FOOTBALL

USC Picture Of The Night

Since I wrote about George Achica in Friday’s column, here’s an excellent photo of his most famous USC moment, as he blocked Norm Johnson’s 46-yard field-goal attempt to preserve the Trojans’ 22-21 victory.

Achica missed the previous two series with a slightly separated shoulder but Marv Goux put him back in for the field goal. Charles Ussery and Dennis Edwards went low to open a hole for Achica.

The photo was taken by Sports Illustrated’s Peter Read Miller, a former USC student who took photos for the school yearbook.

36 thoughts on “USC Picture Of The Night”

  1. Great job, Scottie!

    From Sports Illustrated’s story on the game, check this about Marv Goux, who won the game as much as anyone:

    “Assistant Head Coach Marv Goux spent the week scrutinizing film of UCLA’s kicking unit. He detected Bruin Right Guard Mike Mason went into a wider-than-normal split on kicks, so Goux shifted his three interior defensive linemen to Mason’s side. Right Tackle Charles Ussery played head-up on Center Russ Rowell, Left Tackle Dennis Edwards shaded toward Mason, and Nose Guard Achica, who had missed the previous two series because of a slightly separated shoulder, came off the bench to line up between the two. On the snap, Ussery and Edwards lunged low, like blockers opening a hole for Achica. With his left hand, the only one attached to a functioning arm, raised in the air, Achica swatted the football—and the Rose Bowl dream—right back at the deflated Bruins. Said Johnson, “I heard the thump…thump, and I knew it was all over.”

    Terry Donahue, after the game: “I don’t know if I ever want to try to beat USC again.”

    I believe after that game, he was 1-5 or 1-6 against USC.

    #DingGoesTheVicBell

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    1. Terry Donahue was hired on the cheap by JD Morgan at age 32 and was allowed to learn on the job. The yearly beat downs continued until a fluke pass tipped by Trojan DB Jeff Fisher somehow landed in Freeman McNeil’s hands to give Donahue his first win 20-17 against John Robinson’s Trojans in 1980, otherwise the ruins would have gone 0-6 against SC under Donahue before the NCAA gutted us and the ruins won the next 3 games from 82-84.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

    2. Well, to give a balanced presentation, Donahue did go 10-9-1 against SC in his 20-year sucla career. He couldn’t beat SC during Troy’s 1970s run, but after that he owned the Trojans.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. True, Donahue flourished after the NCAA decimated the football program with the 3 year probation precipitating the exit of John Robinson and Marv Goux. The loss of Goux to the program was especially devastating.
        https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jul-28-me-goux28-story.html

        To Terry Donahue’s credit, he took advantage of the probation limitations on our program to make inroads in inner city recruiting and his OL and DL were much improved. Donahue’s successor Bob Tubolardo was lazy and wanted to recruit out of the then backwaters of Ventura County/ Canyon Country close to his home, lost the inner city connections to bring in the big uglies and the ruins have stunk ever since. Even when SC was on probation from 2012-2014 and was going through all the coaching drama, the ruins blew their chance to gain parity with the Trojans. The Ducks, Utes and the Indians benefited the most from our travails this decade while the ruins have become as bad a football program as Oregon State.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. John,
        Rule#1 on this site—never even mention the phrase “balanced presentation”………
        #….OtherThanThatThereAreNoRules

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Gotroy22,

        That’s interesting about Toledo wanting to focus only on the Ventura County Area. Had he been a little more motivated with recruiting and building relationships he could have set up some great pipelines for UCLA.

        One notable school could have been with JSerra who has a football coach and now head coach who was a Bruin – Scott Altenberg.

        UCLA missed out on some great JSerra players who went on to USC.

        #USC-UCLA1965-KurtAltenberg

        Liked by 1 person

  3. I’ve seen pics and videos of this moment but never have I seen one where the view is from behind the UCLA line. It’s always from behind the west end of the Coliseum. Great, great photo.

    #LooksBetterWithBothTeamsWearingHomeColors,Too

    Liked by 4 people

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    1. This is such great news, Pudly. The only sentence that scared me was the one that read, “this would be an institutional decision.”
      #TheDecisionToRetainHeltonWas”Institutional”

      Liked by 3 people

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      1. I believe that emmert knows that the little college towns, backwater as some are and the counties and states they reside in would sue him and the ncaa into oblivion if he tried to keep schools from playing football.

