Take USC to cover

Morning news meeting: We're rushing off to the airport so there's no time to even read anything.

It looks like both local papers are promoting the hell out of the big football game here today -- the University of Washington hosting USC. I don't follow football much, and college football almost not at all, and I didn't grow up here and don't care about the Huskies, so I think I'm perfectly qualified to see through the hype and Seattle-centric boosterism.

USC will blow Washington away. How do I know this? It's freaking USC! C'mon.

Even the locals seem spooked by USC, and they're just talking about the marching band! Last night at the baseball game I heard some people saying they saw the band downtown or as they were walking into the ballpark. "They were awesome," the woman said. "I've never seen anything like that."

I don't know what the band was doing at the time, but precision can be scary. Especially to Seattleites. Plus there's all that red.

The USC band used to practice right outside Michelle's office when she worked there, and even she seemed impressed.

I think the betting line for today's game is something like Trojans by 20. I predict -- again, based on nothing -- that they'll cover the spread easily.

M&M prediction: USC 37, Huskies 10.