Maybe I jinxed my USC Trojans by planning too far ahead. (But I had my reasons. The cheapest tickets I saw for the Glendale game were the equivalent of like four car payments. That so was not going to happen.)

I, along with every alum I know, was sure we would beat the dreaded crosstown rivals who wear baby blue and gold. I can't even say their name or their mascot. Not yet. (Of course, I did dig out a T-shirt I bought when I was a freshman that adds a letter to the front of the school's initials. It's not a polite or PC shirt, by any means, but I was feeling rather pouty, true to what many call the "University of Spoiled Children" form.)

I called a few friends to commiserate. More than one check-in call was answered, "What the hell was that?" No, "Hey, did you see the game." That everyone saw the game was a foregone conclusion. I mean what could be more important?

Commentators were calling it one of the biggest upsets in the history of the rivalry.

Even Arizona's major newspaper agreed that this was a major deal. It made the front page of Sunday's paper. Not the front page of the sports section. THE front page.

I have to admit, and I will probably be disowned from the Trojan Family for this, but it was kind of fun to see the other team so excited. They worked hard. They earned it.

We might have dropped to No. 5 in the BCS standings. (And how happy are people with the BCS right now? Except for University of Florida fans, of course. They're thrilled.) But you know who is still way lower than that -- No. 25 -- bottom of the barrel.

And USC is still going to the Rose Bowl (not a bad consolation prize), while they're going to the Emerald Bowl. Who's ever heard of the Emerald Bowl?

The Rose Bowl is much cooler. And that's not an opinion. It's pretty much an accepted fact.

Neener, neener, neener. (The USC brat rears her head again. And there's my cell phone with the distinctive -- anti-Trojans call it annoying -- USC fight song ringtone.)

It should be a good game. A USC-Michigan matchup always makes for a good game, but this time, both teams have something to prove. True, neither is where they wanted to be (the CNNSI.com headline says it all), but hey, it's still the Rose Bowl. (No, let's not talk about USC's appearance last year.)

Am I disappointed that my boys aren't playing for the national title? Sure. Will I try to actually go to the Rose Bowl. Oh yeah. Besides, it makes much more sense to go to California to see a game that's actually being played in California.

Fight on!