Thorn of plenty

Bill Plaschke’s lament that USC shouldn’t shoot for the Rose Bowl is foolish. His belief that they need a different bowl (Fiesta, Sugar) to capture the nation’s attention is misplaced. Weren’t they rated No. 1 when they lost to Oregon State? If you want respect, stop losing to mediocre (at best) teams.

Jack Rosenberg

Goodyear, Ariz.

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Watching Steve Sarkisian call plays is as painful as watching a 15-year-old girl learning how to drive a Porsche.

Henry Dessert

Manhattan Beach

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Twenty minutes of beating up on an outmanned Stanford defense is wholly unimpressive when it has been preceded by 40 minutes of spinning wheels on offense.

On the scale of bad ideas, Pete Carroll’s plan of on-the-job-training for his offensive coordinator started at “Dodgers sign Jason Schmidt” level, has now officially passed “pro athlete dates Madonna” and is fast approaching “letting Niedenfuer pitch to Jack Clark.”

Mark Backstrom

Redondo Beach