SCliff Notes: Trojans’ 2014 Wins Looking Better and More USC Football News

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

1st & 10:

Strength of schedule improving in the bowl season… The Trojans are well past the point of no return when it comes to strength of schedule having an impact on their fate, but the bowl season has looked favorable upon USC’s 2014 opponents thus far.

Six of the Trojans’ eight bowl-eligible opponents have played, with a combined record of 4-2 between them.

Fresno State and Boston College have been the lone losers thus far, with the never-should-have-been-bowl-bound Bulldogs getting routed by Rice and BC falling to Penn State in a hard-fought OT affair at Yankee Stadium.

The rest of USC’s opponents have won, and quite impressively at that. After Stanford’s rout of Maryland in the Foster Farms bowl last night, the Pac-12 is 4-0 in bowl games, and stand as the only undefeated conference.

The conference will look to make it 5-0 today as Arizona takes on Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Then there’s Notre Dame’s win over LSU, which was the first blemish on the SEC bowl docket thus far. The win was a big rebound for the Irish, who were shallacked by the Trojans 49-14 last month at the Coliseum. It also gives USC some fun with the transitive property.

The Trojans beat Notre Dame, who beat LSU, who beat Ole Miss, who beat Alabama. Furthermore, if Ole Miss beats TCU in today’s Peach Bowl, they will have beaten the winners of the SEC, Big 12, Mountain West, Conference USA and the bowl-eligible winner of the Sun Belt.

Oh, what would we do without the transitive property?

In Other News…

• Yesterday, our editor Alicia de Artola opined about Adoree’ Jackson being a possible Heisman candidate at a non-traditional position. Our good friend Kyle Kensing of Bleacher Report took it one step further with an in-depth look at Jackson’s candidacy and his two Heisman-winning comparables, Charles Woodson and USC’s own Reggie Bush. (Bleacher Report)
• The ‘Voice of the Trojans’, Pete Arbogast blogged about the trip down to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl. He loves San Diego. (We Are SC)
• Speaking of re-living the Holiday Bowl, the awesome USC video guys put together the final UNFILTERED of the year, highlighted by the Trojans’ celebration on the field at Qualcomm Stadium. (USC Athletics on YouTube)
• Randall Telfer’s winter just got busy. The senior tight end has been invited to the NFL Combine in February. (Conquest Chronicles)
• The Men of Troy picked up one of their most impressive wins on the hardwood so far this season, beating Vermont 64-56 at Galen Center in the final game before Pac-12 play. (The Ripsit Blog)
• USC will have a hat in the ring on Saturday, as four-star safety Marvell Tell out of Crespi in Encino will announce his college choice at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio. (TrojanSports.com[$])
• Leonard Williams is called the Big Cat, but he might also be the Big Crevice. Lindsey Thiry opines that the No. 2 pro prospect leaves a hole that will be rather tough for the Trojans to fill in. (LA Times)
• One of USC’s biggest targets at the moment is linebacker Osa Masina out of Utah. The four-star re-iterated on Tuesday that his final three is locked down to the Trojans, UCLA and ASU. (Bleacher Report)
• Tuesday was media day in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl between Alabama and Ohio State. That meant it was the media’s first crack at Lane Kiffin since August. Naturally, they asked about USC. (Conquest Chronicles)

Stat of the Day:

Nelson Agholor became the fourth player in USC history to have a 100-catch season, finishing with 104 receptions this year. He’s now eighth on the school’s all-time pass catching leaders list with 179, just ahead of Mike Williams. Should he return next season, he would need just 74 catches to break Robert Woods’s mark of 252.

Tweet of the Day: