| Close Calls |
| From The Mail Room - A USC Zealot's Point of View |
| by Scott Tejerian |
| There's nothing like a good hearty sports debate and after my last piece regarding USC's lack of class for going throwing deep in the fourth quarter while leading by 46-points I received a fiery response from a diehard Trojan fan. The title hardly reflects the text, but it's a fun response to someone who believes so passionately in his favorite team. |
The Unbiased Rebuttal to “Beating UCLA, Not Enough for USC”
By Mark D. Alba
College Football – If USC were to have displayed their lack of sportsmanship, they would have beaten UCLA by much more than 47 points.
The Stanford Cardinal thought their double digit lead in the 4th quarter was big enough when they played UCLA earlier in the year. Unfortunately for them, UCLA made the biggest comeback in PAC 10 history. The high powered (powder blue) offense had averaged over 40 points a game this year. Drew Olson, the UCLA quarterback, had stats equal to anyone in the land. Do you think for one minute the USC Trojans felt comfortable with a 31-6 lead early in the 3rd quarter? Absolutely not!
On 4th down, do you think USC was going to have their kicker, Mario Danelo, try a 49 yard field goal when he hadn’t made a field goal more than 39 yards all year? Absolutely not! Do you think they wanted to punt the ball to the dangerous Maurice Drew who can change the game quickly by possibly returning it for a touchdown? Absolutely not! The only smart thing to do in this instance was to go for it on 4th down. Something everyone in the educated college football world knew.
It’s actually laughable to think that on 4th down, leading 45-6 later on in the 3rd quarter, USC would have Danelo try a 52 yard field goal. Pete Carroll’s wife would have a better chance of making that field goal. Of course they were going to go for it. What else were they going to do? Let Maurice Drew have yet another chance to change the game with a spectacular run? If they punted into the end zone, they would only gain 15 yards on the play (UCLA would start on the 20 yard line). Again, of course they are going to go for it. Remembering the Stanford Cardinal debacle, was 45-6 enough of a cushion at that particular time? Since UCLA’s offense runs great under momentum, the answer again is, NO!
However, after USC felt they had enough of a lead, they respectfully sat their 1st team offense so as not to embarrass the bruin team by scoring into the 100’s. This is the class that Pete Carroll and his coaching staff had for the UCLA team. If Reggie Bush were allowed to stay in the game, he may have had 400 yards rushing. If Matt Leinart, who struggled at the start, was allowed to stay in the game, he may have thrown 3 more touchdowns. It wasn’t USC who shamed themselves, it was the UCLA Bruin team who shamed themselves by forgetting how to tackle and take chances. Do you realize Drew Olson threw maybe once over 20 yards? What was that? on that note, consider this scenario:
Fourth quarter, USC 52 UCLA 6.
USC has the ball at the UCLA 36-yard line.
Matt Lienart heard it all the past few weeks. The Bruin Football players were going to beat and embarrass him and his team. Some of the Bruin players and alumni were talking so much smack just a few days ago, he couldn’t resist smiling, knowing this would be his last pass of his college career at the coliseum. After all, no matter what the score was, the 2004 Heisman trophy winner (and probably the best college quarterback since Roger Staubach) was going to get one last chance to throw a touchdown before sitting down.
This was an obvious fact, and something the UCLA coaches and their players knew, along with everyone in the stadium and the educated football television audience, they just didn’t know when. After giving up millions of dollars to be the sure #1 pick in the 2004 NFL draft, the least the coach and the USC staff could do was to let the best quarterback of our time let one go one last time. It would have been classless not to let him throw it. So when Matt Leinart looked over to coach Carroll on the sideline, they both knew this was the time for his last chance to throw one into the end zone. Unfortunately, the pass was overthrown to a wide open Steve Smith and, being the gentleman that he is, Matt Leinart took one more snap before getting a standing ovation from every Trojan fan at the stadium, virtually at the start of the 4th quarter.
One final note for all you college football fans! For those of you who have not been fortunate enough to witness the 2005/2006 USC football team, I beg you all, even if you’ve never liked Trojan football, to do yourselves a favor and witness the greatness of this team on January 4th for one last time. I’m not sure how Las Vegas can give Texas only 7 points in this game, USC will beat Texas as bad as it did UCLA if they so desired. So forget about the gambling and drinking or whatever it is you do on a big college football game, because you will be able to tell your grandchildren that you watched live,
The Greatest College Football Team of All Time. |
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