Bulletin boards inside USC’s McKay Middle may come crashing to the ground with the load of what the coach throughout city stated this week.
Speaking concerning the affect of the crosstown rivalry in houses throughout Southern California, DeShaun Foster couldn’t assist however take a jab on the faculty he wouldn’t name by title.
“A lot of families,” the UCLA coach stated Monday night, “the smarter one usually comes over here and the other one goes to the other school and then the family’s torn, you know what I mean?”
Uh-oh. Did a Bruin simply unnecessarily poke a Trojan?
“Oh, I mean, it’s proven,” Foster continued, “this is the No. 1 [public school]. I’m not making up anything. This is proven fact, you know what I mean? But I was talking more of non-athletic [factors], not the athletes.”
Foster, who starred at operating again for UCLA from 1998 to 2001, then stated one thing that may irk a number of Bruins: He’s shut with a minimum of one Trojan.
“Keary Colbert is one of my best friends,” Foster stated, referring to the previous USC large receiver who was a teammate for 4 seasons with the Carolina Panthers. “We’ve got dinner riding on this” end result of the sport between the Bruins (4-6 total, 3-5 Massive Ten) and Trojans (5-5, 3-5) on Saturday night time on the Rose Bowl.
As NFL teammates, Foster stated he and Colbert bonded over a shared love of what was then the Pac-10, particularly after they bored with listening to a lot concerning the Southeastern Convention whereas taking part in within the South.
Foster stated he’s additionally revived a friendship with former USC quarterback Carson Palmer now that Palmer has moved again to California from Idaho. Palmer received all three video games in opposition to Foster once they had been Orange County highschool rivals earlier than Foster obtained his revenge as a UCLA freshman in 1998.
Shaking off a nasty case of strep throat that had despatched him to UCLA Medical Middle the day prior to this, Foster rushed for 109 yards and tied a college file with 4 touchdowns — three dashing, one receiving — through the Bruins’ 34-17 victory on the Rose Bowl.
Would possibly Foster be tempted to indicate his gamers a few of these highlights this week? In all probability not on condition that Foster stated final week he pulled out footage of Maurice Jones-Drew operating for 322 yards in opposition to Washington in 2004 and Foster dashing for 301 yards in opposition to the Huskies in 2001, just for the Bruins to stumble Friday throughout a 31-19 loss to Washington in Seattle.
“I doubt I’ll do that again,” Foster stated.
Noting that he had been concerned within the rivalry as a recruit, participant and assistant coach, Foster stated he was longing for his debut as a head coach.
“I’ve been in it for a long time, so I understand just the importance of it,” Foster stated earlier than trying towards his gamers on the observe area, “but it’s about them. I want to send my seniors off the right way.”
A win Saturday can be UCLA’s first within the rivalry recreation at house since 2018. The street crew has received each recreation since 2020, when USC rallied for a 43-38 victory in an empty Rose Bowl through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Foster made a plea to fill the place Saturday.
“Bruin fans: Do not sell your tickets to those other people,” Foster stated. “Keep ‘em. And let’s just have the stadium rocking and it should be a great game.”
An imperfect 10
Foster acknowledged his crew had 10 gamers on the sector when Washington scored the landing that put the Huskies up 24-13 within the fourth quarter as a result of one participant forgot to enter the sport throughout a change in personnel to the protection’s “heavy” package deal.
“I’m not going to blame any players for anything, so it’s all [on the] coaches for us,” Foster stated. “You know, you could say that that’s on me. But it was just an unfortunate situation at that time, and then instead of calling timeout we wanted to keep it for the offense to [use later]. But it just didn’t work out the way we wanted to.”
The theme of the crew assembly Monday, Foster stated, was for the Bruins to cease beating themselves with penalties and different errors. UCLA dedicated 9 extra penalties in opposition to Washington and ranks tied for No. 125 out of 133 main faculty groups with 82 penalties in 10 video games.
“We’re not the type of [dominant] team that we can overcome that in the game,” Foster stated. “So, we have to do better in playing well, being smart, being disciplined, being detailed and things will go our way. You know, we were able to figure that out for a three-game stretch [when the team went 3-0] and it’s just unfortunate that we weren’t able to do that in Washington.”
And so on.
Foster stated offensive linemen Jaylan Jeffers and Michael Carmody, who had been injured in opposition to Washington, would miss the remainder of the season. … Left sort out Niki Prongos may be capable of return after sitting out the sport in opposition to the Huskies, although he was working off to the aspect with injured gamers through the portion of observe Monday that reporters had been allowed to watch. … Large receiver Rico Flores Jr. is predicted to play in opposition to the Trojans after lacking the final six video games due to an unspecified damage. … UCLA’s recreation in opposition to Fresno State on Nov. 30 on the Rose Bowl will kick off at 12:30 p.m. and can air on Massive Ten Community.
