UCLA Coach Jim Mora said he did not take ‘dig’ at USC

There was another verbal dust-up involving UCLA Coach Jim Mora and USC that hit the airwaves Tuesday, though Mora claims it was the product of selective editing.

Mora, a guest on “The Dan Patrick Show,” was asked about USC, and said, “I don’t give a rat’s [behind] about USC.”

Mora said that was only half the comment.

“What I said, without editing, is ‘I don’t give a rat’s [behind] about USC, we’re thinking about Stanford,’ ” Mora said. “That was not a dig at USC, that was an indication of our focus on Stanford. If it is taken any other way, it’s taken wrong.”

UCLA plays Stanford on Saturday.

Mora has made provocative comments a handful of times since being hired. He apologized for an August comment about his recruiting pitch, saying, “we won’t have people murdered a block from campus.” He admitted going too far this month, for a rant about an anonymous person who impersonated UCLA freshman Randall Goforth on a twitter.com site.

This time, he said his quote was taken out of context.

Mora added, “You know how that editing stuff goes. They just lop off the last part, where I said, ‘We’re thinking about, or I’m thinking about Stanford.’ ”

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