Saturday’s Black Coaches AssociationClassic had nothing to do with promoting the hiring of black headcoaches in major college football.
    An obvious matchup comes to my mind;Mississippi State and Notre Dame are two programs with goodfootball traditions that now have black head coaches. Such a gamemight encourage more blacks to be hired in the future.
    Instead, ESPN used the game to promoteits West Coast darling — Southern California.
    ESPN’s telecast of USC’s 24-13 win overVirginia Tech started with a shot of fans pleaing for the NCAA to”free Mike Williams.” Then, college football analysts Mark May andTrev Alberts chimed in with their comments on the NCAA’s decisionto not reinstate Williams after he hired an agent and dropped hisclasses at USC, as the Associated Press reported.
    Now the college football world knows whyUSC and its supporters were crying. Trojans quarterback MattLeinart managed 272 yards passing in the game. But tailback ReggieBush accounted for more than half of the receiving yards with fivereceptions for 127 yards. He scored all three touchdowns for theTrojans, totaling 117 yards on those catches.
    If Reggie Bush goes down with an injury,USC could have a tough time finding the end zone.
    Also, ESPN announcers Ron Franklin andMike Gottfried reminded the audience that USC was the defending”co-national champions.” It’s fine to mention the Trojans AP trophyaccomplishment. But after mentioning that fact after everycommercial break, I felt ESPN was trying to convince me of the factrather than report it.
    I’m betting ESPN won’t work as hard tomention LSU’s share of the national title when the Tigers open theseason on the network against Oregon State at 5 p.m. Saturday.
    Maybe the SC logo for Sportscenterreally means ESPN loves Southern Cal.
    And if you’re going to make such a bigdeal out of the AP national champions, display the trophy.
    The ADT crystal football trophy, awardedto the winner of the Bowl Championship Series title game, was ondisplay for the telecast. The announcers made reference to thetrophy as the “one LSU has” — as if the Tigers didn’t deserve thehonor.
    The Trojans didn’t exactly play likechampions. USC trailed a young, unranked Hokies’ team 10-7 athalftime, and did not regain the lead until late in the thirdquarter. That effort isn’t the kind of dominance expected from adefending national champion, but USC did get the job done.
    It’s a good thing the Trojans arescheduled to meet only one ranked team this season when they faceNo. 13 California on October 9. The weak schedule should keep theTrojans on top until the BCS national championship game in theOrange Bowl — that and a lot of ESPN hype.