USC Football Tradition At The 103rd Rose Bowl Gets A Boost For The Ages

Tommy Trojan statue, and gameday good luck charm, from the mid 1930's that was left behind in the family belongings of University of Southern California graduates Willard & Maxine Jenks ... FIGHT ON! Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2017)

USC Football Tradition At The 103rd Rose Bowl Gets A Boost For The Ages

Many folks who love and follow college football, and believe this form of the game to be the pinnacle of this organized team sport and competition, believed that the NCAA's push for a playoff upon which a national champion is crowned might dilute the luster of many of the post season Bowl contests and venues. Not so, with the venerable institution ... everyone in Southern California, the Pac-12 Conference, and the Big Ten Conference know as ... The Rose Bowl.

Try as the forces may, change at the Rose Bowl will never come easy ... if ever. Especially when the post season match-up features two of the most robust college football programs rebounding from the ebb and flow found through a change at the head coaching position or NCAA sanctions.

SCREW the NCAA's Bowl Championship Series (BCS) which, more times than not, is shaped by a sporting press corps largely based on the East Coast of the United States. This is the Rose Bowl baby, and it has become known through the ages as "The Grand-Daddy Of Them All" for good reason.

This 103rd Rose Bowl Game matched the Big Ten Conference champions Penn State Nittany Lions (BCS 5) against the USC Trojans (BCS 9) of the Pac-12 Conference, a rematch of the 1923 and 2009 Rose Bowls, the former the first appearance for either team in the bowl and the latter the most recent appearance for either team.
(ht: Wikipedia)

How great a Rose Bowl contest was this game? Let us count the ways through the records (9) that fell which were gathered through 102 previous contests at the Pasadena venue located at the top of Arroyo Seco.

For background music during reading, please use what the production staff used to bump into, and out of, commercial breaks during the ESPN broadcast from the Rose Bowl - California Dreamin' by Sia (originally - The Mama's & Papa's, 1966).

1) Deontay Burnett: Most touchdown receptions (3) - Burnett tied Braylon Edwards' 2005 record of three touchdown catches in a Rose Bowl. That included the Trojans' final touchdown, which tied the game at 49-49 with just 1:20 to play.

2) Matt Boermeester: Most field goals made (three) - Boermeester tied a Rose Bowl record with three field goals made (including the game-winner as time expired), a mark held by five other players. He is, however, very likely the first kicker in Rose Bowl history to do a dab after a game-winning field goal.

3) Penn State: Most points ever for a losing team (49) - A mark that the Nittany Lions certainly wish they didn't own.

4) USC: Biggest fourth-quarter comeback - The Trojans set a Rose Bowl record by overcoming a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to get the win.

5) Trace McSorley and Sam Darnold: Most touchdowns responsible for (5) - The two quarterbacks were phenomenal, with both tallying five touchdowns. That is tied for the most touchdown scores ever for one player in a Rose Bowl game with two other players.

6) Sam Darnold: Most touchdown passes in a game (5) - Darnold did all of his damage through the air, setting the Rose Bowl mark with five touchdown passes.

7) Sam Darnold: Most points ever in a Rose Bowl game (32) - Darnold accounted for 32 total points — five touchdowns and a two-point conversion — as he broke Vince Young's record for most all-time points scored in a Rose Bowl.

8) Sam Darnold: Most yards ever in a Rose Bowl (474 yards) - And most incredibly, Darnold broke Vince Young's single game Rose Bowl record of 467 yards, which was set during that iconic 2006 national championship game between Texas and USC.

9) Highest Scoring Rose Bowl ever (101 points) - The teams easily sailed past the previous mark of 83, set in 2012 by Oregon and Wisconsin.

It was an incredible Rose Bowl, and we very likely won't see anything like it again any time soon.
(ht: FOX Sports) 

Cue the USC Trojan Marching Band and the song "CONQUEST" - or as this next article states as it ends ... "God, I hate that song."

