Just in case you can’t get enough of USC’s head coach Pete Carroll and his awesome “we’re better than you” attitude, he’s writing a new book, due out…well, sometime in the future. No date’s been announced yet.

Image: Newscom

Carroll’s new book will have “previously untold details and anecdotes about USC football,” as well as information about leadership, team-building advice, and off-field activities.

The name of the book? Win Forever. Sigh. Are you really surprised at that one?

As much as I hate USC (give me a break, I’m a Big Ten fan), I will say that I love the fact that Carroll will be donating part of the proceeds to A Better LA, which is a charity in the areas that helps reduce gang violence.

So maybe you should pick it up. At least, I won’t roll my eyes if you do.

College football recruiting is one thing - a college career and eventual NFL is something completely different. Every year, Rivals.com comes up with their list of the top 100 high school recruits, but how well do these players actually do in college and beyond? Let’s take a walk down memory lane and look at the top prospects of 2004.

This year, there’s so much need for a lot of teams that the draft is somewhat up in the air, but I’d bet my money on Keith Rivers going in the top 15 - maybe even the top 10. Rivers is another 2004 recruiting success story, and with an amazing dominating senior year at USC once again, he put himself in great draft position. He reminds me a lot of Penn State’s Paul Posluszny and some are even speculating that he might end up with the Bills, playing alongside of Pos (as soon as he’s back on his feet after last season’s injury).

Last season, he dealt with a few injuries, but ended up starting in 12 games for a total of 78 tackles (5 for losses) he was a semi-finalist for the Butkus Award and Lott Trophy. He’s played on all of the Pac-10 All-American teams, and has proven himself time and time again both on and off the field.

With continued good coaching, I think Rivers will be a solid player in the NFL. He may never steal the spotlight, but linebackers rarely do. Instead, I think he could have years of above-average playing time ahead of him, and whoever drafts him will be lucky to add Rivers to the team.

And I don’t even like USC…

See more top recruits at Where are They Now? The Rivals Top 100 of 2004.

…but it was dicey there for awhile. The team’s charter plane was in trouble when it hit a thunderstorm in Indiana and the pilot decided to try to land. After a landing attempt caused the plane to plummet as lightening flashed around them. The 125 Trojan players and coaches landed safely about 20 minutes later.

During the harrowing event, a few of the players were thrown out of their seats and one player, who was eating a popsicle, had the stick jammed into his mouth. Other than that, the team is fine. Thank goodness.

You can read more about the nose dive here. 

Stanford 24, USC 23.

You must be joking, right? Nope. USC just took it up the butt.

It what must have seemed like a bad dream to USC Coach Pete Carroll , the Stanford Cardinal rallied and to score 17 points in the fourth quarter, including the game-winning touchdown. USC QB John David Booty can actually be credited for that touchdown, having turned the ball over four times. I don’t totally blame Booty for the ass-raping, though. He was just the lube. The whole team bent over for this one, playing more like Notre Dame than a Bowl contender. The game was laughable with mistakes, and Stanford simply capitalized on those errors.

The Trojans have no hope of holding onto one of the top two spots this week. Ranked #2 going into this game, many questioned LSU’s positioning over them, voicing opinions that this week would show them back in the top dog spot. Oh, say it isn’t so…looks like Ohio State is going to move on up.

I guess this is a good “don’t count your chickens before they hatch” lesson. No one could have ever expected this upset! Last night, I compared South Florida’s near loss to Michigan’s loss in week one, but Stanford’s win blows that out of the water. Could we have a year where the top two teams both go into the bowl game with losses? It’s possible. College football this year is uber-screwy.

AP Photo/Matt Sayles