NCAA Football, NFL NEWS
10 Trojans Drafted, But No BCS Championships
Published by MoonDog on April 29, 2008
This past weekend 10 former USC Trojans were selected in the NFL Draft, seven of which were among the first 63 players taken. It served as a testament to the recruiting prowess of USC head coach Pete Carroll’s staff and their ability to consistently capture the top high school players.
In fact, according to Scout.com, no other team in college football has attracted more top 100 players than Southern Cal. Since 2002, the Trojans have signed 64 players rated among the top 100, more than double their closest competition. USC has already received commitments from six of the top 100 from the class of 2009.
Despite having a wealth of talent, the men from Troy haven’t won a BCS championship since 2004.
Between 2002 and 2005, the Trojans compiled a record of 48-4. Those teams were led by Heisman
Trophy winners Carson Palmer, Matt Leinhart and Reggie Bush. All three were “franchise” players and were selected among the top 10 picks in the 2003 and 2006 NFL Drafts respectively.
Since 2006, the Trojans have compiled a record of 22-4, being led by recently drafted QB John David Booty. While Booty was a very capable college quarterback, he wasn’t the caliber player the Trojans had during the previous four seasons.
Therein lays the reason why the Trojans haven’t won a national title since 2004. USC hasn’t had franchise caliber talent at the most important skill position – quarterback. Just how important is the QB? Let’s take a look at the past two seasons in college football.
With Booty as the starting QB in 2006 the Trojans lost two games to unranked opponents. USC fell to Oregon State 33-31 as the Beavers capitalized on numerous Trojan miscues. Despite the loss, USC was still in position to play for the BCS championship entering the last week of their regular season. On December 2, 2006 the Trojans lost to cross-town rival UCLA 13-9 ending their hopes of a national title.
At the conclusion of the 2006 regular season, Troy Smith of Ohio State was selected as the Heisman Trophy winner. Smith led the Buckeyes to a berth in the BCS championship against the Florida Gators.
During the 2007 campaign the Trojans lost at home to Stanford 24-23, a team that would finish the season 4-8. It was unquestionably the most embarrassing loss by any team last season, especially considering the Trojans had 10 future NFL draft picks on the field that day.
That just happened to be the game Booty suffered a broken finger on his throwing hand. In to replace him was Mark Sanchez, the backup QB who had completed a total of three passes in his career at USC.
With Sanchez behind center the Trojans lost to Oregon 24-17 in Eugene on October 27. There’s certainly no sin in losing to the Ducks in Autzen Stadium, one of the most difficult venues for a road team in all of college football. Moreover, at that time Duck QB Dennis Dixon was the leading Heisman candidate and could very well have won that award had it not been for a season-ending knee injury suffered against Arizona on November 15.
Starting to see a pattern here? I’m not suggesting a quarterback must be a franchise caliber player to win
a national championship. This past season Oregon could have easily been a participant in the BCS championship game had it not been for Dixon’s injury. In 2006 Troy Smith played lights out for the Buckeyes and they ended up playing for the national title.
Smith and Dixon are two examples of players that performed exceptionally well in their roles as QB’s on talent-laden teams. Smith isn’t destined for the NFL Hall of Fame, and its unlikely Dixon will be enshrined either.
It proves the Trojans simply haven’t had the level of QB play that is necessary to win a BCS championship. As we all know, the QB is the most important position on any football team at any level. It’s always been that way and it will continue to be that way.
Entering the 2008 season USC once again is talent rich and there are realistic expectations for a national championship. Sanchez has since earned the starting QB job for the coming season after the Trojans completed spring drills.
He isn’t being mentioned as a Heisman candidate and at this point he clearly isn’t a franchise QB. If the Trojans are to return to the BCS title game Sanchez must perform near the level of former Trojan QB’s Carson Palmer and Matt Leinhart.
Otherwise, this time next year we’ll be discussing why the most talented college football team in the land failed to win the BCS championship in 2008.
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