This edited and excerpted from Penn Live -

Enduring USC band's "Conquest" after gut-punch loss is a special slice of hell for Big Ten fans
By David Jones | djones@pennlive.com

Penn State fans, you got the true Big Ten Pasadena experience this time in all its gory Technicolor detail. By that, I mean you were initiated into the conference brotherhood of heartbreak at the hands of USC.

It's a birthright for anyone at Michigan or Ohio State, losing an excruciating game to the Trojans at the world's most enchanting athletic venue. There is no more bittersweet experience in sports than attending a Rose Bowl, gazing agape at the vividness of the beauty all around you. The colors all seem richer even when it's cloudy, the air like velvet even when it's chilly.

Then your team makes a valiant effort, you think victory is at hand and at the very end it's snatched away by the Evil Empire in cardinal and gold. Ask anyone in Ann Arbor or Columbus. This is a rerun they've lived through over and over.

As a kid back in the 1960s and '70s, I watched Woody Hayes take four different teams into the Rose Bowl to meet USC. Two of those ended in just such a painful manner. Then, when I was an OSU undergrad, yet another narrow defeat at the very end in the post-1979 game. Michigan folks can tick off the Pasadena losses to USC: 1969, 1976, 1978, 1989, 2003, 2005.

Northwestern (1995) fans of a certain age know the feeling, too. And though they never play at the Rose Bowl, Notre Dame folks know all about it.

Like some of the OSU and Michigan defeats, I don't think Penn State's post-2008 loss qualifies because it was never in doubt. Which is sort of a prerequisite for real agony and the unique pain yet to come.

And what's that nadir moment? The sound of the Trojan band in their war-helmeted outfits piping up when their triumph is clear. And I don't mean the little ditty they play the whole game after defensive stops like Florida State's tomahawk chop tune. Or the Fight On song they strike up after touchdowns.

I mean their victory march. Just hearing it brings on dark memories from my childhood, recollections I keep in the back of the mind's bottom drawer with moving days and dying pets. It's the dirge from a recurring nightmare.

USC's band only plays the song when they know they've won. It's called Conquest and the reason it sounds like the soundtrack out of a 20th Century Fox epic from the '40s is that's exactly where it came from. It's their version of Red Auerbach's victory cigar and the I Believe chant begun by Navy midshipmen.

It's worse, though. Because it drips with a special arrogance. And as much as you hate it, you know it's a great piece of music.

The conductor uses as his baton a gilded gladius, the stubby sword of ancient Greek and Roman foot soldiers, stabbing it in the air with the marching cadence. In the back of your mind you know this is the band that played Tusk behind Fleetwood Mac. It's the band that crossed over into the record industry and show business.

All the while the damn horse is prancing around [Traveler]. He's not just a horse, of course. He has to be white. Like Dr. Evil's cat.

But you know what the very worst part is? You take in the whole scene in despondence, the USC fans mimicking the trumpet flourishes with their "Oh-oo-oh-ooooo" and the incomparable Song Girls in their white sweaters calmly punching the air with a V for victory in all their confident perfection. And you allow yourself the fleeting thought:

If you'd been born into their tribe and their golden land, you'd love being one of them.

That's the worst part! That's the part that drives you nuts. Because you'll have to think about this loss for nine months. You're flying home the next day. Winter has only begun.

Meanwhile, they'll be in California. And they'll probably forget about it tomorrow when they leave work early for the beach.

God, I hate that song.
[Reference Here]

We, at MAXINE, couldn't be happier to read such a well written and well-rounded review of the winning college football tradition experienced at the University of Southern California whose teams are known as the Trojans. Again, as one hears the musical strains of the trumpets blare Conquest - FIGHT ON!



TAGS: University of Southern California, USC, Football, Rose Bowl, 103rd Rose Bowl, Pac-12 Conference, Big Ten Conference, Penn State, Trojans, Nittany Lions, Records, Conquest, Sam Darnold, Matt Boermeester, Deontay Burnett, MAXINE

USC Trojan Fan Tries To Explain NCAA Sanctions to UCLA Bruin Fan

USC Trojan Fan Tries To Explain NCAA Sanctions to UCLA Bruin Fan

The USC Trojan football program in 2011 was limited to playing only the games that were scheduled within the first year of play within the PAC12 conference by the NCAA.

