FOOTBALL

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

Who believed a few weeks ago that Lincoln Riley, the master of the transfer portal and QB guru, would strike out landing any of the top quarterbacks looking to transfer?

Will Howard always looked like the best prospect for USC. Riley flew to Kansas to visit him and got Howard to make a campus visit.

But Howard committed to Ohio State on Thursday. The homers will say Howard was scared off by Miller Moss. But Ohio State is considered a better program right now and looked more attractive to Howard.

  • Riley still needs a QB. He really can’t go into 2024 with Jake Jensen as the backup. It’s tricky because you need to find someone willing to be the backup and not the starter.
  • USC has appealed proposed mixed-use apartment building at 3851 S. Grand Avenue that it says will block the Coliseum sign next to the 110 freeway.

USC notes that the Coliseum Sign has already been found eligible for local historic designation, and may now be eligible for the California Register of Historic Resources, due to its association with the 1984 Summer Olympics.

  • And now for some history:

One of the sidebars at the Rose Bowl was the appearance of Kirk Herbstreit’s dog.

But the best Rose Bowl dog story involves USC (of course). All-American offensive lineman Pete Adams, a first-round pick in the 1973 NFL Draft, took his dog to the Rose Bowl.

Pete Adams and his dog at the 1973 Rose Bowl

The one-time stray dog became a fixture around the USC football program and would run wind sprints at the end of practices with Adams. He would introduce it to female students on campus, who would say it was cute and ask its name? “Turd,” Adams would reply.

Imagine rough-and-gruff John McKay allowing a dog at practices and games.
“McKay was superstitious,” a teammate of Adams told me. “He wanted that dog around.”

The cheerleaders even took care of the dog during the Notre Dame game before he made a famous post-game appearance in the black-and-white photo below.

“I think (the dog) runs with the JV’s because he figures he can beat them in wind sprints,” McKay said. “I have the utmost respect for him.”

Adams found the dog wandering around on the Row during training camp. The dog even ate steak at the team’s training table. When cafeteria workers objected, assistant coach Marv Goux said Turd was the team mascot and could eat as much as he wanted.

  • It would not surprise me if George Tirebiter made an appearance at the Rose Bowl too but I haven’t seen anything yet.
  • Here is George getting into it with Navy mascot Bill the Goat at the Coliseum in 1949. The goat is actually not Bill but a stand-in that was brought in from a naval station in Compton.
  • In 1951, Albert R. Scroggins walked into a Los Angeles hotel and approached USC basketball player Ken Flower, who had a game that night vs. UCLA.

Scroggins didn’t know Flower but offered him $1,500 to fix the game. Flower immediately told USC assistant coach Al Conti and eventually the police were contacted. A sting was set up and Scroggins was arrested at the hotel later that day. Flower ended up playing that night.

I never heard what happened to Scroggins . . . until this week. A judge fined him $3,500 or offered him to serve a day in jail for each $10 he owed. Scroggins decided to serve the time.

In a weird twist, USC basketball coach Forrest Twogood’s brother-in-law, Torrance W. Stockman, who contacted the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office for Twogood, had a heart attack after the game.

  • The Monday Morning Quarterback lunch is another one of those traditions that disappeared in recent years as the athletic dept. became less-and-less populated with anyone who had a USC background. Imagine if Lincoln Riley were told he had to do that?

Back in 1955, the tradition was so quaint that students were encouraged to bring their lunches and attend the film sessions, free of charge.

  • USC high jumper Ernie Shelton was an NCAA champion in 1954 and 1955 and won a gold medal at the Pan American games in 1955.

Eventually, he became a celebrated sculptor. His life-sized bronze statues of Johnny Carson, Jack Benny, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences headquarters in North Hollywood, are his proudest work.

He created an eight-foot bronze of Amelia Earhart outside the Amelia Earhart Branch Library in North Hollywood and refurbished a famous statue of the actress Myrna Loy at Venice High School.

A graduate of Washington High School in Los Angeles, he also did work for Disneyland, EPCOT and Tokyo Disneyland and special effects pieces for films like “Robocop” and “Total Recall.”

USC fans will appreciate that Shelton created three of the figures for The Wild Bunch statue outside Heritage Hall.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

  • Actor Robert Duvall celebrates his 93rd birthday today. “A young actor once asked me, ‘What do you do between jobs?’ ” Duvall said, “Hobbies, hobbies and more hobbies. Keeps you off dope.”

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

  1. Of course Duvall at 93 is not concerned about money
    so he can “afford” the time to pursue hobbies and more hobbies

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    1. “Riley still needs a QB. He really can’t go into 2024 with Jake Jensen as the backup.”

      Why not go into 2024 with Jensen as the backup. He is very athletic with a good arm. Find a backup for Jensen, a 3 star high school quarterback or a junior college player.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  6. Maybe Riley will get one after the next portal window I see a Div 2 QB or JC he has no choice right now. Make the OL a cohesive unit and we will be ok.

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

      3. …The more I think about it, that termination was premature….
        #….ThanksScott!
        #[Now,He’sWorkingOnGettingLincolnCanned]

        Liked by 3 people

    2. TAULIA TAGOVAILOA is a great QB but I think Moss needs to get his chance. Besides Moss knows that offense like the back of his hand. I really think Moss is just as good as Taulia.

      Liked by 4 people

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      3. TAGOVAILOA to the portal just today. Maybe Riley sees Moss the same as you describe. Maybe Maiava as the gifted young, understudy to Moss.

        Liked by 2 people

      1. He played five games with the Crimson Tide, and 2020 was the COVID-shortened season. Because of that, Tagovailoa had an extra year of eligibility, which he used this season.

        The question mark stems from his one year at Alabama. Technically, he lost his redshirt eligibility by playing in five games, but Tagovailoa argues he played in Alabama’s season finale to honor his older brother, who was leaving school for the NFL.

        READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

        The younger Tagovailoa recorded stats in just three of those games, and threw just 12 passes in the five contests.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Here’s how I see it —we beat everybody except LSU and Michigan……
        #…AndMaybeWashington&PennState….
        #…AndNotreDame….
        #[Hey,Don’tPinMeDownLikeThat…
        #..IWasSpeakingHypothetically]…

        Liked by 3 people

  11. Scotty,

    You report “….(Ohio State) looked more attractive to Howard”
    Is that what Will Howard told you or another reporter? Or is this your assumption? If it was your assumption, why would a trained, professional reporter not state so in the article or just add “it appears” prior to that phrase?

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  12. I welcome anything that ‘blocks’ or better yet results in the demolition of that cheap ‘moderne’ joke of a sign….another knick off of the larger joke in the Angel Stadium pkg lot.

    Liked by 1 person

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  13. MG
    True….8-5 is not a career ending year. But it is definitely a set back. When he came to SC everyone thought of him as one of the best coaches in the country. That reputation ha certainly been tarnished.

    Liked by 1 person

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