USC’s Tough End To Season?

usc-ucla-1988With USC heavily favored to beat UCLA and Notre Dame the next two games, I can’t help but wonder what some former Trojans players are thinking about the teams they faced on back-to-back weekends. In 1988, USC faced No. 6-ranked UCLA and No. 1-ranked Notre Dame on consecutive weekends. Now that’s a schedule.

28 thoughts on “USC’s Tough End To Season?

  1. If it were I…I would be thrilled to be involved in such classic events of football history; these 2 rivalries are among the best.

  2. Yeah, another way to dig at the current Trojans. “You can’t even play quality Bruins/Irish!” Nice one, Scottie. On-brand, indeed.

  3. ucla and nd both are terrible this year. If they were good and ranked, USC could look at a possible shot at top 4. Same schedule, different teams.

  4. USC has still beat 2 of the top 10 teams in the country. People overlook that.

    It is shocking that both ucla and ND have fallen so far. A win by either will save their seasons but I think our boys will be prepared and with a leader like Darnold, I don’t see any players not aware of the absolute need for their A game. Both ucla and ND are very talented, just screwed up.

    And both ND and ucla will have to take it away from us. It would help if our OL could finally figure our how to stay onside, but we seem to be winning anyway, so bring it on.

  5. SC had a tough schedule this year regardless of what some people say. The Pac-12 was not as weak as everyone says they are. Look at the AP poll. The Pac-12 has 5 teams in the top 20. The Big-10 also has 5 teams but they have 14 schools in the Big-10 so they have 2 more teams that have a chance to make it. All the other major conferences(the SEC, ACC and the Big-12) have 3 teams in the top 20. I’m not saying that the Pac-12 is the best conference but they are certainly not weak. Add to the fact that 2 of the 3 non-conference games were/are against Alabama and Notre Dame(a centuries old rival) and the fact that Arizona State was undefeated when they played them, California was playing well and Stanford is always strong and Oregon is always an offensively explosive team and you certainly don’t come up with a weak schedule.

  6. I wish UCLA and ND were having better seasons – would make these games more exciting. The biggest fear heading into these games is that SC won’t play with the same motivation they’ve had the last 6-7 games. Hope they close out on UCLA in style.

    • We get a Colorado and Utah loss the season could end really big for SC and set them up for next year.

      • USC is the highest ranked 3 loss team in the official poll. I don’t see how the schedule is hurting them. The losses are what have hurt them, not the schedule.

  7. Well Larry Smith sure thought so – he claimed they (USC) shouldn’t have to play both bel-air tech and ‘The Princess’ in even numbered years. The latter game – the game buster – 1st half the soft toss by Tony Rice over the defensive line when USC had them penned in on the 5 yard line…..in the gloaming.

  8. This is ucla bowl game so we need to show no let up and beat them silly…….ucla will not roll over for us so bring the A game….

  9. If SW was writing this same story in 1988 he would have found something negative and snarky to have said then also.

  10. I’m struggling to understand the point of this post. Should USC be expected to break their very long-term contract and tradition of playing Notre Dame and replace them with a stronger program? I suppose the original poster understands that conference schedules are set and the school has very little control over it (and a rivalry game is generally pretty positive for the program.)

    USC scheduled Alabama and Notre Dame as two of their three out of conference games. That seems like a pretty solid schedule. Which of those two should USC drop and replace with a stronger program to strengthen their schedule? Of course Utah State wasn’t the most impressive program to schedule, but it’s hardly damning considering most schools do play a cupcake during the year.

    Or, being new here, is the original poster just trying to generate click-bait? If so, I’ll gladly stop asking about his posts. I thought though he was a working journalist and hence was hoping he was at a higher standard than a typical click-bait site.

  11. I like SC’s chances in both games. Predict double digit victories in both. Hope things fall right for them to make the pac-12 championship. Rose bowl would be sweet. Perhaps go against UM. Ok, I’m thinking too far ahead. First get past UCLA

  12. Even though heavily favored to win (and with no excuses as to why they shouldn’t win out), I can see usc choking on one of their next two games.

  13. Like USC can control the wins and losses of the powder blues and the Kelly greens prior to playing them on the field of play.

    The Trojans just need to take care of business in the games set before them.

    SW is a warped, frustrated, fish-wrap hack.

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