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USC Morning Buzz: Teach Some Rivalry Lessons, Please

I understand that Donte Williams is over his head trying to be interim coach, especially when he gets no help from his coordinators.

But then defensive end Nick Figueroa made this comment to the L.A. Times: “The rest of this season aside, you win this game, it’s a successful year.”

Figueroa is a JC transfer so I don’t expect him to be an expert on the Crosstown Rivalry. But USC never bases its season on how it did vs. UCLA.

UCLA does. There used to be some Bruin boosters who would send the media a Christmas card with the score of the game (if UCLA won) no matter how the team’s record was. And when Bob Toledo was the coach, the practice field wall had a City champs reference with the years UCLA beat USC. Can you imagine USC ever doing that? Maybe it would with its juvenile social media team but hopefully not.

But no one has taught Figueroa (or probably many others on the team) that USC has two archrivals and the season is not a success if you lose to one. The Rose Bowl is a successful season for USC. Not a win over 6-4 UCLA.

It reminds me of that dumb comment Steve Sarkisian made in 2014.

“First of all, it was a total success. We won nine games, we were Holiday Bowl champions,” he said.

This was after losing 38-20 to UCLA. He lost four games that season. He beat an average Notre Dame team. Holiday Bowl champions? Since when was that success?

Maybe we can get Marv Goux’s ghost to show up in the locker room to shake some of these players until they realize what defines success as a Trojan.

46 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Teach Some Rivalry Lessons, Please”

    1. Donte might he grew up in the backyard of USC, but he doesn’t know how to pour piss out of a boot with the directions stamped on the heel.
      Maybe Helton’s babies will play up to their potential now that they know daddy has a new gig.
      (Not a chance)

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  4. This game spelled the death of the Superfan. Giles Pellrin attended 797 consecutive USC games and died at the Rose Bowl when USC was losing 34-17 in 1998. The Trojans were at a low point and the poor man’s heart stopped.
    Nobody will ever forget the Bruin surrender uniforms, or the time out after USC took a knee only to have the quarterback drop back and fling a touchdown. Those games are forever in my mind

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    1. If Batman was right when he told Joker, “the moment before dying lasts forever”, the 1998 Rose Bowl game really does go on forever for Giles Perrin.
      #MaybeBetterForTrojanFansToHaveAllCheckedOutIn2004

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      2. Oh yeah MG – much better to watch replays of better days while waiting for the hoped for return of…whether Sam going over the top 4 times against Woody, or the Robespierring of Rudy Carpenter in 2007…much better than anything tarnished by G(a/o)mer or his ilk…

        Liked by 2 people

      3. …and, after a couple of bottles, it’s easy to convince yourself you’re watching the USC/Oklahoma National Championship game for the first time..
        #ThisIsSOExciting!
        #[WonderWhoWins]?

        Liked by 3 people

  5. I don’t care how this season turns out, I’m just delighted that Clay Helton is gone. Can you imagine if he stayed, and won 7 or 8 games, the misery would have continued until his contract expired. Let’s focus on the new hire, and recruiting, because this season is a wash.

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    1. Recruiting this year is going to suck but the transfer portal is vital to whoever gets hired, lots of players on this team need to be purged and replaced and you can’t do that with recruiting alone.

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      1. Lots of USC presidents and board members and athletic directors need to be purged too…..
        #…AndThisCan’tBeDoneThruRecruitingEither

        Liked by 7 people

    1. for me ,since 1951,beating ucla is an essential part of a successful season…losing to them leaves another hole in my heart…so there are a lot of band aids there…

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  7. Back in the day, what made the rivalry unique is that many of the best players were from the city – few if any of the top LA and SoCal recruits got away. They knew each other, having played against each other in high school and having grown up together. Now, many are leaving the state to play elsewhere.

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    2. 67 — It may be a plus that our players are from Texas. The usual L.A. versus L.A. intensity might be missing on UCLA’s part…
      #Yeah…I’mGraspingAtStraws

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      2. Michael,

        There are other brothers that have played against each other. You have the Moores and just last year you had the Vaughns, Tyler for USC and Jon Jon, #21, for ugly. This rivalery is special for LA. Too bad the coaches and players don’t care.

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  8. I 100% agree with all you statements today Scott.
    Clay Helton, is the one who use to piss me off when all he talked about is winning the Pac 12 South. We must all remember none of these guys know how special USC is, and most of the coaches, and Athletic Director came from losing programs like Texas Tech, Houston, Memphis, North Texas State, Kansas, and Washington State to name a few. All were programs where going 7-5 is a great season, and a .500 or worse season is all that is expected.

    A complete culture change is needed here…….we need to bring in some coaches, and an athletic director who come from traditional winning programs.

    For UCLA 6-4 is a tremendous season not at USC that is the big difference in the programs. We need a coach who sets goals for a national championship like Mckay, and recruits players that can compete with Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, and Ohio State. The coaches we have now are just trying to compete in the Pac 12, and the Pac 12 has been a mediocre conference the last few years in football.

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  9. I’ve thought about it a lot & I’m now glad we won’t have Bru McCoy or Kenan Christon for the UCLA game. I’ve adopted the thinking of the German General who, upon being told there was no more gasoline for German tanks, said “I don’t need gasoline to defeat the Americans!”

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  11. DISAGREE— WE NEED ALL THE GAS AND ALL THE TANKS TO DEFEAT UCLA- EXCEPT MIKE BOHN, CAROL FOLT, CLAY HELTON, AND OF COURSE WONDER BOY- GRAHAM HARRELL.

    BRU McCoy and Kenan have been definitely missed this year. Both are good football players.

    NO NEED FOR CIGAR STORE INDIAN ADMINISTRATORS ……WE NEED SOLDIERS WHO WILL FIGHT ON FOR ALL 4 QUARTERS.

