(Editor's note: USC senior lineman Travis Claridge will share a weekly diary with ESPN.com throughout the season. For more information on the Trojans, visit the official USC site.)

Oct. 21, 1999

The Notre Dame loss was a disappointment. The Stanford game this Saturday has to be the turning point of our season. We have to play the whole game together, on both offense and defense, and finish what we start.

	Claridge, a preseason Student Advantage All-American, was an All-Pac-10 first team pick in '98.

We're not trying to play the spoiler here. Anything can happen in the Pac-10 this year. Right now we have one game, and that's all we're concentrating on.

Practice this week has been a lot more physical than it has been before. We've been going first team on first team more, which is good and should help us in the long run. We've been doing fourth-quarter drills at the end of practice, which are really tough. It's a lot of running in place, up-downs, tumbles and the like. But we've been having trouble in the fourth quarter this year so we have to do it. It brings the team together, too, to go through those tough drills. It's different than just running sprints.

I think I am improving every week at tackle. Last week, I feel I may have played the best game of my career technique-wise. We have to come off the ball hard against Stanford. We have to concentrate when they're in their "bear" defense.

The "bear" defense is when they play a defender over the nose and over both guards. It's basically a run-stopping defense. I love to run block. It gives us a chance to be more physical. Pass-blocking is more of a challenge. It gives you the chance to go one-on-one, especially as a tackle.

	THE FULL DOSE OF DIARIES
	Miami's André King: A different kind of Hurricane
	Oregon State's Ken Simonton: Getting back on track
	UCLA's Danny Farmer: Credit the Cal defense
	Oregon's Reuben Droughns: Getting his groove back
	Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops: Consistency is the key

Tony Boselli was the best pass-blocker I've ever seen. His technique is flawless. And he went to USC (and wore the same number as Claridge). This school has such a great tradition of putting out great offensive lineman. Also, the Pac-10 has more pro-style offenses so it tends to prepare the linemen better. If you want to play in the pros one day, your chances are better if you go to USC or a Pac-10 school.

The mentality of our offensive line this week is to hit people in the mouth. Last week gave us confidence and we need to carry that over to this week. I think right now our mentality also is to prove that we can be a good line. We've had a lot of bad press, but now it's our chance to prove people wrong. It's time to put up or shut up. And that goes for the whole team.