FOOTBALL: FORMER HORNET LEADS CHARGE AGAINST USC
Former Hornet defensive tackle Ioane Gauta anchored the charge in shutting down the USC Trojans Saturday night in Washington State's 10-7 victory.
September 9, 2013
Former Hornet defensive tackle Ioane Gauta anchored the charge in shutting down the USC Trojans Saturday night in Washington State's 10-7 victory.
Gauta (Valencia HS/Anaheim, CA) played for the Fullerton College football team during the 2010 and 2011 seasons totaling 42 tackles, 5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception, and 2 break ups.
For the game on Saturday night against the Trojans, Gauta caused havoc as the nose tackle for the Cougars amassing 7 tackles and keep USC to its lowest point total in recent years.
For more on the game and how Washington State was the only PAC 12 team to offer Gauta a scholarship read the article below.
OC REGISTER ARTICLE BY JEFF MILLER
LOS ANGELES – Alcohol is not sold inside the Coliseum, but fans can bring in their own boos.
And the USC faithful packed their 100-proof venom Saturday night, showering the Trojans with their derision throughout a bad and boring game until finally, as the closing seconds dropped like the blade of a guillotine, chanting in unison their feelings about Lane Kiffin's future.
They've decided the coach doesn't have one.
But one USC fan actually was delighted after Washington State's shocking 10-7 victory. He couldn't stop smiling, in fact.
And why not? He plays for Washington State.
"I'm always going to be an L.A. fan," Ioane Gauta said. "I grew up a USC fan. There's still a little piece of my heart that's a USC fan. Maybe I shouldn't admit that right now."
Gauta, the Cougars' 6-foot-3, 285-pound senior nose tackle, grew up in Anaheim and attended Valencia High.
He was credited with seven tackles Saturday, centering a defense that limited USC to its lowest point total at home since Sept. 8, 2001, when the Trojans lost, 10-6, to Kansas State. That was Pete Carroll's second game here.
USC wanted nothing to do with Gauta when he was available to be recruited. The Trojans want even less to do with him now.
"It's just an honor to play against USC," Gauta said. "I always wanted to play for USC or against USC. I wanted to play in the Coliseum. It's an honor."
That's not the way this night will be remembered by the Trojans or their fans. No, not at all.
This was a night when Kiffin's complete lack of confidence in his quarterbacks' ability to throw downfield was on graphic display. The man didn't invent the forward pass, but Kiffin appears committed to perfecting the sideways one.
This was a night when a head coach staggeringly admitted he was playing not to lose. Saying "as boring as it was," Kiffin explained that the plan was to win with a dominant defense and a handcuffed offense. His stated goal when the Trojans had the ball: "Don't screw it up."
This was a night when the same head coach also admitted he was caught off guard by something the opposition did.
Understand that these guys never confess such things. Coaches would rather cop to crimes than admit they weren't ready for a strategy the other team used.
"Yeah, they played a bunch of drop-eight in this game," Kiffin said of the Cougars. "They hadn't done that much last week. They hadn't really done that in general."
But they did that Saturday. Kiffin and his assistants had four quarters to figure it out, and the Trojans still scored fewer points at home than any USC team ever did under Paul Hackett.
Yikes, when a Trojans coach is being compared – and unfavorably so – to Hackett, that coach is facing some issues.
"We obviously weren't prepared well enough on offense," Kiffin said, continuing a news conference that might have set a record for open admissions of ineptitude.
It was revealing and it was remarkable, and here we're talking about the postgame, not the game itself.
As Kiffin sat there smirking, dismissing questions about the fans' negative reaction with the always illuminating "It is what it is," it was difficult to see this situation ending any way but very poorly for the head coach.
Kiffin, quite frankly, now has to make a greater comeback than Twinkies did.
Meanwhile, Gauta and his fellow Cougars bumped chests and fists and pretty much every other available body part.
They gathered for a picture on the Coliseum field, the still-lighted scoreboard in the background, like tourists might do posing in front of a monument. Or, in this example, something monumental.
"This defense really took the challenge to heart," said Gauta, whose parents and sister attended the game, along with friends from his church and a couple of his former coaches. "We feel like we can carry this team. We displayed it tonight to the nation, man."
Well, at least to that part of the nation that was still awake late Saturday night.
Washington State was the only Pac-12 school that offered Gauta a scholarship after he played two seasons at Fullerton College.
"That's where I started my career," he said. "I'm never going to forget Fullerton. I'm always going to be a Hornet. I appreciate those guys."
As much as he wanted to, Gauta didn't contact the Trojans' football offices looking for an opportunity.
"I just let the process play out," he said. "I left it to whoever saw my talent and wanted to take a chance on me. Unfortunately, it didn't happen (at USC). But I'm glad to be where I'm at right now."
Of course, he's glad. Why wouldn't he be? He's on the better team.