Rick Neuheisel embarrassed himself, his team and his university last night here in Los Angeles as he took a senseless timeout late in the game against USC that lead to an embarrassing 48-yard touchdown pass by the Trojans’ to cap a 28-7 win over UCLA.
(Slick Rick gave us something to remember him by last night)
With under a minute to go and UCLA trailing 21-7, USC quarterback Matt Barkley took a knee to run out the clock, but Neuheisel inexplicably called timeout. Barkley responded on the next play with the long touchdown strike.
Barkley after the game said, “They can’t disrespect us like that.“
The move by the Neuheisel was another clue that UCLA blew it when hiring him, and I’m guessing last night’s game may shave a year off the coach’s tenure in Westwood.
In other words, Neuheisel could be facing a make or break season in 2010.
The team he inherited from Karl Dorrell hasn’t improved one bit in the two years Neuheisel has been the coach. Unlike Colorado and Washington, where Neuheisel inherited a cache of top quality talent schooled in a disciplined system, he didn’t have a chance to milk the previous regime’s team at UCLA.
At both CU and UW, after Neuheisel ran out of players from his predecessor, the programs fell into decline and the coach was eventually run out of town under differing, dubious circumstances.
At UCLA he’s fielded two seasons of mind-numbingly mediocre football, punctuated by public relations gaffes like what we saw last night. Before yesterday evening, I was thinking Neuheisel had at least two more years from his champion, Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, to get the program back to respectability. Now I’m not so sure that next year very well could be Neuheisel’s last season at UCLA.
12:20 pm on November 29th, 2009
*shakes head*
12:21 pm on November 29th, 2009
Idk if you are a UCLA grad or maybe just a passionate UCLA backer there, but clearly you are off base by making this jump to conclusions about Neuheisel. There are no “miracle-worker” coaches in college football, thats just a media perception and hype. In year two, his team went from 4-8 to 6-6 - a slight improvement. The cupboard was relatively bare at UCLA upon his arrival and theyve been killed by injuries especially at RB and QB over the past two years. I think he’s got another two years before he even faces re-evaluation as long as there isnt a scandal or anything and you are WAY jumping the gun with this, idk if you have a vendetta on this or what but it sure seems like it
12:21 pm on November 29th, 2009
Exactly right. The national media pushes that under the rug. Neuheisel has never improved a program. Just run 2 formerly top 20 programs into the ground. UCLA will stay mediocre at best under his watch.
12:22 pm on November 29th, 2009
And why is Neuheisel classless? All Carroll had to do was take the high road and run the ball or take another knee…
12:32 pm on November 29th, 2009
Carroll did his part and took a knee, Neuheisel responded with a TO…what don’t you understand?
12:55 pm on November 29th, 2009
Have you ever watched football? If you have 3 timeouts, you have to use them to stop the clock to get the ball back. Normally up 14 a team will run twice and then throw on third down if they have to.
For Neuheisal to not use his timeouts, would be a sign that he gave up.
USC is classless for calling a playaction pass on first down and celebrate like it is the game winning touchdown.
Obviously written by a USC supporter.
1:42 pm on November 29th, 2009
Stick to the stuff you know about. Pete Carrol is the phoney in this town.When will the NCAA finally complete it’s report on these cheaters?
1:54 pm on November 29th, 2009
looks like the usc pr machine is back in business
3:11 pm on November 29th, 2009
Pete Carroll: big hypocrite or biggest hypocrite?
4:21 pm on November 29th, 2009
Brooks = Fail! on this one. UCLA had QB injuries all year - 6 and 6 is a good year all things considered. And as others mentioned he didn’t exactly inherit a team stocked with studs. And as far as the end of this game, when 18 yr olds are involved anything - including a fumbled snap - can happen.
5:06 pm on November 29th, 2009
Carrol took the knee…game over right?
Wrong! Rick wanted to keep playing right?
Right! Carrol continued to compete right?
Right!
Fight On! Right?
RIGHT ON!
6:45 pm on November 29th, 2009
Good one, way off base on this one, especially one week after Carroll was crying.
However surprised UCLA was with the play, it was the best pass of the night from a sad USC offense.
9:50 pm on November 29th, 2009
Both guys are acting like dicks.
