Trojans’ Bad Season Takes a Positive Bend

I can’t believe it. After 13 years of futility, USC has managed to win two in a row from Notre Dame (albeit this year’s ND team is as bad as, or worse than, SC). The Trojans might even save Robinson’s job. Now if they can only get that one-game streak going against UCLA.

TOM CHENG, Chino

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I am so tired of listening to the “I hate USC” crowd bad-mouth John Robinson. I’ve been a USC fan and a Cardinal & Gold member for years and I fully support J.R. Sure he had a bad year last season, and he is at .500 right now. So what! This season is still young and the Trojans just beat Notre Dame at South Bend.

All members of the USC family should remain loyal to their coach. John Wayne, USC’s best Trojan, once called John Robinson the best coach in America. If J.R. is good enough for the Duke, then he is good enough for me.

THOMAS MARCHETTI, Glendora

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Thank you, Randy Harvey, for your article in Sunday’s paper. There are years of great tradition at USC including this victory over Notre Dame. Glean from that for this week’s articles and please . . . don’t interview Ted Tollner!

JUDY THOMSEN, La Crescenta

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After the USC-Notre Dame game, I saw Coach Robinson say that the Notre Dame coach would win 100 games at Notre Dame and “I’d bet my ass on it.”

I didn’t think Coach Robinson would make such a large bet.

MICKEY SHAIN, Calabasas

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Last Sunday’s Morning Briefing item that stated that John Robinson is “the highest-paid coach in college football” is inaccurate and misleading.

The item was based on a survey in The Chronicle of Higher Education. However, that survey included only private colleges, of which there are only 13 Division I-A football-playing schools. The remaining 99 non-private I-A schools were not included.

Furthermore, the Chronicle used IRS Tax Form 990 to gather its data, but admitted that “colleges are inconsistent in how they fill out the forms.” Some schools--including USC--report total compensation, which includes salary, benefits, bonuses and other funding, while other schools solely list base salary.

TIM TESSALONE, USC sports information director