Doomed to Repeat It

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. "
- George Santayana, Life of Reason, 1905

The above three photos tell the whole story for the shocking upset my Trojans suffered on Thursday. Freshman Jacquizz Rodgers was effective in everything he did. He ran so wild that not even knocking off his helmet could slow him down. I hear that Pete Carrol has now special-ordered smaller tackling dummies in case his vaunted defense ever has to face such an intimidating target as a 5'-6" freshman again. The fans stormed the field, and the newly-appointed successor to Pete Carrol's line of star leading men, this time the heralded Mark Sanchez, walked dejectedly off the field.

It all seems so familiar.

2 years ago, newly appointed John David Booty had a pass knocked down on a two point conversion be sent packing from Corvallis in shame. 2 years before that, only the brilliant play of Lendale White kept (newly appointed) Matt Leinhart's squad from stumbling in the thick fog of Reser Stadium. In fact, after Thursday's debacle, USC has lost 3 of the last 4 in Corvallis. Oregon State is not tough to beat in LA, but Mike Rilley really has the Trojan's number in the friendly confines.

So when everyone texted and emailed and called me Friday morning, asking how I could possibly have seen that coming, I merely reminded them of Santayana's quote. Believe me, as much as I am happy to get back in the underdog pool race with 23.5 points, it was by far the most painful 23.5 points I have ever scored.

As it turns out, however, USC was hardly the only team to catch the upset bug this weekend. There were upsets everywhere you turned, probably setting a record for points scored by the collective pool in one weekend (Kurt will correct this post with the correct data on Tuesday morning). 4 of the top 10 went down. Georgia losing was not a surprise. Alabama jumping out to a 31 - 0 halftime lead is ridiculous. Florida losing at home to . . . .Ole Miss? When Michigan commits 5 turnovers in the first half against a top 10 team, they are done. Unless they are playing Wisconsin on September 27, 2008! I am not even going to mention Wake Forest losing at home to Navy because I still can't explain that one. Underdog wins greater than a touchdown are rare in the NFL. We had two on Sunday.

There are two patterns that were confirmed this weekend. First, just when you think the BCS will have 7 undefeated teams at the end of the year, someone does something stupid and knocks themselves out of the race. This weekend we were blessed with 4 teams blowing at once. Second, and getting back to Santayana, is that in the underdog pool history definitely repeats itself. So if you haven't figured it out by now, for future reference:

- Colorado State always plays close to Colorado
- Always pick Northwestern over Iowa
- Don't pick Tennessee over any favorite (sorry Josh)
- Always pick NC State when they're a home dog (weird that they lost this time around)
- Fresno State is better than you think
- Stanford will pull off at least two double digit upsets per year
- Always pick the underdog in the Washington - Dallas game
- Always pick the underdog in the NY Giants - Dallas game
- AND . . . . Always pick Oregon State at home over USC when they have a new QB!

Bill Moore has figured all this out. He's played this pool a few times before. That's why he is leading and we'll be chasing him all year long.

Fight On,

Hans