The Post Mortem

The NFL seems like a better place with a Gramatica brother in it. It was nice to see Martin Gramatica win at the Meadowlands, the same place where his brother, Bill, blew out his knee celebrating a made kick.

Welcome back Martin.


TROJANS BREAK
It's funny, sometimes a game looks so lopsided, so mismatched that you can eventually talk yourself into picking the underdog. But you never got that feeling with UCLA. Never. The Bruins play the Trojans tough at the Rose Bowl, USC might overlook UCLA, etc. all seemed like desperate rationalizations from Florida and Michigan fans who were grasping for anything.

Turns out they were right. What an unbelievable game. So what does this all mean for USC?

To be fair to USC, they lost an unbelievable amount of talent in last year's draft. To advance to a BCS bowl during a rebuilding year, coming five points away from playing in its fourth national championship game, well, that is a pretty remarkable accomplishment. The Trojans loss seems much bigger because, quite frankly, they seemingly never lose. USC will have another great recruiting class and will be gearing up for another run for the national championship.

It was hard to imagine Carroll leaving for the NFL on Friday. But now it might not be a bad idea. Carroll's stock will never be higher than it is right now. Why not cash with a lucrative contract right now while it is being offered? College football will still be there if he flames out. Just look at Bob Stoops. He was the hottest college coach when Oklahoma won the national championship. But now, while he could probably still get a decent NFL gig, there is a little luster off his star. So Carroll, if he is ever going to make NFL money, needs to make that move right now.

And it is time to end the Lane Kiffen experiment. He has great bloodlines and might one day be an excellent offensive coordinator, but let him learn on the job at Nevada or San Jose State. You should not be cutting your teeth while trying to win a national championship. That move cost USC at least one national championship.

• Florida deserves to be in the BCS title game for all of the reasons spelled out for USC last week. But why is it, that there seems to be less outcry for the Gators than there was for USC? It is obvious now that most of the controversy last week stemmed from an-anti USC bias.

• A lot of people are pleased in Southern California today that USC fans have been shut up. But the Bruins fans were pretty insufferable during their 20-game win streak during the Cade McNown era. If you really want to find a blow hard, spend five minutes with a UCLA basketball fan.

• Anybody else get the feeling that Boise State is going to let us down? It's coming. You can feel it. But if the Broncos do defeat Oklahoma, then Boise should start next season in the Top 5. Not that anybody will have to worry about it.

• Props to the Midshipmen for disposing of Army.

• LaDainian Tomlinson could sit out the remainder of the season and he would still be the overwhelming MVP. There are some who would reason that Drew Brees is the MVP of the league. Those people are idiots.

• The Chargers and the Colts are tied for the top spot in the AFC ,but Indy would get the nod for home-field advantage, based on a better conference record (8-1, 7-2). The Chargers will likely finish the season 13-3, while the Colts play Jacksonville, Cincinnati and Miami down the stretch.

• Were Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush taking out a little frustration on Sunday? Bush had four touchdowns in a move that will ensure that he will become the league�s highest-paid decoy again. Leinart and the Birds pounded the St. Louis football team. That had to sit well with the St. Louis faithful, to watch their former team comeback and win a huge game.

• What was up with the pants that Ed Hochuli and crew were wearing during the Chargers/Bills game? It looked like the getup that the Brady Kids wore during their "Silver Platter" performance. You got to keep on, keep on, keep on, keep on dancing all through the night! Good luck trying to get that song out of your head. And please, stop doing that dance, somebody might see you.

• Nobody believes that New England is a threat to win the AFC, right?

• It seemed that Denver called a better game for Jay Cutler than it did for Jake Plummer this season. Like they wanted Plummer to fail all along. But why did Mike Shanahan wait until now to start Cutler? And it's funny, Cutler is probably better off that the Broncos lost last night. If Cutler had led the Broncos to a come-from-behind victory, then his already lofty expectations would have reach impossible proportions. Right now, anything less than the second-coming of Otto Graham/Joe Montana will be viewed as a failure.

AND FINALLY
Eli Messiah didn't lose the game for the Giants on Sunday, but he sure didn't do anything to help them win. Good numbers and a nice drive at the end, but his performance seemed lackluster. Maybe a non-biased observer would feel differently, but it didn't seem like he did much. In fact, his numbers were kind of a surprise.

The play calling was just awful for the Giants. On fourth-and-one, the Giants called a sweep for Brandon Jacobs. A sweep, for one of the most bruising running backs in the NFL. That totally played into the hand of the Cowboys speedy defenders. It was as if Tom Coughlin wanted to lose that game.