighter history. The Trojans are a historical power while the Gamecocks aren’t. Therefore, the team out West gets USC.
But South Carolina will fight it. Part of it. The SC to be exact. The Gamecocks are attempting to trademark their own SC logo, but USC is fighting it because it too closely resembles theirs. Courts have already rejected the trademark application, but the battle attempted to go further – all the way to the Supreme Court. But that too has been shot down. The Supreme Court has decided to not even hear the case and will let the schools battle it out on their own.
Seems like trademarks are a hot topic in the news lately. This time it’s two colleges battling each other, but lately it’s been colleges taking on high schools. If South Carolina really wants to use a SC logo, then the Gamecocks need to head back to the drawing board. Come up with something that doesn’t look like the one used by that school in California.
2nd. Butch Davis doesn’t think he should have trusted John Blake – the former UNC assistant who has been linked to most of the Tar Heels’ problems with the NCAA. He probably shouldn’t have. Blake has had an ongoing friendship with agent Gary Wichard and it looks like it could be one of the reasons behind UNC’s troubles.
Davis didn’t know exactly what type of relationship the two men had when he hired Blake in 2006, but he’s now a warning for other coaches. When looking for assistants it’s probably best to stay away from anyone linked to any agents in a “friendly” manner. UNC is still struggling to fill its roster as a number of players continue to sit out.
3rd. “It was a difficult scenario to get the two plays called.” That’s what Les Miles has said about the situation at the end of LSU’s game against Tennessee in which the Tigers blew the game due to poor clock management then got lucky on a Vols’ penalty.
The question has to be asked: is it really that difficult? Do teams not have situational meetings in which they discuss what will be done with little time on the clock? I find it hard to believe a team of LSU’s caliber not coming up with a solution for a situation where the clock is running down and the first play didn’t work. Then again, we’ve seen this before from the Miles’ led Tigers so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
4th. That team from Tallahassee is off to a notable start. After beginning the 2009 season 2-4, FSU has started this year 4-1 with the only loss coming to undefeated Oklahoma. That doesn’t mean the Seminoles are back in the national spotlight just yet, but keep the wins coming against Miami this weekend and FSU could continue to climb the polls.
And 1. Has one of last season’s most dynamic running backs lost his starting job? Quite possibly.