Southern Cal Trojans vs. Boston College Eagles

Seeing Southern California playing in December is as rare as seeing a white Christmas in Los Angeles, but one of those instances is certain to happen this year as the USC Trojans face the Boston College Eagles on December 26 in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco.

An eight win season might be a good thing elsewhere, but not at USC. For the first time since 2001, the Southern Cal Trojans (8-4) did not win at least 11 games, did not win the Pac-10 title and will not play in a January bowl game.

The abrupt departure of Mark Sanchez brought about scrambling by the program to find a replacement and they were forced to go with a freshman, Matt Barkley. He shows signs of brilliance and signs of being a freshman in his year of leading the Trojans under center. Down the stretch Barkley struggled, however, throwing for 169.0 yards through the last five games and tossed at least one interception in eight straight contests.

Yet Southern Cals real problems came on defense where they allowed 35 or more points three times. From 2001-2008 in Pete Carrolls first seven years in Los Angeles that happened twice before.

The 24th-ranked Southern California Trojans actually fell out of the Top 25 for the first time since 2001 while dropping three of five down the stretch, including the regular season finale, 21-17 at home to the Arizona Wildcats, but were able to climb back into the rankings in the regular seasons final poll.

Their season could get worse if Joe McKnight does not play in Saturdays bowl game. The player was being investigated on whether he was given a vehicle by a booster and he did not travel north with the team.

Not much was expected of Boston College (8-4) this season, but they defied expectations after being picked last in their division of the ACC.

But while the program will head to a bowl game for the 11th straight season, each of the previous 10 have come in December as the program has failed to reach a BCS or New Years Day bowl game.

They had possessed the countrys longest bowl winning streak at eight before losing a close 16-14 game to Vanderbilt in the Music City Bowl last year.

BC was also dealing with freshman issues under center as Dave Shinskie was statistically the worst quarterback in the ACC by completing 52.8 percent of his passes and threw more interceptions (13) than touchdowns (14).

The Eagles have featured a run-first type offense behind Montel Harris, BC has leaned heavily on sophomore running back Montel Harris, who ran for 1,355 yards and 13 touchdowns on the season.

The teams have seldom met, just twice in a two-game home and home set with the Trojans winning both in 1987 and 1988. This game could serve as a bit of a preview as they will have another home-and-home set in 2013 and 2014.

USC is 31-16 all-time in bowl games while BC is 13-6.

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