Last night’s USC-Stanford game was one of the most dramatic and suspenseful college football games in recent memory. It also provided a wonderful platform for Trojans coach Lane Kiffin, who had the privilege of being a participant and nearly pulled off a big upset.
At the least, Kiffin could enjoy getting the Coliseum atmosphere back to the glory days.
Instead, he could not resist letting his sour side take over by berating the officials in his post-game press conference. It made Kiffin seem small and petty. One could imagine Pete Carroll smiling and using the game as a building block as he discussed it with the media.
Kiffin chose a different role that comes natural: Whiner.
A USC official even gestured to Kiffin to stop talking about the officials during the tirade.
So the referee did not call timeout with 1 second left? Then don’t run a play over the middle or instruct your player to hit the ground early to guarantee a field goal.
Not everything is the ref’s fault. I didn’t hear Stanford coach David Shaw complain that USC did not have a penalty called on it until the fourth quarter. Or that the Cardinal had 11 penalties and the Trojans three.
But the actual circumstances are beside the point. A team assumes its coach’s character. Pete Carroll used to tell me how he wanted his teams to feed off his positive energy.
Kiffin only dimished himself after the game last night. And it stole from what could have been one of his prouder moments.
