Q & A WITH PETE CARROLL - Taking the blame - The USC coach says the responsibility falls on him when it comes to the Trojans' setbacks
USC's football season took a dramatic turn Oct. 6 when the then-No. 2 Trojans were stunned by Stanford, 24-23, in the Coliseum. Coach Pete Carroll was interviewed Tuesday on a variety of topics and spoke about that defeat and more.
Question: You've lost a lot of talent over the years. Norm Chow, Ed Orgeron. Of the guys you've lost in coaching, who do you miss the most?
Answer: I think we miss Lane [Kiffin, now coach of the NFL's Oakland Raiders] the most. He's been here since the first day. The fact is that he was on offense, and I'm on the other side of the ball. He's an extraordinary coach.
You guys were [complaining about] him last year too. You've been [complaining about] everybody forever. That's the way it is. I know the whole point of this article is to try and come up with reasons why we're not doing as well. We lost a game, man, you know. We really blew it against Stanford. We screwed it up because we played a guy that was hurt. I made a mistake on that. That was me. That wasn't Norm or Lane or Eddy-O, or any of those guys. That was me screwing it up and not recognizing it, and sitting on the football at the end of the game. We kept throwing it with a guy with a broken hand.
Really that's what's happened. That's it. It isn't about the guys that aren't here, it isn't about any of that stuff. It is what you have to try and answer questions to, and try to create reasons why, and in essence position blame. But that's really not what happened. These guys are freaking gifted. Johnny Mo [Johnny Morton, wide receivers coach] is such a good football coach. He's so much more experienced at coaching receivers than Lane was. He adds another whole dimension to those guys. It's extraordinary what he's up against with these young guys.
Q: It's his first time dealing with college kids. [Actually, Morton was an assistant at the University of San Diego in 2005.]
A: No. Every kid in the NFL is a college kid, dude! Every one of them. They're just a couple years older. He's had rookies. Every one of them -- they're the same thing. It's not different. People don't understand that. Until guys get into their sixth and seventh year, then they become NFL veterans, those guys are different. But for the first three, four or five years, they're just a couple years older. They just went from here and stepped over there. What changed? If anything, they've become more stupid because they're not in that game. That's all. It's not because of anything else. Overrated. . . .
