Following his dominating performance in USC’s win over
UCLA, Trojan wide receiver Mike Williams couldn’t help but
lead the USC band in its postgame performance of
“Conquest.”
And then, Williams blew his own horn.
“I honestly feel that everyone at UCLA wishes they were at
USC,” Williams said. “Everybody here today in baby blue
wishes they were in our student section.”
It was a postgame tirade that would have made former USC wide
receiver Keyshawn Johnson proud. Johnson, whose comments this past
week forced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to deactivate him for the rest
of the season, sported a Mike Williams jersey on the sideline.
“I’m doing all the talking because I hate
them,” Williams said. “God, I hate them. (Former UCLA
cornerback) Ricky Manning said stuff last year. Matt Ware said some
things this year. They made a public display by stomping on our
50-yard line on the “˜SC logo.”
Williams was referring to Manning’s bonfire incident from
last year and comments made by Ware to The Los Angeles Times this
past week. As far as the “public display,” it is a
pre-game huddle that takes place around a punt catch by Craig Bragg
before UCLA goes into the locker room.
“There’s no disrespect intended there,” Bragg
said. “It was just a coincidence that it was on the USC logo.
If he watched our tapes, he would see that we’ve done that
before every game this year and that the punt hasn’t always
landed on the logo.”
However, Williams wasn’t finished.
“We try to do everything with class, and I respect the
rivalry, but they bring an element to the rivalry that’s not
needed,” Williams said. “Every chance we get, hopefully
even after I’m long gone, we’ll still be smacking
around those guys. I don’t care if it’s hopscotch,
every chance we get, we need to beat them.
“Nothing against Coach Dorrell because I think he’s
trying to do some things for the program, but some of their
players, especially Tyler Ebell … I’m done.”
And just like that, Williams stopped. It was fitting, since the
only thing that could stop Williams on this day was, well, himself.
His 11-catch, 181-yard and two-touchdown outing was only half a
day’s work, as Williams sat out after the first half with an
ankle injury.
“We had to hide his helmet so he wouldn’t play in
the second half,” USC coach Pete Carroll said. “He set
the game up and did everything we needed him to. He’s a
fantastic weapon.”
Indeed, at 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, Williams was open on virtually
every play. He caught a jump ball in the endzone over 5-foot-9
cornerback Matt Clark, then drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty
for saluting like a soldier over Clark. He made amends for the
penalty on the first play of the second quarter, a four-yard
touchdown strike from quarterback Matt Leinart that gave USC a 21-0
lead.
“We had a good game plan,” Leinart said. “We
basically took what they gave us, but I was a little surprised they
gave us Mike Williams. We had an answer for everything they threw
at us.”
The Bruin defense tried everything. On the first possession, the
defense came out aggressive, unsuccessfully blitzing on virtually
every play. They were equally unsuccessful with their cover-2 and
cover-3 schemes. Additionally, despite having good results when
UCLA switched the 6-foot-3 Ware exclusively on Reggie Williams in
the game against Washington, no such change was made against
USC.
As far as Mike Williams’ words, just as he did when Reggie
Williams talked, Ware refused to get involved.
“He’s a real good receiver,” Ware said.
“(His comments) mean nothing to me. During the game, he was
helping me up and didn’t say a single word. If he has a
problem with me, then it’s on him.”
Ware also said that he believes he’ll be back for his
senior season. Likewise, Williams, who at one time pondered the NFL
eligibility rule, has since recanted those comments and will
probably return for his junior year. It seems to set up a city
showdown for 2004.
“We did it this year, and we’ll beat them again next
year,” Williams said. “And as long as I’m here,
that’s the way it’s gonna be.”