FLASHWOK said:
Saw that. Only 11 can play at one time
Kudos, either way.
Don't know if you bother with the LA Times, but here's a good read about Leinart and the game @ ASU after your loss to Cal in '03:
OCT. 4, 2003: TURNING POINT FOR USC
A Signal Moment
Leinart's return from injury at Arizona State changed course of history for four quarterbacks and Trojan program.
By Gary Klein, Times Staff Writer
Matt Leinart lay slumped on a table just outside USC's locker room at Sun Devil Stadium, his right ankle wrapped in ice, his mind a jumble of uncertainties.
It was Oct. 4, 2003.
A week earlier, he had had three passes intercepted against California in a triple-overtime defeat in the Pacific 10 Conference opener. Coaches kept Leinart as the starter for Arizona State, though not with an overwhelming vote of confidence.
"He gives us the best chance to win right now," Coach Pete Carroll had said of the sophomore. "We'll stick with him."
Now, instead of leading his team onto the field for the second half, Leinart was about to be left behind. A hit early in the second quarter had knocked him out of the game. X-rays revealed no major damage, but his right knee and ankle hurt. Especially the ankle.
As teammates filed past in the long, narrow hallway, some offered encouragement. Others stared blankly ahead. The coaches followed, offensive coordinator Norm Chow, quarterbacks coach Steve Sarkisian. And finally, Carroll.
"He was mad," Leinart recalled.
Carroll was not angry with Leinart, but he was furious that his starting quarterback was agonizing where every USC player could see him.
"What are you doing sitting there?" the coach barked. "We need you! Get your … off that table! And if you limp, you're not playing."
Carroll walked on, thinking,
There's no chance, but it was worth a shot.
When the coach exited the now silent hallway, Leinart slowly got up off the table.
No one could have known it at the time, but the course of a program changed in that moment.
So did the careers of four quarterbacks.
Matt Cassel had waited more than three years to show USC coaches and fans he was more than a caddie for Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer.
Leinart beat the tall, rangy junior for the starting job during the spring and solidified his hold on the spot during fall. But when trainers took Leinart to the locker room after he was sacked with 14:04 left in the second quarter, Cassel got his chance.
"All of sudden, in the blink of an eye, it was, 'Cassel, you're going to get an opportunity to go in there in a competitive situation,' " he recalled during a telephone interview last week.
The sideline was a flurry of activity during a USC timeout, Sarkisian barking instructions, Chow calling down from the press box. Cassel could barely catch his breath.
"You're so caught up in the moment that you're just trying to get your head and everything else focused," Cassel said. "The last thing you have time to think about is 'If I screw up, there goes my career, there goes my opportunity.' You have enough pressure on you."
Cassel's first series began at the Trojans' 11-yard line and went nowhere.
The next series started better, Cassel finding wide receiver Mike Williams on a pass across the middle for a 39-yard gain. The Trojans drove inside the Arizona State 25, but Cassel lost a fumble while being sacked. The next series generated 14 yards; the one after that lost three.
But USC got the ball back with 32 seconds left in the half and Cassel had one more shot. He threw a 31-yard pass into the end zone. The 6-foot-5 Williams grabbed it, but officials ruled he was out of bounds. The Trojans settled for a game-tying field goal.
"If that's a touchdown, we have the lead at the half and [Cassel] probably comes out and starts the second half for us," Sarkisian said recently.
As the Trojans trotted toward the locker room, Cassel thought,
I can't wait to get back in there. Everything is going to calm down.
The coaching staff, however, had another plan.
The offense and defense went to opposite sides of the locker room at halftime while coaches huddled in another room.
"We come in and we're in dire straits," Sarkisian recalled. "… We knew we had a good football team, but we needed to make a decision on what we were going to do."
When the coaches emerged from their meeting, Chow and Carroll looked Brandon Hance in the eye.
"Warm up," they said. "You better be ready to go."
Of all the USC quarterbacks, the resourceful Hance seemed made for the situation. He was No. 4 on the depth chart, but he had started nine games for Purdue in 2001 and had played in hostile environments at places such as Michigan.
The San Fernando Valley native had transferred to USC in 2002 and sat out the season while recovering from shoulder surgery. He was still regaining strength through spring practice and training camp.
Now, Chow and Carroll were pulling the junior aside, telling him he would start the second half, asking him which plays he was most comfortable with.
"I had confidence and I was jacked up to go out there," Hance said recently. "It was a situation I would have thrived in — on the road, team behind, adversity."
When Hance reached the field, he grabbed a ball and began playing catch with Sarkisian.
"Coach Carroll was standing there telling me how I was going to do it and how it was going to be great," Hance said. "Guys were coming by, patting me on the butt and saying, 'C'mon B-Hance.' "
He buckled his helmet, ready to go in.
And then, as if in a movie, Hance saw a figure in the distance.
"I was like, "Oh my God. Here he comes."
