Eight Is Great, but Hackett Wants Nine

Many people looked at USC’s schedule before the season and figured seven victories would be a reasonable goal, and eight would be quite a success.

Now if favored USC beats Texas Christian in the Sun Bowl, the Trojans will finish with nine victories for only the second time in the 1990s.

The other time was in 1995, when the Trojans went 9-2-1, ending the season with a Rose Bowl victory over Northwestern.

Nine wins would be a notch better than Coach Paul Hackett figured he could reasonably hope for in his first season.

“I wrote down eight,” he said. “A chance to win a ninth game is really exciting. I know we played an extra game. Had we lost to Purdue, I think eight would have been overly ambitious.”

Not that the losses to California and Oregon in games that USC led don’t rankle Hackett.

“The Oregon game does not sit well with me,” he said. “The Cal game was a learning experience. It was one of those things that happen.”

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TCU knows how to keep things exciting.

Nine of the Horned Frogs’ 11 games came down to the fourth quarter, five were decided by four points or fewer and an incredible four were decided on the final play.

A few notable comebacks:

Against Iowa State, TCU trailed, 14-7, in the third quarter, but ended up winning, 31-21.

Against Air Force--whose 35-34 defeat against TCU was its only loss of the season--the Horned Frogs trailed, 31-20, before rallying.

Against Vanderbilt, TCU forced overtime with a 50-yard field goal with four seconds to play and won in the second overtime, 19-16.

Against Fresno State, TCU trailed entering the fourth quarter, 10-7, and ended up winning, 21-10.

As for the five losses, three came in low-scoring, tight games.

TCU lost to Oklahoma, 10-9, after leading after halftime, 9-0, and also lost to Southern Methodist, 10-6, and to Rice, 14-12.

“Talking to [TCU Coach Dennis Franchione], he said they very easily could have won nine games, or it could have gone the other way and they could have won three,” Hackett said. “They had an awfully exciting season.”

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USC is scheduled to leave for El Paso this morning, with players from outside of the Los Angeles area given permission to fly separately and meet the team in Texas.

Next Up for USC

What: Sun Bowl TCU (6-5) vs. USC (8-4)

Where: El Paso

When: Thursday

Time: 11 a.m.

TV: Channel 2

Radio: XTRA (690)