FOOTBALL

Sunday Buzz: A Player Worth Remembering

It’s 62 days before football season. Who cares, right? But some publications do countdowns where they mention a player who wore the jersey number to signify the days before the season. The problem is they often pick the wrong player.

Here’s a No. 62 worth mentioning: Chris Foote.

He was the starting center on USC’s 1979 team, which went 11-0-1 and beat undefeated Ohio State, 17-10, in the Rose Bowl.

“It was like so many other games this year, it was like at LSU, at Cal, at Washington  — there’s just that confidence we’ll do it, no matter the situation,” Foote said. “Our offense is good at wearing people down. You can actually feel it over the course of a game. The linebacker’s not stepping up as hard, or the lineman’s not charging as hard…. We just wear them down.”

When does USC wear teams down any more?

Foote also spent 10 seasons in the NFL and two in the USFL That’s a pretty good career.

39 thoughts on “Sunday Buzz: A Player Worth Remembering”

  1. Not since the Pete years like in Orange Bowl with Oklahoma. Okies were completely demoralized. Petersen held to under 100 yards. There is the story of a OK DL begging the trojans just to get it over with.

    Lincoln, Kiffin and Sark were different. The O ‘geniuses’ were going to outsmart everyone.

    During the McKay years, the opponents knew exactly what SC was going to run and just couldn’t stop it.

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    1. Pete to Justin Fargas at halftime of Notre Dame game: “Just keep running straight at ’em till they don’t want it anymore.”

      I respect Lincoln but I wish he talked this way once in a while.

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      1. Leinart was really, REALLY mad when the center screwed up the snap on our 3 yard line and the score went from 55 to12 to 55 to 19.

        He was a COMPETITOR.

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Oh, oh….maybe it’s time for he/she/it to demand I abandon retirement in Maui again…and go back to work in Downtown Los Angeles….

        #That’sTheTicket

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      5. Pete is more than 30 years older than Lincoln, but a hell of a lot tougher.

        Similar to most of the old guys on this board, compared to the barking Chihuahua behind the Barstow fence.

        Liked by 3 people

      8. btw, karma:

        Maui isn’t like Downtown L. A. …yet….

        …#ButOurFederal&State&LocalOfficersAreTryingToMakeItThatWay

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    2. You left out Norm Chow, the best coordinator of all of them. Had 49 at halftime of the Orange Bowl. Oklahoma was actually touchdown favorites.

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      2. KAM: Norm’s career at BYU and NC State showed his greatness.

        DON: Pete was wise to tap him as his OC at his peak. Pete’s ego couldn’t abide Norm getting credit for the Orange Bowl rout of Oklahoma.

        Liked by 2 people

      4. If he ran Lynch and Lynch got stopped at least people wouldn’t call it a dumb call [my opinion —Wilson’s throw was bad and the third rate receiver didn’t fight for the ball –he thought he was playing catch in the park, not in a Super Bowl knife fight]…..

        Liked by 2 people

      5. Pete made that call because he didn’t like Lynch and wanted Wilson to be the Super Bowl hero. That is what Lynch said in an interview. I believe it. Pete could be petty at times and play favorites. Just ask Norm Chow who had his play calling responsibility given to a young Lane Kiffin because Pete grew tired to fans referring to “the Pete Carrol defense and Norm Chow offense.”

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      6. I think Pete knew Norm was good…but not great. Norm’s time with the Titans, UCLA, Utah and, especially, Hawaii proved that.

        [He was getting beat by 35 points every week at Hawaii—it was hard to watch]….

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      7. KAM: The record of Pete’s Basketball Buddies Drunk Sack and Kiffin after Norm left proves Norm’s greatness:

        Norm wouldn’t have left Reggie on the sidelines on 4th at 1 in The Game of the Century.

        Norm wouldn’t have scored a measly 9 points against UCLA teams in recent memory to chole the game 13-9 and lose the chance to return to the NC game the following year.

        Norm wouldn’t have put Booty back in with a broken finger and throw 4 interceptions and lose to 41 point underdog Stanford 24-23 at the Coliseum the following year to bungle another chance for the national championship playoffs.

        Norm wouldn’t have lost to Oregon State and their midget running back 27-21 the following year to blow another chance to g play for the national championship.

        DON: And Sanchez might have stayed to work under Norm in 2009.

        Liked by 2 people

      8. And…..Norm wouldn’t have won the 2005 Notre Dame game. And….Norm didn’t have as a high a scoring team as Lane & Sark had in 2005. The problem wasn’t the loss of Norm —the problem was Pete’s porous D from 20005 on…..

        #And,OncePeteBroughtHisIdiotSonIn,TheGigWasOfficiallyUp

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      9. KAM: You are assuming a Chuck Weis defense would confound a vintage mid 2000s Norm Chow offense loaded with the greatest offensive talent in college football history.

