Top 5 moments where the Trojan broke

Bruins, we've had a rough stretch out there in the Rose Bowl so far. We went up against a superior team a 1 - 2 running back punch with Heisman candidate Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen and lost a game we probably had no business winning. I, like many of the Bruin faithful have very fond memories of the 2007 UCLA - Cal game climaxing with ATV's pick 6 to the house right into the student section. Part of me thought we'd defend our house and bring back the magic but the result of the game was essentially what should have happened.

Don't worry, the season is far from over and we still have winnable games ahead to look forward to. And lest we forget, bad times hit everybody. And sometimes, bad times hit hard. Which leads me to my point. We all know a Bruin is forever but a Trojan is good only once. Thus it is written and handed down to posterity. But sometimes, as I'm sure a few of us plagued with bad luck know, a Trojan isn't good even once. Sometimes it breaks, and then you've got quite a mess to deal with. Let's take a minute to forget this weekend and reminiece the top 5 moments in recent history where The University of Second Choice failed to finish.

5) 2005: USC loses to Texas in the BCS Championship 41-38. This was a long time ago now. For all of USC's hype and hooplah, since 2005 they have been regularly denied college football's coveted crown. This game made me an instant Texas fan which I still am today. Anybody that gives USC the middle finger on national television is a friend in my book. And guess what? They're not going to the NC this year either. As much as I would love to see Tebow smash Trojan D-line, its just not in the cards this year. It would be great though, but one can only dream.

4) 2008: USC allows its student-athletes to be paid(again). Honestly, Spoiled Children Central really has no moral foundation. We live in a society based on law and rules. Having laws and rules has been fashionable in modern civilization for, I don't know, maybe the past 6,000 years, but I guess USC knows something that I don't know. 2008, of course, is when it came out that USC turned the other way when O.J. Mayo received thousands of dollars in cash gifts and other presents from Rodney Guillory who was essentially bribing him to turn pro and sign with his agency. This is of course highly illegal per NCAA rules. But when you've got the NCAA sucking at your Cardinal and Gold teat, there's really nothing they're going to do to he who provides the money. Oh, and how did this end? With the resignation of Tim Floyd who actually was doing a decent job rebuilding Trojan basketball. Nicely done USC. Be prepared to be perpetually pounded by us at least twice a year for the next forever.

3) 2008 (great year for the kids in the ghetto): The 'Black out the Bruins' Fiasco. This one was just magical. Simply magical. In 2008, USC decided they were going to unleash madness on us at the Galen Center by wearing super tight black jerseys and get all the fans to wear super tight black tshirts. Super intimidating, I know. I remember having no idea that this was going to happen until the game started and the announcers told me about it. I wasn't impressed or even surprised. USC's arrogance is simply unbounded, as anyone who has been to a USC home football game knows all too well. As history shows, arrogance goes punished by the righteous, and righteous we were that evening in the drafty Galen wine cellar. Final score? 56-46. And if you recall, it was never even close. After about the 10th minute in, it was smooth sailing for Collison, Westbrook, KLove et. all. Man I miss those three so much.

2) 2007: USC loses to Stanford AT HOME snapping a THIRTY FIVE GAME HOME WIN STREAK. USC has developed a fine stradition of completely crapping out in a random Pac 10 game which shuts them out of a BSC game. It is seriously something that has become so hillariously common that I get to look forward to it every year (props Washington!) But of all the annual Trojan bursters (save one; see below) this one really takes the cake. USC drops a game here and there but they lost to STANFORD. This isn't todays Stanford. This is 2007 Stanford who was 1-3 going into the game vs. the boyz in skurts who were 3-0 at the time. Oh yeah and did I mention this was at the oh so fabled Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum? What happened Trojans? Did your little torch that you light every 4th quarter go out? Did Traveler trip on his way over? My goodness, and it wasn't like this was on national television or anything right? Oh...wait it was.

1) December 2nd, 2006: 13-9 @ The Rose Bowl. This moment needs no introduction. We were all there. We all saw the magic. We all saw DeWayne Walker's defense riddle USC for days. We saw Justin Hickman and Bruce Davis light up John David Booty again and again. We saw Patrick Cowan scramble all over the Trojan defense. We saw Patrick Cowan get smacked in the head in the 4th quarter and played through it to deliver the most awesome Trojan buster there has been in recent history. Why is this the best Trojan buster? First of all, this happened during my freshman year and I was at the game. The story of my 13-9 day is one of my most favorite and most told stories I've got in college which would be too long to state here but suffice to say I was there, I was hung over, and I got tear gassed by Rose Bowl security after we won. Secondly we f*cked up USC's BCS dreams hardcore. USC came into the game 10-1 and ranking number 2 in the BCS polls. They had practically already punched their BCS ticket and I'm sure many Trojies had already bought their tickets to the national championship game. All they had to do was just put away little old 6-5 UCLA and their berth would be secured. Then we stuck it to them. Hard. One offensive TD and a safety is all they got. The wheels came off the wagon. The mighty Trojan offensive machine came to a screeching halt in front of 95,000 fans. What a glorious day. The night that followed was pure hysteria in Westwood. Cops with riot geat at every intersection, couches and cars got torched (they were all red couches and cars naturally), USC was embarrassed on the national stage and they have not seen the BSC since. I love it.


I hope this trip down memory lane brings you all some catharsis. Yes we've come on some tough times and yes some expectations were set a little too high. But hey, things could be a lot worse. We could have these 5 little beauties in our resume. And we could also be going to school in the straight up ghetto. And we could be a part of an atheletic program that is so riddled in shame and corruption it makes Watergate look like amateur hour. Face it, no matter what happens this season we're still Bruins, we still attend the best school in the nation with the best location, academics, atheletic program (can you say 104 National Championships?), alumni, and people.