USC’s Carroll feels Cougs’ pain
Shocking as it might sound, highly successful Southern California coach Pete Carroll can relate to the misery first-year Washington State coach Paul Wulff is experiencing.
It wasn’t that long ago.
“When we played Arizona in our first year, and I think we were 2-5, that was a low, low time for us now,”
Carroll recalled Tuesday, referring to the 2001 season.
“I remember going to the Arizona stadium on the Friday night before the game, and everybody was just sitting there. It was about 100 degrees at about 5 o’clock. They didn’t want to do anything. They didn’t feel like playing. They didn’t feel like doing anything. It looked like we were dead in the water at that time.”
“I remember the meetings that night, I asked the coaches, whatever you can talk about that can bring tears to your eyes, talk about it, just trying to find some emotion. So guys were telling stories about their dead dog when they were growing up as a kid and whatever they could do to get some emotion going.”
USC beat Arizona, 41-34, that weekend, the first of four straight victories for the Trojans before a 10-6 loss to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl. That was just the beginning – they’ve gone 74-9 in 61/2 seasons since then, and are 43-point favorites this weekend at Washington State to add to their totals.
The Cougars (1-6, 0-4 Pac-10) have been outscored 316-111, putting them on pace to break the Pac-10 record for most points allowed in a season, 469, given up by Oregon State in 1981.
“They do a lot of good things on both sides of the ball. They have really good schemes,”
Carroll said of the Cougars.
No. 6 USC (4-1, 2-1) has outscored its opponents 180-47.
“They just haven’t been able to maintain the same consistency throughout the games,”
Carroll said of the Cougars, “and it catches up with them before it’s over. And they’ve had a bunch of injury issues.”
Two Toledo players arrested
Two Toledo players arrested outside a bar just hours after the Rockets beat Michigan on Saturday will not start this weekend against Northern Illinois.
Wide receiver Nick Moore, who caught 20 passes for 162 yards in the 13-10 victory over the Wolverines, was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct. Police said the senior and team captain was involved in a fight.
Defensive end Albertson Alexandre was charged with obstructing official business, also a misdemeanor.
Police had to use mace to break up a rowdy crowd of about 40 people outside a Toledo bar Saturday night.
Extra points
Javarris James, the Miami Hurricanes’ starting tailback to start the season, is expected to play Saturday against Duke after missing four games with a high left ankle sprain. ... Ohio State defensive end Lawrence Wilson will undergo surgery for torn ligaments in his left knee and will miss the rest of this year.
