Post-Game Thread: USC 28 UCLA 14

when he said in the post-game on-field interview, “We need to get recruiting to make sure this never happens again”?

Is he not happy with his recruits? Is he referring to certain players that Pete Carroll recruited that he inherited?

He didn’t smile at all during the post-game handshake or interview, and the players didn’t pour Gatorade on him like they did when Pete won in 2001. I guess I should he be happy that he isn’t happy with 8-5 (and 1-1 against the rivals).

Everyone, please stick around CC for basketball season. No sanctions on THAT team!

“Recognizing that it is of utmost importance to play Strong Physical Football like the Raiders, but more like the New York Giants when they won the Super Bowl against the undefeated Patriots.”

Also you forgot to talk about how you were a Lane Kiffin fan at Tennessee, the Raiders, and USC

First, congrats again to youse guys for yet another win against UCLA. Looks like it was an injury-free game (except for Zumwalt’s concussion I didn’t see any other major injuries.)

Turnovers, untimely penalties, poor QB play, dropped passes and an inability to exzecute when needed doomed UCLA’s prospects of winning. I am thinking especially of two instances: we get to 1st and 10 deep in USC territory and then penalties moved us back, leading to Franklin’s fumble and USC’s return for TD. Second example is Embree’s dropped TD when we were down 21-7 on 4th and 10 IIRC at the 19. Brehaut finally made a good throw, nobody touched the ball and Embree, ostensibly our “possession” receiver and gifted with the best hands on the team, dropped the ball.

Your D-line played very well, consistently pressuring all night, and Bradford played a great game. USC deserved to win as they were superior in all facets of the game. Obviously I am bummed about yet another loss, but I am very, very pleased to see the end of this season. See you on the hardwood, where my eternal optimism at leasxt has some chance of being rewarded.

Dorrell was a mediocre coach, at best. IN that 10-2 season you keep bringing up as sonehow indicative of Dorrell’s excellence, we lost 52-14 to AZ and 66-19 to USC, and only finished 3rd in the Pac-10. The next two years we were .500 despite tons of uppoer classmen and lost to the worst Notre Dame team in years. No, UCLA was right to fire Dorrell. UCLA made a mistake hiring Neuheisel, but it certainly wasn’t wrong to fire Dorrell.

As for the comparison between the two, I leave you with the asute observation of Dr. Johnson:

Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea.

you might edit your posts more carefully. When you say stuff like we’ll “rue the day we fired Dorrell”, one of the obvious conclusions to be drawn from that statement is that Dorrell was a fine coach. He was (and is) a fine man and was a great Bruin player, but as a coach? You ask how many times he lost 8? Answer: Never. He just lost 7, 6, 6 and 6 in his non 10-2 seasons. As a coach, he was a mediocrity wedded to an offense that cannot succeed in college football, and he lost 4 of 5 to USC, including the 66-19 wipeout. No, the better argument is simply that we will rue the day we hired Neuheisel, not that we fired Dorrell. And although I didn’t want Neuheisel to coach UCLA, and had concerns about his record when he arrived, I hoped that he learned something while he was not a head coach. It appears that he learned enough about managing a program within NCAA rules and how to discipline players, but he forgot everything else. He has been a disaster so far and there is little evidence that suggests he is capable or righting the ship. He’ll still get at least next year and possibly two. Needless to say, I am not optimistic.

As for your actual point, I don’t disagree with much of it, although I respectfully suggest UCLA was, and could still be, considered a “top coaching position.” Obviously not a top tier school like Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Michigan or USC-UCLA has no heritage to match any of the true top schools. But if your parameters are not drawn strictly at top 10 levels, UCLA does have a pretty solid track record and was at least until very recently certainly considered an all-time Top 25 program. If the parameters are more broadly drawn, I think it’s reasonable to argue that UCLA is a “top coaching position.”

As for obsessing over Carroll-the guy ran roughshod over college football generally and UCLA in particular. Why wouldn’t UCLA try to emulate his success? Hiring Chow was not done purely for PR-he came cheap and with an extraordinary pedigree. Why wouldn’t UCLA want to hire a guy like Chow? It hasn’t worked out at all, but it certainly wasn’t done because UCLA wanted to stick it to Pete Carroll. It was done because he was available, cheap at the time and it was thought he could help the program. Given UCLA’s legendary miserliness, the notion that UCLA would hire a Norm Chow and pay him a lot of $ simply to needle Pete Carroll is nothing short of ludicrous.

