Posted on 12/02/2009 6:35:15 AM PST by Bad~Rodeo
If the sign of a great artist is not what you can do with a brush, a palette and the French countryside, but with a set of finger paints, then consider Pete Carroll and Rick Neuheisel the second coming of Monet and Manet.
Talk about impressionists. Carroll and Neuheisel took one of the most mundane games in a storied rivalry, one that for much of the country was played into the wee hours of Sunday morning and had nothing at stake except perhaps a berth in the Poinsettia Bowl, and made sure it wouldn't be forgotten.
There were 17 penalties, five turnovers and one offensive touchdown that was scored in the game's first 3 ½ quarters. But the piece de resistance was the gamesmanship within the game, which played out over the final 54 seconds.
It ensured that a game that ended when most people were asleep would be talked about nationally for days, and is sure to be remembered locally forever.
Taking over on downs at the UCLA 48-yard line with a 14-point lead, USC quarterback Matt Barkley took a knee, which was either viewed as a gracious gesture (USC's point of view) or as a way to force capitulation (UCLA's point of view, since they did have three timeouts — and miracles do happen).
So, after that kneel-down, Neuheisel did use a timeout, a gesture that was greeted on the ensuing play by Barkley dropping back and launching a long touchdown pass to Damian Williams, who had waltzed past the Bruins' defense.
Instead of another knee to the ground, here's a knee to the groin.
Taking over on downs at the UCLA 48-yard
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.foxsports.com ...
And I'm thinking to myself, "Isn't calling a pass 'part of the game' also?"
I admit that I’m not necessarily a fan of either one of these guys, but hey, if Neuheisel wasn’t willing to call it off he sure wasn’t playing very good defense...
After the game
Too bad for Neuheisel. He was checkmated. Carroll took the knee and RN refused the checkmate. Why call a time-out? For one player to deliver a cheap shot before the game was over?
RN got what he deserved.
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