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

Whenever an NCAA issue arises, its public relations staff is quick to point out — correctly — that the NCAA is a representative democracy that does the will of its members. The organization’s rules and enforcement procedures were discussed and voted upon by the leaders of the schools those rules and procedures affect. Those procedures have made the NCAA’s justice system quite slow. Ask any USC football fan who waited years to learn how Reggie Bush’s acceptance of money from two wannabe agents would ultimately affect the Trojans’ football program.

Penn State, which removed the controversial statue of disgraced former coach Joe Paterno on Sunday, deserves a punishment so severe that it makes USC’s penalties from the Reggie Bush scandal seem like a slap on the wrist.

“It’s definitely going to be different,” Johnson said of a professional career in which losing is a harsh reality for even the greatest players. “It was a special last couple of years at USC, when I didn’t lose a match, so it’s kind of hard to comprehend sometimes. “In the end, one guy wins every week out on the tour, so you have to be able to take losses and wins the same way and keep moving forward.

Well it’s official. The 2012-13 national champions of college football will be the Southern California Trojans. So say the experts of two of the top five recognized magazines and websites. Athlon and ESPNLive pegged the Trojans No. 1. Lindy’s and Big Lead Sports picked them second. Phil Steele picked them fourth. For good measure, the Trojans were picked by a few people on Facebook. I mean, how much more scientific can you get?

Let’s eliminate Robert Woods and Marqise Lee out of habit. If Barkley doesn’t win the Heisman, neither of them are winning it either. Both of them are great pass catchers and might have better credentials down the road, but they don’t really do much else.

The USC Trojans seem to have found the right quarterback for the job in quarterback Max Browne. Already considered one of the best prospects in the country before his senior season (perhaps the top pro-style prospect in the nation), Browne appeared to show that he belonged with the elites when he made the final list of Elite 11 quarterbacks. Browne was one of the three finalists for MVP consideration.

Bigelow is a 6’3″, 297-pound menace with an overwhelming initial step. He surges off the ball and just jumps on top of a blocker with big time point-of-attack strength. He plays with good leverage, excellent athleticism and puts in efforts to keep his hands moving to combat blockers trying to get good punch placement on him. He needs to add more to his pass-rush plan, but he can blow through a gap and just hunt a QB down.