USC-UCLA Quick Thought

HUNDLEY.USCUCLA quarterback Brett Hundley was the key to last year’s game when he rushed for 80 yards with two touchdowns and also passed for 208 yards. Now for the quick thought: If Clancy Pendergast could not contain Hundley, what is there to suggest Justin Wilcox will be able to stop Hundley?

62 thoughts on “USC-UCLA Quick Thought

  1. ahhhh, yes i get it: shades of Vince Young galloping past Simmons for the crushing TD at the RB in ’06!!!

    HAWR-HAWR!!

    stealthy crotch-kick, wolfman!! HOW do you come up with this stuff??

    #BuhhhBAM!

    • What happened the last time UCLA was in the Rose Bowl game way back in 1999, much less a National Title game? That’s right. Ron Dayne freight trained the Bruins for 246 yards and four TDs. #Freightrained!

    • Yes but at least that happened in the National Championship game which is something UCLA has never been in.

      • The biggest game ucla ever plays is against USC. It’s always that way. If they can beat the Trojans, nothing else matters, which is why they never accomplish anything else. The Bridesmaid U stage is always small.

      • SUCC choked big time in front of a national TV audience. It was delicious – Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory while cheating. Cheers.

    • did you know there’s a new USC blog being put together and you’re on the blacklist?

    • How about when Ron Dayne gashed UCLA for 246 in the 1999 Rose Bowl? You remember that game don’t you Bucket? That was when UCLA gave back over 4,000 Rose Bowl tickets and turned the game into a home game for Wisconsin. It was also the only time your illustrious football program went to a BCS Bowl game. This was after Edgerrin James from the U gashed them 299 and bounced them from the BCS title game.
      #Gashed!

  2. Nothing, Scottie… absolutely nothing… at least not on the defensive side of the ball….it’ll be up to the offense to convert 3rd downs and work the clock in order to keep Hundley off of the field….

    • You’re probably right, Bleauz. Maybe you should forward your email to Sark’s office. But may I make a suggestion? Insert “with a wide open attack in BOTH halves” between the words “convert third downs” and “work the clock.”

      • Combine our first halfs with Florida State’s second halves this season and you’d have one heck of a football team…..

        • And guess what? We happen to have the talent to pull that off! It’s only a matter of not falling back on field position football once we get the lead. No lead is safe in the Pac 12.

          As McKay said, the name of the game is “score and score and score.”

          • The Boston Massacre proved SUCC’s team FB talent and potential, and the final score are mutually exclusive. Would that be fair to say MG? Tsk, tsk.

          • Prettily put, UCLA. I’d put it this way—few fans care about making metaphysical distinctions between a talented team that, on a GIVEN Saturday, loses to an inferior team and a team that loses because they are untalented. But, if USC is as talented as I think they are, they will show up in a big way THIS Saturday against you know who.

  3. Justin is a fine young man and should be in great position to watch Brett run in a couple of TD’s.
    Follow up question: Will Southern Cal pooch kick all game or kick away to Ish Adams?

  4. It’s not just Hundley – USC has ALWAYS had trouble with running qb’s even from Pete Carroll’s days. Remember Vince Young? In any case Hundley’s gonna get loose — USC just has to contain his best they can and get our defense off the field as quickly as possible. And since Hundley’s prone to getting sacked, how about a blitz or two (or 20) in this game? GO TROJANS!

    • Young and Hundley gave and give everybody trouble, not just USC. They’d both give Alabama a lot of trouble today and Saban would be the first to admit it.

      The key to this game is our running attack. Hundley’s gonna get his rushing yds (too fast, too hard to bring down, sees running lanes too well) just like we’re gonna get our passing yds (Kessler will have a big day). If we can really run it, say minimum 150 yds (would like 200 a lot more), we’ll take it. If the bruins stuff us on the ground (like Cal and BC did), forget about it.

      • From the Bruin side of the ball, we need to get pressure on Kessler and stuff the run. If the D that played Arizona shows up, the Bruins should do fine. If the D that played Cal shows up, it could be a long day.

        • I think both teams will play very well and it’ll be a close game decided late in the contest. That bodes well for ucla. I expect some spectacular plays, tempers on the field, some bad calls (Pac-12 refs stink) and one very heartbroken team at the end.

          This is the biggest USC/ucla game in a long time. Either team is very capable of winning but you have the coaching edge.

          • right that…..hopefully those dumbbells won’t ruin the game….the Southern Cal vs Cal game had to be the worst ticky tack game of all. last week they took away a TD from our receiver for Offensive interference and replays clearly showed he never touched the defender!! let the kids play ball!!

        • I think that’s spot on. Key for USC is tackling Hundley. Last couple years we had about a million shots at him but did not take him down.

      • We need to establish passing game first still. re: its harder to establish a passing rhythm

        • I’m assuming we’ll be able to pass, no problem. Our QB rarely throws picks and Agholar is one of the nation’s best.

          I think for the Trojans, the passing game comes easier. I’m worried ucla’s d-line will stuff us on the ground and if they do, our passing attack alone won’t be enough to win.

          • I agree. I think this game is up to the D and whether they can keep Hundley contained. We have to keep it a slow and low scoring game.

