After Watching Replays of the 1979 and 1980’s Rose Bowls

I have come to the conclusion that there has never been a worse football announcer than O J Simpson
At least they had the good sense to move him down to the sideline in 1980

Great watching Charlie White, Marcus, Ronnie Lott etc

That 79 team is IMO the most talented team in history with only the 2001 Miami team in the conversation

 

Ha, I’m watching old Pete era games from my dvd collection.

 

I still think that the 2004 USC team is the best college football team that I’ve ever seen take the field.

 

Not even close as far as the level of talent though.
That 79 team had 5 NFL Hall of Fame players, another couple of College HOFers and probably close to 70 Pro Bowls

But I don’t disagree how good they were. Hard to compare eras too

 

Only bad luck kept 79 team from being undefeated with that roster, that’s why they play games

 

21-0 halftime lead and you end up in a tie, SMH

 

IMO the '79 team had the most talent but the best TEAM was 1972. I still think the '79 team under performed.

 

Yes, it is but during the current 85 scholarship limit era. USC's 78 -79 teams were the last transition remnants of the 105 scholarships stockpiled talented USC teams of the '70s. In 1978 scholarships were reduced to 95, which is still a huge advantage over the 2004 team that indeed had an impressive roster. Imagine what Pete Carroll would have done with 105 scholarships or even better, pre-1972 TitleIX when schools could offer as many scholarships as they could afford. Yep, a different era ; )

 

I wasn't even born in 1972, but I believe Keith Jackson called the '72 Trojans the best college football team he'd ever seen.

2004 was one awesome team.

I think 2008 might've been better from a raw talent standpoint, though. 2008 is what 2003-2005 looks like without a true phenomenon like Reggie Bush.

 

That team was a GREAT team and remains my all-time favorite USC team. I was 16, and my Dad took me to the 1980 Rose Bowl. Our seats were in the end zone -- the same end zone that Charlie White flipped up and over the tOSU defense for the game winner with about a minute left in the game. It was after that moment that I knew that I wanted to attend USC.

 

And I think Elway got hurt and didn't play the second half. We still had a chance to win on a last second FG but the snap was bad.

btw, Pete Carroll was one of the tosu coaches in the 80 Rose Bowl game.

The last drive of the 80 Rose Bowl was classic SC football. JRob reportedly told Hackett that if he called a pass play he was fired. He only called run plays and Charles White was fantastic.

 

Elway was a True Freshman that year and usually only played in the fourth quarter. He didn’t play a snap in that game. It was Turk Schonert all the way I believe

 

ABC once him AND Namath in the booth at the same time. Scary shit

 

Up until 1995, Sagarin had USC '72 9th all-time. An old book I remember reading "The Sporting News College Football's 25 Greatest Teams" had USC '72 ranked fourth all-time.

 

I'll go with 1972.

 

I believe it was Turk Shonert. I was at that game and it was painful. SC should have blown them out.

 

I'm 99 percent sure you're right. I was at that game. The 1 percent is due to CRS Syndrome.

 

They may well have been the best team, but I was only 7 yrs old at the time and my memories of them are limited. I remember Anthony Davis, that USC didn’t lose that year, and I watched them beat Ohio St. in the Rose Bowl. And I remember my Dad saying they were the best team in college football. That’s about it.

 

Whenever I get (SC football) depressed I like to watch those '79 and '80 teams play. "Charles White Rolls the Tide" (SI cover) is my most cathartic hark back. There's just not enough tape of those golden years.

 

The way I remember it, Turk Schonert played the 1st half and was very ineffective, so they put the true freshman John Elway in the 2nd half, and he led them back.