Brooks: Stanford's win highly moving

Published October 12, 2007 at midnight

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In college football's Season of Insanity, Stanford stepped miles beyond the lunatic fringe, making point-spread history last week by shocking Southern California.

But this was a game more about the human condition than startling numbers.

Tavita Pritchard, whose late touchdown pass to Mark Bradford immediately was plugged into Cardinal football lore, is the nephew of former Washington State quarterback Jack Thompson, aka "The Throwin' Samoan."

A backup to T.C. Ostrander with one career completion before the USC game, Pritchard spoke with his uncle the Tuesday before Stanford made its trip to the L.A. Coliseum as a 41-point underdog saddled with virtually "no shot" against the Trojans.

Thompson, in The Seattle Times, said Pritchard told him, "Uncle Jack, I couldn't write a better script. This is like in the movies. I wouldn't want it any other way."

That angle was compelling enough, but it was not the afternoon's most poignant.

Two weekends prior, Bradford's father, Mark Sr., attended his son's home game against Oregon. Within days, the elder Bradford died of a massive heart attack.

Mark Jr. missed that Saturday's game against Arizona State but returned to the team for the USC game, which he dedicated to his father, and caught five passes for 87 yards and the touchdown to be forever remembered at both schools.

"When I saw that last play, I knew I had to make it," said Bradford, who snared Pritchard's pass while tumbling backward in the corner of the end zone. "To dedicate a game to somebody, you've got to win it."

"I think about him all the time right now," Bradford said. "I miss him so much. Sometimes, it's hard. But I just love playing with these guys right here."

Stanford stays at home this week, playing host to Texas Christian. Cardinal coach Jim Harbaugh says his team is in "uncharted waters, in terms of handling success. TCU doesn't care that we beat USC."

In one sense, everything is back to normal. The Cardinal is a six-point underdog.

Towing the line

Florida safety Tony Joiner was arrested about 5 a.m. last Tuesday for allegedly trying to recover his girlfriend's car from a Gainesville towing company's impound lot.

Joiner, however, played in the Gators' loss at No. 1 Louisiana State. Good thing, too, because had Florida coach Urban Meyer suspended Joiner, there might have been hell to pay for towing company owner Stan Forron.

It was bad enough just the same. Forron told Florida Today he received more than 200 threatening telephone calls, more than a dozen of which were death or bomb threats. He said several callers offered to pay the $76 towing bill if Forron dropped the charge.

Forron's response: "I'm just glad it wasn't (quarterback) Tim Tebow, that's all I can say. I think I would be covered in 10 feet of concrete right now if it had been Tebow."

Blitz at your own risk

Memo to blitz-happy coordinators, players and fans:

Washington State, stumbling at 2-4 and in search of something good, unleashed the big blitz on Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter last week - and got to him seven times.

Four of the sacks were by linebacker Andy Mattingly, who said, "I think there were two plays I didn't blitz. It was fun."

But losing 23-20 wasn't so much fun, and Cougars safeties coach Leon Burtnett put the sellout to the blitz in perspective.

"Kids always want to blitz," he said. "It takes some of the thinking out of it. But you rob Peter to pay Paul. You better get there (to the quarterback), or there's gonna be a fight song playing and it might not be yours."

Plane truth

During pregame warm-ups at Arkansas' War Memorial Stadium last week, an airplane circled overhead several times, with this banner trailing: "There's Nuttin' Like Being 0-2 In The SEC."

Responded Razorbacks coach Houston Nutt: "Yeah, it's funny they didn't have that when we were 7-0 (in the SEC) last year. They couldn't find that plane. That's interesting."

Road less traveled

Wisconsin suffered its first defeat of the season last week, losing 31-26 at Illinois and snapping a 14-game Badgers winning streak.

Said Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema: "On the plane ride home, I was just numb. And it wasn't a feeling other than, 'You're not used to this. It's been over a year since you've had to endure something like that. . . .'

"I told our kids, 'I want you to feel the pain of losing because if you ever begin to accept it, or are OK with it, it will become more of a habit, and that's a road you don't want to go down.' "

Last and short

• Southern California quarterback John David Booty wasn't about to let his horrific performance (four interceptions) in the Trojans' historic loss against Stanford ruin last Saturday night. Booty was seen at Hollywood hot spot Les Deux.

• Little-remembered fact about Kentucky quarterback André Woodson: He was beaten out by Curtis Pulley during 2006 spring drills. Pulley, however, was unproductive in the summer (workouts and school), and dropped out of school last spring. He was readmitted this fall and is now a redshirt scout-teamer.

• In what was supposed to be a rebuilding year, No. 3 Ohio State (6-0) has muscled its way into the hunt for a spot in the Bowl Championship Series title game. "Everything seems to be falling into place," cornerback Malcolm Jenkins told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. "We control our own destiny from here on."

brooksb@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5466

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