FOOTBALL

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

Lincoln Riley has raised expectations for new tailback Eli Sanders.

“Eli Sanders has had one of the best training camps of anyone,” Riley said. “He’s probably the most explosive back in the room.”

  • Carson Palmer makes his coaching debut tonight as Santa Margarita plays Mission Viejo. Santa Margarita features USC commit Trent Mosley.
  • And now for some history:
  • The 1971 USC-Notre Dame featured this moment of madness. No. 75 was USC is All-American John Vella, who appropriately enjoyed a long career with the Raiders.

This game was the high-water mark for the ’71 Trojans. They upset No. 6 Notre Dame, 28-14, to snap a three-game losing streak.

  • The writer Tom Shanahan points out that on Dec. 13, 1969, Bear Bryant signed first two African-American recruits, nearly a year before USC played at Alabama. He has written extensively debunking the myth that Bryant scheduled USC as a means to gain permission to recruit African-American players.
  • Check out this doubleheader between USC and Cal in 1966.

In the first game, Tom Seaver pitched 10.3 innings, allowed two runs AND lost! Cal pitcher Rich Nye pitched 11 innings and allowed only four hits and one run. He also struck out nine.

Nye retired 22 straight hitters and then hit a single in the 11th inning to drive in the winning run. Amazing.

The Trojans’ right-fielder in both games was Mike Garrett, playing baseball AFTER he won the Heisman Trophy.

Cal then won the second game, 4-3, as Andy Messersmith threw a complete game. The losing pitcher was Bob Selleck, the older brother of future actor Tom Selleck.

Now for one more crazy stat: USC catcher Marty Piscovich caught 17 innings that day while Cal catcher Alan Diamond caught 18 innings.

Definitely a different world.

  • When USC played Wisconsin in the 1963 Rose Bowl, the NBC radio broadcast featured Tom Kelly and Mike Walden. Walden was the radio announcer for Wisconsin at the time while Kelly did USC games.

Three years later, Kelly left his job as USC football radio announcer for a job at Channel 11 (KTTV) and was replaced by Walden.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

One of Bill Murray’s best roles was in the movie, “Ed Wood.” Here is the memorable baptism scene.

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

      1. …. in a game in which USC was favored…

        #USC 24, Iowa 49

        #IWantToPraiseTheIowaFans…

        #…ForTheEnergyTheyBroughtToThisHolidayBowl..

        #…WeProvedWeAreAGoodTeam,NotAGreatTeam”

        #[USC A.D. : “We Gotta Bring This Guy Back Next Year!”]….

        Liked by 1 person

      2. KAM: MG, if Riley Coyote loses the ND once again wouldn’t that be convincing evidence to AD Jen “Taco Lita” Cohen to agree with his idea to cancel the series?

        DON: Yes it’s in Riley Coyote’s best interest long term to lose this October .

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Maybe yes…. maybe no. Helton found that losing assured his return…

        #RileyJustHasToSayTheMagicWords……

        #…”IDon’tDrink,DoDrugsOrPlayAround”….

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      1. No doubt SC pounding Alabama with its black players in 1970 was a contributing factor to Alabama turning the “tide”

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    1. 100%! “Full spectrum” kinda guy….. he tried everything.

      Question: Did He intercept a pass in the UCLA game and return it for a TD or was that some other Chip?

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      2. In the 1967 UCLA vs. USC football game, USC player Pat Cashman intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown, contributing to USC’s victory over UCLA with a final score of 21-20. This game is often referred to as “The Game of the Century” due to its significance in college football history

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      4. I became friends with UCLA QB Gary Beban over the years through business, great gentleman. He broke a rib in the first quarter of the ’67 game, he played the rest of the game, threw for 300 yards, and he told me “It was like playing against an NFL defense. I have no idea how I finished the game. The only reason we stayed close is because Sogge had a bad game throwing the ball for SC. Even though we keyed on OJ, we still couldn’t stop him when we needed to. Greatest runner I have ever seen.” On the pick Beban threw, Prothro designed the play and called it, it was a misdirection play in which “you prayed there wasn’t a defender there.” Apparently, Prothro never called it again.

