W2WF: USC (2014)

On September 11, 2001, Welles Remy Crowther worked as an equities trader at the World Trade Center in New York City when two planes crashed into the 110-story towers. The two iconic structures eventually collapsed and killed thousands of people both in offices and on the streets below, and they engulfed Lower Manhattan in an eerie, tragic cloud that we continue to live with as a nation.

The tragedy still illicitis stories of loss, but time since equally generates tales of heroism and bravery. Hundreds of New York City firefighters ran into the building knowing certain death awaited, and strangers sacrificed their own lives so others could survive and carry on.

Welles Crowther was one of those heroes. The former Boston College lacrosse player wanted to be a firefighter throughout his life, and in his moment of calling, he commanded and led an effort to save lives from finality. He perished when the towers collapsed, but his story lives on as a testament to the internal fortitude and courage all of us strive to have in our moment of calling.

Three years ago [2011], Boston College graduate Drew Gallagher told Welles' story in a 10-minute documentary aptly entitled The Man in the Red Bandanna. It profiled Crowther for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and talked about the journey of how Welles' parents, Jefferson and Alison, pieced together the gaps of his story.

It is considered one of the finest works ever produced at ESPN, and it gave rise to a movement around Welles' signature kerchief. The day before the 9/11 anniversary, Central Florida students very quickly pushed to wear a bandanna for the Golden Knights' game against the Eagles. Back home, BC instituted a 5K run to benefit the Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust and began new ways to honor his story and memory.

In this game, Boston College will, for the first time, accent its football uniforms with a red bandanna. The gold helmets' maroon stripe will change to a bandanna motif, and the team's gloves and cleats will likewise change style. It's a subtle change that will draw enough attention to spark conversation among a nationally-televised audience.

It's the perfect backdrop for a game against a national championship contender. Boston College welcomes No. 9 USC, a traditional powerhouse reinvigorated under head coach Steve Sarkisian. The Trojans have their swagger back and play with a fierce passion. This game is the ultimate challenge on the gridiron, and it's why the national television cameras will roll. Injecting Welles' memory and message into that atmosphere only makes it more special.

Here's what else to watch for in this week's game:

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Weekly Storylines

Swagger vs. Arrogance

Differentiating swagger from arrogance is an incredibly difficult task for any team sport onlooker. Coaches want confident players, but are wary of straying into overconfidence. They foster belief and desire opposite respect and healthy fear. Teams can't approach games expecting to lose, but outright guaranteeing victories can blow up in a coach or player's face.

Enter the mercurial case of Southern California. USC rocketed up to No. 9 in the most recent national poll by beating Stanford on the Farm, 13-10. It came one week after the Trojans nuked Fresno State in a rematch from last year's Las Vegas Bowl, 52-13. The Bulldogs won the Mountain West Conference last year, but couldn't hang with USC in that game either, losing 45-20.

"I think this is a hungry team," head coach Steve Addazio said. 'I think this is a team that's been through a lot, and I think they're hungry. I think they're gaining a lot of confidence and justifiably so. They've got to take a long road trip, and that's not easy. But to me, I think Coach Sarkisian has done an unbelievable job."

The success returned the Trojans' swagger to the Los Angeles Coliseum. USC battled for a division championship last year in arguably the most difficult division in the country. It lost to Arizona State and UCLA, but beat Stanford, which wound up winning the conference championship. The Las Vegas Bowl win gave USC a 10th win, one of five teams in the conference to win that many and one of three in its six-team division.

It is not, however, arrogance. USC is a battle-hardened team over the past two years. The firing of Lane Kiffin and replacement tenure of Ed Orgeron - and subsequent fallout leading to the hire of Sarkisian - brought this team an air of renewal. The Trojans have been through a lot and know what it's like to hit rock bottom, so they know that confidence and energy doesn't come easy.

"That program looks like it's energized," Addazio said. "They've got a bunch of good players. I think they're on a mission, and that's what I see. Sometimes when your program has been beaten up and you've taken a lot of hits - I call it 'scars' - you get enough players and coaches alike with a few scars. You get a little hungry, and you want something real bad. They look like that's how they play, to me."

Tricksters

Ryan Day's offense needed to fluidly change after Andre Williams' success last season. The 2013 Eagles had enough horsepower to bulldoze opponents, but that decidedly failed against USC in the third game of the year. The offense couldn't utilize its basic components against the ultra-athletic Trojan defense, and the accumulating punishment led to a 35-7 beatdown.

