There was a somber tone in Troy as USC began their first workout. The number “19″ was stenciled into both endzones, a tribute to kicker Mario Danelo, who died in January.

“It’s a tribute to somebody that we really miss and that we love. . . . In some ways it’s just a demonstration of his spirit and that he’s with us,” Pete Carroll said.

Nothing like a nice dose of perspective to make everybody calm down about national championships, Heisman trophies and fulfilling Jim Harbaugh’s lofty expectations.

The AOL Sports Fanhouse posted this photo of the highly touted Everson Griffen getting stiff-armed by running back Allen Bradford. Coaches were so impressed with Bradford’s moxie that he may have jumped from #22 to #3 on the depth chart.

ESPN’s Bruce Feldman was there to find out whether Joe McKnight can possibly live up to his Reggie Bush-esque hype. Here’s an excerpt from his report:

Privately, the USC coaches have been giddy about what they’ve heard from some of the upperclassmen regarding McKnight’s performance in summer workout — not to mention the few online clips they’ve seen of him blowing past some talented defenders.

On Monday, McKnight didn’t disappoint as he made several eye-popping runs, juked defenders and blew past guys who thought they had angles on him. A few times he did get popped by defenders and ended up having to pick himself off the grass, but mostly he left defenders grabbing for air.

“He is really shifty,” said Brian Cushing, the Trojans’ standout outside linebacker. “It was impressive to see what he could do out there, but we’ll have to see what happens once we get people in pads and people start getting hit.”

As per the program’s freshman policy, McKnight won’t be available for interviews this week. Asked whether McKnight might have an extra gear that the other Trojan tailbacks don’t, running backs coach Todd McNair just smiled.

“He’s alright,” McNair said laughing. “You saw him out there. I mean it’s early, but maybe he does have that different gear.

“The thing I’m really excited about Joe is he’s such a quick learner. He started picking things up and he’s pressing to go deeper.”

Carroll’s description of McKnight: “Smooth.”

We like “smooth,” but in light of the Reggie Bush allegations, we’re not so sure how we feel about McKnight being called “shifty.”

Sometimes the punch lines write themselves, as in the case of a Florida law school grad (and staff attorney for the state) who has been charged with dealing in stolen property. That stolen property in question? A Florida State national championship trophy. When reached for comment, former Notre Dame head coach and ESPN “analyst” Lou Holtz sprayed, “That’sh fitting becaush the Sheminolesh shtole a shampionship from ush.”

With camps opening all across America, one of the few schools to make as much noise as USC is that of its intersectional rival, Notre Dame. Coach Charlie Weis spoke to his team about the consensus in the national media that the Irish were expected to have a down year.

“He just basically [talked] about the 1-7 comment,” safety Tom Zbikowski said, referring to the prediction ESPN analyst Mark May made for the Irish, who begin with four of six on the road. “It’s kind of hard for the older guys because we’ve been hearing it for three years now … but it still rubs us the wrong way.”

We think the Irish may surprise some of the experts this season, but then again, if you’re going to the ‘Mark May disrespects us’ card on the first day of camp, you may already be in trouble.

From the ‘Because He clearly has nothing better to do’ dept: Weis says God should “strike me dead” if he says the word “rebuilding.” We don’t think He’ll go that far, but if you have another player busted for allegedly soliciting a hooker, He might have to think about it.

When he’s not avoiding the wrath of the Almighty, Weis is busy trying to lock down his depth chart. He says he’s not tipping his hand as to who will start at quarterback in the season opener.

“I certainly don’t want to tell Georgia Tech what I’m doing, because I’d rather they spend more time having to figure out what we’re doing,” Weis said. “Are they going to play a true dropback quarterback? Are they going to play an athletic quarterback? I’m not really in the business of giving out free information.”

He’s also, apparently, not in the business of winning bowl games.

Optimism is in the cool, misty air of the Pacific Northwest, as Weis’s predecessor, Washington coach Ty Willingham, spent the offseason taking care of very important football-related matters. Namely, designing the cover of the Huskies’ media guide.

Willingham said Sunday that he was actually very involved in the creation of the cover — one that depicts a UW football player (complete with face-shield that reflects Husky Stadium back to the viewer) in the foreground, and local attractions in the back — like the Space Needle and Mount Rainier.

“You sit down and gather thoughts on what the team will be or what the challenge is or things about the team, and that gives you some things to play with,” Willingham said of the cover. “The word ‘challenge’ comes to mind. A challenge to climb Mount Rainier, the challenge could be the imenseness of our stadium — all those kinds of things.”

How about ‘the challenge of returning to relevance’?

As Fanblogs reports, Virginia Tech has closed its practices. Frank Beamer says you can blame Georgia for ruining all the fun.

“We practiced out at Georgia Tech and we let all kinds of people through there … people we didn’t really know,” Beamer said. “And I thought it hurt us in the bowl game. I’m not blaming anybody … but I thought Georgia knew exactly what we were doing in several situations.”

Which is a far cry from his own team, which — at various points during that bowl game — clearly had no idea what they were doing.

And here’s the latest in the story that has absolutely no bearing on anything, but will still get an inordinate amount of media attention this season: the trial of college football’s Tonya Harding, Mitch Cozad. The former Northern Colorado backup punter allegedly had his then-girlfriend, Angela Vogel, lie to police to help protect him.

Vogel said: “I did what Mitch told me to, (told officers) that we were together, and I didn’t say we went out for tacos.” Later, she said: “I went back to my dorm room and broke down. I was like, ‘Oh my God, what did I just do?”‘

She said she sought out police on her own to change her story and ran into detectives in the elevator on the way to meet with them. She said the decision to talk again was “kind of mutual.” “They were finding holes in my story, and I said ‘I’m coming clean,”‘ she said.

During cross-examination by defense attorney Joseph “Andy” Gavaldon, Vogel said she got scared when police accused her of being with Cozad on a crosstown trip to Mendoza’s apartment the night of the stabbing.

“They started treating you as a suspect,” Gavaldon said.

“Yes, they did,” she replied.

Prosecutors showed a series of text messages that they said Cozad sent Vogel on Sept. 12 and 13. They included:

– “We were not apart between 8 and 12.”

– “Please be strong for me did u say we got food?”

– “U can stop all of this.”

When the prosecutor asked Vogel if Cozad ever spoke to her about stabbing someone, she said he once asked her, “What would you think would hurt the most, getting hit by a car, getting beat by a baseball bat or getting stabbed?”

“I thought it was very strange,” she said.

So do we, Angela. So do we.

And now the story you’ve all been waiting for: the New York Times’ Ivy League preview. Based on the media straw poll, Yale is the favorite to win college football’s “keepin’ it real” conference. We admit a certain fondness for those Ivy League scores that scroll across the bottom of our screen every Saturday. It’s funny how 40,000 empty seats at the Yale Bowl seems quaint and charming, while 40,000 empty seats at the L.A. Coliseum was a constant source of rage and frustration.

Speaking of which, we wonder how Paul Hackett is doing these days. Oh, wait, no we don’t.

Twenty three days and counting…