How Much Bad Blood Exists Between Washington And USC?

Posted on by

This is not really a team or program question. But more of a fan question. There seems to be a deep reservoir of disdain for Steve Sarkisian and Co. from the Washington fans (and quite a few USC fans for that matter!).

This week, I’ve seen facts about Sarkisian’s reign from fans, like the 10 losses by 28 points or more. And his 34-29 record. And his awkward denial he interviewed for the USC job on a radio show the day he accepted the USC job. I could go on and on.

Then there is the Chris Petersen angle. He and Pat Haden did not mesh during an interview the same weekend Sarkisian interviewed for the USC job. Some USC fans ridicule Petersen now for his record at Washington.

For an otherwise non-rivalry, it generates plenty of debate.

92 thoughts on “How Much Bad Blood Exists Between Washington And USC?”

  1. Sark was a bad hire and will always be a bad hire. Haden didn’t look for a quality coach, and he sure didn’t vet the one he hired.

    Petersen wasn’t the man for the job either, name one BSU coach who has done well away from Boise. I’ll help, NONE.

    Haden never looked at Narduzzi from Michigan State. He didn’t bother with the TCU coach, the A&M coach, or any other coach aside from 7 win Sark. Why, is anyone’s guess.

    • Why? He turned around a bad Washington program that has quickly gone bad again. He’s a great recruiter. He has previously been at SC as an assistant. He gets along well with his boss. He has SC on the rise. Let’s see how the rest of the season goes. I look for no trap game losses and no blown 4th quarter leads as progress. 11-1 will be tough to do. After tomorrow name any other easy games left on the schedule.

      • So he won 7 games a year at UDUB for 3 years, big deal.

        He never wins games he’s not supposed to win and he loses games he’s not supposed to lose.

        So he was an asst at USC, big deal, that means he gets the gig ?

        Sark can’t attract good assistants, unless you fell Wilcox is qualified, which he isn’t. He couldn’t even get a decent OL coach, the one he got had been fired from his last 2 gigs, I wonder why ?

        I bet he gets along with Haden, they both have one thing in common, glug, glug, glug.

        SC is on the rise ?? Where do you get that from ? They lost at home to Stanford AND GOT RUN OVER IN THE PROCESS.

        He can recruit? It’s USC, your mother could recruit top classes to USC, USC recruits itself. I’ll tell you this, he better get some DL this class and drop 2-3 of the WR’s he’s got, DL is a prime need and I don’t see many on the radar for this year. But Sark has no idea defense wins games.

        Keep your head in the sand, and watch USC football suffer for another 2 years with this idiot running the ship.

        • #1 recruiting class, more on the way – this season is not over yet, take a chill pill and wake up at season’s end, then tell us how you feel

          • I’m hearing not only the #1 DT Rashan Gary, but now the #3 DT Dexter Lawrence will take an official visit to USC. As it stands right now they would be long shots to land. LSU are the likely leaders, but Lawrence has said he wants to get away from SEC country and wants to try living away from home. If we get them on campus that gives us a shot.

          • So, bad year locally, probably a whiff nationally with only 2 top kids, that doesn’t say much for Sark and recruiting top DL’s. Then again, if he had a top DL coach or a top DC, it might be easier to attract top talent for the defense.

          • I’m on the fence with Wilson as the DLine coach. But in recruiting Sark and his staff have came through and I’m sure they will have something up their sleeves on this position. Jordan Elliott maybe from Texas. Trust me on this one Go Tama…

          • BINGO and closer to the truth. Talent alone won’t win anything big for Sark. Still have to be coached and he is too lazy and stupid to coach anyone up.

          • Yeah, but besides beating USC what has Mora done in college football at UCLA? Sark and USC are realistically shooting for next year and we’re only 4 games in. The guy over in Westwood is 4 seasons in. Sarks not the popular choice, but it’s still early. Give him a couple of 25 man recruiting classes and then let him coach at full strength and depth.

          • I’m no fan of Mora, I think he’s a despicable pr!ck, so what’s your point ? Sark could have 4 years and he won’t win, he’s not a good coach. Ted Tollner could recruit, couldn’t coach, Sark is a fatter TT

          • Ted Tollner couldn’t coach JV football. You are writing Sark off after 17 games as coach. I’m not happy with the defense or Sarks Salute to Troy incident, but I’m still gonna let him take a couple of breaths before I take him out back and shoot him

          • Wilson for sure and I think Tee is also. As you already know, we need Tee in on every top potential recruit. He’s the best recruiter we have, kids love him, he’s very well respected, and he’s a “closer”.

          • Sark will end up 8-4, 7-5, you can count on it, and two of his wins will have come against glorified JC teams.

