Oh, and oh yeah, lest we (m2, really) forget...
...and then...Van wrote:USC's key ingredient during this long run of theirs has been turnover plus/minus ratio. They've led the nation in that stat over the past four years. Major ball hawks on D and they don't usually beat themselves on O. However, they really dropped off on that stat in the middle of this season and that's when they suddenly found themselves in all those unusually close games before they finally blew it completely in Corvallis.
I'm looking for them to win that battle again tomorrow, decisively, and that will provide the margin of victory AND m2's post game battle cry.
I like USC's offense to score a couple TDs on their own and I like the turnovers to provide them with another couple of scores, either directly or by giving Booty a short field.
Nate Longshore will be the difference maker in this game. He'll either turn it over a lot and provide USC with the victory or he'll play solidly and mistake free and Cal will finally avoid stepping on their dicks on the road in a big game.
I'm betting on the former. Like the season opener in Neyland this one will again prove to be too much road atmosphere and the stakes are again too high for Cal to be able to hold up under that kind of pressure. USC will play conservative, unspectacular but steady ball and Cal will make a lot of big plays and just enough bad plays...
...and then, at half time, with USC down by three, echoing what I said above about Cal playing in the second half on the road in a game of this magnitude...The MAIN thing I said is that Cal's never played in a game of this magnitude before and whenever they've been in big road games of even a lesser degree than this one they've choked like RenFaire skanks wolfing down Court Jester cock giblets.
The MAIN thing I said is that in THIS game Cal will choke and make enough mistakes to beat themselves, while USC will play a steady, unspectacular but poised game and they won't beat themselves...and that'll be the difference.
Yeah, m2, Cal's done great in turnover ratio all season long, against overmatched foes in no-big-deal games. Let's just see how they do in this one.
You thought Neyland was bad, skippy? You thought that house was worthy of making you shit the bed again?
31 in a row, m2. 31...in...a...row. Welcome to the house of the team with the longest home winning streak in the nation...
Middle of 2001, m2, middle of 2001. That's the last time anybody went into that building and came out alive.
18-0, m2. 18-0. That's USC's record in November since Pete came into his own at USC. That's the "winning time" month, m2, when the cream rises to the top and the best teams step up and refuse to lose on their way to winning...championships.
1959, m2. 1959. The Eisenhower Era. You weren't even born yet. That's the last time Cal managed not to choke away a chance to play in The Rose Bowl.
Lotta fuggen history staring you down. Lotta fuggen history staring down your nutless band of wannabe hoodrats who've never won a big game in their entire college careers.
The object here is to find a way to win, period. Who's most likely to do it? The soft flash in the pan chokers from The Land Of Never Been There, or the team with Rose Bowls sewn deep into their very DNA?
Fuck all the stats. When push comes to shove program muscle memory will take over and all the bullshit will fall by the wayside and everybody on that field will suddenly remember who they are and where they are and who they represent and at that precise moment USC will punch Cal in their flatulent pussies and Cal will turtle when it matters most.
Just...like...always.
Watch much football, m2? You mean you didn't see this coming??This is where USC's pedigree needs to kick in, and Cal's too.
