USC quarterback Matt Barkley just announced at a 1 PM PST news conference that he will be returning to play for the Trojans in 2012 and will not enter the 2012 NFL Draft. Barkley felt that he was ready for the NFL but stated that he had “unfinished business” at USC. The USC marching band was on hand at the announcement so that took away some of the suspense leading up to his announcement.

This is great news for a top-flight program that has had to endure a two-year bowl ban and the loss of 30 scholarships over three years. But even with that USC finished with only two losses in 2011 under Lane Kiffin and destroyed UCLA 50-0 in its last game of the season, leading to the resignation of Rick Neuheisel and the hiring of Jim Mora.

Barkley posted some huge numbers this season and had NFL scouts drooling in what was shaping up to be an epic year for quarterbacks in the NFL Draft. He completed 308 of 446 passes for 3,528 yards, 39 touchdowns vs 7 interceptions and with a completion percentage of 69%. Barkley worked in a pro-style offense at USC which made him even more attractive to many scouts.

Without Barkley in the draft, Robert Griffin III will get even more buzz as the likely #2 quarterback taken after Andrew Luck. Many teams like the Miami Dolphins, the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Browns might be looking hard at a quarterback in the first round so it will be interesting to see how Griffin does at the combine and how tall he measures out at (he’s listed at 6′ 2″). There are other prospects as well like Landry Jones, but with Barkley there seemed to be real debate developing over whether teams would prefer him or Griffin after Luck.

Barkley enters to 2012 season at USC as one of the clear favorites for the Heisman Trophy, so this golden boy will be all the rage next year. USC has 17 starters coming back for next season so the Trojans will be in the mix for the Pac-12 championship. Also, Barkley can purchase up to $5 million in insurance under the NCAA’s Exceptional Student-Athlete Disability program.

College football needed some good news in an otherwise lame 2011 calendar year of bad news, so this is an early holiday gift for fans.

Don’t look now, but USC is 9-2, and although it can’t go to a bowl game, it just seriously impacted the BCS picture.

The Trojans went into Autzen Stadium and put on an offensive clinic against Oregon, as Matt Barkley and company carved up the Ducks in a 38-35 USC win. That makes two teams who looked to have a good shot at playing for a national title (Oklahoma State and Oregon) who are now just hoping to win their conference and play in a BCS bowl.

That’s the major story that comes out of this weekend, that the BCS was shaken to its core, and Alabama’s path to a rematch just got a lot more clear. But maybe, just maybe, we should look a little at how good USC actually is.

This is a team that took Andrew Luck and Stanford to multiple overtimes. That went into South Bend and beat up on Notre Dame. And now, despite NCAA sanctions and not having a full complement of scholarships, the Trojans are coming together and looking like a top 10 team. Yes, top 10.

Matt Barkley is the real deal, and the team that loses the Andrew Luck sweepstakes should not be disappointed in having to “settle” for Barkley. His receivers, namely Robert Woods and Marquise Lee, are spectacular, and despite very little depth on the offensive line, the Trojans have put together a solid run game.

I realize nobody wants to admit this, and believe me, I’m in that group, but Lane Kiffin is doing one heck of a job right now in Los Angeles. He’s convinced a team with literally nothing but pride to play for that these games matter.

UCLA is the only game left on USC’s schedule, and that should be a win. And, frankly, 10-2 for the Trojans is an incredible accomplishment this year. I’m not sure if this will translate to more success when the Trojans become eligible for bowl games next season, as I’m assuming Barkley is going to jump to the pros. But if he stays, I don’t see why USC can’t compete for a national title next year. Seriously.

College football season continues to be awesome. It seems like every week I sit down to write my picks (which also continue to be awesome) there are a handful of games that are can’t miss.

I don’t know if that’s because there’s an increasing number of good teams in college football, or if all the cupcakes teams were feasting on at the beginning of the season beefed up their records artificially. Either way, I like being excited on a Friday night for what I’m about to see the next day, and I’ve been like that for a few weeks now.

This week is no different, in fact, it’s about as big as any weekend of the season. And maybe that’s artificially inflated for myself living in Michigan and seeing about 50% of my Facebook “friends” switch their profile picture to something Michigan or Michigan State related. It’s half exciting and half terribly annoying (example: New friend request from John Doe. Hmm, John Doe doesn’t ring a bell, I wonder what he looks like. Oh, he looks just like Denard Robinson. Strange. Ignore. (Not true, I never ignore. My ego can use all the friends it can get, virtual or not.)).

