Former USC coach John McKay, bless his heaven-sent soul, used to analyze Trojan opponents by listing both starting lineups, side by side, on a blackboard. McKay used a point system to grade each player, 1 to 5, with 5 as the best.
When McKay completed grading each player, he totaled the figures and, most Saturdays, stepped back and lit a cigar.
On the few occasions opponents had more points, McKay would turn, and with his dry wit, say, “Well, men, it looks like we’ll need some brilliant coaching today.”
Story told in The Arizona Daily Star today by sports columnist Greg Hansen. Hansen did a McKay-like inventory for today’s game between USC and Arizona and figured 20 of the best 22 play for the Trojans; the other two play for the Wildcats.
It has always troubled NewMexiKen by the way, as an Arizona alum, that the nickname Wildcats came after a game against Occidental College in 1914. The Los Angeles Times‘ Bill Henry wrote: “The Arizona men showed the fight of wildcats….” The name stuck. The troubling part wasn’t that the game was versus Occidental. The troubling part is that Arizona got its nickname from a game they lost 14-0.