- DE Leonard Williams (ankle) did not practice today, but the coaches and trainers were happy with how he came through the game, and head coach Steve Sarkisian fully expects him to play and even maybe practice this week.
- RB Tre Madden (turf toe) is still likely out through the bye week as is LB Lamar Dawson (knee). Freshman S John Plattenburg strained his Achilles' tendon.
- The key word of the week is "letdown" as in the Trojans need to avoid any emotional hangover from the big win on the Farm. "We still have a game to play," said RB Buck Allen. "Rankings don't matter. For the school it matters, it looks good, but as a player, for me, it don't matter because at the end of the day I have to play. Every game is important. You can't get trapped up in no game thinking it's an easy game. Every game is important."
- On the other hand, the Trojans take a lot of confidence from the Stanford win. "There's a lot of momentum in LA right now for the Trojans," said RB Justin Davis. "But we're definitely not going to let our heads get big after that win. We go back to the drawing board, treat it like it's week one all over again. We're just going to take it one game at a time, play Boston College this weekend and hopefully it all comes out good in the end."
- The Eagles present a similar challenge to the Cardinal as they will want to impose their physicality up front. They are averaging 240 rush yards per game (26th in the nation) and their defensive line looks like a basketball team. "Boston College is really big," said Davis. "They have 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-9 guys up front. Similar to Stanford, they're going to be very physical up front and we've got to bring it to them."
- Allen and Davis supplied most of the offense against Stanford, but they gave credit to the big men for paving the way. "I've got to give it to my O-Line," said Allen. "They did a great job. Without them I wouldn't have gotten my career-high. I feel like I'm just the man behind-the-scenes. I give all credit to them. Coach Drevno does a great job preparing those guys throughout the week. We do a good job keeping those guys conditioned and make sure they hone everything and are doing the right calls. Max [Tuerk] does a great job of taking control."
- Sarkisian on the young offensive line: "We've tried not to put too much on their plate where they are thinking too much at the line of scrimmage. We're trying to allow them to play to their strengths."
- While many of the Trojans have never been to Boston before, they won't be taking in the sights on this trip. "They can go on a vacation later. This is a business trip," said Sarkisian. "We're going there to win the game and that will be our focus."
- With Hayes Pullard sitting out the first half, Michael Hutchings will start the game in his place, and freshman Olajuwon Tucker will back him up.
- Here is Sarkisian after this morning's practice...
