USC Could Try a Rope to Hold This Longhorn

The ABC announcing duo of Keith Jackson and Dan Fouts were on a recent conference call with reporters when they were asked how USC would be able to deal with Texas’ Vince Young in today’s Rose Bowl game.

“Tackle, tackle, tackle,” Jackson said.

Said Fouts: “If it was only that simple, Keith.”

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Trivia time: What school has to play USC and Texas next football season?

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Media blitz: 1991 Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard said on the “Colin Cowherd Show” on ESPN Radio on Tuesday that all the media coverage USC is getting gives an advantage to Texas. Howard said Longhorn Coach Mack Brown could use it to inspire his players.

Cowherd didn’t disagree that the media coverage has been slanted toward No. 1-ranked USC, and implied ESPN is among the culprits.

“I think we’re going to do a nine-part series on how Pete Carroll will get to the stadium,” Cowherd said.

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A bit lonely: ESPN has had reporter Shelley Smith assigned to covering USC all season, but only recently assigned Steve Cyphers to cover Texas full time.

Cyphers, conceding that Texas does not get the kind of coverage USC does from ESPN, said, “I’m the lone reporter for the Lone Star State.”

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Well-kept secret: A big moment on today’s special edition of ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be when Lee Corso makes his pick and dons the fake head of a Longhorn, symbolizing Texas mascot Bevo, or a Trojan soldier helmet.

So which will it be?

Craig Lazarus, senior coordinating producer of “College GameDay,” joked, “Even we have trouble getting him to tell us.”

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Party time: According to the “where to party” website PubClub.com, there will be a lot of USC fans at the Rose Bowl today without game tickets. They’ll be at UCLA’s home field to party.

“Trojan fans hate going to the Rose Bowl,” the website claims, “except this time of year.”

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Antenna always up: George Mitrovich, president of the City Club in San Diego, e-mailed to say he met Howard Cosell in the early 1970s.

“His first book had just come out,” Mitrovich said, “and he told me there had been 77 reviews, of which 70 had been favorable. He remembered the names of each of the negative reviewers.”

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Looking back: On this day in 2000, No. 1-ranked Florida State, the preseason No. 1, beat Virginia Tech, 46-29, in the Sugar Bowl to finish 12-0 and win the national championship. Florida State at the time was the first team to go wire to wire in the Associated Press poll since preseason rankings began in 1950.

USC did it last season and has a chance today to do it again.

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Trivia answer: Nebraska.

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And finally: “Can you believe all the hype surrounding the Rose Bowl?” asks Greg Cote of the Miami Herald. “By that I mean all the columnists predictably writing about -- and TV mouths discussing -- all the hype.”

Larry Stewart can be reached at [email protected].