Go Fetch: Tirebiter’s Morning Byte Of USC Trojans News

Former Penn State running back Silas Redd practiced with the USC Trojans on Monday for the first time after announcing plans to transfer to the school last week. Afterward, he pronounced his two-year career with the Nittany Lions as officially behind him and declined to answer questions about anything related to Penn State. “My relationship with Penn State and everything was a great experience,” Redd said. “They gave me some excellent opportunities. But I’m opening a new chapter of my life. I’m a Trojan now.

“I have always wanted to swim in college,” Franklin told Costas. “I love being a part of a team. It is so important to me. A lot of people think of swimming as an individual event but there is such a huge team aspect behind that and just knowing that you have the support of so many people behind you and you know they’re here and cheering for you. That’s so special and I feel like college takes that to a whole ‘nother level.” It’s probably worth pointing out that USC swimming coach Dave Salo is also doubling as an assistant on the U.S. Olympic women’s swim team in London — though I couldn’t tell you what his role is exactly nor his relationship with Franklin.

Maybe USC isn’t going to disappoint the way that Georgia did four years ago. It can be a fool’s errand to place a lot of value in a sample size of one. It could be that USC is more talented than the 2008 Dawgs on defense and will not have debacles like Georgia did against Alabama, Florida, and Georgia Tech. It could be that USC’s offense is more suited to winning shootouts than the Mike Bobo approach that often assumes the existence of a good defense. It could be that I am reaching for evidence because, like most Southerners, I cannot fathom the idea of Lane Kiffin being anything but a twerp who landed three prestigious jobs as a result of his last name. That said, the parallels between 2008 Georgia and 2012 USC are quite strong.

2. USC can beat Oregon once. But can the Trojans beat the Ducks twice? Everybody loves Southern California, and with good reason: The Trojans have a 3,500-yard passer (Matt Barkley), two 1,000-yard receivers (Robert Woods and Marqis Lee) and two 1,000-yard rushers (Curtis McNeal and Penn State-transfer Silas Redd). But in order to win the Pac-12 championship the Trojans are going to probably have to beat Oregon twice: on Nov. 3 at the Coliseum and again in the Pac-12 championship game, which will also likely be in the Coliseum if USC wins the first meeting. The games will be about a month apart. That’s a tall order.

USC’s Amy Rodriguez is on the hunt for a second Olympic gold medal after Team USA topped Canada in a dramatic women’s soccer semifinal today (Aug. 6) in London. The see-saw semifinal saw the teams trade leads and extend into overtime, where the United States scored a stoppage-time goal to net the 4-3 win and launch into the gold-medal match against Japan at 11:45 a.m. PT on Aug. 9.