They’ve Seen Enough of Robinson Era II

How ill-prepared, inflexible, injury-prone, gutless, embarrassing and just plain stinking a team does John Robinson have to put on the field before someone asks him to just move on?

I’ve been a USC football fan for over 40 years and I’m a USC grad, but lately the Larry Smith years seem more like the good old days.

JACK VON BULOW

Temple City

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All season I’ve been hearing about the Trojans not putting it all together, not playing as they’re capable, playing good defense with no offense, one excuse after another. Against Arizona State, they finally got it all together.

JIM LITTRELL

Beverly Hills

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Trojan fans have been spoon-fed hype for so long, they still believe they are Tailback U., even though the last good running back at USC was Marcus Allen in 1981. The 1996 and ’97 teams are a combined 8-9, with players from supposedly top-10 recruiting classes. USC shamelessly and endlessly promotes players as NFL-caliber, yet Daylon McCutcheon and Brian Kelly give up passing yards like a sieve, and R. Jay Soward has shown nothing more than good speed, bad hands and a big mouth.

Robinson conveniently says his players “sleepwalked” in the second half against Arizona State, but maybe he and everyone else in cardinal and gold need to realize two things: USC is a team with mediocre talent and a below-average coach.

MICHAEL BARTLETT

Culver City

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Surely Bill Plaschke must be kidding [“Is This a Lost Cause?” Oct. 14], likening John Robinson to Bill Walsh! While both started their rise in the coaching profession at the collegiate level before assuming the reins of a professional football team, the similarity ends there.

Last I checked, Bill Walsh won a few Super Bowls, revolutionized NFL offenses (and college offenses) and built a professional sports dynasty before returning to Stanford.

What, exactly, did Mr. Robinson accomplish at the professional level, save fielding a team that routinely lost to the 49ers?

CARTER BRAVMANN

West Hollywood

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Whatever happened to the days when a network would switch from a hopeless blowout (USC-Arizona State) to a good game (Ohio State-Penn State) once the outcome was no longer in doubt? Although they did eventually cover OSU-PSU, why did they need to wait for USC-ASU to finish, instead of making the switch early in the fourth quarter?

I don’t know the rules for sure. Is ABC obligated to show the full game involving the hometown team? Even so, I bet more than a few SC fans didn’t even want to see the end of that blowout, especially the fickle ones.

BRIAN JOHNSON

Torrance

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Whew!! At least the Trojans aren’t 112th in rushing anymore. Now if we can just get out of 112th place in the following areas: game intensity, game preparation, coaching, conditioning, execution, and pride. We are, however, first in some key areas: excuses (we have the best), drive-killing penalties, predictability, giving up first downs on third and long or third and real long--we may have established NCAA records in both over the past three years.

AL AND JUDY FERAZZI

Mission Viejo

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During John Robinson’s first stretch with the Trojans, it took him seven or eight years to turn one of the top five football programs in the country to shambles.

This stint, he has done it in half the time.

He just gets better with age, doesn’t he?

MIKE HANNIN

Newbury Park