On a day when King Kong and Godzilla, also known as LSU and Alabama, didn’t play, it figures that a guy who plays a role in the nation’s marquee game sits in a press box.
No, it wasn’t a scribe penning the first nasty sentence about Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck this season. It was USC’s public-address announcer. Twice he warned fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum not to storm the field.
Only one problem: USC hadn’t won yet. The fans got the message, though. So did someone else.
“I heard it,” Luck told reporters afterward.
You know the rest. Luck bounced back from throwing a pick-six late in the fourth quarter, leading Stanford to a come-from-behind 56-48 win in triple overtime Saturday night.
He almost didn’t get a chance. USC receiver Robert Woods tried to get out of bounds and stop the clock at the end of regulation but was ruled tackled and time had expired. The play was reviewed, and USC coach Lane Kiffin said officials told him that if Woods’ knee was down and there was a second left, he would have a timeout at the Stanford 33.
“Then they came back over and completely went against it,” Kiffin said. “I’m extremely disappointed in that.”
Kiffin should have been more disappointed in Woods not dropping to the turf before time ran out because USC had a timeout to use.
No pretty picture.
Can the FCC require that all Penn State games be televised in black and white? Joe Paterno became the winningest coach in Division I history Saturday, but the 10-7 victory over Illinois that got him the mark continued a trend for perhaps the dullest 8-1 offensive team in the history of modern football.
The Nittany Lions’ offense is as ugly as their uniforms. They have beaten the egg whites on their schedule (Temple, Indiana and Purdue) by a combined 15 points, rank 101st nationally in scoring (averaging 21.8 points) and rank 88th in total offense (averaging 356.7 yards).
Rob Bolden, one of two platooning quarterbacks, got booed by the home crowd in the second quarter when he had more fumbles (two) than completions (zero). Penn State turned four Illini turnovers into no points.
Bruins back in business.
It’s probably good that UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero hasn’t fired coach Rick Neuheisel yet. Don’t look now, but if the owner of the nation’s No. 1 hot seat beats Arizona State (6-2, 4-1 Pac-12) at home this Saturday, the Bruins (4-4, 3-2) have the inside track to the Pac-12’s South Division title.
Big Least Conference.
The Big East is about to lose half its football membership, but can’t we revoke its automatic-qualifying BCS berth now?
Of the Big East’s two ranked teams, No. 23 Cincinnati’s lone victory over a winning team came against South Florida (4-3), which is 0-3 in league play, and No. 24 West Virginia’s only victory over a winning team came against Rutgers (5-3, 2-2).
Yet one of them likely will get a $14 million bowl payday.
Badgers blow it — again.
Please, no more sympathy for hard-luck Wisconsin. The Badgers’ secondary blew another game. In the 37-31 loss at Michigan State the previous week, the Badgers’ secondary got beat by a Hail Mary at the buzzer.
In Saturday’s 33-29 loss at Ohio State, Wisconsin let Devin Smith get open for a 40-yard touchdown reception with 20 seconds left.
“I was on the front side,” Wisconsin safety Aaron Henry told reporters. “I was just reading the QB. . . . When the quarterback breaks contain, you have to find the closest guys in your area. I don’t know what was going on on the other side.”
Now he does. They’re out of the Rose Bowl picture.
Cal contemplating QB switch.
Sounds like Cal coach Jeff Tedford’s patience has run out and he may bench quarterback Zach Maynard.
The Buffalo transfer’s bad year continued in a 31-14 drubbing at UCLA. He hit just 14-of-30 passes for 199 yards and threw four interceptions.
“We’ll see,” Tedford told reporters. “We’ll look at the tape and make a determination with that.”
Maynard’s backup is sophomore Allan Bridgford.
Footnotes.
Chris Polk became the first Washington player to gain 100 yards rushing and receiving in the same game. . . . Utah found the key to victory: Don’t let Jon Hays pass. Hays was only 6-for-14, but the Utes beat Oregon State 27-8.
