FOOTBALL

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

USC released its depth chart on Thursday night and as expected it didn’t really solve the right guard position, as it lists sophomore Alani Noa “or” freshman Amos Talalele as the starter.

Maybe a mild surprise is at defensive tackle, where the starter is listed as Wyoming-transfer Gavin Meyer “or” Bear Alexander. You mean despite all the hype and media fawning, Alexander has not locked up a starting spot?

  • Another concern (to me) is at cornerback: Jacobe Covington won a starting spot in training camp. But Mississippi State transfer, DeCarlos Nicholson, who was supposed to be one of the top corners and a starter, is listed as a backup to entrenched starter Jaylin Smith.

One reason I haven’t harped too much on the cornerbacks is because I believed Nicholson would start and help make the group at least serviceable. If he doesn’t, I list this as a definite weak spot.

  • And now for some history:
USC vs. LSU in 1979
  • Now we’re not going to talk about LSU this week without mentioning the famous 1979 game, a 17-12 victory for the No. 1-ranked Trojans over the No. 20-ranked Tigers in Baton Rouge.

When USC’s plane landed, the Trojans were greeted by a group of LSU hostesses. However, outside the airport, around 200 LSU students screamed, “We want you!”

Friday night, a rally described as the biggest in 20 years took place, with USC players hung in effigy.

Around the same time, as USC arrived at Tiger Stadium for its Friday night walkthrough, 2,000 fans tried to form a wall to block the buses from entering the stadium and chanted, “Go to hell, USC, go to hell!”

About 200 of those fans snuck into the stadium to harrass the team before being dispersed.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” USC linebacker Mike McDonald said. “It’s not even near the response in Alabama or South Bend.”

The team went to the local cinema to see their choice of movies (Alien, Animal House or Rocky II).

But word spread USC was at the cinema and when the players came outside, there were 300 fans waiting, chanting “Tiger Bait, Tiger Bait!”

Said kicker Rob Kerr: “When is this going to stop? I mean it’s only a game and not a war.”

“Let’s play them right now,” tailback Charles White added.

  • When USC left its hotel Saturday for the game, the buses took an out-of-favor route along the Mississippi River because it was too risky to take the streets that went through the city.

The game itself was a relief for some of the players.

But USC started the game slowly and trailed, 12-3, late in the third quarter. The Trojans finally scored a touchdown on White’s 4-yard run to cut the deficit to 12-10.

And with 32 seconds left, Paul McDonald threw a touchdown pass to Kevin Williams to pull out a dramatic victory.

“The Soul Patrol (LSU’s secondary) was not as fast as I thought they would be,” Williams said. “I had them beat a lot of times and when Paul called the play to go to me, I made sure I was open and caught the ball.”

White finished with 191 yards rushing.

As USC coach John Robinson got on the bus after the game, he deadpanned, “Never any doubt. Never any doubt.”

  • Everyone remembers when USC went to LSU in 1979.

But no one talks about the last meeting between the schools, which was on Sept. 30, 1984 at the Coliseum.

Two days before the game, RVs from the Bayou were already parked around the Coliseum. The Tigers fans were incessant in their chant: “2 bits, 4 bits, 6 bits…a dollar! All for the Tigers stand up and holler!”

In the USC locker room after pre-game warmups, the Trojans’ coaches marveled at the legs of LSU running back Dalton Hilliard.

USC nose guard Tony Colorito tries to block the punt of LSU’s Clay Parker in 1984

Although the Trojans were ranked No. 15 and LSU was unranked, USC was hardly the favorite after starting quarterback Sean Salisbury was lost for the season the week before against Arizona State.

That meant Kevin McLean, a 19-year-old freshman from Lakewood High School, got his first career start. He completed 9 of 20 passes for 64 yards with two interceptions and a costly fumble that led to an LSU touchdown.

“I was a little nervous,” McLean said.

“He has an extremely accurate arm,” USC coach Ted Tollner said. “But when he got under pressure today, he threw behind the receivers. He made standard first game mistakes.”

McLean got replaced in the third quarter by Tim Green, who also struggled, completing nine of 18 passes for 93 yards and an interception. “We were extremely inefficient with both quarterbacks,” Tollner said. “I don’t mean to put the blame there, though. Our offense broke down today.”

Even trick plays didn’t work. When running back Kennedy Pola tried a pass to tight end Joe Cormier, it fell five yards short. The Trojans lost, 23-3. It was the second straight game without a touchdown.

Green was supposed to redshirt but decided to play after Salisbury got hurt.

“My decision (about not redshirting) is if the team needs me, I’m ready to play,” Green said. “Coach Tollner has been kind of unsure about my maturity and composure as a quarterback. But I now hope that he’s confident in me.”

Neither Tollner nor offensive coordinator Norv Turner would say after the game who would start the following week against Washington State.

But it ended up being Green and USC went to the Rose Bowl, where it defeated Ohio State, 20-17.

Kevin McLean was thrust in the starting role at QB vs. LSU after Sean Salisbury was hurt the week before.
  • On a personal note, about all I remember about this game was that right beforehand, I was asked to be the spotter for the LSU broadcast team. The spotter notes things like who made the tackle on plays.

I was a little nervous because I never did it before, but I was thrilled because the LSU analyst was Bert Jones, who was one of my favorite NFL quarterbacks with the Baltimore Colts.

I can’t remember too many plays from the game, but I remember sitting next to Jones the whole game.

