FOOTBALL

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

USC flew to Penn State on Thursday and it’s not an easy trip.

The Trojans landed in in the capital city of Harrisburg and it’s still a 90-mile drive to State College. Large planes cannot land or take off at State College Airport because the runway is too short.

I’ve been to State College several times and most people fly to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh or even Washington, D.C. They are all 2-3 hours away. The highway to Penn State is only two lanes and on game day, it becomes a one way road.

The plus side is you can visit places like Gettysburg or Hershey on the way to Penn State. But if you are playing a football game, it’s not a convenient trip.

When USC used to play at Washington State, it had to land in Spokane and then drive 80 miles to Pullman. The difference is the flight was a lot shorter than going to Pennsylvania.

  • USC plays North Carolina today in an exhibition game in Greensboro, N.C. KJ Lewis (ankle), Eric Reibe (foot), and Christian Collins (foot) are all out. Three injured players and the season has not even started yet.

The game will be on the ACC Network.

Hopefully there are no treasure hunters anywhere near Eric Musselman in Greensboro.

  • Former USC star receiver Mike Williams has a son, Mikey, who is a freshman wide receiver at Chino Hills High School.
  • And now for some history:
  • USC has played only two games in State College, Pa., and they were in back-to-back years (1993-94).

In 1993, the Trojans trailed 21-7 in the fourth quarter but scored two touchdowns as Rob Johnson threw touchdown passes to Ken Grace and Johnny McWilliams. There was no overtime in those days, so John Robinson went for two points with the score 21-20.

Johnson’s pass to McWilliams was incomplete.

Robinson, in his third game back as USC coach, then delivered such a loud post-game speech, it was heard by the media next door.

“We’re here to win football games. We’re not going to accept losing. Understand?” Robinson said. “No more. No more losing. That’s two games. No more losing.

“Nobody should be congratulating each other on a good game,” Robinson yelled. “Not at ‘SC. You should just be pissed. You should win every game at ‘SC.

“We all have to suck it up and be tougher.”

USC wide receiver Ken Grace catches a pass in the 1993 game at Penn State. Tony Boselli is No. 71.

Perhaps the highlight of the season occurred a month later when USC went to Autzen Stadium and defeated Oregon, 24-13.

  • Now here’s a funny thing: When USC played at Rutgers last month, reporters were able to hear Lincoln Riley’s post-game speech. But they didn’t write what he said because a USC official told them they were not allowed to report what they heard. Times have changed.
  • I love that the Milwaukee Brewers have the outspoken/colorful Pat Murphy as manager.

He was the same way at Arizona State. For about 10 years (1995-2006), Murphy and the equally outspoken USC coach Mike Gillespie locked horns in the Pac-10.

In 1996, there was a post-game fight between the teams at Dedeaux Field. There was a collision on the final out and it culminated with ASU pitching coach Bob Welch (the former Dodger) and Gillespie tangling with each other on the field.

Welch’s involvement, according to Murphy, came when he heard the words, “Have a drink. You’re a drunk,” allegedly from Gillespie. Welch, who spent 18 years as a major league pitcher, was a recovering alcoholic.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

Antonia Ellis

Claudia Rivelli

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Academy Award-winning actress Eva Marie Saint died this week at the age of 102. Here she is on What’s My Line? in 1958.

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

  1. Return of the Wolf-I !!! And MG he illustrated my response to you fantastically with the grand finale this week! On the serious side – JRob II didn’t work out (with a couple of nice moments), but wow, reading that quote … how times have changed (and not for the good). Now back to the Wolf-I’s grand finale …

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  2. Another Friday Finale for the week – and a photo of Antonia Ellis in front of an Atari 1 computer…

    The score should be: USC 31, Penn State 20

    But I’m worried it will be Penn State 24, USC 16

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  7. DON: 1993-1994 was the Second Coming of SC’s John Robinson and significant victories back then were hard to come by

    KAM: “We’re not going to accept losing,” Robinson screamed at his team in the ’90s, but nevertheless ucla and ND owned them

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    1. JRob owned Notre Dame (having three consecutive victories versus during his second stint … albeit Lou Holtz did retire). Agreed on the lack of significant victories, but ending Lou’s ND hex, bombing Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl, and that shootout win over Northwestern in the Rose Bowl … not comparable to his initial stint, but then again, he didn’t have historical talent advantages the second time around.

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      2. I spoke out of turn – looked it up – he beat ND back-to-back during his last two seasons and had one tie vs Lou … lost that laying down like a dog game the year they beat Northwestern in the Rose Bowl and were favored at South Bend … Hackett got the third of those three in a row against ND (about the only thing good that happened during his time).

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  10. KAM: With a 3rd loss in a row Penn St is already out of the Playoffs in early October. ‘Lions’ fans won’t stand for that

    DON: Nor will SC’s unless they have to

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  11. Q for MickeyG: does the aggrieved beachcomber have a case agin’ Muscle Man?? it appears all he did was threaten to “drop him”. How about Baker-Mazara whom he allegedly told to “go back to the Dominican”? if so, i might consider dropping a few lawsuits on some of the bullies on this blog!!

    #I’llConsider$50ToGoAway

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    2. The Mickster can explain better, but CB you gotta go after the deep pockets and pen all the piggies together so they turn on each other … and that means … that which you will not want to do – yes, pulling the Wolf-I in …

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