Pete Carroll guested on the (Steve) Mason & (John) Ireland show on ESPN 710 in Los Angeles this week. The coach attempted to hedge his comments about Harbaugh’s decision to go for two with his Stanford team already ahead of Carroll’s USC Trojans 48-21 last Saturday in L.A.. But instead, Carroll let slip smoldering resentment.
MASON: What do you think, now a couple of days removed, of Harbaugh going for the two-point conversion?
CARROLL: Well, really, even since the time that it happened, you know, I haven’t bothered with it, and I know everybody else has and taken a lot of time to kinda discuss it and all. I think, you know, it is what you think it is, you know, it’s a statement that you can take away that maybe they were trying to accomplish something that seems out of the ordinary, you know, I don’t really care, to tell you the truth, it doesn’t matter.
And when you look at it like, uh, they’re ahead in the game and they’re in command of it, they really get to do whatever they want to do, and it doesn’t bother me to worry about it anymore, you know what I mean? Jim came out and said what he wanted to say, you know, a couple different times about it and, you know, to me it’s dropped, I don’t care.
Will I forget it? No, I’m not forgetting it. But uh, you know, to me, it’s in the past.
That’s the first time I’ve heard Carroll crack and admit on the record that he’s extremely upset with Harbaugh’s gesture, and that he isn’t burying the hatchet.
It’s a shame that Harbaugh will likely be gone to Michigan as early as next season, as a yearly Harbaugh-Carroll rivalry would’ve been epic, especially considering Carroll’s well-documented fondness for the Bay Area.
11:47 am on November 20th, 2009
With the state of Wolverine football these days, do you think it’s a wise move to leave California for Michigan during the winter? I don’t care if you’re coaching Cal Poly Slo, I’d stay put…
12:43 pm on November 20th, 2009
Coming right up! One order of sour grapes for Coach Carroll!
2:03 pm on November 20th, 2009
Maybe Harbaugh can start off with an onside kick next year…
2:57 pm on November 20th, 2009
I love how somehow this is ‘news’. Carroll is a supreme jerk when it comes to running up scores and acting the fool, and now all of the sudden we are supposed to take him seriously when someone does it to him? I wish stanford would have scored 100 pts.
3:20 pm on November 20th, 2009
He’s not going anywhere even if he is a Michigan man. The state of that program….. Plus he saw what happen to the last Stanford coach that went “bigtime”. Didn’t work our so well. If he’s smart, he can leverage the fact that Stanford can’t afford to let another good coach get away. My guess he can get a avery good deal out of Stanford, so why leave?
4:07 pm on November 20th, 2009
You know, Carroll got his due!! Don’t care for him. Like he’s never run a score up since he has been coaching at USC. He had to do it in college cause he could not cut it as a coach in the NFL!!!!
4:16 pm on November 20th, 2009
Congratulations to Harbaugh, I love it. OH NO poor Pete Carroll
4:48 pm on November 20th, 2009
Weird where was the outrage when Carroll tried to ice his kicker last year with 3 secs left up 28 points. Nice to see ‘classy’ Pete get his nose rubbed in it a little bit. The 50 year old ‘im just a laid back surfer dude bra’ act is tired.
4:56 pm on November 20th, 2009
Give me one example when Carroll “ran up the score”? I cant think of one.
5:28 pm on November 20th, 2009
Carroll has always had superior teams and put serious beat-downs on teams like Arkansas and San Jose St. You would watch USC’s sideline on tv and they would be joking and laughing about the game. Alright Stanford beat them bad this year, get over it and move on.
5:40 pm on November 20th, 2009
bout time USC got a beat down…they have been doing it to others for a long time now
5:55 pm on November 20th, 2009
Dan about San Jose, the first game.
5:56 pm on November 20th, 2009
What was the score of the USC San Jose game?
Carrol is a cool man and laid back. Shouldn’t bother him, but it does. LOL
6:32 pm on November 20th, 2009
USC 56 - SJS 3……. but Petey meant it in the best way……
I love how smug-*ss USC fans are blind to the nose-grinding they dish out and then whine even more than Domers when it happens to them.
6:42 pm on November 20th, 2009
“Extremely upset …..” I somehow missed that in the quotes?
6:49 pm on November 20th, 2009
carroll says “…to me its dropped” and “…its in the past”.
but then goes on to say hes “…not forgetting it”?
the guy is a weasel who ran up scores in the past. was playing games by acting like a prick last year when they played stanford.
and now, when carroll is on the receiving end of a beat down, he acts like a baby.
6:54 pm on November 20th, 2009
It seemed merely a stupid gesture on Harbaugh’s part, I mean why do it? It can only mean he was trying to reach 50 points which can be read one of three ways: 1 - he is in the pocket of gambling interests (don’t really believe this); 2 - Harbaugh felt USC and Carroll has done the same to Stanford and others (very believable); or, 3 - Harbaugh is just a hard a** (maybe but he hasn’t shown that in other games). However, if Harbaugh is letting such things control his actions he will never reach the coaching status of Carroll (and I like Harbaugh and dislike Carroll but this is juvenile).