Enough parentheses, let’s get to the games.

I went 4-1 again last week, because I can’t seem to nail down Michigan State, which, oddly enough, is the major university closest to me geographically.

No. 1 Alabama at No. 19 South Carolina, 3:30 p.m.: A lot is being made of the fact that Alabama’s next five opponents will be playing the Tide after a week off. The first of those opponents is South Carolina, which features a solid defense, a bruising true freshman running back and a not-so-consistent passing game. I like Stephen Garcia. I don’t know why, I just do. But there’s no way in Hell he can be the reason the Gamecocks beat Alabama, which is what needs to happen. You need to be able to throw the ball better than just OK to beat the Tide this year (as Arkansas nearly proved), and South Carolina doesn’t have that luxury. Marcus Lattimore is a stud, but he’s going to get a rude awakening this weekend. Pick: Alabama 24-17.

No. 17 Michigan State at No. 18 Michigan, 3:30 p.m.: I’m not sure Denard Robinson can be stopped for a full game. He’s going to get his at some point, he’s just way too explosive not to. But you can stop him once or twice a game, which, unfortunately for Michigan, could be enough to beat the Wolverines. Seriously, if your offense doesn’t beat itself, you could literally score every time it took the field. Michigan’s defense is somewhere between putrid and whatever is worse than putrid. UMass made the Wolverines look like a D-II team, which is bad, because UMass is a I-AA team (FCS, whatever). Today is the day Michigan finally truly pays for this. Pick: MSU 38-35.

No. 12 LSU at No. 14 Florida, 7:30 p.m.: First, watch this. Now, think to yourself, how could a team that does that (even though it survived) beat a team coached by Urban Meyer? Well, here’s how: When that Urban Meyer coached team can’t score points, and is coming off a physical beatdown by Alabama, it’s beatable by anyone, including a team coached by Les Miles that relies completely on its defense. Yes, I’m predicting Les Miles to be 6-0. Pick: LSU 14-10.

No. 23 Florida State at No. 13 Miami, 8 p.m.: Florida State looks awesome this year, against teams that are awful. Miami has the strange ability to look really good and really bad in a matter of minutes of the same game. I attribute this to quarterback Jacory Harris, who personifies that ability. If he’s 75% good Jacory tonight, Miami will win. Pick: Miami 24-20.

USC at No. 16 Stanford, 8 p.m.: The thought of USC getting pounded again is kind of exciting to me, I’m not going to lie. Although, instead of “What’s your deal,” I’d imagine Lane Kiffin might just shake Jim Harbaugh’s hand and say, “Well played.” Expect several fourth down tries in this one, as well as some two-point conversion attempts. Also, expect Andrew Luck to absolutely dominate USC’s horrific passing defense. Pick: Stanford 45-31.

Now that college football is back and we no longer have to spend our time over-analyzing off-field issues, let’s turn our attention to over-analyzing what we’ve seen in one night the play on the field.

The first night of games was pretty vanilla — outside of Utah’s overtime win over Pittsburgh, as Anthony pointed out earlier — but it did give us a little bit of insight into a few teams, and what we could possibly expect to see from them down the road.

Let’s take a look at three things we learned on Thursday night:

1. USC’s sanctions have caught up with them quicker than one would have imagined: I figured it would take a year or two before the Trojans really started to feel the weight of the sanctions placed upon them by the NCAA in the offseason. But as it turns out, the non-contact practices new coach Lane Kiffin has had to run because of low numbers have already taken their toll. The USC defense looked awful last night against Hawaii, and you’d be hard pressed to convince me not tackling in practice didn’t have a big role in that. I have a hard time believing it’s the new gameplan, as Monte Kiffin is one of the best in the game when it comes to putting together a defense. And the Trojans have plenty of athletes who are capable of making plays, especially against a team like Hawaii. Sure, USC’s defense looked vulnerable at times last year as well, but this was almost difficult to watch. Granted, the Trojans offense looks legit, as Matt Barkley was brilliant, Ronald Johnson looks like he could be a monster, and Marc Tyler is a bonafide No. 1 back. All this without super-stud freshman Dillon Baxter on the field. Expect some crazy shootouts from the Trojans this season.

