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Unfolding Pat Haden’s trip to the USC sideline at Stanford

The Pac-12 could take action against USC Athletic Director Pat Haden for his interactions with officials during Trojans' 13-10 victory over Stanford on Saturday.
The Pac-12 could take action against USC Athletic Director Pat Haden for his interactions with officials during Trojans’ 13-10 victory over Stanford on Saturday.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
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USC Athletic Director Pat Haden has apologized for his actions during the Trojans’ football game at Stanford on Saturday, when he showed up on the USC sideline to confront officials on behalf of Coach Steve Sarkisian.

There was a call for Haden to resign as a member of the 13-member committee that will select the four teams that will enter a playoff for the national championship at the end of the season. And the Pac-12 Conference may take some action about the incident this week.

There is video of Haden’s actions, yet questions remain.

Among them: How did Haden make it from the press box to the Trojans’ sideline so quickly after receiving a text message from a USC compliance official?

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The answer: He actually had plenty of time.

Here’s the timeline for the final 53 seconds of the third quarter -- a span of game time that took nearly 11 minutes to complete:

It all started when Sarkisian drew a delay-of-game penalty for being out of the coaches box as Andre Heidari kicked a 25-yard field goal.

The broadcast went to commercial break and returned 1 minute 25 seconds after the referee threw the delay-of-game flag. The broadcast immediately showed a still fired-up Sarkisian on the sideline, and replayed the coach’s emotional rant that took place during the break.

About 20 seconds later, Sarkisian drew a second flag for unsportsmanlike conduct.

USC then kicked off and the clock stopped at 44 seconds after Trojans linebacker Hayes Pullard drove Stanford receiver Ty Montgomery out of bounds.

After reviewing the play, the officials confirmed a call to eject Pullard for targeting Montgomery.

Play resumed a little less than a minute later, and USC recovered a Stanford fumble with 37 seconds left.

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Quarterback Cody Kessler then completed a pass to Nelson Agholor, but the play was reviewed because Agholor was forced out of bounds, then re-established his spot inbounds before making the catch.

The third quarter finally ended 10 minutes 45 seconds after USC’s initial delay-of-game penalty.

The broadcast returned from commercial break, then showed Haden jogging across the field -- about 13 minutes after Sarkisian’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Questions about USC? Email me at LNThiry@gmail.com or tweet @LindseyThiry and I will answer questions in a weekly USC Now mailbag.

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