In this YouTube video conversation, that takes place after the USC - UCLA game, where USC Trojans drubbed the UCLA Bruins FIFTY points to ZERO points (50-0) to decide who would have the best record of competition within the Southern Section of the PAC12, a Trojan fan attempts to explain that USC, as a school program, did not cheat ... but were sanctioned by the NCAA for not being aware of a rules infraction perpetrated by an individual, Reggie Bush, whose college career ended in 2005.

Under the ruling by the NCAA, USC could not participate in any post season play in any Bowl games for two years (2010, 2011). If USC could participate, because it beat UCLA 50 to 0 in the PAC12 Southern Section play off, USC would have had to play against the PAC12 Northern Section winner, Oregon, who the Trojans had beat earlier in the season.

UCLA Bruins were able to score points (as opposed to not scoring any points as with USC) against Oregon in the playoff game ... but lost to Oregon, Dec 2, 2011 at Oregon, 31-49 ... and the game wasn't as close as the score suggests. By winning against UCLA's "gutty little Bruins", Oregon will represent the PAC12 against the Wisconsin Badgers in the Rose Bowl. So, the gutty little Bruins of UCLA, with its 6 win and 7 loss record, will be allowed to play in a post season bowl game (they will meet Illinois in the KRAFT Fight Hunger Bowl) as per the NCAA. This post season Bowl game is scheduled to be played in San Francisco on Sunday, December 31, 2011. It features a matchup between a team with a losing record (UCLA) against one entering the bowl game on a six-game losing streak (Illinois).

AP Top 25

Sun Dec 4, 2011

1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma St.
4. Stanford
5. USC
6. Oregon
7. Arkansas
8. Boise St.
9. Wisconsin
10. South Carolina

How did the UCLA Bruins get their nickname - the "gutty little Bruins"?

When the late Tommy Prothro coached football at UCLA, some of his over-achieving teams were known as "the gutty little Bruins." That designation was originated by Dean Cromwell, USC's track and field coach during the 1940s. When asked once about his next opponent, Cromwell, whose teams never lost to UCLA, said, "Oh, we're going to meet [former UCLA coach] Ducky Drake's gutty little Bruins." Since then, all UCLA sports teams have picked up the tag "gutty little Bruins."

So, the gutty little Bruins, with their gutty little 2011 6 win and 7 loss season football record, gets to play in a post-season Bowl game which is generally awarded to teams with a ... wait for it ... winning record! This re-defines the depths of the word "GUTTY".

Fight On!

L.A. Is Ramping Up To A USC 12 And 0 Glow - UPDATED 1-01-2008

A Crowded House - USC tailbacks Stafon Johnson (13), Joe McKnight (4), Hershel Dennis (34), Chauncey Washington (23), Allen Bradford (21) and fullback Stanley Havili (31) take a break during a recent practice. Coach Pete Carroll says he doesn't know right now who'll play at tailback when the season begins on Sept. 1. Image Credit: Wally Skalij / LAT

L.A. Is Ramping Up To A USC 12 And 0 Glow

This morning, we at MAXINE, went out to get the Sunday paper. At the corner station/convenience store, there, next to a pump, was parked a black Nissan 350Z convertible with a USC inscribed vanity plate surrounded with a USC Alumni license plate frame.

We decided to strike up a conversation with the owner about the prospects of USC’s football team this season and for our money, the Trojan prospects at a 12-0 season couldn’t look any better.

On the offense, nine high school All-American running backs are lined up to vie for the vaunted SC Tailback position. Seniors Chauncey Washington, Desmond Reed, and Hershel Dennis – Sophomores C.J. Gable, Stanton Johnson, and Allen Bradford - Freshmen Joe McKnight, Brodrick Green, and Marc Taylor – all could start for any other college but choose to be here at Southern California. Combine that with the fact that returning at quarterback, John David Booty has the inside track at earning the Heisman Trophy and becomming the third USC passer in six seasons to do so.

