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Demolition Day
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It was a beautiful day for football in Southern California. First UCLA beat Oklahoma 41-24, then USC destroyed Arkansas 70-17. The Blue and Gold faithful believe their win might have been a program-changing game. And while UCLA played an excellent 60 minutes, LAist wants to caution the Sons of Westwood before they actually believe this is a Rose Bowl season. This is not the same Oklahoma team that has been in two-straight national title games. Rhett Bromar wishes he was half as good as Jason White, or even Josh Heupal. Adrian Peterson may have been held in check by UCLA, but he was playing with a groin injury. And the Sooners were nice enough to cough up three fumbles.
That said, UCLA has a lot to be happy about. Drew Olson played one of his best games ever, finding ten different receivers for completions. On a day when Maurice Drew was completely stuffed by the Sooner defensive line, and effectively ended his Heisman campaign, it was Olson who finally snapped out of the inconsistencies that plagued him in past seasons and carried the Bruin offense to victory. With Washington next on the schedule, UCLA figures to be 4-0 heading into their Oct. 8 showdown with Cal, in what should be an even more challenging test.
As for USC, there's not much to say except that we were astonished at how easy the Trojans had it. Arkansas may not be the best team in the SEC, but they're still an SEC team. We thought they'd at least look better than say, Hawaii. The USC offense scored at will, and before we knew it, everyone from Reggie Bush to LenDale White, to Michael McDonald was involved in the offense. Our main concern about USC right now is its run defense. With Mike Patterson and Shaun Cody leaving for the NFL, and Ed Orgeron now coaching at Ole Miss, the Trojan defensive line needs to grow. But if the offense continues to roll up 70 on teams, they'll have plenty of margin for error.
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The Trojans have two tough road games coming up at Oregon and at Arizona State. But is any game really tough for USC these days?
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