        DON: Norm would have blown out ND by halftime. ND’s defense had already given up 44 points to mediocre unranked MICH ST. The problem was Pete’s expanding ego, thinking he could do no wrong after the 2004 season, and Spaulding’s hire is proof of it.

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  2. Offenses in football are far different from 1979 but you can still beat down your opponent by hammering them with the run. Problem is, coaches today want points, points, points, pass, pass, pass, and their defense takes a beating.

    Exhibit A: Lincoln Riley

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  3. Foote was overlooked with the guys he had along side him on the OL, Munoz, Budde, Van Horne, Foster, Mosebar, Matthews was a freshman, not exactly what SC has in the OL these days

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    1. Five first round draft picks, two professional football hall of famers, an outland trophy winner, and a couple of All Americans. White rushed for almost 4,000 yards in two years behind that line. Hard to imagine there was ever a better one.

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      1. Greatest team to ever get robbed of a national championship followed by the 2008 team. Stanford was the culprit in both years. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

        Liked by 2 people

  4. Mike, Buddha, Plow, equa – Riley was schooled by Mike Leach who was the genesis of the ‘air offense’ and as game changing as that mindset has been in college and pro, Leach never at: TX Tech, WA St. nor MS St. achieved any true dominance with only one top 10 ntl’ ranking (2018 – # 10 WA St.) in 23 yrs..

    So much is riding and is expected this year from USC – this is a ‘do or die’ not just here but especially here and but also at WI, NC, AL, ‘the princess’, Baylor, OR, LSU and all alumni know it. This may be the most competitive year ever.

    I thought the funniest quote was when during the 2005 Orange Bowl beatdown of OK the USC defensive LBs bluntly asked the OK RB Adrian Peterson ‘….still think we’re an average team?’

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      2. The above only made sense when the 2 “moderated” replies it answered were still in existence.

        I pray this reply too is put to rest in USC Limbo….

        Liked by 3 people

  5. KAM: So in the old days SC football would just “wear down” their opponents. The “lineman’s not charging as hard” was the way one oldtimer said it

    DON: Of course what he didn’t say was how those 1970s teams were made up of “5-star” Trojan linemen who also probably outweighed their opponents

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    1. KAM: What he didn’t say was after 4 years on the job our $110 million football coach Riley Coyote couldn’t recruit 5 star offensive linemen.

      DON: Talk about a Worst Value!

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    2. We have some high 4 stars and 5 stars coming with the 2026 offensive line class. Coaches marvel at the physical attributes of Keenyi Pepe – 6’6″ and 320 lbs. but what separates him is his quickness. But that is not the guy I am excited about. Veteran players are signaling out Vlad Dyakanov for his strength and aggressiveness and Breck Kolojay also has a mean streak and is said to be the most polished of the group and may start. I also really liked the film on Kannon Smith who wants to play center. Chase Deniz also received some compliments for his strength and aggressiveness. Can you imagine these guys in three years. And they will join some really good redshirt freshman and sophomores – Justin Tauanuu, Elijah Vaikona, Hayden Treater, Willie Wachter, Aaron Dunn, ect. This is why I am so high on the program. Championship teams are built through the offensive line.

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      1. KAM: One problem- it’s not 1979 or even 2004.

        DON How many of these OL will still be here in 3 years or even next year?

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  6. KAM: You notice how when you say Iran “requested” that the talks continue, it denies it? But more importantly, Iran is counting down the days when it can begin taxing oil vessels passing through ‘Its’ Strait. It’s their “ball” and they’ll make the rules

    DON: Our best bet is to use the arguments over ‘How much money?’ in order to get concessions elsewhere

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    1. John –our best bet is to find ways other than the waters of the Gulf to get oil out of the middle east —I hear that, while Iran is playing their waiting game, we’re working with our “allies” in the region to expand or maximize exiting pipelines just enough to satisfy the needs of Japan and South Korea…and we’re equipped to take care of ourselves….

      #LetEurope”GetTheirOwnDamnOil”

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      1. We have all the leverage in this situation although you would not think so based on the news reporting. If Tr ump wants the Iranians to stop messing around, all he has to do is threaten to blow up Kharg Island which holds 90% of the Iranian oil. We can do that any time that we like but Tr ump is reluctant to do it because it will permanently damage the Iranian people. Iran is banking on the hope that Tr ump will not exercise his leverage but that will take them only so far. If Iran strikes a major target and hundreds of people are killed, watch out.

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  7. KAM: That 1979 SC team did beat an undefeated Ohio St in the Rose Bowl

    DON: The Trojans won in the end because of Charles White’s running. Run after run after exciting run all the way down the field to the winning touchdown

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