The gentleman in the “Z” though said it best … “As good as the Offense appears to be, the Defense is even better!”

This from College Football News via Scout.com –

2007 USC Preview - Defense
By Richard Cirminiello - CollegeFootballNews.com - Posted Jul 24, 2007

What you need to know:

The Trojan offense is good. The Trojan defense is scary good.

Backed by a Who’s Who of future first-day NFL Draft choices, USC is ready to unleash the nastiest and stingiest unit of the Pete Carroll era.

Led by Sedrick Ellis at the nose, Keith Rivers at middle linebacker, and Terrell Thomas at cornerback, the Trojans boast seven players capable of making a run at All-America honors in 2007.

Yeah, a few more sacks and takeaways would be nice, but this is as close to a flawless unit that there is in the country. From front to back, they’re aggressive, experienced and fast enough to create a swarming effect on the ball carrier.

Although the Trojans will give up yards to teams playing from behind, scoring meaningful points on them in the first three quarters is going to be a year-long nightmare.
Reference Here>>

Trust us on this … afternoon drivetime radio talk show host, Hugh Hewitt will have a lot to trash once the season gets started. His jocular brand of Ohio loyalty and Big Ten Conference pride will have no boundaries once college football’s current "winningest" team takes the field rated AP pre-season Number One for an incredible third time in four years.

USC Head Coach, Pete Carroll’s program built its reputation on a flashy offense. Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

And this from Associated Press Via ESPN -

USC No. 1 in preseason AP poll
By RALPH D. RUSSO, AP College Football Writer - August 18, 2007

NEW YORK - After a season of chasing, Southern California is again the team being chased. And that's just the way coach Pete Carroll and the Trojans like it. For the third time in the past four years, USC begins the college football season No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25.

"It's exactly where we hope and expect to be," Carroll said. "It's a symbol of what we're all about."

Southern California received 62 of 65 first-place votes and 1,622 points from a panel of media members. USC easily outdistanced No. 2 LSU in the poll released Saturday. The Tigers received two first-place votes and 1,511 points. They haven't started a season ranked this high since 1959, when they were preseason No. 1.

No. 3 West Virginia received the other first-place vote. The Mountaineers have never been ranked higher in the preseason. No. 4 Texas and Michigan round out the top five, and defending champion Florida is sixth.

USC has been the country's top program since 2002, going 59-6 with two national championships and a near-miss. This season, the Trojans expect to walk away from the BCS national championship game in New Orleans with the crystal football.

"That's what we're here for. We're here to do it better than anybody has ever done it before," Carroll said. "That's the single thought. That's what drives us. If that's the case, you want to be No. 1 forever."

For the Trojans, this is the 82nd time they've been No. 1 in the poll. Only Notre Dame (95), Oklahoma (95) and Ohio State (88) have more.
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Ohio State, last year's preseason No. 1 and the loser of the national title game to Florida, is No. 11 to start the 2007 season.
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The Trojans are preseason No. 1 for the sixth time overall, tying Nebraska for third most. Only Oklahoma (nine) and Ohio State (seven) have been top-ranked in the preseason by AP more often.

These Trojans have another star quarterback in John David Booty [following in the Heisman Trophy footsteps of predecessors Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart].
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"He's a natural-born quarterback," Carroll said. "He's got five years of experience. He's been through everything you need to be good."

Booty should have plenty of options, with about a half-dozen high school all-American running backs on the roster and a slew fast and talented receivers. But it's the defense that makes this USC team special.

The Trojans have potential All-Americans all over the field, and perhaps the nation's best linebackers in Brian Cushing, Keith Rivers and Rey Maualuga.

"They're big and fast and smart and they know what they're doing and they love to play the game," Carroll said.

Up front, defensive end Lawrence Jackson and tackle Sedrick Ellis are the stars. In the secondary, Terrell Thomas is a lock-down cornerback and sophomore Taylor Mays has drawn comparisons to such great USC safeties of the past as Dennis Smith and Troy Polamalu.

