<p>Hmm, it was a disappointing and mostly unremarkable defensive struggle at the Mausoleum tonight, though a couple things stood out.</p>
<p>1) Pete Carroll once again showed that he’s a hypocritical and unabashed ass****er. It’s hard to think of someone with a bigger ego than “the Humanitarian.”</p>
<p>2) Why the hell can’t the Pac-10 put refs put competent refs on the field? Numerous missed calls plus an absolute ******** work of fiction on a UCLA ~30 yard gain that had a huge effect on the game. Considering the aforementioned call, it’s easy to question their impartiality. And Assholter is still out of bounds.</p>
<p>The same thing that happens 99.9% of the time in that common situation - run the ball up the middle trying to get a first down until the other team is out of timeouts and has no shot of getting the ball back. Nobody with any remote understanding of sportsmanship could deny that it was a ******bag move of the highest order. Throw in the celebrating like they won the Super Bowl and there’s no wonder any of them are connected to Stabber U.</p>
<p>Hey, I like to think I know what sportsmanship entails. I’m no super athlete, but I did play some sports in high school. It is all about respecting your opponent, win or lose.</p>
<p>I will admit the near-brawl was a travesty and that USC’s bench shouldn’t have incited UCLA’s. But that doesn’t excuse how UCLA’s bench responded, either.</p>
<p>Back to the pass. The game was over. The sportsmanlike thing to do is admit it’s over. Football is a risky sport and Neuheisel decided that the infinitesimally small chance for a few more points was worth possible injury to his or USC’s players. Not a whole lot of respect there.</p>
<p>For ex. the last game at the coliseum against Stanford, USC had the ball with 2:19 left in the 4th, down 55-21, and USC calls four straight handoffs by the backup QB to the 2nd string RB and ran out the clock. It was an embarrassing loss for Carroll and no one would have blamed him if he had Barkley throw up some hail marys to make it less so. The game was over, the sportsmanlike thing to do was admit defeat.</p>
<p>Maybe leave it for an impartial 3rd party to render an opinion. Here’s what happened:</p>
<ol>
<li>Down 14, UCLA turns the ball over on downs at 0:54/4th in UCLA territory</li>
<li>Barkley takes a knee</li>
<li>UCLA calls timeout (clearly wanting the ball back)</li>
<li>Clearly peeved by the timeout, Carroll has Barkley throw a 48 yd TD pass</li>
<li>USC and UCLA benches almost start brawling (though thanks to coaches/refs they never contact each other physically)</li>
</ol>
<p>Whether it’s wise or not in terms of injuries, it’s incredibly common for the losing team to use its timeouts until it’s mathematically impossible to get the ball back and it has been SOP for UCLA/Neuheisel all season long. Harbaugh responded by taking a knee, Kelly responded by running up the middle, Tedford responded by running up the middle, and Carroll responded by calling for a deep pass.</p>
<p>Maybe Carroll should have just run the ball until the game was mathematically out of reach, but it doesn’t matter what everyone else does. The question is whether what happened was unsportsmanlike.</p>
<p>When Carroll took a knee, he communicated that he thought the game was over and UCLA had no chance of winning. Neuheisel took a timeout indicating that he disagreed and thought the game wasn’t over. If the game isn’t over, then any play is fair. Carroll was just following Neuheisel’s lead.</p>
<p>As much as I dislike USC and was overjoyed to see Oregon and Stanford stomp them, I have to agree with the USC perspective here. Aside from the unnecessary celebration at the TD score (celebrating at the end of the game is fine, as it’s a rivalry game), USC was justified in padding the score with a final touchdown. UCLA did have all three timeouts remaining, and ridiculous outcomes to football games have happened. If UCLA regained possession of the ball before the conclusion of the game, scored on a Hail Mary, recovered the onside kick, and scored again, then eeeked out a victory in overtime, Carroll would have been vilified incessantly by Trojan fans, and these fans would have been forced to endure unprecedented trash-talking from UCLA supporters. However remote the possibility of such an ending transpiring, it is worth precluding it from being a consideration.</p>
<p>(This does not mean I think strategic implications were the sole factor considered by Carroll, as he has shown historically to be petty and immature. However, I do think the call is justifiable considering the circumstances of the game and nature of the rivalry.)</p>
<p>Look, Carroll’s made that perfectly clear. It’s not the first time he’s felt free to run up the score. But if he’s going to act like $cum when he’s on top he needs to not act like a ***** when he’s down.</p>
<p>Well I dislike USC as much as the next guy, but I don’t think they ran up the score seven times. Why don’t you look at the actual box scores? In nearly all the games, they had far less points in the second half than they did in the first.</p>
<p>Against Virginia in 2008 and San Jose St this year maybe, but not the others.</p>
<p>Clearly you didn’t see any of those games except the UCLA one.</p>
<p>Against Virginia, Oregon, and San Jose State the starters were all on the bench by the 4th quarter. Against Cal, USC only threw 3 times in the 4th quarter and the rest were run plays. Against Notre Dame, Sanchez was in for one series in the 4th and then the backup QB and RB came in and did mostly run plays.</p>
<p>And don’t get me started on the Washington game. Carroll knew he’d be accused of running up the score and he had the starters pulled by halftime. Everyone on USC’s roster including walkons got playing time that game.</p>
<p>SJSU: TD pass on 4th and goal with 4 min remaining
Cal: USC up 20, scores a TD with the starters in with 5 min to play
Virginia: USC up 38, runs for a TD on 4th down
Oregon: USC up 27, 59 yard TD pass with 2 min to play (admittedly could have been a screen, but no reason not to run it up the middle)
Washington: USC up 49, scores a TD in the 4th quarter after successfully passing on 4th down
Notre Dame: USC up 28, starters score a TD midway through the 4th</p>
<p>Sure, some are borderline. But when things like these become a trend (and remember this is only the last 2 seasons) you don’t get the benefit of the doubt.</p>
<p>Well, if you want to argue that those were running up the score, then UCLA does the same. Against Washington State, Kevin Prince was out throwing passes midway through the 4th quarter with UCLA up by 29.</p>
<p>TCBH, notice the qualifying parenthetical. I don’t think it was the majority concern, because Carroll has shown that he isn’t mature enough to remove pettiness from his coaching decisions, but I do think it is justifiable considering the circumstances of the game.</p>
<p>On the BCS note, does anyone else hope the Fiesta will go with Nebraska vs. Boise State if the Cornhuskers prevail in the Big-12 championship game? Nebraska and Iowa or Penn State would be an abhorrent matchup, really. (Also, to be honest, I don’t even know how Penn State is still in the running for a berth. They are the least deserving 10-2 team in the country.)</p>