  2. Sark is a former great college QB, and a very good head coach. He took a WINLESS program at Washington, and made it a .500 team that went to several bowl games. You can’t take a winless program and make it a national power….no coach on earth can do that. He elevated Washington as much as any coach could have, and they should be thankful for that. At USC, Sark will lead a top 5 program, he has recruited in a stellar fashion, and its only a matter of time before they add the depth needed to contend for titles. Any current shortfall can be attributed to the effects of the crippling sanctions, that would have absolutely destroyed virtually any other program. Some people used to try to lump him in with Lane Kiffen when they were assistants at USC. Make no mistake, Lane got his start and his rise up the coaching ranks because of his dad. Sark rose on his own merit. Sark is a much better coach than Lane, they shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath.

    • That may be the biggest bunch of BS I’ve even seen written. Are you Sark’s agent ?

      • Wow you really have the hate for Sark in a bad way. What did he do to you? Take some deep breaths, relax.
        UDUB before Sark 0-12. With Sark, 5-7, 7-6(1st winning season in 9 years), 7-6, 7-6, 8-4. 9-4 last year. What does a graph of these season’s look like? Up sloping!

        • I don’t hate Sark, he just isn’t qualified to be the head coach at USC.

          2014
          Lost at BC. ( USC was favored by 17 pts )
          Lost to ASU at home. ( USC was favored by 12 pts, gave up 3 td’s in the last 10 minutes )
          Lost @ Utah. ( USC was favored by 1 pt )
          Got BOMBED by ucla.
          He’s lucky he didn’t lose to Arizona and Stanford.

          2015
          Lost at home to Stanford ( USC was favored by 10 pts )

          See a trend here ?

        • So Sark was somewhat better than Ty wow ! Sark loses 10 games defeated by 28 or more including gems like 63-17 , 41-0 home loss, 43-3 , 41-10 to Kiffin ! , 56-14, and 0-5 vs Oregon not one game within 25 ! big reputation that his teams are soft and quit (Boston Massacre last year )… ya great hire Haden, hard to find coaches better than this LOL

    • CLAP CLAP CLAP!!! Thank you for the COMMON SENSE – people and their vitriol of Sark is completely unwarranted – he is doing just fine, considering his age, and the circumstances of the program – as a matter of fact, I hardly think there is another coach in the land that could do as good a job as he has done in bringing the swagger back to SC. Take a look at Texas, and Charlie Storng – and he is actually still supported by Texas fans!!!

    • All good points. I would add that considering the situation he was put in, Kiffen did a pretty good job till the Sun Bowl.

      • Kiffin was a joke – he has the worst personality, and could never make it as a Head Coach like Sark has

        • C’mon, he was 28-15 under crushing sanctions and player defections. Sure he acted like a jerk sometimes but that’s not a bad record at all.

          • Sure, and he beat the Ruins 50-0 which was awesome. But he lacked creativity, and he was not the recruiter Sark is – his personality stood in the way of any long term success

          • I don’t accept mediocrity nor do I want it. I do appreciate when people are placed in difficult situations and still have success. So far SC is getting better with Sark. Time will tell if he is a great coach. I would let him and his staff have a chance to grow before throwing them under the bus.

          • Wow, just have to LOL, GT! You have the patience of a nanosecond. Wouldn’t you like to see SC go 11-1 and get into the playoffs? Or would you rather be proven right and SC goes 4-8 and Sark gets fired?

          • Name one person Haden has hired to coach that has been any good ?

            USC wil not go 11-1, you’re delusional if you think that.

            I will be proven right, Sark will continually go 8-4, 7-5 and be fired.

            You accept mediocrity, that’s just who you are.

          • Word according to Tama. If Sark wins he’ll claim luck or USC wins by itself. Porter is just one of the true freshman on D playing real minutes so maybe that has a little to do with defensive problems. Don’t let any facts get in the way with your stellar analysis.

          • Um, I don’t mean to offer a general defense of Pat Haden when I say the following. However, Pat Haden has hired a really good Track & Field coach and evidently a really good baseball coach. I just wanted to acknowledge that since you were kind of asking for an answer.

      • I agree. Kiffen did do a good job. I still would agree with the decision to get rid of him because he had lost the confidence of the team. But the NCAA went out of their way to destroy the USC football program and Kiffen held the program together during most of those years of the sanctions.

    • Sark was a great college QB and is a very good college coach….you’re a pretty easy grader.

      • great lol … Chow created that stubby little toad into something , of course Sark was about 25 when he was at BYU. Good college coach hahahahahaha

    • You are a complete idiot. Neither of these guys are worth a crap and are nothing but Pete Carroll creations.