How good can this defense be? Just ask Michigan, which had its vaunted offense smothered in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 1.

"We have a lot of experience and tremendous speed," Carroll said. "We'll find out how good they are when we start playing."

If USC is as good as most believe, chasing down the Trojans could be too much to ask.
Reference Here>>

UPDATE 10-06-2007, a live blogging effort at MAXINE:

First Half - USC vs Stanford -

USC - 9 to Stanford - 0

Not Impressive!

I am going to join in with the fans at the Colisueum ...

... BOOOOOOOOOOO!!
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I don’t feel so bad just now ... Florida had scored first with a field goal and intercepted LSU.
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Until now - SC starts the third quarter with two quick turnovers and allows Stanford a touchdown.

End of the third quarter USC - 16 to Stanford - 7 --- Stanford at USC’s goal getting ready to score.

Start of the fourth quarter - Stanford scores 16 to 14.
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LSU scores and makes it Florida - 10 to Lsu - 7.

Florida driving and on the LSU 10 yard line.
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USC scores on a 46 yard play --- USC - 23 to Stanford - 14
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Florida on a third and goal play --- Florida - 17 to LSU - 7

LSU drives the ball smartly with a series of successful pass plays. After a false start on the 21, LSU stalls and this brings up a field goal attempt - MISSED.

End of the half --- Florida - 17 to LSU - 7.
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Stanford finds a passing game and drives the ball to the USC 9 yard line - field goal attempt - made --- USC - 23 to Stanford - 17.

5:43 left in the game at the Coliseum --- USC starts on their own 35.

USC faces a third and 16 - Interception and Stanford sets up with a first and ten at the Trojan 45 with about 2:45 left.

Interference USC - Stanford first and ten - ball on the USC 30 with 2:18 remaining.

2:07 - first down at the Troy 19. HOLD brings up a second down and 20. Third and 20 Stanford passes to an end that had stepped OTB before the catch at the two. Fourth and twenty, Stanford completes pass down the middle for a first and goal - 1:39 to go on the nine yard line.

Spot Challange by USC - Still first down for Stanford
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LSU receives from Florida kick-off and begins with a good run and is about the Florida 44 yard line.
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Stanford has a fourth down and goal at the five and a half with 0:54 seconds remaining. Stanford gets an illegal substitution FLAG - five yards - at the ten and a half yard line. Stanford passes - Complete - add six points. PAT GOOD!

USC - 23 to Stanford - 24

:49 seconds left - USC’s home win streak, and more, in jeopardy.

John David Booty faces a fourth and sixteen at their own forty yard line - Stanford intercepts JDB!

Turn out the lights ... the party’s OVER!

Stanford - 24 / USC - 23
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What LSU does or doesn’t do, at this point, doesn’t much matter. Currently, LSU scores on their opening drive --- Florida - 17 to LSU - 14
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There will NOT be a 12 & 0ooooh Glow in LA this year!

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End Of Year Update January 1, 2008

Running back Chauncey Washington #23 (center of photo) of the USC Trojans runs to against the defense of Will Davis #81 of the Illinois Fighting Illini in the first quarter of the "Rose Bowl presented by Citi" at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2008 in Pasadena, California. Image Credit: Donald Miralle/Getty Images

USC beats the Big 10 runner-up, Illinois, 49 to 17 and it was pretty impressive. Troy beat the only team to win against the current BCS #1 team, Ohio State!

That makes six consecutive eleven win seasons for the Pete Carroll USC Trojans with two Rose Bowl wins in a row for John David Booty and the third in five years for SC – FIGHT ON!

What comes after Dynasty? You won’t see the Trojans ever score forty-eight points and still lose to a 4 and 4 team as LSU did this 2007 season. Defense? Does LSU actually have a defense?

Here’s to seeing Ohio State takin’ it to LSU on Monday January 7, 2008 so that the Trojans can meet up with (and beat) a true champion to begin our 2008 season.

