USC-UCLA: My Only Problem with the Way It Ended

I didn’t have a problem with USC coming out for the last minute of the game and taking a knee.

Okay, so maybe the coaching staff forgot that UCLA had three timeouts remaining. The staff has forgotten a lot of things this year, like how to get the defense ready to play a decent offense.

Of course, that doesn’t include the Bruins’ offense.

Speaking of offenses, the staff also has forgotten how to shift the USC offense into high gear. It seems like they have been stalled most of the season in second gear. In their Rivalry Game on Saturday, like their game earlier at Arizona State, the Trojans never got it out of first gear until the fourth quarter.

Anyway, whether they actually forgot that UCLA had all their timeouts, or taking a knee was supposed to signify that the Trojans were willing to end it at 21-7, doesn’t matter.

I had no problem with Rich Neuheisel refusing to end it at 21-7 and calling a timeout. Why take three timeouts into the locker room? You can’t redeem them at Walmart even on Thanksgiving weekend.

I had no problem with Pete Carroll and Jeremy Bates calling a play-action pass since Neuheisel was willing to take it to the limit.

I had no problem with the Trojans celebrating and even taunting the Bruins when they scored. After all, it is supposed to be a rivalry game, isn’t it?

Here’s my problem. Why was Matt Barkley in there to take the knee or to throw the play-action pass?

Why not have Mitch Mustain or Aaron Corp get a chance to do the honors? Don’t they deserve some recognition for warming the bench all year while the staff has ignored them time and time again because the coaches are too busy kissing Barkley’s behind?

Better yet, why wasn’t Garrett Green in the game at that point?

Green is a senior. He has served faithfully as a safety, wide receiver, and scout team quarterback for four years. Not only that, but he also threw for a touchdown in the Rose Bowl two years ago.

Has Pete Carroll become so enamored with Matt Barkley that he can’t give a loyal senior like Garrett Green the chance to throw that play-action pass?

Why did it have to be Barkley?

He has been anything but superlative over the past month. In fact, his accuracy has been downright pathetic at times.

I can understand why Corp might not be in there with his poor performance at Washington, but Mitch Mustain is another player who deserves some recognition and should have had a chance to throw that pass.

Even if Green or Mustain had thrown an incomplete pass and given UCLA an additional timeout, so what? There was no way that the Bruins were going to score two touchdowns.

So, I will stop short of calling Pete Carroll “classless” like some of his media critics. But I do think he has been rather myopic.

Matt Barkley will have at least two, or possibly three, more Rivalry Games in his future. Garrett Green will have none. This was it for him.

Green will have just one more game in the Coliseum next week. But the defense has struggled all year against decent offenses, except for Ohio State.

Arizona is no UCLA when it comes to offense. They can certainly put up points.

The odds of Green or any of the other quarterbacks seeing any playing time against the Wildcats are slim and none.

Pete Carroll’s chance to recognize Garrett Green for his contributions has most likely come and gone.

But then it has been a season of opportunities for the Trojans that have come and gone.