        Liked by 3 people

      2. “Sue Emmert and the NCAA into oblivion.” Such a lovely & intriguing phrase, Pudly. With your permission, I’m going to say it again…..
        #”SueEmmert&NCAAIntoOblivion…..”
        #..Ah…..

        Liked by 3 people

      3. Pudly — Just when I think you can’t outdo yourself, you bring back Madeline Albright — the only woman in the world more hawkish on unnecessary wars than Hillary [“What’s the use of having the most powerful military in the world if we don’t use it?…”]…….
        #It’sGonnaBeHardToTopThis……
        #[….UnlessYou’veGotAPhotoOfSamanthaPowerHandy]….

        Liked by 2 people

    1. The guy that made that touchdown-saving goal line tackle [and, later, jumped up from a missed tackle and sacked the QB] isn’t slow footed or slow witted. The video’s less than a minute and a half, watch it again…..

      Liked by 4 people

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      1. As is usually the case with t-bone, he knows more than ALL the college recruiting analysts. And we all know, t-bone’s never been wrong or exaggerated the truth.

        Thank God for the little things, like t-bones mind and dinkie…

        Liked by 3 people

      2. Today’s statement from To was even more foolish that the one from about 9-12 months ago in which he claimed that a ranking of colleges that placed Cal State Long Beach ahead of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and USC should be believed.

        He disappeared after that for several months. He posts some good vintage USC game footage which I enjoy. But his posts can be completely ridiculous.

        Liked by 3 people

  6. “Slow Footed and slow witted.”

    “Slow footed and slow witted.”

    Really??? Same Korey Foreman who is top-rated recruit in the country??

    From the high school combine per LA Times, in which Foreman was ranked the TOP defensive linemen in the competition:

    “Foreman was the group’s supreme talent. The Corona Centennial sophomore was selected defensive lineman MVP of the camp after showing he was the top athlete and top player at his position.
    The Opening regionals feature a combine that measures a player’s athleticism including the 40-yard dash, 20-yard shuttle, vertical jump and a kneeling throw of a six-pound medicine ball. Each player is given an “athletic football rating” that factors in each of the tests along with a player’s size.
    Foreman produced the top rating among offensive and defensive linemen, running the 40-yard dash the fastest and having the fourth-best vertical jump of the nearly 50 linemen. He also had one of the 10 best shuttle times. Foreman’s power ball throw was best among linemen and second-best of the more than 800 athletes who participated Sunday in the testing.
    Foreman also dominated the one-on-one pass rush period, routinely blowing by offensive linemen. He used his speed and spin move to get by larger offensive linemen, prompting the offensive coaches to make a switch. During the final repetitions that pit the best against the best, the coaches tried a smaller, quicker blocker against Foreman. It didn’t end well for the offense. Foreman powered straight through the lineman to get into the backfield.”

    See ya.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

      1. MG
        You might want to be more reserved with your opinions. Seems you have caused ‘S'(so named by his mommy so that remembering one letter wouldn’t stress him out) to take a hard stand against your courtroom expertise. And there’s more: ‘S’ has suggested where you can go. MG, now we have something in common.

        ‘S’ is filling in for mule while the library is closed.

        #Ain’tThatPrecious

        Liked by 3 people

  8. When Foreman decommitted from Clemson, Dabo said “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out”.

    Clemson never even tried to change his mind about staying. That should tell you all you need to know, but a lot of you are slow witted as well.

    LOL!

    Like

    Reply

    1. Are you still sticking to Cal State Long Beach ranked ahead of Harvard? That argument didn’t end so well for you, did it?

      Don’t take too long to answer, Mr. Fast Wit. It is amusing to watch you double and triple-down on sheer absurdity. How are those bruin sites treating you?

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      2. Hey half-wit, you might want to go back and read the article again, then you might understand the summatiion.

        The more you reference the article the more stupid you make yourself out to be.

        Like

      3. Michael, what do you call a person who enjoys having 2 “kick me” signs pasted on his backside, one in cardinal and gold and one in “ucla blue” (used to be “powder puff blue” ) and “ucla gold”?

        #EqualOpportunityAss?

        Liked by 3 people

      4. 67,
        Hilarious. {George McFly walking down the long hallway of Hill Valley High School in “Back To The Future”, getting kicked in the ass every 2 feet….”what the heck?!”]……

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Ha! Reminds me of Danny Jacobs’ (unfair) description of fighting Sergio Mora: “It’s like fighting your little brother —- it’s not like a real fight.”

        Liked by 3 people

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