When USC plays San Jose State at high noon on Saturday, does it strike you as a great college football atmosphere?

It will be boiling hot. If that’s not enough of a deterrent, some fans probably still think it’s summer vacation and not football season.

Now, let’s fast forward to 2030. Does this seem like the ideal atmosphere to stage USC-Notre Dame? The one difference is the game would likely be at 5 p.m., when it is a little cooler. But it still doesn’t feel like college football season. The fanboys will try to convince you otherwise, of course.

• Did you know USC is not selling single-game tickets to the Oregon game? If you want to buy a ticket, you have to buy it as part of a three-game package. There’s always SeatGeek.
• Did you know Stephen A. Smith’s daughter is a freshman at USC?

• USC women’s volleyball plays Arizona State on Saturday at 12 p.m. PT and in a rarity, it will be televised on Fox Sports 1. That’s the same time as the USC-San Jose State football game, unfortunately.

• USC has not had any players worthy of wearing No. 55 in years. But I hear there was consideration for giving the famed No. 55 to highly regarded true freshman Luke Wafle. Ultimately, a problem was that Wafle plays defensive end and not linebacker. And would Wafle even want to wear the same number as Junior Seau, Willie McGinest and Chris Claiborne?

• Hawaii plays at Stanford tomorrow. That will be a former USC defensive backs reunion because Hawaii’s defensive coordinator is Dennis Thurman while Stanford’s defensive coordinator is Kris Richard. Thurman coached Richard at USC.

• And now for some history:

• USC coaching staffs used to be full of top coaches. Let’s look at 1970.

You might have heard of the guy on upper left. His name is Joe Gibbs and he won three Super Bowls as the coach of the Washington Redskins. Six members of this staff became head coaches. Not even pictured are graduate assistant Al Saunders, who was the San Diego Chargers head coach (1986-88) and assistant head coach of the Chiefs, Redskins and Raiders. The other graduate assistant was Hudson Houck, a legendary USC offensive line coach (1976-82) and NFL offensive line coach for five teams.

Offensive line coach Rod Humenuik was head coach at Cal State Northridge (1971-72) and a long-time NFL assistant that included a stint as assistant head coach of the New England Patriots (1985-88) when they went to their first Super Bowl. Running backs coach Pete Yoder was the head coach at Cal State Fullerton from 1972-74.

Assistant coach Phil Krueger was the head coach at Fresno State (1964-65) before coming to USC and then left to become head coach at Utah State (1973-75). In 1986, he became general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Now the stars/legends: Willie Brown was a former star two-way player for USC and member of the 1962 national championship team. Craig Fertig became the head coach at Oregon State (1976-79). Dave Levy was inducted into the USC Hall of Fame and can stand next to anyone in coaching acumen. Marv Goux is Mr. USC, the most inspirational assistant coach or coach in school history.

• With USC playing San Jose State, it’s a good time to remember All-American defensive tackle George Achica, who was raised in the Bay Area city and returned there after his football career. He is best remembered at USC for blocking a potential game-winning UCLA field goal on the final play of the 1982 game to secure a Rose Bowl berth for USC.
• The announcement that the Pro Bowl football game will no longer be played brings back local memories, not that anyone mentioned it this week. The Coliseum hosted 20 Pro Bowls between 1951-72.

• This is the 1965 game at the Coliseum, which was the 15th Pro Bowl. The East’s John Henry Johnson stands over QB Frank Ryan while Sonny Jurgensen (9) moves into the picture as Jim Brown (32) and Rosey Brown watch.

Ryan suffered a seperated shoulder in the game. How do you think these players would react to the game being canceled?

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

Gloria Guida

Jo Morrow

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Let’s remember Dolly Parton, with her debut in 1967 on The Porter Wagoner Show.