2. Dion Lewis isn’t going anywhere unless Tino Sunseri picks his game up: Lewis, a Heisman candidate in many circles, was held to 75 yards on 25 carries last night in Pittsburgh’s overtime loss to Utah. The three yards per carry average is the lowest in his short career at Pitt (his previous low was 3.4 a carry against Navy last year, and he averaged 5.5 a carry for the season). While I don’t want to take away from Utah’s defense, I think this might be a recurring problem for Lewis in big games until Sunseri proves he can stretch the field. The kid can throw the ball down the field, and he has a game-breaking receiver — Jon Baldwin — to throw to, but until he proves that he can stretch out defenses consistently and open the field up for the running game, Lewis is going to have to deal with a lot of defenders in the box. Part of that is Dave Wannstedt and the Pitt coaching staff trusting Sunseri to throw the ball down field and making the play calls to allow for that. Then again, he has to earn that trust.

3. Ohio State and Miami did nothing to temper excitement over next week’s matchup: Sure, they played Florida A&M and Marshall, but both teams were impressively dominant in their wins. It’s often disappointing when a team stumbles the week before a big matchup, taking the luster away from it before we’ve even finished reading the boxscore. But Miami’s Jacory Harris and Ohio State’s Terrelle Pryor made sure that didn’t happen, and also gave us a nice little tease for what could be a very exciting quarterback duel in Columbus. Then again, it could end 6-3.

Paul Costanzo is a sports reporter for the Times Herald in Port Huron, Mich.

Take a look.

After Lane Kiffin hired Tennessee running backs coach Kennedy Pola to be his new offensive coordinator at USC, Titans’ head coach Jeff Fisher was a little ticked off that Kiffin didn’t call him first.

From ESPN.com:

“I am very disappointed in Lane Kiffin’s approach to this,” Fisher told The Tennessean on Saturday. “Typically speaking, when coaches are interested in hiring or discussing potential employment from coaches on respective staffs there is a courtesy call made from the head coach or athletic director indicating there is an interest in talking to the assistant.

“So I am very disappointed in the lack of professionalism on behalf of Lane, to call me and leave me a voicemail after Kennedy had informed me he had taken the job. It is just a lack of professionalism.”

Kiffin claims it was all a matter of timing.

“We reached out to Kennedy Pola [on Friday] to gauge whether he had any possible interest in returning to USC before we moved forward with the process,” Kiffin said. “Kennedy said he would think about it and get back to us today. Once Kennedy did call back earlier today, out of my great respect for Coach Fisher I immediately reached out to Coach to make him aware of the situation.

“I have spoken with Coach Fisher and he now has an accurate understanding of the timeline of events.

“We realize the timing of this isn’t perfect for all parties, but this is a great opportunity and promotion for Kennedy.”

This wasn’t the first time Kiffin has pissed off a fellow coach and it probably won’t be the last. If it was a matter of timing and therefore, a misunderstanding, then I’m sure Fisher can let the situation go. Then again, Fisher’s main beef was that Kiffin never contacted him when USC was interested in hiring Pola. Kiffin could have picked up the phone as soon as Pola was a serious candidate and this situation could have been avoided.

Either way, this story is sure to get buried soon. Fisher’s probably more upset that he lost his running backs coach one week before training camp starts than he is about Kiffin’s moral compass. Although I would have loved to hear Fisher drop the line, “Lane Kiffin is a guy that would bend you over and not have the courtesy to give you a reach around.” (I cleaned that line up for the kids viewing at home.)

The NCAA is reviewing whether or not to ban scholarship offers to recruits before July 1 in the summer between their junior and senior years of high school, according to ESPN.com.

The rule would apply to all sports if passed later this year or next. Some coaches are hopeful it could slow an arms-race mentality that has led to earlier and earlier commitments by unproven prospects.

Two years ago, the National Association of Basketball Coaches said it opposed accepting commitments from students who had not yet completed their sophomore seasons in high school. Jim Haney, the group’s executive director, says he understands the reasoning behind the new proposal.

The proposal would also require coaches to receive a high school transcript documenting at least five semesters or seven quarters of academic work for a recruit before offering a scholarship.

Considering Lane Kiffin recruited a 13-year-old quarterback this past February, I’d say it’s about time that the NCAA did something about this. Kids are easily impressionable and even though being offered an athletic scholarship is a great thing, I’m sure some feel pressured to commit early.

Teams that have always recruited well might not like this proposal, but this is a good thing for everyone involved. Schools can take a longer look at a potential recruit without feeling pressured to get a commitment out of him too early, and the recruit can have more time before deciding where to attend. Hopefully the NCAA follows through with this next year.