10:00 pm on November 29th, 2009
USC played a mediocre game against a horrible UCLA team. Previous to the last possession, the stats were very similar except for turnovers. It is obvious this was a successful attempt to promote themselves after under-performing during the ineffective game. I am deeply disappointed in Brook as it is obvious he shares the same atrocious mentality as Bill Plaschke in criticizing the offenseless Neuheisel .
10:34 pm on November 29th, 2009
Its the Bruins job to play defense. What are you guys crying about? He tried to run out the clock but Slick Rick wasnt having it. Do you think said “yes, lets call that one play that always turns into a touchdown” The fact of the matter is, there was time on the clock and a team scored. That is completely within the rules of the game.
2:37 am on November 30th, 2009
Of the two, Carroll is more the classless one. It wasn’t just the play call, it was the celebrating afterwards…..plus his “What’s your deal” remark to Harbaugh two weeks ago.
“For every action, there is a greater or equal reaction….”
So I hope Pete and USC enjoyed their short-lived jolt of superiority. They have already given the Bruins several years worth of intense motivation as a natural result.
Memo to Pete: be an example not a warning
6:08 am on November 30th, 2009
Normally I wouldn’t be…but I’m with Carroll on this one. USC tried to end it gracefully by taking a knee but Neuheisel just couldn’t accept his team already blew it. So ye…it’s COMPETITIVE SPORTS.
Why does this question always come up? Running the score up? Do the right thing? It’s SPORTS. USC DID show a certain level of respect by taking a knee and UCLA threw it right back in there face. Fine. Here. Have a touchdown.
12:58 pm on November 30th, 2009
Brooks is a biased idiot. Even so, I don’t see how UCLA can complain when they called the timeout but it was perfectly reasonable. Even if the game appears out of hand, it is not over. What happens if USC fumbles the next snap? Obviously, Carroll’s actions were to rub it in, as opposed to ending the game. If the pass is incomplete, he gives UCLA an extra timeout essentially. I don’t have a problem with the call except from a strategy standpoint.
1:51 pm on November 30th, 2009
Skippy will not be fired next year.
He has five years to and nothing that has happened will changed that.
Only way he does not get five years is if he doesn’t beat SC in the next two years.
Losing to SC four years in a row is what got Toledo fired, and Skippy will be in a nuclear hot seat if he loses to SC four years in a row.
By the way Brooks, I’m a long time fan of your site, but your man love for Pete Carroll is starting to go over the top.
4:13 pm on November 30th, 2009
“The team he inherited from Karl Dorrell hasn’t improved one bit in the two years Neuheisel has been the coach. Unlike Colorado and Washington, where Neuheisel inherited a cache of top quality talent schooled in a disciplined system, he didn’t have a chance to milk the previous regime’s team at UCLA.
At both CU and UW, after Neuheisel ran out of players from his predecessor, the programs fell into decline and the coach was eventually run out of town under differing, dubious circumstances.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Come to think of it, I DID say it, in previous comments when Neuheisel was first hired. He inherits a relatively decent program, does well the first couple of years using the talent and training from the previous coach, and then leaves town just before everything falls to pieces.
At Washington he didn’t even have the good grace to resign when he was caught lying to the athletic director - twice - and to the NCAA. When they fired him he sued, alleging that he deserved his job back because some junior level flunky in the compliance office mistakenly told him that participating in a basketball pool was okay. She was probably thinking about a $5.00 office pool, Neuheisal argued that applied to high-stakes gambling for thousands of dollars which he first said went to charity, but later recanted when caught. And all this from a guy that brags about having a law degree?
Anyway, since he argued he should get his job back in the lawsuit against the U.W. and the NCAA, he put Univ. of Washington recruiting on the back-burner for an entire year. That year they could hardly sign a third-string player because nobody knew who would be the coach next year. That’s really classless, and shows that Neuheisal only cares about himself.
In the end Neuheisal walks away with a hefty settlement as the U.S. and NCAA both decided to put the pain behind them, and U.W. suffered NCAA sanctions (but not Neuheisal!), just as Colorado experienced after the end of his coaching tenure there.
So all I can say is UCLA, we tried to warn you. The evidence was well documented. But you got played by as slippery a character as ever existed.