In case you didn’t remember!
USC, the Pac-12’s overwhelming historic football power, is opening the 2024 season on Aug 31 against LSU on ESPN/ABC in the Vegas Kickoff Classic at Allegiant Stadium.
USC and LSU have played only twice, splitting games in 1979 and 1984, and the Tigers will be making their first-ever appearance in Nevada.
I was at the insanely loud (Tiger fans chanting “We’re #1!” throughout the game) and raucous ’79 game in Baton Rouge won in the last seconds by USC 17-12.
The LSU fans were super crazy and many were over-the-top inebriated after drinking all day (along with many of us Trojan diehards as well) from what I remember as the top-ranked, defending national champ USC Trojans rolled into Baton Rouge to face the totally ready 11-point underdog Tigers, ranked 20th.
An overflow crowd of 78,322 at Tiger Stadium went nuts in one of the loudest, most emotionally charged, and legendary home games in LSU history.
USC looked to be on the ropes, finally putting together a late beautiful drive to pop LSU’s bubble with a sweet 8-yd dump-off TD toss from cool-handed lefty Paul McDonald (6) to speed merchant Kevin Williams with only 32 seconds left.
Workhorse Charles White had a spectacular 185 yards on 31 carries.
It was definitely a somewhat hostile atmosphere as we exuberant Trojan fans happily squeezed our way out of the suddenly subdued stadium, just an awesome place to see a game, especially at night.
From that USC team, 36 Trojans reached the NFL, and 12 were first-round draft picks. Two were Heisman winners – Charles White (1979) and Marcus Allen (1981). Offensive guard Brad Budde was that season’s Lombardi Award winner. Four reached the Pro Football Hall of Fame – Ronnie Lott (2000), Anthony Munoz (1998), Bruce Matthews (2007), and Allen (2003). One player would go on to be a solidly successful NFL coach, Jeff Fisher, while another, TE Hoby Brenner, would end up with an excellent 13-year career with the New Orleans Saints. Don Mosebar was also a star OL with the Raiders, starting 159 games at OT, OG and OC. Mosebar eventually lost an eye due to a practice injury.
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I remember the 1979 game as a squeaker. The year before in 1978, I attended the USC vs Alabama game that was played in Birmingham, AL. I was a second year grad student at SC and my best friend in High School was at Alabama on a swim scholarship. He got me a ticket in the student section which was very rowdy compared to SC’s. I received a lot of stares/expletives when I stood up every time SC scored. We beat the Tide handily that day with both Charles White and Paul McDonald having great games. After the game we… Read more »
Thanks to all for your thoughts. They are very comforting at a time like this. Time heals all wounds, but this will take awhile
FIGHT ON!
Anybody else listening to the post practice interviews? It’s good stuff. Darwin Barlow certainly said an eye opening comment. Basically last year he just ran a sweep if he didn’t know the play, this year that is not going to fly. Says a whole bunch about previous and new culture. So glad we are in a new era of USC football.
I have been away for awhile. My wife of 42 years died on Fe. 21st. It’s been a tough time and real adjustment. Thank God for my son, and my parish, or I would be pretty much on my own.
I hope the Lincoln Riley Trojans will be a nice diversion.
Hope you are coming along okay PN4SC. Sorry for your huge loss. Fight On partner! ✌✌
Sorry for your loss. Glad you are back and part of this community. I can’t wait for this fall. I think we all have real hope for this team. Fight on my friend.
PN, I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say how very sad and sorry I am over the loss of your wife. I used to think the experiences and wisdom gained from getting older better prepare you for an enormous and unspeakable loss like this, but it never does, because we know and appreciate even more, the impact loved ones have on every aspect of who we are as people. We try so hard to keep those around us safe knowing so much of life is out of our control. I sincerely hope that the memories of… Read more »
PN4SC, Nice to have you back. Wish the circumstances were different. My condolences on your wife’s passing. Being married for 51 years, I certainly can understand it. Certainly keeps things in perspective. 2 weeks ago my wife slipped and fell and broke her ankle in two places (both major bones where they connect to ankle). She is now in a cast and cannot put any weight on it for at least another 6 weeks. My life has now turned to being primarily a caregiver. But, when I keep it in perspective, it is a joy to be able to do… Read more »
Condolences on your loss….prayers for you, your wife and your family.
The 2024 NFL Draft has been awarded to Detroit, the league announced Monday.
“The draft has become a prominent offseason event across the country, and we are excited to work with the Lions and their partners to bring the 2024 NFL Draft to the Motor City,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said.
“With the help of Visit Detroit, the Detroit Sports Commission, and the City of Detroit the Lions passionate fan base and all visitors will be treated to an incredible three-day experience.”
nfl.com
And when you go to Motown, with your credit card you can purchase, in full, a lovely house in a Detroit neighborhood and not exceed the card’s limit!
2022 five-star Washington OT Josh Conerly Jr. will announce his school choice on Friday, April 8th at 6 p.m. (PST), streamed on CBS Sports HQ. USC continues to be heavily favored following Conerly’s OV to campus.
Imagine that. A 5 star o line prospect choosing us. Add 2 more 5 star lineman in 2023 class that we are in the lead to get. New NIL deals coming in for those guys to sweeten the pot. Thanks LR. Hasn’t coached a game and is making us a significantly better program.
If there was anything disappointing about that game it was barely winning at the last minute against a team that went 7 & 5. But John Robinson was infamous for being too much a gentleman in not running up the score on anyone. LSU wasn’t that good in those days.
After 18 years, mediocre LSU headman Charlie McClendon retired following the ’79 season, and was replaced by the unsuccessful Jerry Stovall.
