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bigtmebruin
Joined: 2/10/05 Posts: 5,366
A look back, the '92 UCLA - sc game
Posted Thu, May 16 10:05 am
ENJOY,...best at full screen.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=T9FF0xLjbpk


It's the whole gamn dame..!!!
GO BRUINS...!!!
BRUINS 1
Joined: 1/28/05 Posts: 19,757
Back when it was THE game
Posted Mon, May 20 1:33 pm
In response to A look back, the '92 UCLA - sc game (bigtmebruin)
The second to last time that we played for a RB berth. I believe we did in 2005, but they slaughtered us and the outcome was really never in doubt.

I wish we could go back to that great era of Pac-10 football when we played every team, every year.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
1992 was for bragging rights and John Barnes
Posted Tue, May 28 1:24 pm (Edited Tue, May 28 1:41 pm)
In response to Back when it was THE game (BRUINS 1)
The 1993 rivalry game was the last time that the Rose Bowl was on the line (the Marvin Goodwin interception), since the BCS began a few years later and the Rose Bowl became a consolation prize.

The 1992 game was the end of a star-crossed season for both teams. After Maddox declared for the draft, the Bruins lost 3 more starting QBs (Wayne Cook, Ryan Fien, and Rob Walker) to injury and down from the end of bench came 6th year transfer John Barnes, who was playing for his 4th (?) college. UCLA was just playing for a winning record.

Southern Cal lost Marinovich to the draft, so that was Rob Johnson's first year as a starter. They came into the game ranked, and they were 6-3-1. But, they were already out of the Rose Bowl hunt. Lot of empty seats in both sections that evening.

Barnes to Stokes. That was the game right there. Southern Cal went on to lose their next 2 games. And Larry Smith got fired in a late night purge after losing the Freedom Bowl to Fresno State. Donahue wound up raiding Smith's coaching staff, picking up 3 assistants who helped UCLA win the Pac-10 the following year.

2005 was not a Rose Bowl showdown because the Rose Bowl game was the BCS championship that year. Since UCLA was not in position for a top 2 ranking the Bruins would have gone to another BCS bowl game if they'd won.

However, that 2005 Southern Cal slaughter doesn't officially exist, since their entire season got vacated.
DocJock
Joined: 2/03/05 Posts: 15,584

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About Maddox,Barnes And Stokes
Posted Tue, May 28 3:37 pm
In response to 1992 was for bragging rights and John Barnes (Woochifer)
Tommy(?) Maddox from Texas was the 5th ranked quarterback in the prep recruiting pool.
His head to head games with Todd O'Marijuanovich, were epic, and a Trojan fan with whom I worked, felt Maddox was the superior quarterback. Those were the years of the game deciding phantom USC TD catches in the corner of the Coliseum end zone.
Back then, USC still had at least 2 graduating linemen yearly who would eventually go in the first 2 rounds of the NFL draft, so even a mediocre quarterback looked like an All Star behind that OL. As it turned out with Todd, even the NFL was fooled.

But after his 3rd year in the program, when Maddox was just a sophomore, he got married and bolted for the NFL.
By his own admission, he wasn't ready.
He said in retrospect, if he had it all to do over again, "I wouldn't have allowed them to kick me out of UCLA."
Some years later he reentered the NFL, experiencing greater success the second time around.

In my yearly report I had Barnes as the 5th string quarterback going into the 1992 season. The L.A. Times sportswriter who covered UCLA football (Mal Florence?), had him 4th. Santa Barbara had discontinued their football program, and someone from Santa Barbara told me to keep my eyes on Barnes because UCLA got a real steal.
I mentioned it in my yearly report.

As Woochifer related, we had a plethora of injuries at quarterback that year which opened the door for Barnes.
Rumors persisted for a few years thereafter, that Hollywood was going to make a Cinderella themed movie over Barnes leading UCLA to an improbable win over USC, but apparently nothing came of it.

At the time of his recruitment, some fans wondered why we even bothered recruiting J.J. Stokes who was regarded as a tweener, too slight for tight end end and too slow for wide out. But he worked relentlessly on his speed, running sprints with the track sprinters, and was always strong despite his slender build. He was eventually drafted by the Forty Niners where he played well but was over shadowed by Terrel(?) Owens.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
Correction on my part
Posted Tue, May 28 7:42 pm (Edited Tue, May 28 7:51 pm)
In response to About Maddox,Barnes And Stokes (DocJock)
I got the timing wrong. Marinovich actually left school after the 1990 season, so he only had that one memorable duel against Tommy Maddox at the Rose Bowl. Marinovich led Southern Cal to the Rose Bowl game after his redshirt freshman year (that was the year of the "gutty little tie" against a 3-7-1 Bruin team led by redshirt freshman Bret Johnson -- Rob's older brother and at that time the most decorated QB recruit ever signed by UCLA). So, he was viewed as a Heisman candidate. But, his production declined his sophomore year and he had that sideline meltdown at Larry Smith during the Sun Bowl. We now know that Marinovich had started abusing drugs as a freshman and it got worse as a sophomore. The Raiders still took him in the 1st Round.

Recall that Wayne Cook had won the QB competition during fall camp in 1992, but tore his ACL in the opening game against Cal State Fullerton. Then came the succession of QB injuries. IIRC, Barnes made his first start the week before the Southern Cal game against Oregon and led the Bruins to an ugly win in Eugene. So, he was rewarded with the start against the Trojans even though Rob Walker was available.

I know that John Barnes' story was optioned by a screenwriter (he confirmed this in interviews), and Disney might have been involved in trying to develop the script into a movie (they put out one sports-themed movie every year, and I recall that Barnes' story at one point was under consideration). But, yeah nothing has come of it.

With Stokes, and the other Bruin receivers of that period, a lot of their success traces back to Neuheisel. I remember that he coached the receivers on sideline routes to cut back toward the middle of the field, rather than tiptoeing the sidelines. You could see that working with Stokes in that 1992 game.
BRUINS 1
Joined: 1/28/05 Posts: 19,757
Phantom TD
Posted Wed, May 29 11:32 am
In response to Correction on my part (Woochifer)
Was the ‘87 game at the Coliseum, Peete to Afholter. Darn shame that there was no replay back then.
JosephineBruin
Joined: 1/04/08 Posts: 12,902

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I was there and it was spectacular! nm
Posted Tue, May 21 6:43 am
In response to A look back, the '92 UCLA - sc game (bigtmebruin)
8
Colt Seavers
Joined: 6/05/14 Posts: 241
This was my introduction to the rivalry
Posted Fri, May 24 5:20 pm
In response to A look back, the '92 UCLA - sc game (bigtmebruin)
Coming out of high school I was not a huge follower of college sports and had no idea how serious the rivalry was. Even the buildup to the game was not significant as we were not favored to win and our season had turned into a disappointment. The intensity, emotion, and passion of this game and its heroes ingrained the rivalry as "more important than life or death" from that day on.