  3. After Sark gets the program back on top for good (already top 6 at one point this year), fans will be begging for him to stay – we will be lucky if he does

    • HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

      • Get a life – your constant one drum beating is nothing more than a movie critic who blasts anything simply because one can.

    • Sounds like a group that has bonded and working as a team. I like it. Gee, maybe they are getting good leadership from their coaches!

  5. Scottie, perhaps you should get your facts straight before forming an opinion. Sark took a winless program at UW and turned it around. UW fans felt betrayed when Sark left, but they were not angry because of his performance. I imagine we would have felt the same way had Pete Carroll left for another university rather than the NFL.

    • Udub fans were happy as hell the Snarknado and his band of drunks left … they couldn’t believe their good fortune.
      Snark’s day were numbered at Udub … look at those crappy players he recruited , he was either fired last year or this but he was done … they were sick of him , just like SC fans already are.

    • Helen, a lot of UW fans thought Sark made noticeable errors. Based on what has happened in 2014-15, I see where they might conclude that.

  6. I don’t buy the Sark-turned-Washington-around argument. Yes, he pulled them out of the toilet Ty Willingham left them in. But he should’ve done more. It’s a great school in a great city with a rich football tradition. A good coach wouldn’t have capped out at 7 wins.

    • thank you … and look how he left it. All his big qb recruits BUST , udub has to start a true frosh. 50 plus r-shirt frosh and frosh on Udub roster. The Snark did nothing up there but keep his job barely

      • What???
        Washington had 3 first round draft picks in 2015. The most ever at UW. Those are Steve Sarkisian’s recruits. And Cyler Miles who was recruited by everyone by the way was forced to retire due to an injury. Sark started with nothing at UW and brought in talent. Shaq Thompson was the #1 player in California and Sark made sure USC and UCLA had no chance at landing him. Jake Browning went to UW because Sark sold him on it and Peterson closed the deal. And Tate Martell was going to Washington originally because Steve Sarkisian. Sark and his Staff did well getting talent, but the task was far greater.

    • Not sure, but maybe.

      What happened is that Cal and Stanford got better after 2000, and OR really took off. UW took some of that hit.

      As universities, the CA schools rank higher than UW, Seattle is neither L.A. or S.F., and CA has so much larger of a population. So UW is a good school in a good place, but 4 of the Pac-12 are at the top in those categories.

  7. Manufactured. SC and u-dub LOVE it. Otherwise, a pretty boring Thursday night affair. Let’s gin up some bad blood! pfft.

    • Everyone, other than USC fans, either hates or fears us – that’s a fact look at the cretins that haunt this board.

      Stanford doesn’t induce these feelings – as to UCLA they’re an afterthought. There are few programs that generate the animus that is only reserved for that which spikes the Nillson ratings and brings smiles to TV executives.

      WA is grateful to be on a national feed tomorrow evening – any opponent of USC is even Notre Dame.

  8. Hogwash, Wolf

    There is no rivalry to rival Stanford, Cal, SUCLA and even Oregon

    Washington has had its moments in history– 1959-1960; national title in 1991, and has given SC fits, especially in Seattle. But it is not a traditional rivalry.

    And if Washington fans, or many SC fans, don’t like Sark, it is probably because he has not won every game as a coach. That’s just the way fans are, and that is why they known as ‘fanatics.’ or people with unreasonable zeal.

    • When I think of USC’s rivals, Wash. doesn’t really jump out, does it? Even Cal and Stanford were long-term “match-ups”, but only became rivalries more recently.

  9. Here is what Huskie players are saying: per Seattle Times

    The rollercoaster of Sark’s time at UW featured a few highs and many nauseating lows. This week, the Huskies hope to catch him on a downturn.

    UW defensive tackle Elijah Qualls, a third-year sophomore recruited to UW by Sark, was asked this week about the differences between the program then and now.

    “Just how close of a team we are, having a better mentality and a better buy-in, working harder ” Qualls said. “It’s all about buying-in and playing for each other, being teammates, and just improving a better culture. Not just having a bunch of groups hanging out not caring about football in the locker room, but being more of a team, respecting one another and the coaches. That wasn’t the case before. ”

  10. Sarkesian may become a great coach in the future. At 41, he’s just learning the trade. I’ve seen some polls that rated him the 9th best coach in the PAC 12. I think that’s about right at this point in his career. Meanwhile, Petersons record is phenomenal first as an offensive co-ardinator where his offenses averaged over 40 points a game for about 5 years and then as a head coach. He’s clearly one of the best coaches in college football. He wanted the SC job. Why would he interview for it twice if he didn’t want the job? Pat Haden decided not to go in that direction because Peterson didn’t interview well(he said that he was underwhelmed with his 2 interviews) and that he wasn’t a big city type of a guy. That’s psychobabble on steroids. You don’t hire a coach according to his personality. Bill Belechik is not exactly Mr. charismatic. Neither was Tom Landry or Bill Snyder of Kansas State or a whole lot of other very successful coaches. You hire someone on his record. Washington is going to become a national football powerhouse. Just give Peterson a few more years. USC wil regret passing over Chris Peterson. Mike Garrett was a much better AD than Pat Haden.

