UCLA vs. USC

Ah, the weekend in college football. The six undefeateds remained just that, although two (Texas and Alabama) actually faced challenges! Colt McCoy played his heart out to life the Longhorns, perhaps locking up the Heisman trophy in the process; the Tide, however, narrowly squeaked by, benefiting from poor clock management on the part of the Auburn Tigers.

One of the six, TCU, played its last pre-bowl game, thus becoming the first team to lock up a perfect regular season in the 2009 campaign. The potential remains for a nearly unprecedented five undefeated teams entering bowl season; you have to look way back to find a comparable number in a single year. At bare minimum, there will be two, the Horned Frogs and the winner of Florida – Alabama in the SEC Championship game.

Once again, one of the most talked about games of the weekend was one that had very little import on the national stage, as it had no bearing on Bowl Championship Series placement. Even that game would have been an afterthought to all but the rivals involved if not for one small incident towards the end of the game.

UCLA at USC.

Rivalry games bring out the best (or worst, depending how you look at it) in everyone. By now you’d be hard pressed not to have heard what happened if you follow NCAA football at all, but in case you’ve been living under a stone, let me recap. (Before I go any further, I should point out that I am neither a supporter nor hater of either team.)

Up 21-7 with less than a minute remaining, USC kneeled on the ball after which UCLA called the first of its three time-outs. On the next play, instead of taking a knee a second time, USC quarterback Matt Barkley threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to Damian Williams.

Many considered it poor sportsmanship. To them, I say BS.

There are only two reasons to call time-out in that situation:

1. You’re hoping against hope to get the ball back. Three time-outs on three kneel-downs would result in a punt, or if the Trojans decided to run the ball after the first time-out, the possibility of a fumble. The Bruins could conceivably go back on offense, albeit with very little time remaining. A quick score and an on-sides kick… extremely unlikely, but not altogether impossible.

2. You want to be a thorn in the side of your opponent. In other words, to be a jerk.

UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel claims to have called the time-out for the former. I believe him.

That being the case, Pete Carroll’s response is absolutely appropriate.

Why should USC act like the game was over if UCLA didn’t treat it as such? As long as the Bruins were still playing to win, why do people consider it bad form for the Trojans to continue to score? Since when do we feel that it is one team’s duty to allow their opponents a chance?

If anything, UCLA should be thanking USC for running a riskier play, even if it didn’t turn out in the Bruins’ favor. The odds of a turnover on the deep bomb, whether a fumble on a sack or an interception, are far greater than they would have been if the Trojans had continued simply to run out the clock.

Even if Neuheisel’s real motivation was reason #2, Carroll’s call was legitimate. If you call a pointless time-out just to be a pain in the you-know-what, you deserve to be scored upon.

I wish that Carroll had called an on-sides kick on the ensuing kick-off. That would have been really ballsy. Imagine the uproar!

“Running up the score” and “piling it on” should not be defined terms in competitive sports. You play to win. Period. Why should one team be expected to stop scoring just because the other team can’t stop them? If you don’t want to be embarrassed, stop the other team from scoring! The onus should be on the losing team, not on the winning team. You do what you’re trained to do, all the time, every time.

In the NFL, that means doing what you’re paid to do. In college football, that means improving your position in the BCS standings, since, yes, those blow-outs do matter. In Pee-Wee… okay, I grant that for little kids, it should be about playing the game, nothing more. But at any level above that, the goal is to play to the best of your ability, 100% of the time. If that means continuing to score when the game is already decided, you continue to do so.

Since when did big-time competitive sports become about the feelings of the losing team and its fans? Too much is on the line. Too much money, too much future success–whether that be championships this year or impressing recruits and/or free agents for the following season.

When you stop playing hard, you stop playing period. Then its time for the commune and “Let’s all play nice. Nobody loses here.” Please.

• September 21, 2009 -- Upset Saturday (1)
• December 23, 2009 -- TCU’s Gary Patterson AP Coach of the Year – NCAA College Football (0)
• December 18, 2009 -- 2009 NCAA College Football Bowl Picks (0)
• December 15, 2009 -- Crap 10 (2)
• December 8, 2009 -- Bowl Challenges Set (0)