FOOTBALL

If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column

Is there really a Pac-12 championship game tonight? At the Coliseum?

I’ve lost sense of time and this season feels weird with just six regular-season games.

Who wins the game?

I don’t think USC will play a team with as much talent as itself this season, including a bowl game.

But I give Oregon a decent chance of winning this game and I am picking the Ducks, 35-34.

  • The key might be how often Oregon fumbles. The Ducks fumbled seven times in five games, which is too high to win games consistently.
  • Former USC wide receiver Devon Williams starts at wide receiver for Oregon. Do you think he is motivated to play?
  • If Oregon has a wild-card, it’s how often quarterback Tyler Shough runs the ball. USC’s defense has not really faced a running QB and Shough is not afraid to run. He’s been successful at it with 256 yards in 52 carries.
  • The question is whether Shough can bounce back from a poor performance against Cal two weeks ago.
  • Oregon’s defense is more healthy than it’s been most of the season and has had two weeks to prepare for this game.
  • It looks like one of USC’s long-time records will be snapped. Since 1929, the Trojans have appeared in the Rose Bowl during the term of every U.S. President.
  • This season saw the earliest kickoff for a USC game (9 a.m.), the second Sunday night game in school history, the latest start to a season since World War I (also caused by a pandemic) and disruptions to several long-time series (Cal, Stanford, Notre Dame).
  • When people talk about USC’s easy schedule this season, compare it to 1969, when the Trojans went undefeated against five-ranked teams. USC tied No. 5 Notre Dame in South Bend, defeated No. 9 Michigan in the Rose Bowl, defeated No. 11 Nebraska in Lincoln, beat No. 13 UCLA and beat No. 19 Stanford.
  • Did you see former USC wide receiver JuJu Smith-Shuster’s foundation, and the nonprofit Pay Away the Layaway, reportedly paid the bill on $12,500 of layaway goods at Burlington Coat Factory in Compton that helped 88 families.
  • There’s been some shuffling on the USC Board of Trustees. Lakers owner Jeanie Buss is no longer a voting member but an honorary member of the board. Alan Casden, who had been a long-time member of the board, is no longer listed.
  • And now for some history:

How much would you pay to attend this USC coaches’ clinic in 1959?

You have the “offensive and defensive drills” by John McKay and “new ideas in defense” by Al Davis.

The truth is USC assistant coach Ray George might have been a bigger draw at the time at his “offensive guard techniques” session. George was an actual member of the Thundering Herd teams of 1937-39 and one of the greatest linemen in USC history. He played on the 1938 team that upset top-ranked Notre Dame and previously unbeaten and unscored-upon Duke in the 1939 Rose Bowl.

He later became the head coach at Texas A&M and beat coaching legends Bud Wilkinson (Oklahoma), Red Sanders (UCLA) and Bear Bryant (Kentucky).

The clinic highlights for me would be the “Coke break” at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

  • Yesterday, I wrote about USC’s big victory over UCLA in 1952. One of the heroes was unheralded sophomore Mario DaRe, who got his big break when Bob Van Doren was unable to play in UCLA game because of concussion. DaRe stepped in at defensive right tackle and performed in great fashion.
  • Mario’s brother was actor Aldo Ray, who the same year had a starring role in “Pat and Mike” with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Ray had third billing for the movie.
Pat and Mike Poster

Ray also starred with Humphrey Bogart (We’re No Angels) in 1955 and John Wayne (The Green Berets) in 1968 among his many roles.

He used to attend USC football practices without fanfare to watch his brother. “He was a nice guy and never asked for special favors,” a former USC athletic dept. employee told me.

46 thoughts on “If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column”

  1. Yes, this was the original championship game we expected. I am looking forward to this game. Will SC put it all together and play 4 quarters and get revenge from last year’s blowout? Or will this be another disappointing Helton led big game. I think this is a decent Oregon team. A convincing win tonight could get a good bowl game against a top opponent outside of the playoff. We will see tonight! I am being positive and hopeful for a well played game by the Trojans, but with Helton in charge that often leads to disappointment!

    Liked by 5 people

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      1. Truman
        tebowobama
        1d ago
        Rut Roh, TO if the shot is kicked out of USC and you’re the top of the turd, I be happy to send you a roll of toilet paper. Don’t let the anal sphincter hit you on your way out.

