Will Ferrell is expected to attend Sunday's USC-UCLA game. At least he can't be kicked off the sideline at the Galen Center like he was at the Rose Bowl.

USC wants fans to wear black to Sunday's game against UCLA. Not cardinal. Not gold. Black.
Hmmm. There must be a reason. Oh wait. Nike is providing a black NIKEiD T-shirt for the first 1,000 students.
There's the reason: Nike!

Here's a question regarding a recruit.

Even more answers!

Here's USC's official schedule:

Aug. 30 at Virginia
Sept. 13 Ohio State
Sept. 25 at Oregon State
Oct. 4 Oregon
Oct. 11 Arizona State
Oct. 18 at Washington State
Oct. 25 at Arizona
Nov. 1 Washington
Nov. 8 California
Nov. 15 at Stanford
Nov. 29 Notre Dame
Dec. 6 at UCLA

More answers.

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What's the biggest improvement needed at the Coliseum?

Ticket Gates Restrooms Seats Escalators, Elevators Parking Other (feel free to list your own)

We hear the group behind that proposed stadium project in Long Beach is still interested in USC as a tenant because it believes the university still might opt out of its new lease with the Coliseum in two years.

Here's the opening round of answers.

With UCLA hiring a secondary coach, it means former USC assistant Demetrice Martin will stay at UTEP, which is probably a good thing for the Trojans. Martin was well-liked by USC players and would be a tough recruiter to go against in Southern California.
USC probably got lucky he is staying in El Paso.

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How did USC's threat to play at the Rose Bowl affect Coliseum negotiations?

It helped force the Coliseum Commission to do something No, impact. An agreement would have been reached anyways It was a poorly timed publicity stunt

With guard Daniel Hackett expected to miss the rest of the season, we hear the stress fracture in his back existed before the season and was something he would try to play with this year. Perhaps the partially torn oblique muscle he suffered a couple weeks ago aggravated the situation.

With the Coliseum searching for naming rights, let's remember we suggested last September that it strike a deal to become the ZeroPetOdor stadium, a product which promises to remove all urine odors.

U.S. Capital offered a rendering for the Coliseum in which a renovated stadium would be a triple-decked horseshoe, but the exterior of the two additional decks would resemble the Roman Colosseum.
Sounds like someone picked up on the Caesar moniker.

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Should college football enact an early signing period?

Yes No

Of course there had to drama at the USC-Coliseum press conference. A private-equity firm showed up unannounced and said it wanted to invest $800 million into the Coliseum, but did not want USC to retain the right to quash any deal that might be struck with the NFL. The commission was not pleased.
Where were these guys before?

``It’s great they got an agreement that will last the length of my contract.''
-- USC coach Pete Carroll on the new lease with the Coliseum, which could be 47 years in length.

Somehow there's always a USC-related connection on TMZ.com.
http://www.tmz.com/2008/02/13/fox-sportscaster-tased-after-o-c-dui-arrest
My question: Josh Booty works for Fox?

Former USC players Steve Smith and Manuel Wright made $78,000 when the Giants beat the Patriots as the winners' Super Bowl bonus.

With Justin Wyatt no longer a viable option, Kris Richard remains a strong candidate to become the secondary coach.

We were being charitable yesterday when we neglected to mention USC's loss to Mercer.

Did anyone hear ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury say that college football recruits should stay away from Arkansas and its untrustworthy new coach, Bobby Petrino?
Was the former USC quarterback trying to influence Joe Adams, who at the time was committed to USC but seriously considering his eventual choice, Arkansas.
At least this talking point did not come from Caesar, who told me Petrino made a good decision.

We hear Birmingham defensive end Malik Jackson's been accepted by the university, which means the remaining issue now is whether he can achieve the necessary test score to meet NCAA requirements.

Former USC cornerback Justin Wyatt was a candidate to become the graduate-assistant secondary coach. It makes sense because Wyatt was extremely popular with his teammates and would make an excellent coach.
However, he was not interested.

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What meant more to you?

Beating Notre Dame for sixth straight year Beating UCLA Winning the Rose Bowl Matt Barkley's commitment The advent of TrojanTV

Defending the homecourt is hardly a rule being followed in the Pac-10 this season, where home teams are an unimpressive 28-26 this season.

When the band is going to be at a Coliseum press conference, it's safe to say a deal was reached.

An insider at a Pac-10 school sent in the following response to demonstrate the Pac-10 is not as strong as some anaylsts believe it is.