7:13 pm on November 20th, 2009
I am a SC fan. I believe all of the top tier teams should run the score up because it will make you look better in the stupid BCS system. At times you need to use games as pre-season/teaching games (aka USC vs.SJS). If you have your 2nd team in, because you’re killing someone, that 2nd team should try to score because it is a learning experience for them. I dont recall this game falling into any of those categories. Harbaugh needed to get his shot in while he could and did it. He needed his ego stroked and he got it. Unfortunately, I think less of him for that. Next year should be a totally different game.
7:26 pm on November 20th, 2009
Laugh now, cry later, Stanford better enjoy it because Carroll will make sure that he has the boys ready the next time and Oregon will get the same. This will be all the motivation the Trojans will need.
7:29 pm on November 20th, 2009
Too bad, jimmie’s probably headed to Michigan if/when richie the fixer gets axed. If so, maybe the trojans will have to schedule an OOC game with the wolverines for some fun/payback, lol.
8:09 pm on November 20th, 2009
There’s no doubt lil peter has run up the score many times w/ his 1st teamers but this game clearly shows what a classless act the small sized trojans really are.
8:25 pm on November 20th, 2009
Are you all serious with the “Pete is a bad guy” stuff? None of you must be from CA because anybody that has ever met the guy or knows what he is about and what he does for the community would EVER say anything like this. My guess is that your team got embarrassed by USC in the past and you’ve been just waiting for a chance to jump on him in a down year. I’d like to see an example of the Trojans running up a score. Yes when you have possession your goal is to score, just because you are successful at that doesn’t mean you are “running” it up. Typically the Trojans wear down the clock instead of just bombing it trying to put up what they can. They’ve never done anything like this and have even suffered in the rankings to schools like FLa and Oklahoma because of it.
9:09 pm on November 20th, 2009
Now, that’s the kettle calling the pot black..err…. is it the pot calling the kettle black….lol. Take it like a man Pete…oops too late.
9:12 pm on November 20th, 2009
This is actually great for creating good rivalrys. Maybe once in a while we need a little more of it.
Pete just got a little of what he’s done to others over the years…and no one likes “takin’ it” after “dishin’ it out.”
Too bad Harbaugh didn’t say to the reporters what the late good ol’ Woody Hayes of Ohio State would say about Michigan….e.g., when they asked him about a game he busted Michigan’s chops for…they asked him why he went for two points at the end of the game after a touchdown…. when he didn’t need to. His reply: “cause, I couldn’t go for 3″ !! LOL
9:25 pm on November 20th, 2009
Absolutely LOVED the U$C beatdown by the fighting Harbaughs. I loved the 2 point try as well. Carroll can sure give it, but doesnt like to take it. Too Bad.
9:43 pm on November 20th, 2009
What about last years 45-21 revenge game because of the upset in 07? So Harbaugh rubbed it in a little, it’s not like the SC kids haven’t done it. This is an issue because Pete is a likeable guy. If this involved Florida would there be the same outcry or would we be happy Urban Meyer got it rubbed in his face.
I also agree that the college game is a learning experience and when the second team is in the playbook stays the same. If you want to stop the team from running up the score, stop them.
10:08 pm on November 20th, 2009
Harbaugh should enjoy it while it lasts. He might haven’t gotten it this year but he’ll get his. Is it USC’s fault in the past if scores get so lopsided even when the fourth stringers are in? They deserve a right to play hard too not just go in and take a knee. Can’t blame the Trojans when a teams first string defense still can’t stop USC’s fourth string from scoring. Jim Harbaugh is a bitch.
10:41 pm on November 20th, 2009
Pete is the same coach that kicked an onside kick with the game in hand against wsu earlier this year what a joke
11:39 pm on November 20th, 2009
Carroll was up over 50 in the 4th quarter against Arkansas and threw the ball for a touch down. He threw the whole drive. He use to run up the score all the time to try to impress BCS pollsters.
12:54 am on November 21st, 2009
Loved it when my dawgs beat sc and loving every bit of sc losing other games. Sometimes people need a little taste of reality.
Quit yer cryin’ ya big baby.
I used to have more respect for Peter.
2:57 am on November 21st, 2009
For you SC apologists that don’t remember Petey going for two…Oregon ring a bell…up 19…made it 21? Sound at all familiar?
Only trojan I heard not whining was former 9R Ronnie Lott saying “heck yeah…that’s what you do…go for the jugular”.
3:15 am on November 21st, 2009
Enjoy your moment in the sun Harbaugh and Stanford. This was the year to get the Trojans, and congrats to Stanford, Oregon, and Wash for getting it done.
Your happy days end next year when the Mighty Trojans will be back on top taking each of you behind the woodshed for your annual booty-kick.
All you USC and Pete C haters can only wish and hope for a seven year run that the Trojans have been on.
Fight On !!!
