If it’s true that @PeteCarroll had words with @JimHarbaugh about Stanford’s late 2-point attempt, that’s LAME. When you’re USC, and you’ve been beating teams by scores like 55-21 for the last eight years, you don’t whine about opponents “running up the score.” You take your licks and move on. Beat the Bruins.
I don’t entirely agree. In general those points have occured when backups and backups of backups are in, they haven’t been TRYING to run up the score by throwing long bomb passes, etc. and not going for it with 2 point conversions when it was unnecessary.
Its one thing to score a lot of points because your team is just that good. Its another to intentionally run up the score like that.
Didn’t read the tweets, but I think I agree with Brendan on this one, David. Specifically, how should one respond to Coach Carroll’s chagrin?
“There, there Coach. Mean old Tree, always getting drunk and then messing everything up. I am sorry they had to add insult to injury by rubbing it in against you guys. Too bad you can’t go out and recruit a Top-rated class of 5-star high school talent, and then take those boys up to Palo Alto next fall and whoop their ass- huh? You’re going to do that? Oh. Never mind”.
David, I’m not saying what Stanford did was right. I’m saying Pete Carroll shouldn’t be bitching about it. When you’re USC, you don’t get to bitch about running up the score. You just don’t. You should be above that sort of whining.
Also, while you’re correct that USC has often put up big scores with backups in and whatnot, they have sometimes been accused of: a) leaving in the starters a mite too long, b) continuing to run splashy passing plays when it’s unseemly, c) going for it on 4th down when way up late in the game; etc. etc. I have generally defended the Trojans against these criticisms, so it irritates me to see Pete Carroll himself launching the same sort of whines that Trojan-haters have launched against Carroll himself in the past. Maybe his whine is slightly more legitimate than some of the haters’ whines, but the bottom line is, it just looks bad, it’s silly, it’s unnecessary, to make an issue out of this. You’re the head coach at USC. You got your ass whooped by Stanford. Deal with it. Two measly points (that they didn’t get anyway) don’t make a dime’s worth of difference. If you think Stanford’s actions were unsportsmanlike, let them speak for themselves. Don’t whine about it.
The words Pete had with Harbaugh are, “What’s your deal?”. I don’t think that’s much to get excited about, but going for 2 when the game is over and you have a 27 point lead already is totally classless, especially given the fact that you’re dealing with student-athletes, not professionals. How many times has Pete let the clock run out or turned it over on downs when USC could easily move the ball into the endzone against over-matched opponents? It’s happened very often.
I like Harbaugh, and I like Stanford. I can’t wait to see them beat the hell out of Ohio St. on New Years day in the Rose Bowl, and that WILL happen, but in the last 4 years USC has scored more than 50 points on only 3 occassions, in fact since the Bush-Leinart years USC has not blown that many people out at all. There’s no comparison between the way Pete Carroll controls the scoring by his team vs. Mack Brown, Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, or Les Miles, who run up the score to such ridiculous lengths they leave no doubt that each one has a 4 inch penis or smaller.
After 7 yeras of total domination, I can handle a re-building season, and Pete will see Harbaugh again next season. It’s a small conference after all.
Going for it on 4th rather than punting is usually for the purpose of running out the clock though, plus its arguably MORE beneficial to the other team if you can’t make it.
Also, if he were talking about it AFTER the fact, sure, but in the heat of the moment after a loss like that, you’re frustrated and you ask the question of the other coach? I can understand that. I’d be critical if it came up in the monday press confrence/coaches call, etc. but its not like he took it to the press or is whining about it now or anything?
I agree, it’s forgivable in the heat-of-the-moment… but also a little sore-loserish. How about demonstrating good sportsmanship by saying, “great game, coach” rather than “what’s your deal?” Not a huge deal, just a bit lame.
Of course we are all speculating, no one knows what he said except he and harbaugh presumeably.
I actually thought going for two when you were spanking the other team was not all that uncommon, maybe I’m wrong. When I’ve seen it before I’ve always just assumed the winning team looks at it as an opportunity to practice a crucial play in a game situation where if it goes wrong it’s not that big a deal.
I hard think getting 2 is “running up the score.”
You can understand where Carroll would be frustrated after the Oregon/Stanford efforts, either one of which would be a low point, but in close proximity must be a bit flustering. Still, part of the lameness of the exchange is that Carroll missed a golden opportunity to press his case and take a shot at Stanford.
How cool would it have been, from Carroll’s perspective, to be asked about the 2-point conversion by the media, and he adopt one of those Bill Clinton shrugs and say, “You know, I’m sure today’s game was something Stanford has been dreaming about for a long time. Of course I didn’t like the 2-point conversion, but then again this must be a special moment for that team, and not the kind of thing that will ever happen again, so you can understand where they’d get a little excited under the circumstances.”
That would have been way better from Carroll’s perspective.