Here's some more answers, brought to you by CaesarTV, which welcomes Roman Meal bread aboard as a co-sponsor.

Compton linebacker Chris Metcalf, who is 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, is projected as a safety at USC. However, he might play linebacker depending on if he grows in the 18 months.

Here's some answers to our questions.

Here's some serious news regarding former USC defensive lineman Kenechi Udeze.
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S343762.shtml?cat=

Here's the USC update on Daniel Hackett.
``USC sophomore guard Daniel Hackett saw Dr. Robert G. Watkins tonight (Feb. 11) at the Marina Spine Center in Marina del Rey, Calif. and it was determined that he has a stress fracture in his lower back. The injury will not require surgery and Hackett will begin a core strengthening rehabilitation program on Tuesday, Feb. 12. There is no timetable for his return. Once the spasms are relieved, it will be possible to evaluate his core strength level and determine a timetable. Hackett needs to reach a core strength level of four before he can return.''

The USC guard is seeing a doctor tonight about his back. Like we said earlier, he told people at USC today he would miss the rest of the season.

We have not heard confirmation for USC yet but guard Daniel Hackett is telling people he will miss the rest of the season with a back injury. He suffered a similar injury in high school and was out for several months.

Two conservative lawmakers want the state to sell its portion of the Coliseum (the land beneath the actual structure) to reduce the state's debt. Uh huh.
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/702490.html

Since last summer, I've had many conversations with USC coach Tim Floyd about how much better the Pac-10 would be this season, and since the season started, TV analysts like Jay Bilas say it's the best conference in the nation.
That said, which teams are noticeably better than last season, besides Arizona State, Stanford and perhaps Washington State, which already has five losses in the Pac-10.
USC is worse, UCLA seems to be more vulnerable, Cal should be better than it is and Arizona is worse.
What do you think?

Here's some familar names that signed with schools last Wednesday, including Arizona State signing Jack Elway, the son of Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway.

Here's a few quick answers, brought to you by CaesarTV, which promises to have more than 200 viewers per day.

Here's another question regarding John David Booty and the Stanford game.

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Which recruit could make the biggest impact next season?

D.J. Shoemate Blake Ayles Brice Butler Nick Perry T.J. Bryant

Willie Wood is an NFL Hall of Famer who won five NFL titles in his career with the Green Bay Packers, but it's almost astounding how few people remember he was the first African-American quarterback at USC. Then again, it's understandable since USC hardly even mentions him anywhere. I did some research on Wood, who led USC to an 8-2 record in 1959. I could mention his 48 interceptions in the NFL, etc., but then I discovered he's currently living in an assisted-care facility following knee-replacement surgery on both knees and a hip replacement operation. He also suffers from the beginnings of dementia that causes him to have short-term memory loss. An organization started by former NFL great Jerry Kramer is trying to help Wood and other former players, who receive no benefits from the NFL. Click the link before for information: http://www.gridirongreats.org/WillieWood.html

Former All-American wide receiver Mike Williams playing basketball at USC.

There's a side issue that makes Compton linebacker Chris Metcalf's commitment interesting. Last year, USC made little headway after a late start in the recruitment of Compton defensive lineman Datone Jones. There was also some ties between UCLA and Compton staff. Jones committed to UCLA a day after visiting USC last March.
So Metcalf's commitment at least shows USC is competitive again recruiting Compton players.

Rivals.com reports that linebacker Chris Metcalf of Compton High School committed to USC. He attended last weekend's Junior Day at USC and was enthusiastic about the Trojans during his visit. He is the ninth commitment for 2009.

If you forgot to ask a question in the Open Forum, here's your chance.

Here's a little rundown on USC's recruiting class:

Gem of the class: Blake Ayles.
Future star: Tyron Smith.
Most buzz: Brice Butler.
Jury is out: Daniel Campbell, Brian Baucham, Uona Kavienga.
Position change? Armond Armstead.
Mr. Consistency: Wes Horton, Drew McAllister.
Mr. Intrigue: Nick Perry.

Here's USC coach Tim Floyd on today's loss to Washington State.
On preparing for the game:
"We need more than one day to prepare for them, I know that."
On the technical fouls...
"Technicals are a part of the game and our goal in the second half was to try to get to the line and we did not accomplish that."

It's free, it's coming. It's free. It's Blowhard free. CaesarTV!

Tim Floyd's buddy, former LSU coach John Brady, is on his way to Malibu to interview for the Pepperdine job.

Here's the third installment of our seemingly never-ending series.

Here's another batch of answers.