Pete Carroll is a fraud
Well, he’s still one of the greatest coaches in the college ranks. He runs an amazing program. He deserves a 10-year contract extension, or more. He’s a splendid human.

But here’s the single, solitary way that he’s a fraud:

He purports to be all about competition, yet he’s clinging to some guys who aren’t stepping up.

Booty is one of them. If he can’t get the job done, Carroll needs to recognize that – no matter how classy a kid he is, or no matter how long he suffered in silence waiting for his turn – and bring in Sanchez. (That may happen anyway this week, albeit temporarily: Booty has a cracked bone in a finger of his throwing hand.)

But it isn’t only Booty. Aside from Sedrick Ellis, the Trojans’ vaunted defensive line has not created the kind of pressure of which it is supposed to be capable. Time to bring in some guys hungry to do the job.

Aside from tight end Fred Davis, none of the young receivers have been stepping up. Patrick Turner, the supposed No. 1, seems to drop more balls than he catches. Neither Vidal Hazelton nor David Ausberry has emerged as a reliable target. Meanwhile, freshman Ronald Johnson has indicated that he wants the ball, and knows what to do with it after he gets it.

College football road trip Best game this week? Vote on contest you want to see covered the most

Carroll should use the Stanford humiliation as an opportunity to open up all positions and allow for some actual competition – like he promised.

From the shotgun
I bet the players at 6-0 Arizona State are glad they lobbied for Rudy Carpenter (14 TDs, 6 INTs) over Sam Keller (9 TDs and 8 INTs at Nebraska) when Dirk Koetter was the coach. But not as glad as current coach Dennis Erickson ...

What does it say about the UCLA program when its third-string quarterback is a walk-on redshirt freshman? That single fact may have been the reason the Bruins allowed visiting Notre Dame to win its first game this season, since the Irish gained a total of 140 yards of offense ...

Special feature Pac-10 not as good as its bowl showing

Few are noticing, but the Virginia Tech Hokies have rebounded nicely from the drubbing they took at LSU and are now 5-1 and in the hunt, with an impressive road win at Clemson under their belts. Frank Beamer’s bunch is turning into an inspiring story after all ...

The owner of the towing company in the burglary case of Florida safety Tony Joiner reportedly received about 200 threatening phone calls. First of all, if you’re a football fan and you call up somebody to threaten them over something like that, you need to leave the trailer park and get some perspective. And second, the guy owns a towing company. I would imagine threatening phone calls are about the only kind he gets anyway ...

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more. more photos

Oklahoma State allowed Texas A&M to rally from a 17-0 halftime deficit to beat the Cowboys Saturday, 24-23, at College Station. Why didn’t coach Mike Gundy throw a tantrum after that? ...

Here’s how wacky this season is: Ron Zook has a better record at Illinois (5-1, 3-0 in the Big Ten) than Urban Meyer has at Florida (4-2, 2-2). It won’t cause Gator fans to start a site called fireurbanmeyer.com, but it will at least cause them to scratch their heads a bit.

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