McKnight rumors add chink to Carroll, USC's once-impenetrable armor
First let's get the bias out of the way. I like Pete Carroll and wish he stuck around the NFL (or would make a return). He's fun, smart and mostly grounded even if he's occasionally a little full of himself. I also like the USC program. The athletes there seem prepared for the harsh glare of the public spotlight. Unlike athletes from other major football programs, many USC players don't take a sledgehammer to the spoken word.
Just wanted to clear the air. Thanks for your patience.
USC and Carroll fans, however, have to be worried about the direction the Trojans are now headed. There's no doubt about it: USC is taking a massive beating on almost every front. They're losing on the field, losing PR battles and losing those kinetic fibers that cemented the program into one of the greatest ever.
The Trojans have now been reduced to the level of whining crybabies. USC running back Joe "Not My Car" McKnight, who is accused of driving an expensive SUV 'round campus like Turtle from Entourage, told the Los Angeles Daily News when asked about the vehicle: "I'm not saying anything; you will just twist my words. You've all [ruined] my life."
It's the media's fault.
Of course.
The -- ahem -- wheels are coming off the program and it's the fault of the press?
McKnight was caught driving a $27,000 Land Rover. This type of thing is always mystifying because why would a star athlete and future NFL Draft pick really think he can sport that kind of luxury ride and no one will notice? If McKnight were a star biology student, few would care, but in this era of Tiger Woods cell phone messages, athlete haters and peeping toms, McKnight was bound to get caught. It was pure, unbridled arrogance that got him busted, not the media.
I love the story where, according to the Los Angeles Times, McKnight parked the car one day outside of USC practice with the hazard lights on as he socialized with teammates and coaches before hopping in the automobile like Batman and driving away.
Beautiful.
And what exactly did some of those USC coaches think when they witnessed McKnight jumping into a car some of them could barely afford?
As if Land Rover-gate isn't enough, the Trojans will also have three players academically ineligible for Saturday's bowl game against a solid Boston College team.
The NCAA is composed of hypocritical turd blossoms and the organization at times acts more like a cyst than a sensible governing body, to be sure. But for right now rules are rules, as ridiculous as those rules are, and programs ignore them at their own risk.
Over the past few years at USC there was Reggie Bush and his house, an issue of a star receiver's rent, the basketball issue regarding O.J. Mayo, and now a running back and his car. The Trojans are becoming a symbol of lack of institutional control.
The Trojans aren't the Florida Gators, who are soaked in DUIs and gun toters, but it's getting pretty bad out there in Trojanland.
Carroll and USC have played dumb for years over these issues. House? What house? Car? What is this car you speak of? Is that some sort of transportation device?
Unfortunately USC's absurdly blind ignorance is finally catching up to it.
Combine these issues with the fact USC hasn't been USC on the field and there's a sense the program is extremely vulnerable for the first time in the Carroll era.
That feeling is the only reason why Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh was puffing his chest after he recently not only beat the Trojans but embarrassed them. In the PAC-10 there's a belief USC is ripe for the taking.
Carroll recruits talent the way Tiger Woods recruits Vegas waitresses so we'll see how long USC is vulnerable. Their bowl game against Boston College will go a long way in determining if USC's on-field troubles are temporary or a symptom of something deeper.
Off the field is different. This feels like USC is about to enter the NCAA Dark Ages. The NCAA seems to want blood. I think it will get a few drops.
The only piece of good news for McKnight is that he has a car to drive to New York for the draft.
