Championship Saturday . . .

. . . Which is quickly replacing NFL Conference Championship Sunday as my favorite sports day of the year.

First quarter, USC 7, UCLA 0.

Third and sixteen . . . and Joe McKnight drops the ball.

And a missed field goal.

Well, this is a big red-letter day so far.

Now UCLA punts . . .

USC recovers . . .

Okay, this is what happens when you try to keep up. Booty intercepted . . .

And USC gets the ball back almost immediately.

End of the first quarter.

I know USC is a slow-starting team, but this is ridiculous. Why this game isn't 21-0 already I have no idea.

In other news, Navy defeated Army 38-3, a game significant for two of the coolest moments in sports: the playing of the National Anthem while the Middies and Cadets stand at attention, and then the playing of the schools' alma maters after the game, while the two teams stand as one. Fabulous stuff.

Va Tech over Bocton College . . . to secure the Orange Bowl, probably no chance for anything more even if all the dominoes fall.

Tennessee 7, LSU 6. One of three games that could push USC back to glory.

Maybe.

Booty fumble. SC recovers. Mercy.

3rd and 12. Timeout.

Still ahead: Missouri v. Oklahoma, West Virginia v. Pitt, and the Territorial Cup: Arizona State v. Arizona. Robbie-Boy checks in with this analysis:

ASU has got to run the ball. If they can get push from the O-Line and pop Keegan and Nance for some nice gains, ASU wins going away.

The Sun Devils are ranked FIRST in the nation for Time of Possesion. They have got to keep that hybrid poor-mans version of the spread run by ConcussionTama off the field. That's how you beat a gimmick offense.

Update: Filed under "Boy, that was dumb, but I'm glad it happened . . ." having stopped USC on third down for about the 27th time so far this game, a UCLA defender performs some weird roughing/late hit/facemask maneuver on Booty, a personal foul so blatant not even a Pac-10 official could miss it. Automatic first. Chauncey Washington, in for the score. 14-0, USC.

UCLA gets the ball back . . . after a kickoff goes out of bounds, which play goes unremarked by either announcer, nor why the ball is spotted at the 35. No matter; UCLA doesn't come close to not going 3-and-out.

Update: After a late second-quarter TD by UCLA, USC's lead is now 17-7, third quarter.

Dennis Erickson should send Steve Sarkisian a boquet of roses; the pattern for USC is: run for 15 yards, runs for twelve yards, pass pass pass punt. USC's O-line is blowing UCLA off the ball; McKnight and Washington are constantly a half-step from breaking one . . . and Sarkisian keeps going to a Booty, who is clearly off-target today.

Punt.

(Note: The laptop ran out of batteries and erased the rest of the third quarter.

Which is just as well.)

Update: Unbelievable. A second God-that-was-dumb, etc. moment. USC has the ball on the two, third-and-goal, runs up the gut, is stopped. Fourth and goal--except, USC is flagged for holding.

Let us linger on this moment, because if UCLA had fired Karl Dorrell yesterday and hired the drunkest brother of Sigma Chi to coach the Bruins today, they'd be in better shape as of this moment. Frat Boy would have declined the penalty, given SC the ball fourth-and-goal at the two, and put the onus on Carroll: go for it (the Trojans were stuffed the last time, and does anyone think Carroll would do anything but run a tailback behind Baker?); (Has Carroll, for all his stones, ever done anything else on fourth and short?); or else kick a field goal and leave UCLA with a chance to win with two touchdowns.

No: Dorrell accepts the penalty, which actually gives Booty more space. Sarkisian calls for an iso play--All-American tight Davis vs. a linebacker; Booty dumps the ball off, Davis leans forward and scores. 24-7. Game over.

As a Trojan of good standing, I can't believe my good fortune. GAME OVER.

Update: Rose Bowl, baby. Freaking Rose Bowl.

Some kind of season.