NCAA Football

Chill Out Ever'body! USC Didn't Run Up Score in 69-0 Win Over Wazzu

Posted Oct 19, 2008 9:12AM By Ryan Ferguson (RSS feed)

Filed Under: USC, Washington State, Pac 10

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Saturday was a painful, agonizing experience for hapless Washington State. The Wazzu Cougars lost 69-0 to mighty USC, prompting analysts on other networks to make unflattering comments about Southern Cal head coach Pete Carroll. The insinuation from Tim Brando and Verne Lundquist, in particular, was that Pete Carroll felt the need to run up the score to earn a few style points for his team's BCS hopes.

It was a total mismatch of teams. Washington State put up a meager 116 yards of offense to USC's 625. It could have been much worse. Had Pete Carroll been in a record-setting mood, I suspect the Trojans could have put up yardage in the four-digit range. Scary thought, huh?

But a very cursory examination reveals that despite the shutout, USC had no intention of embarrassing Wazzu any more than they were already embarrassing themselves.

But here are a few facts to consider before throwing Carroll under the bus. From the L.A. Times' Adam Rose:
-- Joe McKnight didn't suit up. Sure, he had turf toe, but he said earlier this week that he would have played if this game wasn't against Wazzu. He later took it back, but we all know better.

-- With the ball in the red zone, USC ran out the clock to end the half. The first half.

-- Starting quarterback Mark Sanchez stopped throwing the ball with 32 minutes left in the game (translation: first half). He was left in for the first series of the second half, evidently to practice his handoffs and didn't even throw on 3rd-and-19. His day ended three minutes after the second half kickoff.

-- Mitch Mustain, USC's No. 2 quarterback, was only allowed to throw the ball once. It was the only passing attempt of the second half.
Rose goes on to list 10 reasons total. But of final note is the play which undoubtedly got the attention of Lundquist and Brando. Facing 4th-and-5 in the fourth quarter, Carroll was faced with a difficult decision. Should he kick the field goal, and thereby "run up the score"? Should he kneel on the ball and possibly insult his opponent that way as well? Or should he just half-heartedly run the ball and hope the other team could stop him on downs? Carroll chose door No. 3 and was 'rewarded' with a conversion followed by a touchdown. Carroll's expression on the sideline said it all. He wasn't thrilled to score another touchdown.

What we have here is your old-fashioned butt-kicking. And despite every possible effort to keep the game from getting out of hand, at some point the Cougs needed to step up and stop the Trojans' third-stringers and walk-ons from scoring. That is their obligation as an FBS team, a group of boys and men who made the conscious decision to play big boy football. They couldn't do it, and voila, 69-0. Pete Carroll should have no difficulty sleeping after this one.

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