Nothing Wrong With End Of USC, UCLA Game
Both teams played hard for a full 60 minutes. And the problem is what?
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LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 28: Pete Carroll (C) of the USC Trojans celebrates with Jeff Byers #53 after Damian Williams #18 wide receiver of the USC Trojans scored a 48-yard touchdown pass after UCLA Bruins called a time out with one minute remaining in the NCAA college football game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on November 28, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Pete Carroll;Jeff Byers;Damian Williams
The most interesting two plays in this year's USC/UCLA game came when the outcome was decided.
It was 21-7 USC, with 54 seconds left, and USC had the ball. There’s a unwritten protocol to the end of football games: The winning team will not try to run up the score, and the losing team will not extend the game on and on. And that’s just what USC tried to do: Quarterback Matt Barkley took a knee, and he was going to have to take another one in 35 seconds to just run the clock out.
But this is a rivalry game. Why should protocol be followed? UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel was not playing along with the game. He called a timeout. He sent a message to his team never to give up.
Pete Carroll, walking the other sidelines with his headset off — the victory cigar for a football coach — said fine, you don’t want to play by convention, neither will we. He called for a long pass downfield, something UCLA’s defense was not ready for. The result was a 48-yard touchdown from Barkley to Damian Williams. Final score, 28-7 Trojans.
The next morning, the USC and UCLA message boards were lighting up with anger at the other team? Why would USC run up the score like that? Didn’t UCLA have it coming? Got to love a rivalry — it’s always the other teams fault.
To the rest of us, it looked like football. The way it should be in a rivalry game. You don’t give up, you play a full 60 minutes, you run until the whistle blows. It’s that what we tell young players from pee-wee football on up? And if you rub a little salt in the wounds of your rival along the way, well, that’s just fine.
There was nothing wrong with the way Saturday’s game ended that was football. And if it carries a little bad blood over to next year’s game at the Rose Bowl, that’s what a rivalry game should be doing anyway.