"Last year, (USC) ranked 13th in total defense and 16th in scoring defense," Addazio said. "That's what they were last year, and the bulk of their team is back. Week one, they beat Fresno State, 52-13. Last week, they beat Stanford, which is a really fine, elite team."

This is a huge game for quarterback Tyler Murphy. The Florida transfer gashed UMass for 291 yards in the first game of the season, but took a step back last week against Pittsburgh when he only completed 10-of-28 passes with two picks. It's only two games into the season, but the whispers about Murphy's throwing ability cranked up the volume in the aftermath of the loss.

He needs to show something to the Boston College faithful this week, but he doesn't necessarily need to do it in the passing game. He's a unique athlete with off-the-charts speed, so Day doesn't have to reinvent his attribute wheel. He doesn't have to throw the ball 46 times for 300 like he did against Vanderbilt when he was still at Florida, and the BC offense doesn't need him to do it anyway.

"That (USC) defensive line is maybe one of the best I have ever seen as a collection of guys," Addazio said. "Hayes Puller linebacker, he's an exceptional player. JR Taddei is a great player. (Su'a) Cravens, the strong safety, has four interceptions on the year. I mean, these guys are loaded."

Murphy is a completely different quarterback than Chase Rettig, and running backs Jonathan Hilliman and Myles Willis lack Andre Williams' raw strength. There's also scat, flex backs Sherman Alston and Tyler Rouse, both of which are undersized, but shifty.

That means BC has to prepare some tricks. They need to stay fast and ahead of the Trojans by a step or two. Let Murphy absorb punishment with his legs and use blocking schemes and play actions or options to roll misdirections around the athletic linebackers. Keep the defensive line off-centered.

Nobody can run through USC's defense, so don't even try it. Instead, use the Eagles' major advantage - their intelligence - to run around it.

Bare Knuckle Boston

The BC defense absorbed a blow last week when Sean Duggan, who had nine tackles in the first two games, sustained a knee injury. He enters this week as questionable, but if he can't go, junior Steven Daniels will need to shift inside from an outside backer position.

"I'm comfortable with (Daniels at middle linebacker)," Steve Addazio said. "He's gotten a lot of playing experience. We will miss Sean's leadership, and it attacks our already-light depth, so you're going to see freshmen going into the game. Especially with an offense like this, we're going to have to keep rolling players to keep them fresh. I would suspect that you're going to see an all-time high level of freshmen playing in this game, which is tough."

Playing freshmen is always a trial by fire, but the USC offense adds another degree of difficulty. Cody Kessler is finally developing into the quarterback Clay Helton envisioned in his offense, and both Nelson Agholor and JuJu Smith complement him perfectly. Smith, a speedy receiver, is almost assuredly destined to become the next great Trojan receiver after Agholor with his ability to take the top off the safety position.

"I think they are game breakers," Addazio said. "They have a quarterback who can get them the ball. They have a really good offensive line. That usually equates to a really potent offense, and that's what they are: a really potent offense."

The offense is built around complementary football, though, so stopping the run can go a long way to taking away the pass. That's easier said than done against Javarus Allen and Justin Davis, but that's where a fearless, young linebacker can rocket around the outside if the defensive line can hold against blocks.

Connor Strachan likely fills that void for BC with his career debut in a big spot. The touted recruit is young and raw, but possesses a similar motor to Duggan. He was injured during camp but rallied back to elevate through the depth chart and will see time this week against the No. 9 Trojans.

"We've been very impressed with Connor," Addazio said. "He's got a ways to go to get ready to play against one of the elite offenses in America. I think he's in the same position as the rest of the freshmen. They're going to have baptism by fire."

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Scoreboard Watching

The prevalence of early-season "big games" usually upends the national polls at least once before October nowadays, but nothing is really budging yet through the first two weeks of the season. Michigan State nearly upset No. 3 Oregon last week, but two second half touchdowns by Marcus Mariota handed the Ducks a 28-3 advantage after halftime in an overall 46-27 victory.

It happened on the same day as the USC-Stanford toss-up opposite unranked Virginia Tech's 35-21 win over No. 8 Ohio State in Ohio Stadium. Other than that, there really isn't a whole lot through as 2014 hits its stride.

Let's start there with the Hokies, who return home ranked No. 17 after beating the Buckeyes in the Horseshoe. They host East Carolina, a team that hung with South Carolina last week through halftime before losing, 33-23, on the road.

Elsewhere in the ACC, Wake Forest heads to Utah State for a sneaky-tough matchup for a conference team. No. 21 Louisville, meanwhile, plays its second ACC game at Virginia after it destroyed Murray State, 66-21, in an FCS primer game last week. The only other game of note is probably Miami's game against Arizona State at home.

