Timeline of An Upset: Stanford-USC Edition
Listed in:Never in my wildest imaginings did I think Stanford could beat USC this season, at the Coliseum, no less. Here's a brief recap of my reactions and feelings as my nominal college team pulled off one of the two greatest upsets in the past twenty years of college football. All times are eastern and approximate.
8:45pm -- While watching playoff baseball, Ben browses through college football scores and says, with a bemused lilt in his voice, that Stanford leads USC early in the third quarter. I straighten up and ask the score. He says 9-7. Immediately, we search for the game on TV, flipping through various Fox Sports Channels, with no luck. We return to baseball.
9:05 -- My friend, Aaron, calls from the tarmac in Cleveland to talk about his Rockies. I ask him if he's holding a broom at that moment. As we're wrapping up the call, I mention, in an "oh, by the way" tone, that Stanford leads USC in the third quarter in Los Angeles. In the background, Ben says the Trojans still have plenty of time to score three touchdowns and blow away the Cardinal.
9:15 -- I call my dad and remind him that MLB has gone all out to whore its product, so there are no day games on a Saturday. Thus, the Rockies game is on next. I also ask if he can see Stanford-USC. He asks why, and tells me the headline over Ray Ratto's preview of the game in the San Francisco Chronicle was "Lay the 40 1/2..."
9:25 -- My friend, John, comes to pick me up. We head to uptown Charlotte for a night on the town.
10:45 -- My dad calls with an update. Stanford down by six in the fourth quarter. I almost jump out of the barstool. He says he's watching on Versus. Versus? Versus! I call Ben and tell him he can watch on Versus(!). I explain the situation to the bartender. He briefly considers trying to switch the game, but decides he'd rather not rile up the crowd by switching away from Florida-LSU. We are in North Carolina, after all.
11:00 -- My dad calls again, this time describing Stanford's final drive. (Please ignore the crappy announcers.)
11:10 -- My dad calls again, describing USC's final play. I throw my hands in the air and wave them like I just don't care.
11:11 -- John calls our mutual friend who graduated from Stanford. Our friend thinks we're pulling some lame prank. When he looks up the score himself, he starts laughing uncontrollably, and we have to hang up on him because he's incoherent.
12:15 -- Our Stanford grad friend has made it out to the bar, and we're in a mid-sized group, chatting it up with folks we sorta know from the scene. I turn to him and, apropos of nothing, say, "Hey! Stanford beat USC!" We clink our beers, and no one else seems to notice the celebration.
2:45 -- I get home, and Ben is in the living room chatting with friends on the west coast. I collapse into one of the chairs and say, "You know, this just proves the Pac 10 sucks, doesn't it?"
"Yup. USC can't be that good," Ben says, "They lost to Stanford. Now the SEC, that's a good conference. Auburn's in the middle of the pack in that league, and they were able to beat Florida."
"Yeah," I say, "The SEC's got depth, dammit."
Who's gonna be number two in the land? Cal.
November 10, in Berkeley. Are you ready?
