First, the good news: USC 49, Hawaii 36.

And now the bad: Matt Leinart released by the Arizona Cardinals.

How the great have fallen. First the on-probation Trojans. Now Matt.

It’s almost as if that whole mid-decade USC team is having its history rewritten, and not in a flattering way. Reggie Bush cheated. Pete Carroll was asleep at the switch. At best. And Matt Leinart was the product of a system and had great talent around him, not a great player in his own right.

That is how it looks, four years later, after the Cardinals cut Leinart adrift today.

What happened here?

Seems like two major concepts at work:

–Leinart arrived in Arizona in 2006 feeling entitled. Which would certainly fit the stereotype of a USC football player. The club never much liked his work ethic, didn’t like the silly/stupid publicity he tended to attract and, at the end, really didn’t like the way he apparently expected to be handed Curt Warner’s job this summer. The one Leinart lost in the first place back in 2008.

–Leinart just isn’t that good. A great college quarterback. Sure. But a modest, verging on not-competent pro quarterback, with minimal arm strength, no presence in the huddle and no leadership off the field.

Have to say that while watching Leinart play at USC — and of his 39 starts over three years, I believe I saw 28 of them in person — I always thought he was a great short-range passer but had limited arm strength. A great running game (Reggie Bush, LenDale White) and several outstanding receivers helped make him what he was.

He threw a ball that was a little weird. It seemed to float a bit, and came out of his (left) hand a little strangely. His mobility was minimal and I just had trouble seeing him tearing up the NFL.

Turns out, he didn’t, as his numbers show. He had the starting job in Arizona a couple of times, but he never seemed all that intent on holding it (7-10 as a starter) or getting better (he acted like he was still a frat boy), and here at the end, when he petulantly told reporters that he deserved to start over retread Derek Anderson … that was about it.

Good thing for him he already has been paid most of that six-year, $51 million contract, because it is very hard to imagine he will get another big deal. Not unless he has some sort of personality/competitiveness transplant. Let’s see, a guy with a weak arm, limited dedication and an ingrained sense of entitlement … sure, that’s what NFL teams want.

Certainly, he had some great games with USC. I will never forget the game I saw at Notre Dame in 2004, when Leinart threw that absolutely cold-blooded fourth-and-9 strike to Dwayne Jarrett streaking up the sideline, the play that led to the infamous Bush Push touchdown at the goalline as USC defeated Notre Dame 34-31. And, remember, USC lost all of two games with him at quarterback — and a team chock full of blue-chippers.

Now the young man (still only 27) needs a major attitude adjustment and another chance, for far, far less money. And maybe he can have a career of some significance. Otherwise, he’s just another mistake to emerge from the USC Trojans, circa 2003-05.