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      5. About a year after Gary graduated from UCLA, I walked into Silverwood’s Men Store in Westwood…and there he was. I had the same reaction I had when I walked into Mayor Bradley’s office and ran into Muhammed Ali and Veronica Porsche —“Oh, my God!”

        #Obviously,DespiteBeingATrojan,IWasAHugeBebanFan

        [When UCLA played Tennessee under Prothro they were behind in the last minutes of the 4th quarter — Prothro asked Beban “Do you have enough left for one great play?”…. the play was a designed run and Gary ran it in for a long TD]…..

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      6. 67: I had a brother that worked for/with Beban at CBRE. He called Beban one of the most competitive, intense, people that he ever met. A good guy but made him nervous.

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      7. “The Gutty Little Bruins” was an apt title for those teams. They were small but beat teams they shouldn’t have, such as Tennessee. Their largest offensive lineman was something like 230 lbs. Too bad that ucla’s o-line coach from that era isn’t still with us, USC could use him.

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    2. Plow – intense with a capital “I”. I could see how he was a great and demanding leader on that football team.

      He rose quite high up into CBRE, perhaps EVP. He told me “when I realized that physically I couldn’t play football anymore, I had to figure out what I could do with my UCLA History BA degree. A friend got me an interview, and when they asked me about “depreciation”, I had no idea what they were talking about. Thankfully, they took a chance on me.”

      He is retired now, living on the coast near the Washington/Vancouver border.

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      1. KAM: Gary Beban became the CEO of Coldwell Banker in 1987 and served in that role until 1998, making his tenure approximately 11 years.

        DON: Not bad for a novice in real estate.

        Liked by 3 people

    1. KAM: “The Democratic Party brand is toxic across the country at this point with way too many people — enough that there’s no way for us to win a governing majority without changing that,” Lanae Erickson, Third Way VP says said. “Part of the problem was that we were using words that literally no normal people used — that we were sticking to messages that were so overly scripted that they basically sounded like nothing.”

      they want Democrats to avoid using 45 words and phrases , alleging the terms put “a wall between us and everyday people of all races, religions, and ethnicities.” It’s a set of words that Third Way suggests “people simply do not say, yet they hear them from Democrats.”

      They span six categories — from “therapy speak” to “explaining away crime” — and put in sharp relief a party that authors say makes Democrats “sound like the extreme, divisive, elitist, and obfuscatory, enforcers of wokeness.” In the document, titled “Was It Something I Said?” Third Way argues that to “please the few, we have alienated the many — especially on culture issues, where our language sounds superior, haughty and arrogant,” according to the memo.

      Among the blacklisted terms: privilege … violence (as in “environmental violence”) … dialoguing … triggering … othering … microaggression … holding space … body shaming … subverting norms … systems of oppression … cultural appropriation … Overton window … existential threat to [the climate, democracy, economy] … radical transparency … stakeholders … the unhoused … food insecurity … housing insecurity … person who immigrated … birthing person … cisgender … deadnaming … heteronormative … patriarchy … LGBTQIA+ … BIPOC … allyship … incarcerated people … involuntary confinement.

      DON: Mainstream Moderate Democrats seem to think they can lie and obfuscate their way out of the political wilderness

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    2. Yes. Keep your helmet on. The worse fight in sports I can remember is when Kermit Washington broke Rudy Tomjanovich’s face. That one was scary. Rudy was never the same player.

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    1. KAM: LOL – Panicans hardest hit.

      🇺🇲 

      BREAKING: CANADA HAS LIFTED its retaliatory tariffs on the US.

      DON: Major setback for the so-called experts like Tranny Bruin!

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    2. 2,000 for Tom Terrific seems nuts. In 1972, the Cardinals paid Dan Larsen who played in our local little league an 80,000 signing bonus out of high school.

