SCliff Notes: Brian Bauchams’ Claims are Tough to Prove and More USC Football News

Can’t get enough of the USC Trojans? We’ve got your morning dose of all the best content from around the web concerning the men of Troy.

1st & 10:

Crisis-Of-The-Week… After a quiet bye week, it was only a matter of time before the USC controversy train got rolling again. This time, the crisis-of-the-week came courtesy of former Trojan cornerback Brian Baucham, who is suing USC and Lane Kiffin for allegedly forcing him to play while ill, which resulted in career-ending injuries.

While we don’t want to take the medical concerns of a former player lightly, this lawsuit feels a bit too much like Anthony Brown’s racism claims against Steve Sarkisian. Unproven and unprovable.

Baucham, who was in a motorcycle accident as a redshirt freshman, will have a very tough time proving that a) Kiffin forced him to play, b) there was medical negligence on the part of USC’s staff and c) he had any future in professional football anyways.

An LA Times report from the week after Baucham collapsed against Cal describes him as one of several players suffering from similar symptoms. If those players participated without ill-effect it will be even harder to get anything from the suit.

Still, Baucham isn’t the first former player to accuse the Trojans of handling his medical situation questionably. Armond Armstead accused USC doctors of giving him  painkillers which caused a heart attack.

Click here for more on the Brian Baucham story.

In Other News…

• Getting back to on the field concerns, Michael Lev has speculated that Adoree’ Jackson could claim a starting spot at cornerback based on his increased focus on defense and first-team reps during the bye. (Orange County Register)
• We’ve got our own depth chart observations for this week with all the positive and negative injury news coming out of the bye week. (Reign Of Troy)
• We also took a fun look at the Oregon State University Beavers in our weekly primer, including some trivia about maraschino cherries and an exploration of the world as it was the last time OSU won a game at the Coliseum. (Reign of Troy)
• Meanwhile, Kyle Kensing breaks down this weekend’s match up with keys to victory and players to watch from both sides. (Bleacher Report)
• Heading into week five, ESPN’s Pac-12 blog has some questions which have and haven’t been answered for each team in the conference. USC’s concern Cody Kessler and the zone-read defense. (ESPN)
• Speaking of the defense, Max Meyer has an eye-opening analysis comparing Justin Wilcox’s defense to Clancy Pendergast’s through three games. Spoiler: It’s not good for Wilcox. (Neon Tommy)
• David Foley talked to Steve Sarkisian about  in the RipsIt Blog’s week;y Q&A with the head coach. (Ripsit Blog)
• For recruiting buffs out there, Garry Paskwietz and Johnny Curren have a lengthy break down of USC’s recruiting efforts for 2015. Of note, there’s a discussion of Sam Darnold, the Trojans’ future at quarterback and the debate between pocket and mobile passers. (ESPN)
• Steve Sarkisian can only hope that the 2015 class has as much impact as the 2014 class has already offered. Jake Davidson examines just how much of an effect they’ve had. (Daily Trojan)
• For an enemy perspective, Kevin Hampton explores what a win at the Coliseum would mean for the Beavers. (Corvallis Gazette-Times)

Stat of the Day:

Cody Kessler has thrown one interception in his last eight games after throwing six interceptions in his first nine.

Sean Mannion has thrown 14 interceptions in his last eight games, despite throwing just three picks in the first eight games of 2013.

Tweets of the Day: