Last August, during media days, I remember laughing at Jim Harbaugh, first year coach at Stanford’s comments. When asked about USC’s 2007 team, he replied that ‘they were a great team, maybe the greatest ever.’ He gushed on the Trojans, buttering them up for the usual take the Cardinal behind the woodshed game. But 2007 was different. The Cardinal faced the mighty men of Troy week 6 at the Coliseum, where ‘SC had a 35-game winning streak. With under a minute to go and trailing by 6 Stanford faced a 4th and forever. QB Tavita Pritchard took the snap from under center, took a 5 step drop, and lobbed up a pass to the end zone for wide out Mark Bradford on a fade route. Bradford came down with the ball for a touchdown and every USC fan stood in bewilderment.
The announcer on VS first said, “Touchdown USC!” He then went on to say Stanford would kick the PAT for the tie. He corrected himself as he realized the Cardinal had just tied the game up and would go ahead by one on the PAT. With 49 seconds on the clock, USC had time for one more drive, but John David Booty was picked off for the fourth time to seal the Trojans’ fate.
The stage was set, the curtains opened, and the play was not what anyone expected. Anyone except Jim Harbaugh and the Stanford Cardinal that is. That was the season that was 2007. It was the year of learning to expect the unexpected; to never count a victory, even against the lowliest of underdogs.
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September 5, 2008 at 4:45 pm
moondogleft
I’m doing a story about Stanford’s recruiting success and came across your site. Being a Vol fan (yes, they sucked vs UCLA) I have to admit I almost got sick looking at that view of the Swamp.
But, you’re a fellow SEC blogger and I see you have my friend Ethan’s site in your blog roll, so you can’t be all that bad.
Take it easy.