Pete Carroll-Jim Harbaugh: What’s the Deal?
Well, the deal, Peter, is the scoreboard.
If you’re rankled over a two-point conversion attempt with the score 48-21, maybe you should ask your defense what its deal is. How come they stopped the two-point conversion but managed to give up another touchdown?
While you’re at it, ask Rocky Seto, Ken Norton, Jr., and Jethro Franklin, what their deal is.
If a coach really wanted to run up a score, why wouldn’t he try for a second two-point conversion after the final touchdown?
But maybe someone should ask you what was your deal last season, Peter.
With USC up 38-10 against Oregon at the Coliseum, Mitch Mustain came in at the 11:25 mark of the fourth quarter along with Broderick Green, a reserve tailback.
Against ASU USC led 28-0. Mustain, Green, and the entire second unit came in with 6:27 left in the game.
At Washington State, with USC up 41-0, the reserves started coming in at the seven-minute mark of the third quarter.
The same thing against Washington, with USC up 42-0, the reserves were in with half of the third quarter still remaining.
Later in the year, at Notre Dame, with USC up 31-3, the reserves started coming in at the 12 minute mark of the fourth quarter. After making it 38-3, Mitch Mustain replaced Mark Sanchez with seven minutes remaining.
But what was the deal when USC went up to Stanford?
That day Tabitha Pritchard was 9-for-22 with no TDs and an interception. With USC up by three touchdowns, 38-17, the first unit remained in the game at the six-minute mark and went on a 10-play, 64-yard march to inflate the score to 45-17.
With a little over a minute left, the Cardinal ran back the kickoff 44 yards. Harbaugh yanked Pritchard and put in Alex Loukas who drove the Cardinal in for a touchdown to make the score look just a bit more respectable, 45-23.
So, who actually fired the first shot?
Maybe Harbaugh should have asked what the deal was after the USC starters pushed up the lead to four touchdowns with a little over a minute left in the game.
But Harbaugh knew what the deal was. Carroll was paying him back for upsetting the Trojans at the Coliseum the year before. And not one USC fan complained about that.
Maybe Pete Carroll should ask himself what was the deal last January when he threw all sorts of figures at Mark Sanchez in front of the national media. He claimed that 60 percent of all third-year quarterbacks who opt for the NFL never make it.
But here’s another statistic that Coach Carroll over looked. No team with a true freshman starting quarterback has ever won the BCS Championship. That’s zero percent for anyone who is academically challenged.
So, what’s the deal with falling in love with a true freshman quarterback? What’s the deal with putting so much time and effort into grooming Matt Barkley and depriving the defense of the attention it deserved?
What was the deal in recruiting Aaron Corp when Pete Carroll never intended to adapt his offense to a running quarterback? Or Garrett Green for that matter?
What’s the deal that teams like Cincinnati and Oklahoma can have excellent backups when their starting quarterback gets injured, but USC can’t?
No there are so many deals that went down, flipping out over a two-point conversion is just diverting attention away from this year’s incompetence at the top.
Some may blame Pete Carroll for jacking up his players and telling them that they played hard despite the 55-21 pasting. I don’t. It was never a question of the Trojans not practicing hard or playing hard.
What was the deal then? Not playing smart.
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Comment by Scott Bergen on 18 November 2009:
I was an athlete at USD and am a big fan of the sports there still. Harbaugh came to Stanford from USD so I have seen him for nearly a decade. If you haven’t noticed, he likes making a splash and creating headlines. He went for 2 because “50″ sounds like a lot more than “49″, and USC hadn’t stopped Stanford on short yardage all day, so why not?
There’s bad blood between the programs. Good. That makes it all more fun (unless they get dirty on the field). But Paul, as you alluded to, if USC was so pissed off about that 2-point conversion, they should have stopped Stanford from driving down and scoring another touchdown later.
Comment by Joey Kaufman on 18 November 2009:
Scott, I’m with you. I think the fact that there is bad blood between the two programs makes the coming years all the more
exciting. During the Leinart/Bush years, I never felt that the Trojans had a foil or some program that was willing to go up and
really challenge the Trojans face-to-face. Stanford, under Harbaugh, seems willing to do it. They can certainly talk the talk and
have proven to be able to back it up on the field. There is nothing like a good conference rivalry.
Comment by Johnny on 18 November 2009:
I’ve been a big follower of USC football over the last ten years and I can say that even though I was not pleased with the two-point attempt, USC deserved what they got.
USC has been guilty of running up the score in past years and their players have acted unsportsmanlike and unclassy in games and after them.
USC-Stanford could be one of the most anticipated games of the college football season next year, it has the makings to be a solid rivalry with lots of fireworks.
Comment by pkcourt on 19 November 2009:
I really don’t care about what happen, but since Harbutt got the job at Sitfurd he has been trying to pick a fight with Pete. I really don’t think Pete cares but it seems the media does, got to sell that newsprint and air time.
Comment by Joey Kaufman on 19 November 2009:
Pete doesn’t care? If that was the case then when asked whether he would remember the 2 point conversion attempt next season would he really have put on a sly grin when walking away?
Comment by Johnny on 19 November 2009:
Pete cares. He’s too competitive not to care. I can say without hesitation that the next time USC has the chance to repay the favor, PC will not think twice about it.