Nationally, Ohio State dropped to No. 22 after the loss to Virginia Tech but has an opportunity to iron out some wrinkles against Kent State. It would go a long way to win this one handily before playing Cincinnati next week. The in-state games would then right the ship for a run at the Rose Bowl since the loss to Virginia Tech probably ended the Buckeyes' shot at a national championship.

In the early season race for the new College Football Playoff, No. 4 Oklahoma is hosting Tennessee in a non-conference game that could boost the Big 12's resume, while No. 6 Georgia draws No. 24 South Carolina in its first conference game in the SEC.

In an intriguing game, No. 11 Notre Dame plays its annual Shamrock Series game in Indianapolis against Purdue.

On the local radar, UMass will look to build on its near-miss against Colorado when it heads to Vanderbilt this week. It's likely the Minutemen's last chance for a non-conference game to start the season before they head to Penn State next week, especially since the Commodores might actually be anticipating a worse season than the Buffaloes.

Shoutout to some huge matchups in Massachusetts high school football this week. Xaverian, which lost to Central Catholic in last year's Super Bowl, debuts this year amidst a No. 1 state ranking. The Hawks play No. 3 Everett, a perennial powerhouse that also lost to Central last year in the postseason. Those three teams make up the top three in the state; Central plays No. 8 St. John's Prep in another monster game in the Commonwealth.

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Around the Sports World

I just want the 2014 Red Sox season to end. I know I can't complain after what happened last year, but I'm still mind blown how this team went worst-to-first-to-worst. The Sox are one of three teams assured of a sub-.500 season, and a 24-game deficit in a division led by the Baltimore Orioles just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

The Orioles also look like a World Series contender, which is crazy considering they finished fourth in the division last year, but also not so nuts considering they finished over .500 in the best division in baseball.

Normally, I'd seek solace by running back to the Belichick/Brady altar, but the Patriots lost last week to Miami?! I know New England never plays well in South Florida, especially in early-season games, and Ryan Tannehill is probably the next best quarterback in the AFC East after Tom Brady. But losing a game to the Dolphins, who haven't won anything since Marino was quarterback, will never sit well with me. Maybe the Patriots will finally start to sunset this year.

Everyone's chasing Seattle anyway. The defending champs pummeled the Green Bay Packers to open the season and head to San Diego this week to play a Chargers team that needs every win it can get. The AFC West is going to be loaded this year, especially if Peyton Manning plays with a vengeance streak in Denver. And I still really like Alex Smith as the future of the Kansas City franchise at large.

Think I'm crazy? I drafted both him and Knowshon Moreno for my dynasty fantasy team.

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Pregame Quote and Prediction

Beat L.A. -Celtics fans

In 1982, the defending champion Boston Celtics met the third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals. It was a year after the Celtics, led by Larry Bird, stormed back from down 3-1 in the series to beat Julius Erving's Sixers, and it was a redux in the making after Philadelphia squandered another 3-1 series lead.

The NBA utilized a 2-2-1-1-1 series format in those days, meaning the Celtics needed to win Game 5 at home and Game 6 on the road to force a seventh game at Boston Garden. The Celtics crushed Philadelphia in that game, and in the late stages, Cetlics fans started chanting, "See you Sunday" - the day of Game 7.

Boston won Game 6, but in Game 7, the ghosts of Garden years past didn't show up, and the Sixers won handily, 120-106. In the waning minutes, which was just the second time Boston lost a seventh game in the Garden, the balcony started raining a chant down on the team bound to face the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

Beat LA.

The rallying cry came back two years later when the Celtics finally met the Lakers, and it's been part of Boston's lexicon ever since. There is something about that city, with its Hollywood flash, that turned the Lakers into the perfect foil for the entire city. Everything about the Lakers dripped the antithesis of the Celtics, and the chant is very much a part of the cities' sports rivalries.

It's exclusively part of the Celtics' fabric since the Bruins rarely play the Kings, and the Dodgers and Red Sox have never met in the World Series. There also isn't an NFL team anywhere in sight, even though the Rams seem like the most likely candidate based on owner Stan Kroenke's recent movements. Those teams just never play each other, so this is very much Boston's chance.

I don't know if there's anything better to say here. It's a night to honor a hero's memory, but it's also a night to upset the apple cart in college football. USC is one of the sterling silver programs, a traditional powerhouse readying for another national championship run to glory. It would be terrible if the team from Boston upset Los Angeles, wouldn't it?

Beat LA.

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