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  10. For some Bill Murray’s favorite role was in Groundhog Day where he is trapped in the same day everyday, and he constantly is “dying” but coming back to life the following same day

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    1. KAM:

      😂
      😂
      😂

      @KamalaHarris 107 Days” Tour

      🎟️

      Tickets start around $72… but VIP seats are reselling for $2,800

      🤯

      DON: All that for a book + photo op. Imagine paying 3 grand per person for the family to hang out with Kamala instead of, you know, paying your mortgage, or USC football season tickets or ANYTHING ELSE!!

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  11. Andy Messersmith was the closer for Cal in that box score, as far as I can tell. He wanted to be a Trojan but didn’t get a scholly. And it seems that the Cal pitcher, Nye, batted clean up? Or maybe he was moved into that spot late in the game? Nye managed to get one of the hits Seaver gave up.

    Looked up Nye on the baseball stats website, 3.67 ERA and 26-31, he later became a very successful vet. Great American story.

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      1. Messersmith was the winning starting picture in the second half of the doubleheader. Gave up one earned run in 7 innings, with 8 K. Would have been great to have had him on the USC pitching staff with Seaver.

        Liked by 1 person

  12. SC’s quarterback Maiava recently said “Don’t worry about the past or future. Just stay in the moment.” Not sure if he was talking about football ways or his general philosophy on how to live

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    1. KAM: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Fires General Jeffrey Kruse in Charge of Agency That Released Dubious ‘Top Secret’ Intelligence Assessment About US Strikes on Iranian Nuclear Sites.

      White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to the leak: “This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community. The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,” Karoline Leavitt said to CNN.

      DON: The Democrat Traitor has been eliminated.

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      1. Karoline Leavitt doesn’t hold her punches – “low level loser” in reference to something a General did. Yesterday she said “only a reporter from the New York Times would ask such a stupid question. ”

        Liked by 1 person

      5. KAM: That General would never last a day as an assistant coach under Riley Coyote.

        DON: The DIA Director loves to leak to the WaPo, NY Slimes and CNN.

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Karoline is one tough, smart young lady, esp. for only being 28 (in 2 days). Something the White House hasn’t had in a press secretary in what, 4 years! LOL

        Liked by 1 person

  14. I too was impressed with Gary Beban. His lightning 2 touchdown passes in the last 4 minutes of the SC game in 1965 are never to be forgotten. Nor the 14-12 victory over No. 1 Michigan St in the Rose Bowl

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  15. My wife Dr. Carol in 1965-1966 lived in the same building as Beban and would occasionally run into him, but he was too young for her

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  16. DON: Make ’em, shake ’em, break ’em, and on-and-on. That’s my world

    KAM: There are other worlds. Like when you go home and open your window and feel that first rush of the wind in your face

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  18. DON: I got to tell you that this SC game with Misery St or whatever is a 35-point snoozer

    KAM: But it is all about the first game of the season and the return of Trojan-football pageantry, it’s a spectacle. You got to be at the game and witness the first sighting of the cardinal-and-gold flying out of the Coliseum tunnel…or the sound-and-feeling of an excited crowd acting as one

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  19. KAM:: Can you imagine being a football lineman and going up against a likewise ‘Neanderthal-type’ 40 times for 3-hours?

    DON: My days of playing football when growing up were friendly games of “Go long and I’ll throw you a touchdown’

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  20. DON: If you ever are at the tunnel as the players walk off the field at halftime, they already look worn out

    KAM: It is pretty amazing what football players go through. They are probably underpaid

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  24. A USC writer named Arledge wrote about SC’s prospects– the Trojan defense will be the best since 2008 although not nearly as good as 2008’s…SC had enough yards last season but not enough points…

    Split end looks solid as last year was a disaster with Duce Robinson not being able to get those 50/50 balls and Zach Branch’s inability to get open or catch…if the team is good, not great, they are in the Playoffs

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