    My concern is perhaps Bohn and Folt have told Donte that if you beat UCLA Saturday your hired as the next football coach at USC, but your current salary will remain the same.

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    1. Just so we’re clear, tommyd:
      I wasn’t being serious.
      #WithDrakeOutWeAbsolutelyNeedBru…..
      #WeDon’tHaveONEReceiverUCLAFears…
      #[AndIfYou’reRunningAirRaidThat’sABitOfAProblem]…..

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  12. I STRONG DISAGREE- WE NEED ALL THE GAS, AND ALL THE TANKS WE CAN GET TO BEAT UCLA. BRU McCoy and Kenan have been missed tremedously this year especially with so many injuries on the team.

    We need soldiers to defeat UCLA this time not CIGAR STORE INDIANS like Helton, Bohn, Folt, and Wonder Boy Graham Harrell.

    What scares me is Folt and Bohn are dumb enough to tell Donte today the following: ” If you defeat UCLA on Saturday you will be hired as the next head football coach at USC, BUT your salary will remain the same.

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  13. I would say that USC must sign a great coach this time around. Anything less will be a massive failure for the program. We only have 8 recruits and one of them is a kicker. That leaves us with really only 7 recruits who are real football players. If we get a great coach, that will change fast and we will still finish fairly high this year in recruiting. Players that are still available will sign and some may decommit from other programs to come to SoCal. If we get another mediocre coach, we might end up with only about 10 recruits and a mediocre coach. Michigan State is about to give Mel Tucker a 10 year $95 million extension. There is no way SC will pay that kind of money. So Mike Bohn is going to have to try and sell the program on the other advantages that SC has. We’ll see what kind of a salesman he is.

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      1. He had better be a good saleman(a fast talking Cal Worthington), because he won’t have a lot of money from this university to back him up.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Don’t worry about Mike Bohn, parcelman. He can always fall back on his presumed personal choice for D-Coordinator, Todd Orlando.
        #OrHisACTUALChoiceForInterim,DonteWilliams

        Liked by 1 person

  14. Imagine if we had canned Helton two years ago and hired Dave Aranda as HC instead of coordinator. Everyone would have said Aranda didnt have the experience to be HC at USC.

    I think we need to identify the best possible football mind, the guy who can be the Nick Saban of the West Coast and make him our head coach. I dont care if that is a current HC or not. Sometimes you need to take a chance, but you also need to stop playing the game where you hire some coach who is on a hot win streak, but who is not really a great HC.

    Aranda is more than a flash in the pan and will be one of the winningest coaches over the coming decade.

    If we dont get him, then we should blame Bohn, Folt and Caruso.

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    1. I don’t wanna sound like a whiner —but I’m gonna blame Bohn and Folt even IF we DO get him….
      #AlwaysWorksForMe…

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  15. TIME FOR PRESIDENT FOLT TO PARDON:

    1) BRU McCoy—–needs to be reinstated before he transfers to UCLA in disgust.
    2) Kenon Christian- (the track team needs him this spring, and so does the football team next fall. This guy has the speed at running back we are missing.

    Both these kids need to treated better. Both made mistakes, and have already paid for it.

    Carol………maybe we need to lock you up along with Mike Bohn for failure to let Clay Helton go earlier, and even more importantly ruining our football program.

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  16. Mike Bohn= Cal Worthington………..Mike is a car salesman not an athletic director, and needs to “Go See Cal” for a job.

    REASON: Mr. Bohn is the one who hired these terrible assistant coaches we have from Texas, and a strong AD would have replaced Helton much sooner.

    How in the world can we expect Bohn to recruit and hire a great football coach when he can’t even hire any assistants after taking that job away from Uncle Fester- Clay Helton.

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    1. I’m afraid your question answers itself, tommyd…
      #WeCAN’TTrustBohn
      #[CostelloIn”Abott&CostelloMeetDracula”…
      #…..”IHaveABadFeelingAboutThis”]…..

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  17. If I’m the President of USC I tell Mike Bohn you have been here at USC now for two years other than overpaying for a women’s basketball coach what have you accomplished.

    We hired our football coach in September please give me a list of your top 5 candidates, and how many of them have you actually interviewed. You told me our goal was to have a new football coach by December 1, 2021. Where are we at on this new hire? Why are you paying for a search organization when it’s your job to recruit, interview, and hire the right football coach for this university.

    We need a football coach Mike!! Attendance is slipping fast, boosters, alums, and fans are all laughing at us. We need to generate revenue in football or the ship will sink. All our boosters are telling me USC is not the same place it use to be so they are no longer going to give us money which will make both you and I look bad, and might cost us our jobs.

    Well………if only we had a School President that micro-manages, and holds Mr. Bohn accountable for all his decisions and daily actions. Unfortunately, at this period of time this is not the case here at USC, and USC will need to fire two birds from the same cage that are very much alike.

    Anyone remember that movie “Dumb and Dumber”with Jim Carey. Very funny movie that fits USC right now- Carol Folt -Dumb, and Mike Bohn is ever Dumber.

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    1. Mike Bohn answers tommyd:
      “Where are we? I’ll tell ya exactly where we are — we’re within 90 days of picking a blue ribbon search committee! And then we’re off and running!”

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  18. nag nag nag…what a nit picker…
    beating ucla has always been a big thing and almost as big as ND.
    Losing to either ,or both is a less than successful season.,and the holiday bowl points that out…at least it is not a disaster like the last few yrs,incl this one.
    With a folt at the top …whatta’ya’expect.

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  19. “First of all, it was a total success. We won nine games, we were Holiday Bowl champions.”

    In common parlance this is what is known as “polishing a turd.”

    Liked by 2 people

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