Oh, yes … I will eat my words again if I have too, but I am betting that I won’t have too. See you all next Monday night/Tuesday morning!

Happy New Year!

USC already has one win for the year … that is more than LSU or Ohio State can say for about six more days.

Quarterback John David Booty #10 of the USC Trojans "strikes-up" the band after defeating the Illinois Fighting Illini in the "Rose Bowl presented by Citi" at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2008 in Pasadena, California. USC defeated Illinois 49-17. Image Credit: Donald Miralle/Getty Images

This excerpted from AP via YAHOO! Sports –

(6) USC 49, (13) Illinois 17
By EDDIE PELLS, AP National Writer - January 1, 2008 - 10:00 pm EST

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- This would have been a perfect Rose Bowl for the USC Trojans, except for the one part they couldn't control.

They couldn't pick their opponent.

The sixth-ranked Trojans routed Illinois 49-17 on Tuesday and showed the rest of the country that, yes, maybe they are the best team in college football right now.

Certainly, a better test could have come against Georgia or Virginia Tech, or maybe next week against Ohio State in the national title game.

But the Rose Bowl wanted a Pac-10-Big Ten matchup, and the national title game didn't want Southern California. So, it wound up being USC-Illinois in the Granddaddy of 'Em All, and the Trojans made the Illini pay.

"I would love to play one more," defensive lineman Sedrick Ellis said. "I don't think any team in the NCAA could beat us right now. Not Ohio, not LSU."

Freshman tailback Joe McKnight finished with 170 of USC's Rose Bowl-record 633 yards. The 49 points tied a record, too, and the blowout gave the Trojans 11 wins for an unprecedented sixth straight season.

They have arguably been the country's best team over that span, and might have been the best this season, too. Lacking the playoff that coach Pete Carroll favors or the trip to the title game he lobbied for, the Trojans (11-2) will have to take this overwhelming display in Pasadena.

"Everything that was out there for us, we took," Carroll said. "The rest of it is up for discussion. But would I love to still be playing right now? Sure would. We'd go out there any time, any place, any venue and throw our football out there and see what we could do."
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Booty threw for 255 yards and three scores to set a Rose Bowl record with seven career TDs.

USC linebacker Rey Maualuga had three sacks, an interception and a forced fumble for a defense that allowed only 79 yards in the first half.

McKnight, hyped as USC's next Reggie Bush, finished with 125 yards rushing and 45 yards receiving, and his broken play in the third quarter wasn't the only time the Trojans made something crazy and unexpected happen.

Running back Desmond Reed #23 of the USC Trojans was so open on a cross-the-field pass play that scores SC's second TD, Desmond plants his feet just before the goal line, then flips into the end zone in celebration of his touchdown against the Illinois Fighting Illini in the first quarter during the Rose Bowl. That move set the tone of the game, and netted the Trojans a fifteen yard penalty on the ensuing kick-off. Image Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

It started in the first quarter, when Booty lateraled to Garrett Green, who is listed as a receiver-quarterback, and Green threw crossfield to Desmond Reed for a 34-yard touchdown strike and a 14-0 lead. Reed was so open, he could've walked into the end zone, but instead did a leaping front tuck. Stuck the landing, too, but got six points instead of a perfect 10.0, and also was docked a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty.
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The USC Trojans Song Girls perform after the game with the Illinois Fighting Illini during the Rose Bowl presented by Citi at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2008 in Pasadena, California. Image Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Meanwhile, USC was said to be playing the best football of anyone when the regular season ended, and didn't do anything to debunk that theory.

Carroll, a proponent of a playoff, lobbied for the Trojans to have LSU's spot in next week's national title game, the first to include a team with two losses. But a 24-23 loss to 41-point underdog Stanford in October was USC's undoing.
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The Trojans did, and earned a chance to celebrate -- or maybe wonder about what might have been.

"Let the argument go out there for the people battling with the BCS process to figure this thing out," Carroll said. "I have no answer for them. I just wish we could keep going."
Reference Here>>