  • USC’s 1974 national championship team celebrated its 50th anniversary at the Salute to Troy last weekend. There were about 20 players who attended.

Who wasn’t there? Quarterback Pat Haden and wide receiver J.K. McKay, two of the best-known players on the team. Haden is still in a self-imposed exile since he left as athletic director. It’s not really surprising that he didn’t show up.

But McKay is a surprise because earlier this month, he was named to the advisory board of USC’s NIL Collective.

Defensive back Danny Reece spoke to the crowd on behalf of the 1974 team.

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

  1. Wow, what a story, and with a lot of quotable lines such as the LSU Tigers’ students screaming at SC’s players, “Tiger bait, Tiger bait!” or chanting “We want You! We want You!”– Hilarious and clever

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  3. SC had won the 1978 National Championship and was going for another in 1979 when they hooked up with LSU, which explains why their fans were in a lather

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  4. And a Trojan has to love the fact that in the face of all this SC hostility by LSU, Heisman Charles White quietly said, “Let’s play them now,” and he did for nearly 200-yards

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  6. So SC has 2 players with equal talent at the guard spot, but the question is whether this ‘equal talent’ is average or good

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  9. There were the Notre Dame and Ohio St games that memorialized that 1974 SC team led by Pat Haden who is now apparently in self-imposed exile. And all because of how he spent the money of that charity he was running. But as a quarterback he could play

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      1. 5am and you’re already obsessing over Gabby…..Limp di*k, lonely, hated by own family, empty life, coconut head. You still have yet to tell Gabby the word he texted you. Prove you’re not a fraud!

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  11. Senile Joe and Kamala are flying in thousands and thousands of their Dreamer illegal aliens into the US from communist countries Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela and third world s-hole Haiti  that hate the USA. What could go wrong?

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    1. when are you going to prove you’re not a chicken—-$hit and meet gabby in Bastow…..we are all laughing at you.

      wipe the chin your king pulled out too quick….gross!

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      1. Cowardly Gabby, you forgot you told us you are too cowardly to fight anyone over comments made on a blog… remember? You are like your role model Senile Joe.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. trump is down 6 points in national polling and outside the margin of error……tell Melania to get the orange jumpsuits ready

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      1. Kamala Harris’s Campaign is in full panic mode after many polls show Trump winning I enjoy watching the Democrat Party collapse DO YOU ?

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Poor Kammy — did you see the “interview”? She’s holding her bottom jaw so tight, swallowing hard after every sentence and nodding furiously at her running mate & the interviewer ….cuz…. she’s scared to death….

        #VanceSezHeFeels”SorryForHer”…..

        #…IDon’t

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Of course she’s scared! She’d have agreed to three debates as any new candidate should, if she weren’t! going to be interesting to see how many people are stupid enough to believe her lies about how moderate she is now.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Body Language Expert Weighs in on Kamala’s Trainwreck CNN Interview: ‘Harris Lacked Confidence’ and ‘Lacked a Presidential Demeanor’

        Liked by 2 people

      5. Not just the interview. SHE is a train wreck. But the people who were stupid enough to vote for dementia in 2020 will be stupid enough to vote for her.

        If she wins, they’ll lie about being responsible for the consequences, same as they have with Dementia Joe.

        Liked by 1 person

  12. Charming: I’m doing ok in the polls

    Prince: Those are national polls– throw out California and New York’s votes and I still got you

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    2. This is one of Scott’s greatest Friday columns ever, ranking up there with Gentleman Jim Hall’s old “Notes of a Scoreboard” for the World Champion.

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  14. Trumpf Said he prefers making love to hamsters rather than humans. I get a tighter fit said the Donald. But it’s still really loose he exclaimed.

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    1. Kamala Harris failed an open book test, with notes, in a recorded interview, with a friendly journalist, on a left wing network, with her running mate there to bail her out. This woman couldn’t run a car dealership, no less the country.

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      1. Yep. She sounded like deliberately dim Gracie Allen of the old Burns & Allen comedy act….

        #….MayHaveBeenSufferingExhaustion….

        #[She’sNeverWorked5HourDaysBefore]….

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      2. SAYS THE FREEEEEEAK WHO SPENDS 20 HOURS A DAY GHOSTING A THIRD RATE BLOG…….DUMB-A=S=S

        YOUR KING TRUMP TRIED TO TELL DR. PHIL HE LOST CALIFORNIA BECAUSE OF VOTER FRAUD……ONE PROBLEM, HE LOST CALI BY 6 MILLION VOTES…..THE IDIOT WANTS YOU FREAAAAKS TO BELIEVE THERE WAS 6 MILLION ILLEGAL VOTES…….

        WIPE THE C H I N …….SLOOOO CAAAL PULLED OUT TOO QUICK

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      4. Whoa…slow down with the caps there, pardner…

        #…You’reGonnaGiveYourselfAnotherHeartAttack

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  17. Thanks to Border Czar Kamala Harris, Moms in Colorado are terrified to go the park alone because Dreamer illegal migrant gangs have taken over parts of the state.

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      1. Exactly, So Cal. Some people actually like voting for their own destruction….. and the destruction of their families….

        #….Why,WeHaveOneOfThemPostingHere…..

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  18. Trump is so phucking senile and full of s h i t……. when there are 1500 people at his rally and he brags on his social media there were 15k and they turned away 2k……here’s the kicker, media shows all these empty seatsHarris is going to win in a landslideLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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