Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Daily Trojan: One more rivalry to worry about

By: Ben Malcolmson

Good versus evil. Counting crowns against Counting Crows. SoCal takes on NorCal. Conservatives opposed to tree-hugging hippies. The Trojans will call it just another game. Hatred will seethe to an overflowing boil on the field, in the stands, on the other end of television screens up, down and around the Golden State. The Trojans will call it just another game. The third-string rivalry soured - or should we say enriched? - with the outcomes of the last three games in the series, with the subsequently altered futures of the two programs and with the total polarization of the schools. And the Trojans will call it just another game. USC versus California. It's anything but another game. That phantom touchdown by Kareem Kelly three years ago that ended up as the difference in a 30-28 win for USC? How could you forget that?

Remember those chants of "F--- 'SC" by the (fill in your favorite modifying expletive(s) here) Bear fans two years ago? Yeah, thought so. Or how about the gut-wrenching goal-line stand in a deafening Coliseum last season? Ha, like you would overlook that. This isn't another game, whatever USC players, coaches and assorted athletic department big wigs tell you. This is right up there with USC-Notre Dame and USC-UCLA. USC-Cal. Get ready. Where do we begin in describing this budding - ah hell, it's already in full bloom - rivalry? The history of a 92-game series? Yeah right, not when Cal has been the Clippers of the Pacific-10 Conference for eternity. The loss, USC's last, two years ago on that bitterly cold night? No sir, you're a year off. Last year's epic battle at the Coliseum? Um, no. It all started three seasons ago, in a time when Carson Palmer, Mike Williams and Sultan McCullough wore the cardinal and gold. USC, coming off a heart-breaking overtime loss at Washington State the week before to fall to 3-2, played like a team still trying to find out exactly who it was in front of a parents weekend crowd of 63,113.

The No. 20 Trojans fell down, 21-3, before rallying with a pair of Ryan Killeen field goals and three touchdowns. It should have only been two touchdowns. Senior receiver Kareem Kelly appeared to snag a Carson Palmer toss in the back of the end zone for a second-quarter score, but replays showed Kelly trapped the ball. In-game instant replay was three years down the line, so the touchdown stood, USC won by two and Cal fans whined like they're seemingly made to do. Thus, the rivalry was born. USC went on to win the season's final eight games, including a thumping of Iowa in the Orange Bowl and a No. 3 ranking in the final polls. Cal finished 7-5 and out of a bowl. Imagine if the game went the other way. The Trojans would have been 3-3, and probably would have tail spun into mediocrity the rest of the season. The Bears would have improved to 5-2 and could have had the momentum to avoid losing the two close games to end the season, potentially finishing 10-2 and in a Bowl Championship Series game of their own. The futures of both programs were forever changed. And that was only Year 1 of the rivalry. It only got better the following season, when the No. 3 Trojans traveled to Berkeley to play a seemingly harmless Pac-10 opener against a weak Cal team that had lost to two Mountain West teams and squeaked by Illinois. Yes, Illinois. But three Matt Leinart interceptions, a Hershel Dennis fumble, a porous first-half Trojan defense and some timely Bear scores later, USC was seeing its 11-game winning streak shrink to a zero-game winning streak. Even with two unforgettable blocked field goals and three topsy-turvy overtimes, Cal pulled it out - a win of all wins against one of the nation's best teams.

The rivalry got even juicier. Take last year's game as the final exhibit - until, of course, Saturday's almost certain classic-to-be. The Bears held the Trojans to a paltry 205 yards on offense, quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed 23 consecutive passes and USC needed a last-minute defensive stop to come away with a memorable 23-17 win. It seems to get better and better every season. And this year should be no exception, not when USC has won 31 straight games dating back to … huh, funny how that works out. Not when the Trojans are four wins from winning their third national title in a row. Not when it's at Cal, in a packed Memorial Stadium, against a team, a school, a region that hates everything USC is, does and stands for. So it's back. The rivalry has returned. Nothing would cause more exultant tree hugging and joyful Bush protesting than a win over the Trojans on Saturday. And nothing would ruin a season, a three-peat and a dynasty more painfully than a loss to Cal this weekend.

Don't let Cal's recent pathetic defeats (see UCLA, Oregon State, Oregon) or the 18.5-point spread fool you into thinking this will be a blowout or even anywhere close to an easy win. Sure, USC fans are used to easy rivalry games thanks to UCLA and Notre Dame's best efforts to play dead during most meetings, but Cal shows up when it counts.

And it's never counted more. It'll be Senior Day in Berkeley, the student section will be locked and loaded with card stunts and curse words and the Bears will be coached by Jeff Tedford, a man who seems to know USC's playbook better than some of the Trojans. The rivalry is here. The heart is already beating faster. It's not just another game.

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