NCAA Football '12-13

[Valmy]

Darrell Royal died today. 

RIP coach

I heard this on the radio today but it was not confirmed yet.  Still most of us would love to live 36 years after retiring.

I think as tribute the offense should come out against Iowa State on the first play and line up in the Wishbone.  The Stadium would go nuts.

[katmai]

Spent a year as HC at UW right before he went to Tejas.

[katmai]

November 8, 2012 at 11:11 AM



Is Kiffin wearing on USC?

Posted by Bud Withers


From the start, the "marriage" of Lane Kiffin and Pat Haden didn't seem like a natural. Haden, who played quarterback for the Trojans in the mid-1970s, is a strait-laced, standup guy, and he inherited Kiffin after ex-USC AD Mike Garrett plucked Kiffin from Tennessee when Pete Carroll fled for the Seahawks.

Kiffin's USC team was billed for big things this year. Remember the Sports Illustrated headline with Matt Barkley on the cover, touting the fact he was returning for his senior year, "and he didn't come back to go to the Holiday Bowl"?

Right now, that's about where you'd project the Trojans, who have lost two straight, looking lost trying to defend the spread-option offenses of Arizona and Oregon. They're 6-3 and hosting Arizona State Saturday.

Meanwhile, Kiffin keeps getting embroiled in little incidents, evincing petty, peevish behavior, that must be seriously grating to some old-line Trojan boosters, and perhaps Haden.

The latest is almost unbelievable. Wednesday, the Trojans announced they had fired a student manager for deflating five balls used in the USC-Oregon game last week. Balls slightly deflated are supposed to make it easier to throw and catch, two things the Trojans do very well. More on that here.

(I've heard of teams wanting to take the air out of the ball, but that usually applies to basketball.)

Kiffin claims no knowledge of the manager's stunt, and that may be true. But the manager works for him, and at very least, he's responsible for him.

(Maybe it backfired and helped Oregon. Marcus Mariota completed 20 of 23 throws and Kenjon Barner found the balls enough to his liking that he ran for 321 yards.)

Then there was the tempest a couple of weeks ago in which Kiffin admitted to having players change jersey numbers during a game, apparently to throw off teams scouting the Trojans for future games. More here on that.

My thought on the numbers game: For a big-time college program, this seems awfully high school.

Then there was the dustup early this season, when an LA Daily News reporter wrote about a surgery to kicker Andre Heidari. Kiffin has a policy against reporting injuries from practice, but in this case, the news was apparently gleaned away from practice. Kiffin suspended the reporter for two weeks and revoked his credential for a game, but -- in what can only be interpreted as a repudiation of the action -- USC reinstated the reporter to practice after a couple of days.

Not long after, Kiffin walked out on a daily practice briefing when a reporter asked a question that he found too probing -- after 29 seconds.

You might be asking: Should Kiffin be consumed with antics like manipulating jersey numbers and deflating balls, or the fact he's got a defense that's been folded, stapled and mutilated the last couple of weeks?

I'm guessing the same question has occurred to Haden.

[CountDeMoney]

Christ, how many more teams and programs does that man have to go through before people figure out he's a useless dickhead?

[Valmy]

Dammit the LOnghorn Network has finally beaten me.  I cannot find a single stream of the game today.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Dammit the LOnghorn Network has finally beaten me.  I cannot find a single stream of the game today.

Just saw this.  Check yo inbox.

[CountDeMoney]

Stupid Louisville. How the hell you get blown out by Syracuse by halftime.  Dummies.

[MadBurgerMaker]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8614045

[Valmy]

Yeah Royal never ran the Wishbone quit like that 

Man I am glad to see Texas turn this season around like this.  Granted it would have been nicer to do it before they were knocked out of contention.  Ah well.  Beat TCU and they will have met expectations.

[Valmy]

Dammit the LOnghorn Network has finally beaten me.  I cannot find a single stream of the game today.

Just saw this.  Check yo inbox.

They took it down

[PDH]

That's great to see.  Wyoming is honoring the past this year by playing like the biggest pile of crap ever - I believe it is in honor of the 1970 team.

[MadBurgerMaker]

They took it down

Welp.  They've got Case out there now anyway, so no big deal. 

[CountDeMoney]

Heh, Texas A & M.

[Valmy]

Heh, Texas A & M.

LOL.  They did this to OKlahoma once as well.  Bet the SEC is glad they invited these guys in to ruin their chance at another national title eh?

[Ed Anger]

This is what I get for taking a football day off. Antichrist Saban in trouble.