USC willing to give up timeouts to wear red at UCLA
USC coach Pete Carroll says the NCAA can have two of his timeouts from Saturday's crosstown rivalry game with UCLA. He just wants his players to wear their home colors.
Carroll said on Monday that the Trojans would wear their cardinal red home jerseys on Saturday at the Rose Bowl. That violates an NCAA rule that requires visiting teams to wear white, and the infraction will cost him two timeouts, one per half.
The last time the Trojans and the Bruins both wore home jerseys -- the Trojans in red, the Bruins in blue and gold -- was in 1982, when the schools shared the Los Angeles Coliseum. "I just thought it was a really cool tradition," Carroll said. As for losing timeouts? "I don't care about it right now," Carroll said. "I think it's the fun thing to do, and I think the fans will appreciate it over time." Carroll said the decision to wear home jerseys is not meant as a sign of disrespect to UCLA, adding that he discussed restoring the tradition with former UCLA coach Karl Dorrell and with current coach Rick Neuheisel. "It's exciting," Neuheisel said. "I think wearing the home jerseys is a great tradition." In the meantime, the Pacific 10 Conference has forwarded a request to NCAA football rules committee secretary Rogers Redding, seeking to change the rule. Pac 10 commissioner Tom Hansen said he expected to a decision by Tuesday.
