A lifer, he’s still growing in to the USC-UCLA rivalry

Unbuckling the mailbag:

Question: After UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel called a timeout, exactly what would you have had Pete Carroll do? Take a knee again?

Surely, you jest!

Scott Slate

San Diego

Answer: Run the ball, burn the clock, win the game 21-7, go home. Don’t get caught up in a petty ego game with the opposing coach that almost leads to a midfield melee. You don’t have to take another knee after UCLA called the first timeout. Go ahead and run the ball. If you score then, that’s fine.

I do not jest. And stop calling me Shirley.

Q: Are you trying to be obvious and boring? Apparently you haven’t been in L.A. long enough to truly grasp the USC-UCLA rivalry.

Steve Benson

Hailey, Idaho

A: Cut me slack regarding USC-UCLA. As a newcomer to the rivalry, having only lived here since 1958, I’m hoping to relocate soon to Hailey, Idaho, to gain some perspective.

Q: That was an excellent column in Monday’s paper. You put the majority of the blame on Carroll. The only quibble I have is that he deserves all of it.

Neuheisel did nothing wrong.

Mark Carpenter

A: Thanks, Mark, and what years did you cheer lead at UCLA games?

Q: What’s your deal? In the seventh paragraph you say it was ignited by Neuheisel. Article done!

Bruce Middleton

Santa Fe Springs

A: Easy for you to say, but consider the awkward white space in the paper had I turned in a story only seven paragraphs long? That’s why I had to keep writing and put more blame on Pete Carroll.

Q: I thought Rick Neuheisel’s strategy was brilliant. Down 21-7, he wanted to get the ball back, and through his judicious use of timeouts he did indeed get it back.

Bob Ostrove

Oxnard

A: Bob, I’d appreciate it if you could ask the questions and leave the brilliant answers to Mr. Mailbag.

Q: Please move to another state. You will do us all a favor.

Paul Mendoza

A: As you read this I’m checking out the states of nirvana, confusion and denial.

Q: Have you ever played football?

Chad C. Wilcox

A: Yes, I was in a fantasy league for 20 years.

Q: Maybe Neuheisel called timeout in hopes he could get the ball back and cover the spread?

Steve Mras

A: Wise guy, are you?

Q: Was 12:30 a.m. here in Austin and I was having trouble staying awake watching the two pathetic offenses. It was the best offensive play of the game and I almost dozed off and missed it. Thanks, Rick, for acting like a jerk and calling timeout when Pete was planning to take a couple of knees.

How do you explain the timeout?

Ron Serandos

Austin, Texas

A: How do I explain it?

Each team gets three timeouts per half and you can’t roll them over to the next game.

Q: After reading your article I honestly sat there thinking, “What doesn’t this guy not get?”

Jeffrey S. Klein

Orange

A: One thing I don’t not get is overtime pay.

Q: Another memorable coach and his sports quote you might have mentioned but somehow omitted: “Never, ever give up.” (Jim Valvano)

Skip Nevell

A: I admire the concept, but as former Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer was once famously quoted as saying, “You need a game plan for losing.”

Example: Houston led Rice last weekend, 59-0, at halftime. It was Houston’s responsibility at that point to let up off the gas and Rice’s responsibility not to make things worse. Or, Skip, should Houston and Rice kept playing as hard as possible and the final score been 118-0?

The second half ended up 14-14 and the final score was “only” 73-14.

Q: You do a good job with your articles on college football, and I appreciate your insight. I do have a question: When George Allen -- then coach of the Washington Redskins -- said “fatigue makes cowards of us all,” was he quoting Vince Lombardi?

Darrell Myers

Lawndale

A: The quote has also been attributed to George Patton, but Lombardi definitely said it and George Allen, a contemporary of Lombardi’s, certainly could have borrowed it.

Q: Incite, incite, incite . . . .

Did you drink gasoline for breakfast?

Trouble maker . . . too bad . . .

Maybe you should take a lesson from Bill Plaschke on this one . . . or do you read anyone’s column but your own?

I wonder what Jim Murray would have said about this?

Thomas Bahler

A: Yes, but only one cup because my doctor has advised me to cut down on Ethanol. It was keeping me up nights and burning a hole in my esophagus.

I quit taking lessons from Plaschke years ago after he raised his fees, and would have met the paperboy in the driveway to see what Jim Murray would have written this year about UCLA-USC.

I’m guessing Hitler’s invasion of Poland might have been invoked.

Q: How are you and Plaschke getting along? He seems to blame Neuheisel for the whole thing.

Tom Neff

West Linn, Ore.

A: Not well. This UCLA-USC thing has really put a strain on our relationship. He stays out all night and doesn’t even bother to call. We hardly talk anymore and I think it’s affecting the younger sportswriters. Maybe we need columnist counseling.

Q: Am I crazy, or if Kevin Prince doesn’t break his jaw on the ill-fated third down at Tennessee, would he be far more developed and UCLA have eight or nine wins?

Robin Joshih

A: Now you know why they call that play the “naked” bootleg, because it leaves you exposed. Yes, UCLA needed a safety in that situation, but not one in which the quarterback got his jaw broken. Norm Chow called a quarterback sneak, to set up the intentional safety on fourth down, but he was overruled by the head coach. Neuheisel wanted one last chance to pick up a first down and run out the clock.

I do think the injury did slow Prince’s maturation at quarterback.

Neuheisel made two huge mistakes this year. One was calling time out against USC last weekend. The other was calling the bootleg against Tennessee.

Q: What do you think of USC’s chances of climbing up to No. 14 in the BCS rankings and getting chosen over Penn State or Iowa for the Fiesta Bowl? I know it’s probably wishful thinking but I’m hoping for something miraculous.

Scott

A: Is this a question from Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott? Anyway, it is wishful thinking. USC can’t get an at-large bid with three losses, but you point to a larger question about why the Pac-10 can’t get a second team to the BCS in years when the league deserves it.

Since the BCS was formed in 1998, the Pac-10 has sent a second team only twice: Oregon State in 2000 and USC in 2002.

The Fiesta Bowl, because of its proximity, is the Pac-10’s best landing spot. The Orange and Sugar bowls don’t think Pac-10 schools will bring enough fans to pump up their local economies. USC was the exception in 2002 because the Orange Bowl was allowed to steal USC vs. Iowa in what became the Rose Bowl of South Beach.

Oregon had a shot for the Fiesta in 2005 but got boxed out by BCS rules that demanded automatic BCS bids for Ohio State and Notre Dame.

Another problem: The Pac-10’s round-robin schedule creates more conference losses and that makes it more difficult to finish in the BCS top 14.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com

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