You have to hand it to Maurice Clarett, the kid has a lot of nerve. He's the Jayson Blair of college football. Blair is the former New York Times reporter who used a permanent black maker to tarnish his newspaper and profession by lying to his editors, making up quotes and using other people's work to bolster his stories. Now he's being paid a reported $500,000 to write a book about how he is the victim and all the things he got in trouble for weren't his fault.

Clarett was suspended for the season by Ohio State after an investigation over the theft of some personal property (clothes and stereo equipment were among the items) from a car that reportedly wasn't his revealed that he gave an exagerated figure to police of what the stolen property was worth, which is a criminal offense. By lying to the cops and Ohio State, he jeopardized the integrity of his teammates, coaches and college football.

Now Clarett and his lawyers have filed a lawsuit against the NFL that challenges the league's steadfast rule that forbids a player to be drafted for three years after his high school class has graduated. Instead of riding out his suspension and staying in school, Clarett wants to sweep his lack of character and judgement under a carpet of FieldTurf and have the league, and its fans, pay him millions of dollars to play football.

Like Blair, Clarett eventually has to face up to his responsibilites. He may be able to outrun defenders on a football field, but he will never be able to outrun his obligations to himself and to the game for which he, so far, has little regard for.

COASTAL NOTES: The undefeated USC Trojans (3-0) resume play after a week off against California at Berkeley. It's the Pacific 10 opener for USC, which has an 11-game winning streak, the second-longest current streak next to Ohio State's 18 straight. The Trojans are ranked No. 3 on both polls, their highest ranking since 1988 when they were No. 2 for four weeks until losing to Notre Dame....

Stanford opens conference play against Washington in Seattle. The Huskies will have the services of senior wide receiver Justin Robbins, who has been sidelined with injuries the past two seasons. Robbins' return gives Washington a three-receiver set, with Reggie Williams and Charles Frederick...

Washington State place kicker Drew Dunning leads Division 1-A schools with a .929 percentage. He's made 13 of 14 field goals this season...

It's been a disappointing start for new UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell, whose Bruins (1-2) face San Diego State (3-1) at the Rose Bowl. There was grumbling in Westwood after Oklahoma and Antonio Perkins literally ran the Bruins out of Norman last Saturday. The Aztecs, who gave Ohio State a scare earlier this season, lost to UCLA last year, 43-7 in San Diego...

Although Pacific 10 officials say that they are happy with the conference's current configuration of 10 teams, there's unofficial talk ongoing about expanding the league to 12 schools. Among the universities being considered are BYU, Colorado, Colorado State and Nevada Las Vegas. John Robinson in the same conference as USC? That would be a Rebel homecoming.