        Liked by 2 people

  2. Today is a red letter day for Scott. If anything at all goes wrong during the game he’s set for a month of columns. “Larry Scott to blame for fiasco of league championship. ” ” Helton has the team ready to play pee-wee football as the Trojans gets creamed. ” “Owns charges the field to celebrate the Oregon victory – fired from his security guard post at coliseum.”
    ” A deranged contributor, to an obscure blog about USC football, was captured outside the coliseum wearing what appeared to be a homemade exploding vest. The vest, actually made out of toilet paper rolls and duct tape was harmless. The man, identified as Charles A. Bucket was held for observation, later committed to a psychiatric hospital. He was yelling Owns let me in, let me in through the fence. He was later diagnosed with multiple personalities centered on one name, ‘Expletive You’ , and he kept muttering about go 22 troy faggot sucker cocks. He should be held until investigators finish in his mother’s basement. ”
    And those headlines will keep feeding the blog of America’s…um California’s …um Los Angeles ‘ …um Rialto’s favorite blogger.

    Liked by 5 people

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    2. Now, how do you think our old friend Charlie felt when he got up this morning, took a sip of coffee and read this, Dude?
      #IfWeNeverHearFromCharlieAgain…..
      #….It’sOnYou….
      #[…AndGT…AndPudly…And67….AndCal75….AndMe…..Etc.]

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      2. I didn’t know Casden. [This problem with campaign contributions in L. A. city races goes way back. I remember when I was running for City Attorney being asked whether I thought Mayor Bradley (actually a good man) should go to jail for exceeding some campaign contribution limit…and I said “Why, should he? They’re all doing it. Maybe he should just give it back and join me in insisting everybody stop as of now’]…..
        #LooksLikeNothingMuchHasChangedInL.A.

        Liked by 3 people

      3. Nah Charlie’s good I’m just trying to win a lifetime supply of Wonka bars. If you mention his name in a post you’re entered.

        Liked by 3 people

      1. Charlie Bucket and his sock puppets like FU and senileobama….

        Truman
        10h ago
        I know this site has a moderator because I know posts disappear. Sadly in a day or so the important points of the post show up as new ideas from Scot (spelled wrong to avoid moderator interference) however you can see that the trojandude207 post is authentic. Each email generates a new avitar. Look at ‘Fuck You’ posts. At 2:24 am (post time) she has a golden avitar. At 3:35 am she has a lavender avatar. Finally at 3:58 am she has a red avitar. That’s 3 email addresses for one name. Can I get a troll call operator?

        Liked by 3 people

      1. Bruin Rob, STFU you fat unemployable sub six Fake News CNN quoting loser.

        trojnfn4
        50m ago
        Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the artist formerly known as BruinRob. Much like Charlie Bucket, A.K.A. Tebowbama, BruinRob has had a long and infamous career posting his constant BS on this blog, beginning around 2009. Here are some of the career lowlights of BruinRob. *BruinRob is a long time resident of Cerritos and has been employed at the Cerritos McDonald’s for quite some time. He is a three time Golden Spatula winner and has enrolled in just about every class at Cerritos C.C., without earning that elusive Associate Arts Degree.

        *BruinRob spends a lot of his time touting the greatness of UCLA, despite the fact that he’s never attended the school, aside from never attending a UCLA basketball/football game, even though tickets are relatively easy to come by. *BruinRob really came into his own during the 2011 season.

        After the epic 50-0 beatdown of USC, BruinRob claimed that he and his “two kids” were verbally and physically harassed before, during, and after the game. *Two weeks later, BruinRob claimed that he and his “girlfriend” were going to drive in a convertible up the 101 to San Francisco to see UCLA get thumped by Illinois in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

        It was during this time that BruinRob got exposed by a 12 year old for his DateMeLA profile. A link was posted and on that site there was BruinRob in all of his glory. All types of anti-USC propaganda and a portrait of BruinRob in a grey suit.

        By the looks of it, he goes around 5’7″-245 lbs.

        *For two seasons after that, BruinRob did exact some revenge on USC when Brett Hundley single handedly tore USC up three games in a row. This is when BruinRob changed his name to “UCLAOwnsLA”, mimicking the UCLA flavor of the month coach Jim Mora.

        He soon changed it to his current monicker of “JustOwns” after USC sent UCLA and Josh Rosen packing three years in a row. *BruinRob’s anti USC dystopia hit an all time high shortly after it was announced that USC would be playing Penn State in the 2017 Rose Bowl.

        He went on an all day rant about how the Bowl Selection Committee was violating their own rules by choosing USC over Colorado, who just lost the Pac-12 title game to UW. He conveniently left out the fact that USC beat both Colorado and UW that season.