Actually, the Tigers never experienced major success again until Nick Saban came long and won a split NC in ’03.
That ’79 LSU team was a tough one to figure, both losing and winning so many very close games.
It’s all about the HC in CFB. He rules the domain, or gets buried by it.
LSU’s biggest home game in history vs the defending national champions and #1 team in the country early in the season. The Tigers didn’t know they were not any good that night ( they were talented ) played very well and no team except that talented 1979 USC team would had left Baton Rouge with a win. The Tiger O with it’s quick hitting trap plays and option type qb’s (Steve Esminger and David Woodley, of Dolphin fame, were a handful with Esminger being the star that night) was something SC normally didn’t see. The LSU D, which had terrific… Read more »
I seem to remember John McKay saying that he really hated playing at LSU…it was one of the loudest stadiums / crowds ever.
Believe me, there is nothing better than going into the Ohio St. Horseshoe, or Auburn Jordan-Hare, LSU Tiger stadium or wherever the noise is deafening in the beginning of the game and slowly hearing the noise die down to nothing by the end of the game because the home team got their butts beat. Nothing better!
I went to the Auburn game–2004? or maybe 2003? Awesome experience.
I also went to the USC/OHIO ST game at the Horseshoe in 1990 won by the Trojans 35-26. The tricky part was that the game was actually called with 2:36 to go due to incredible rain and thunderstorms. There was some amazing, otherwordly noise and it was quite a torrential downpour with what seemed like horizontal sheet rain, and crazy lightning, which was moving closer and closer. Surprisingly, this USC team hadn’t been running the ball well at all, and was coming off a 31-0 wipeout loss to the Huskies in Seattle the week before. This was when Larry Smith… Read more »
Jamaica, I was blessed to go to both games – SC/Ohio State Matt Barkley’s frosh year at the Horseshoe and the SC/Auburn game that was Matt Leinhart’s first start at Jordan Hare. I liked Auburn a lot better than Columbus.
McKay never had a team play in Baton Rouge. Played at Bama but never Baton Rouge.
Am very glad the Pac-12 is following through so quickly on George Kliavkoff’s plans to move their offices out of San Francisco.
The Pac-12 paid $92 mil in rent/renovation expenses over the last 11 years.
Big 10: $15 mil
SEC: $350,011
trojanswire.com
The SEC is paying $2650 a month for rent on conference headquarters located at 2201 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. North Birmingham, AL 35203!? I paid $4400 for 2400 sqft office in San Diego. Is real estate that cheap in Birmingham?
The SEC sure swings a lot of advantages. They are definitely ALL IN there.
As each day goes by, Larry Scott looks worse and worse.
Scott was nothing but an Ivy league grifter … BS artist looking to scam his way to the big life like Trump.
Scott is a scammer/grifter. Trump has always been a success to everyone who knows business. A real entrepreneurial success. USC encouraged these types of individuals before the wokesters started polluting the USC Campus in the last couple of decades….
Ivy League Grifter. Good one!
Scott was truly the worst, which was especially unlucky for the Pac-12 because his predecessor, 26-year tenured Tom Hansen, was also viewed as a horrible do nothing.
I have read more than once that the SEC headquarters is owned but a AL fan & booster. The amount of the actual rent varies by each report. Whatever the amount is, it is dramatically advantageous for the SEC .
No wonder Bamer gets every call. The SEC wants low rent.
Guess the steep rent to live/work in that filthy city finally took its toll. This is what he said in May, 2021:
“I want to be clear: I am, with my family, relocating to San Francisco and will be working full time in San Francisco,” Kliavkoff said. “The emergence of Las Vegas as a sports capitol of the world is significant. I think having our two major championships there is a good first step. I’d like to see us do more with Las Vegas, but I’m very, very focused on all of those other opportunities that I outlined first.”
The SEC headquarters is in a trailer in some parking lot. Anchored down of course, because tornados.
I think we can all say that SC Football and the Pac 12 were horribly mismanaged for most of the last decade. I would add the State of California to that list. SC realized its mistakes and is correcting them. The same with the Pac 12. I expect the Pac 12 will now exit California for Las Vegas. Unfortunately, California has yet to make that realization and will probably continue to have the equivalent of Clay Helton lead it for the next five years or so.
😥
Rjj & ATL D,D,S,
I knew before leaving California how badly both have been mismanaged. I am a firm believer partisan politics is to blame where selfish priorities are focused. Only when it is a benefit to helping a entity to prosper does anything get reexamined. We have seen in California politics that the game of “you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours” is played quite often. For instance, if Rick Caruso was not running for LA mayor, do you think he would have made an issue in supporting the resurrection of our football program?
Caruso played us USC fans like a fiddle for quite a while.
Then he was absolutely all aces when it mattered most — and USC’s football future needed to be signaled.
I also think the Trojans, and Caruso, got really lucky here.
Paul McDonald wasn’t a great quarterback, but he was good enough to hand off to two of the best backs USC had seen(at that time) I remember the defense being tough and the offense being exciting. I also remember thinking LSU was a backwater Podunk team. (but I was wrong.)
Ironically USC has kinda done crap by way of John Robinson and he took himself to LSU to work for Coach O.
Paul McDonald was a great game manager, like Steve Sogge was in the late 60’s for USC.
A football player rarity, he actually studied in Doheny library with his PiPhi future wife. I had a PiPhi girlfriend at the time who had to study since she was an Accounting Major–there was a group of us 3-4 nights a week in the Main Room in that big beautiful old library. Paul MacDonald was a frequent sight on those evenings and at the same table.
Doheny was an awesome library. Especially in my early years at USC, I marveled at some of the incredible artwork on display inside. Classic place, both inside and out.