I hope the next guy has no connection to UCLA.

I was there last night. Got to the Rose Bowl by NOT parking in the assigned parking lots, and THANK GOD FOR THAT! By the time I got there, the police presence had died down. My old professor lives but 2 miles away from the stadium and I always have a place for my motorcycle, car, or truck whenever I visit the Rose Bowl or anything else out in the area.

The Bruin crowd was motivated for sure, however in saying that- it STILL sounded Trojan dominant. In- and outside the stadium. In the corridors and in the stands.

I knew were going to win the game even before kickoff- and I just barely made it on time for that. I just could feel it.

By the end of the 3rd qtr- I left my seats and milled about eluding security to make it down close enough to be behind our team’s bench. That’s where I lost my voice. For the first time since I received Matt Grootegoed’s autograph- I received Allen Bradford’s. (on a Justin Vargas numbered USC football jersey though. hey! I haven’t worn that jersey in 3 years and decided it looked best with my most expensive pair of Brook’s Brother’s linen pants and eorgia shit-kicker boots). Lemme tell you, getting his autograph WAS WORK!

(sidenote: I am serious when I say that I feel a small-degree of sympathy for this year’s Bruin class of senior football players. And I want to offer a sincere, “Go Bruins!” to them with a “Fight On!” chaser to them. Good luck in your future endeavors young men. I mean that.)

Lastly- FUCK. YEAH! To my senior fellow Brojans! You have all made me proud in so many different ways. Your dedication and efforts make me and every other Trojan out there, proud in claiming our allegiance to The Cardinal and Gold! Brojans forever!

USC 2010 Home Record: 3-3
USC 2010 Road Record: 5-2

they had Lane Kiffen on……….interesting bit of info….Tony Burnett came from the track team….
and he was a walk on to boot…….kid’s got a lot of heart.

At least I assume I am by now. I had the audacity to call out a couple of comments whining about the sword in the middle of the field. I was accused of “harrassment” and “beating a topic to death” because I made two comments in response to two separate posts. Of course referring to a college kid as a “douchebag” for being guilt of nothing more than performing his school’s standard pregame ritual is considered healthy “venting”. Calling out that person as childish is “harrassment”.

Both for SC and AB. Story of 2010… the Trojans were a tale of two teams… the defense which started lousy and got better… the offense which started off good then fell to bad. Injuries and sanctions played a part but Lane Kiffin will have to master this riddle or next season may not be as good as this one. Major props to Matt Barkley who played courageously and in pain but was effective enough to manage the game. I DID NOT think he would play again this year. This kid again shows he has some real stuff to him. Hats off to Allen Bradford who had a magnificent last game as a Trojan. Maybe it’s part of a new coach’s ‘learning curve’ but somewhat of a shame it took a whole season for Kiffin to learn what Pete Carroll knew all of last year. Again great way to finish but let’s not take too much from this… aside from the L.A. bragging rights and The Victory Bell… UCLA was as big a reason for the win as SC was. Frankly, the bRuins right now are playing as poorly as I can recall. Even UCLA’s flagship men’s B-Ball program has been off lately. Anyway, year one of the NCAA sanctions era is finally over… not as good as some of us hoped for… but still a winning (and bowl qualifying) season… and that’s OK given the circumstances. So, it’s on to recruiting. LK in his post game comments indicated the importance of what now follows. In many ways… the biggest part of this year’s football season is about to take place. Lane Kiffin has a good reputation as a recruiter… Ed Orgeron too… SC badly needs both to do well. To coach K: think speed, smarts, and stamina… You’ll need all three next year and beyond. To Coach O: looks like JC won’t be back… you know what to do.

ps – Good luck to Oregon in the national title game… I think Auburn will be the favorite based on having,,, by a wide margin… the better QB and the better defense. Having said that, the team that wins will PLAY the better defense and make the fewest mistakes. Still, I’d say the early line should be Auburn by seven points or more. Should be a great game to watch.

ps2: Speaking of watching… Trojan fans and alums shouldn’t hold their breath on SC’s upcoming appeals… the events of this past week just gave a national stage to the NCAA’s warped if not mystifying decision making process.