As I said, was I the only guy a little worried about playing against a team with a new quarterback (historically a bad omen for USC), and looking ordinary at practice on Tuesday coming off of a sloppy road win?
I am still surprised that a team like Stanford could do what they did at the end against USC’s defense. Injuries and turnovers make poorly matched teams very competitive with each other.
Still, good teams find ways to win, and right now, this Trojan team is not playing very well. We will find out what they are made of this Saturday and at South Bend and Eugene. Check in after that trio of contests.
Paul made the comment that when they got caught napping against Stanford to split a national title in 79, they came out really angry and played great ball the rest of the way. Does this team have the leadership and talent to do that the same way?
And, yes, #10 is a far cry from #1 (and boy does LSU have a note of thanks to send our way—once they found out we lost, they got VERY inspired at home to come back and beat Florida)….but…if SC wakes up and wins out that eliminates Cal and Oregon. South Florida will not play in the national championship game even if they are the only unbeaten team in the country. Ohio State has some tough games to play. South Carolina has a murderous schedule. Boston College and West Virginia need to be upset victims. Perhaps the biggest obstacle for USC (if they win out—and that doesn’t look so good from where we sit today, does it?) is Oklahoma….the Sooners have Missouri and Texas A & M at home and the Big 12 final and whoever the North Division. This Saturday’s game between the Sooners and Mizzou might be the most important one of the rest of the year involving teams ahead of SC in the rankings.
There are 26 teams with zero or one loss….and as we saw after the loss at Corvallis last year, anything can happen….as SC was a tipped pass from going to the final anyway.
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By the way, I take full responsibility of the loss myself. The Hawaiian shirt that I wore was worn by me out in public at a kids soccer game Saturday morning. Rule is that no one except me is to see the shirt prior to unveiling in the press box (if and when that is needed). The shirt had lost its magic, and therefore was no longer usable, but I used it anyway, and you saw what happened. Gotta be extra careful with those pesky superstitions.
At any rate, as soon as the game ended, I took it off and threw it into the empty stands below. Good riddance.
Well, the weekend wasn’t a total loss, at least the Bruins gagged again. And water polo crushed Stanford in a 1 vs 3 battle.
Let’s get ready with a great week of preparation for Arizona
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Hey, by the way again, I thought the SC team was really negligent in (generally) running off the field without shaking hands and said so on the air. I was also VERY impressed with the SC fans in the stands on the press box side who applauded (politely) the Stanford team as it passed by them on the way to the locker room. The Card players looked stunned to see it was SC fans applauding them. Maybe we learned something from Nebraska after all.
Next time, boys, shake hands and honor your opponent just the way you would if you won.
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I really enjoyed, believe it or not, calling the game at the end, due to the historical nature of the moment. Sure, I hate SC losing, but you have to admire what happened in a purely sporting way, and I hope I captured the spirit of the moment aptly on the radio call.