    • Yeah, Garrett wanted to hire Lou Holtz, Dennis Erickson and Mike Belotti before PC landed in his lap. Garrett was a minority hire who was also a MORON

      • not true … Holtz, are you kidding that was from the Mike McGee days and Holtz made it up to get a raise. Mike Riley was always Garrett’s guy, fortunately Darryl Gross played for Pete with the Jets and said ‘ hey , how about this guy ‘

      • Lou Holtz and Dennis Erickson won national championships and Mike Belotti was the one who put the Oregon football program on the map. And then he did hire PC. I don’t think too many people have recently questioned that hire.

          • Garrett wasn’t very politically correct. He didn’t play a lot of golf or go to all the cocktail parties with all the big Kahunas at USC but he got the job done.

      • erickson once caught lightening in a bottle…..he got lucky once and FAILED everywhere else…phaden was involved with the goat boy hire…..so I guess goat boy interviews well….but is a schmuck the rest of the time…..phaden needs to stay at sssuuucccks.

      • That is offensive phrasing, and I don’t like it.

        Jerry Buss wrote an L.A. Times article stating that Garrett was not given much love relative to his many successes and accomplishments at USC. I think Buss was probably closer to “insider” facts than most of us.

    • The Snark left Petersen with a bad locker room and worse yet , no talent. He recruited nobody his last two years up there and Petersen is basically playing a JV team this year. Better get this one Sark because they will be waiting for you and your new qb next year!

    • Chris Petersen is 2-2 vs. crappy teams so far this year, and let UW to a loss in the Cactus Bowl (what’s that?). I’ll take Sark.

      • You may be right and I honestly hope you are because I am a bigtime USC football fan. But I fear that 5 years from now, Peterson will have that team challenging for a national championship and Sark will be working somewhere else as an offensive co-ordinator. Peterson had top 5 ranked teams when he was at Boise State. He didn’t have nearly as much talent there as he will be able to get at UDUB.

        • He didn’t have any competition at Boise St. They played nobody week in and week out, all season, every season. I think they had like a 30 game winning streak, but that doesn’t mean crap when 6 of those 30 straight were vs. Wyoming and New Mexico Lobos. Boise was a complete joke of a national power, then they show up for one game a year to play somebody that doesn’t completely suck facing no adversity, no injuries all season because they had no competition. Petersen sucks, UW’s ONLY wins this season are vs. Utah St. and Sacramento St. which I read as 0 wins, because I don’t count FCS schools as real teams. That’s Boise St. style.

          • He did play a lot of cupcakes, although no more than Ohio State does year in and year out but that record speaks for itself. I think he was 72-6 in his first 6 years and they beat Washington, Arizona State,TCU, Oregon(twice), Georgia,Oklahoma, Air Force. When he took over at Washington, they asked some of the players about the difference between Sark and Peterson. They all said that the difference was the difference between night and day. Sark was more concerned about running a lot of plays. Peterson was more concerned with detail. He’s a perfectionist. We’ll find out in the future. Time will tell.

    • Jim, you’re right. There are different styles of coaching

      Still, I wouldn’t rule out personality as important to some styles.

      However, who can argue with you about Belichick or Landry or others? They practice a colder, cerebral style which, at its best, is formidable. However, in CFB, cold may seem less appropriate. McKay was funny/witty, if more aloof. Robinson was accessible.

      It’s all case by case.

      I didn’t like Haden’s hiring process.

      • Sark is a great recruiter. Is he a great coach? Not now but maybe in time he will be. He’s only 41. We’ll see.

  11. Bad blood? UW is probably one of the last schools I think USC has “bad blood ” with. Not sure where Wolf gets this stuff.

  12. When the fans were calling for Steve Sarkisian job up at Washington, I couldn’t imagine why. But now that he’s coaching the Trojans, I totally understand why they wanted him out. He recruits any, and everybody , but he rather play the finesse game, as if he’s lacking talent. He would have been a perfect coach for the old WAC conference of the 70’s and 80’s . Because those teams played no defense, and had no running game, but would always try to out score everybody.

  13. Does it really matter what the fans think about this rivalry? Isn’t it the players who determine the game? And for anyone’s information, the most heated rivalry in the PAC-12 isn’t USC-UCLA or Stanford-Cal. It isn’t even ASU-Arizona. It is Washington & Oregon who play a grudge match every year.

Comments are closed.