#2 USC

Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

October 11, 2008

USC 28 – Arizona St 0 (ESPN Recap)

USC is one of the premier teams in the country and I was offered a pair of free tickets at work. I could not convince anyone to join me for the game.

Being just over a year out of college and not having a lot of money, I drove to the Coliseum and was dismayed at the $40 parking signs. I decided to drive about 0.8 miles due west of the stadium looking for cheaper options. The neighborhood got tough quickly, and the parking options opened up. I parked in a McDonald’s parking lot for free and walked 15 minutes to the stadium. In hindsight, it was not the smartest decision I have ever made.

The game was dominated by USC defense which featured Clay Matthews, Brian Cushing, Rey Maualuga, Taylor Mays, and Kevin Ellison. Mark Sanchez was bad despite having a great season, Joe McKnight (name sounds like a singer) was good enough, and the Trojans put the crowd in V-formation with their fingers and closed out the shutout.

This was pre-camera phones and I have no photo evidence of the game. The picture for the cover photo was found on the internet. I do have the ticket stub.