        *But this was nothing compared to the Mother of all Meltdowns during the fourth quarter of the 2017 Rose Bowl. I was at that epic comeback and when I got back home I read this blog and let me tell you, BruinRob was strutting around like a Bantam Rooster during the Third Quarter. But as the Fourth Quarter began winding down, you saw him going absolutely haywire, culminating when USC won in the final seconds.

        *After that, BruinRob seemed to disappear for some time, keeping a really low profile. But now with USC sucking hind tit so to speak, he’s back spewing his constant garbage. FIGHT ON!

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      1. Today, I’ll be happy winning… we’ve had a short week, not knowing until Tuesday pm who we’d be playing while the quacks have been preparing for this game for two weeks. This is no excuse. I expect to be happy‼️
        💥💥✌🏾✌️✌🏾💥

        Liked by 3 people

      2. We might actually win that kind of game, gt. Oregon 550 yards, USC 650 yards.
        #ButWeNeedSpecialTeamsToStopRunBacks….
        #[LastYearTheyTookTheGameOff…InABigWay]….

        Liked by 3 people

  4. Scottie, you laid an egg with your prediction that ucla will win.

    Trojans have more talent, the kids seem really motivated, there is more leadership on the field now than in the past, and they should be able to above Clay and win.

    Trojans 38, Quackers 27

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. I agree with Scott —it’s about turnovers. But not Oregon’s —ours. Stepp can’t fumble on 4th and goal — Kedon needs to be careful on those sideline patterns.
      #IfWeHoldOnToBall,WeWin

      Liked by 3 people

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      2. Man, I hope Oregon plays to form….
        #ButWeCan’tBetOnIt…
        #HaveToBeReadyForOregon’sBestGame
        #WeStillBeat’EmIfWePlayOurBestGame
        #[OurBestIsBetterThanTheirBest]

        Liked by 3 people

    2. Okay this has to be the official explanation to the time stamp, but please don’t tell him I told you: Scott has retired to London where the time is 8 hours ahead except on Wednesday when it rains. So given that he has not changed the time on his computer to PST we see it as London time. And Speaking of Drake, do you think he’ll catch on?

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  6. Hey ‘67, here’s a short bio of one of our DL kids that just signed.. this past two classes (if we get Korey) will solidify our defensive line for years. And this includes Pepe who played the nose for SJB for years. 💪💪

    Liked by 3 people

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    2. Them’s the rules we don’t like it, but it’s a take it or leave it ND in the semifinal or no ND in the semifinal you choose but choose wisely.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. Like

  8. “It looks like one of USC’s long-time records will be snapped. Since 1929, the Trojans have appeared in the Rose Bowl during the term of every U.S. President.”

    DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Look at Charlie Bucket hijack my account. Only a Corrupt Lying Pervert Moderator can do that….

      I love that Charlie Bucket was outed!

      BWWWWWWWWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Trojandude207
      1d ago
      Well this IS interesting. I am not sure if this site is for me anymore. Each email address used generates a unique symbol that represents the email address. One person on this page has 10 such symbols generated for his username. That is some next level trolling. And none of messages upon this thread has anything to do with the the purpose of the thread. It has developed into a prepubescent name calling.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Normally I bow to every snarky comment Wolf ever utters but it appears this time he simply hasn’t read any of the credible information I have been posting here that makes it quite obvious that the Trojans will indeed have at least four more chances to play in a Rose Bowl game during the term of our current wonderful and handsome president.
        Scott, you are forgiven this time but do your research! I’ve laid it all out for you.

        Like

  9. Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. Props to JuJu for paying off the layaway. Props to the parents in in Compton for spending less than $150 per family for Holiday cheer in these lean times.
    Also lets make peace with Owns and Charlie Bucket we need them during Basketball season to say, “Thanks Enfield”
    “TO” and “FY ” we don’t need so much because I don’t need politics in a sports blog and drinking chicken soup through a straw is stupid so sucking cockerels isn’t a good idea also I do not see how anyone is a bundle of sticks, cigarette or bassoon so who’s a faggot according to the Richardnary?

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  11. Ray Geroge was a stud. I know thais for a fact because he went ot my high school, way before me though. Had to be smart as well. The high school is, Loyola High, located at 1901n Venice Blvd., L.A., CA.

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  12. I saw on the college football show today that they thought it could be USC vs Oklahoma in the Fiesta. That would not be a bad one.

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