5:54 am on November 21st, 2009
Yep! Cry us a river Petey oh boy. You have never gone for two points when you were way ahead, nor have you ever passed an entire series to score a touchdown when SC way ahead, nor ever run an onside kick when SC was way ahead.
Yep! Petey oh boy, your the poster boy of sainthood.
Not!
9:41 am on November 21st, 2009
I love it, Carroll is a perenial crybaby about one thing or another. This time about someone “running up the score” on USC after he did multiple times when he had a team that could do it. Sheer arrogance from one of the most classless coaches (#1 Urban Meyer) in college football today.
Harbaugh should have responded the same way that Woody did back in the 1968 tOSU-UM game, “I went for two because they wouldn’t let me go for THREE”!
9:55 am on November 21st, 2009
Pete Carroll was, is and will always be a lowlife that happens to be a good coach when he has the “golden boys” recruited by the Hollywood glitz……..does anyone remember the lack of class and abject failure he was in the NFL?????? Come noe Petey-boy, stop the whinning and grow-up!!!
10:12 am on November 21st, 2009
WAY TO BE A GOOD SPORTSMAN,WAY TO SHOW THE KIDS OUT THERE HOW TO BE A SORE LOSER,SC HAS BEEN RUNNING UP THE SCORE FOR YEARS.SCHEDULE SOMEONE OTHER THAN SAN JOSE,PETES A PUSS,AND IM GLAD SOMEONE GAVE HIM A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE.THE PUSS COULDNT CUT IN THE NFL,WHERE HE HAD TO DEAL WITH GROWN MEN, WHY…. CAUSE HES A PUSS
12:41 pm on November 21st, 2009
Just like Carroll!! Why should he be upset??? Nothing is said when he runs up the score 62 to 10 with his starters the whole game. I hope he gets to taste it more often. Watch Texas, Brown pulls his starters for most of the 2nd half or 4th quarter if the score is getting out of hand. Carroll can dish it out, he just can’t take it !!!!
1:19 pm on November 21st, 2009
Pete Carroll is one of the classiest guys in college football. I really do not know why Harbaugh would do what he did. If he did it with the 3rd string maybe to try a few plays. Pete as we all know, does not run up the score fo the sake of BCS points.
I personally think this is a bad move for Stanford. USC may not be at the top of the game as they lost so many starters. But does anyone believe they won’t be next year? Jim may regret the move when they next meet.
1:24 pm on November 21st, 2009
Ha, usc will have three more years of this rough stuff by Stanford. As long as they have Andrew Luck at the QB position usc will be assumin the same, bend over usc here it come again and again and again. Petey’s goin to have some kinda medicare plan workin for him.
1:29 pm on November 21st, 2009
Petey is a weasel. The unclassiest guy in college sports with a cardinal and gold cape maskin a real weasel like character. He’s run up scores, these guy who say no are nuthin but usc backers that think Pete is their saviour. He’s a smilin on one side sneerin on the othere kinda guy. Also these Pac Ten teams are gettin stronger and stronger much to Pete’s chagrin.
1:54 pm on November 21st, 2009
pete carrol =dirtbag
6:16 pm on November 21st, 2009
F*** Pete Carroll……he’s been beatin up on the pac 10 for years so its time to eat some sh*t too. F*** all the so called prognosticators for even bringin this sh*t up since they already know what I’m sayin.
6:39 pm on November 21st, 2009
He definitely ran the score up on Arkansas 70-17, when they opened the season after they un-veiled the previous year’s NC banner. Pull up the play-by-play game track & you will see.
7:06 pm on November 21st, 2009
After having a little time to think about Carroll’s words, I think back to mid 90’s when Fla State had whipped Florida pretty good. Steve Spurrier, Fla’s coach at that time was asked how to defend against Fla State’s defense. Spurrier replied, “I don’t know right now. ” The interviewer pressed a little bit and asked what Spurrier was thinking. Spurrier said, “I don’t know right now. Because Fla State hits so hard!”
What?
Somewhat like Carroll. When neither of them have the athletes on defense or offense to stop the opposition, they claim the other team are bullies.
Simple answer Petey oh boy, improve your coaching. Oh, that’s right, just because Petey coaches at USC their opponents are supposed to take a dive. I forgot Petey is the man that opposing coaches have nightmares about.
Not!
10:58 pm on November 21st, 2009
You only get to know someone’s character when the heat is on. Carroll has run up the score on other teams and when accused of it, he’s commented that it’s the other team’s defense to stop USC. In this old fashioned stomping, Carroll’s attitude is unfortunate because it’s just his own actions coming full circle. I personally wish he had shown more class, because I thought he was a class guy. Then again, it’s easy to be a class guy when you’re winning.
4:41 pm on January 8th, 2011
USC pulls their starters and SJST can’t stop a run that’s not our 3rd and 4th players problem.
Just like Bama pulling it’s players in the 3rd and Mi st not being able to stop a off tackle play.
It’s on the D
Plus, 2 teams are playing….it’s my job to score and your job to keep from from doing it, if you can’t then tough titty said the kitty