  5. God I love this week.
    Fear & Loathing in the air and paranoia you could cut with a knife.
    Just when my team of shrinks tells me I’m cured of football fever, the voices come back “13 to 9”, “13 to 9”
    Makes me want to jump off a balcony into my nephew’s pool.
    Whatever happens this weekend, I want to take this opportunity to thank Southern Cal football for another stellar season of entertainment off the field.

      • GoTro,
        Thanks for asking; I am this week, for sure.
        I personally think the term itself is way under utilized and misunderstood by people who can’t read a dictionary. But what do I know? I may be retarded.
        PS Try using “technically retarded” it’s far less stigmatized.

        • Nice JM. GoTro can spin his black eye as a wound received Nov 22 from a Hundley straight arm.

  6. And one more thing, USC should consider NO UP TEMPO GAME WHATSOEVER vs. the gutties. When the no huddle up tempo doesn’t work we give give the ball back to the opposing offense too quickly and of course that creates all kinds of issues not to mention keeping our defense on the field way too long.

    • Agreed. SC needs to control the clock and use a ball control offense and score early. UCLA struggles when they fall behind early and you can tee off on Hundley.

    • We dumped the baby blue years ago. The pants are more gold than in the Beban days as well. I would like us to go back to the oldies. Would be nice for the Chargers as well.

      • Probe I think the ‘lighter shade of pale ‘ (my apologies to Procol Harum), looked better – admittedly I haven’t monitored as closely the home games i.e. Rose Bowl appearances, but I did like that paler shade of blue.

        • Time to go retro and break out the uniforms from the Prothro vs. McKay era for both teams…..which in my mind was the golden era of the rivalry.

          • THAT is EXACTLY what I thought they would be – hey Troy held up its end of the deal – those UCLA baby blues aren’t what I remember – way too dark from the 1960-70 brand.

            Man no one picked up on my lifting a lyric off of Procol Harum – I am getting old!

    • last qb to get hurt in this game was Mr. “stuck in the mud” Barkley when he got smashed by Anthony Barr and had his SC career ended.

    • Just remember…quarterbacks who stand perfectly still with their back to elite LBs usually get the stuffing knocked out of them and walk out of the Rose Bowl in a sling.

      • Yes, and then classy ucla fans cite injuring Barkley that as their crowning moment. In their defense, ucla hasn’t won anything significant in football in over a generation…

        • Exactly……I keep waiting for Mora to reach out to Barr, look deeply into his eyes and whisper “We’ll always have Paris”……

          • Cigar Butt wants to watch. You and Nobs are eerily similar when it comes to latent tendencies. Are you hiding in the closet CB?

        • Actually Scott, take a look back at the youtube of Little Freshman Matty Barks celebrating like a 8th grader after going deep on UCLA in a game that was over, and you will understand the violent poetic justice that planting him in the RoseBowl turf achieved. So sweet.

          • First, if that 2009 game was over, then why was your head coach calling a TO with 54 seconds left?

            If you want to celebrate beating SC, fine. But you can’t defend the happiness and trash talk (directed right at Barkley) that ucla players and fans engaged in after injuring him. It was classless and pathetic.

        • Careful about that ‘generation” comment–what has SC done in the past 10 years? (And don’t say 2004–that was nearly 11 years ago).

          • Ok, let’s start with since 2005: Overall Wins? SC (despite vacating 11 Ws in 2005). Head to head wins? SC. Bowl Appearances? Tied, only because of sanctions. Bowl Wins? SC. Rose Bowls? SC. Players drafted? SC.

            There’s no comparison.

          • UCLA sucked for from 2004-2011, except for one freaky year when they went 10-2 during Drew Olsen’s senior year. Who asked for a comparison? My point is that you guys have done ZIP in more than a decade, and don’t realize that the dynasty is over. When was the last time you even finished the season in the top 10? Irrelevant now–face the music.

          • Well, you asked “what has SC done in the past 10 years?”, so I answered. The answer was, as usual, much more than ucla (and that time period included sanctions and having Lane Kiffin as our HC).

            You think SC hasn’t done zip in the last decade? When was the last time ucla finished in the top 10? Or won a Rose Bowl? Or had any relevance in the national conversation? It wasn’t in this CENTURY…

            Ucla only measures themselves by whether or not they beat SC, while to SC, the ucla game is just part of a road to something more.

  7. sort of like asking, “If Scott Wolf can’t write, what is there to suggest Reid Silverman can?”

  8. Who the hell is Clancy Pendehograst? Is he like a defensive legend or something? His Wikipedia page says he was coaching at Cal for 3 years from 2010-12, and a bunch of other historically lousy teams. If he can’t do it, anybody can.

  9. UCLA will have to beat themselves to lose to a diminished, mid-level USC team that has inferior coaching and thin depth. The Bruins will put this one away heading into the fourth with–for the third year in a row–no answer for Hundley’s arm and legs.

  10. Because Justin Wilcox already has a built in excuse, limited scollys…remember ? And since Pat Haden actually believes it, and Steve Sarkisian won’t say it. It really makes no difference what Brett Hundley does, win or loose

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