In one of the stranger college football stories this year, a USC team equipment manager was fired after it was discovered he deflated footballs used during Saturday's game against Oregon.
The news emerged earlier in the week that the student manager had intentionally deflated five footballs from official regulation size during the game. On Wednesday night the team announced that the student was fired after admitting his actions to the compliance department.
"We regret this incident occurred," athletic director Pat Haden said in a statement, according to ESPNLosAngeles.com. "It was unacceptable and we apologize for it. I can assure you this will not happen again."
Haden has worked very hard to turn around the reputation of USC after dealing with the Reggie Bush scandal a few years ago and the departure of long-time coach Pete Carroll. The team was on bowl-game probation until this season.
On Thursday coach Lane Kiffin spoke about the incident and tried to quell any speculation that he had any knowledge of it.
"For all the conspiracy (theorists) that'll think that we were behind this, I don't think if we were trying to deflate balls we would direct a student manager on the Oregon sideline, right in front of them, to be deflating balls and be playing with some deflated balls and some non-deflating balls," Kiffin said. "I'm sure if we knew that, our kickers wouldn't be very happy with that, either, because no kicker's ever gonna want a deflated ball."
This is not the first controversy for Kiffin at USC and the move wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for the coach. While he admitted he had no knowledge of the move, he has done similar things in the past to help win games, including earlier this season when he had two players switch numbers on special teams in a game to confuse the opponent.
Kiffin has been coy about announcing injuries and is also known for being very salty with the media, including during a press conference he walked out of after 30-seconds earlier this season.
Controversy and drama has followed Kiffin throughout his coaching career. While with the Oakland Raiders in the NFL he had disagreements with owner Al Davis and his coaching staff, and while coaching at Tennessee he said he wouldn't leave the job early, then left to take the USC job.
Kiffin was asked by reporters if he understood why people might be skeptical he had no knowledge about the deflated balls.
"Yeah, I can totally see that," Kiffin said. "That's exactly what I said to our compliance department, too. That's why it was just very frustrating for a distraction like this with none of the players or coaches being involved in it."
The head coach also defended his players and coaches in regard to the situation.
"I believe this was a very isolated incident that had nothing to do with the coaches or the players on this team," Kiffin said.
According to ESPNLosAngeles.com, "USC's student managers typically pick out their six game balls with Barkley after the team's Thursday practice, with the quarterback selecting ones out of a larger pool."
Oregon won the game even with the deflated controversy and coach Chip Kelly commented on the situation to Sirius XM Radio.
"They can do whatever they want," he told Eugene-area reporters later Thursday. "It's no big deal to us."
USC was expected to contend for a national title this season, but have gone only 6-3, including two straight losses against Arizona and Oregon. Senior quarterback Matt Barkely is having an excellent season, passing for 2,750 yards and 30 touchdowns, but the team has underperformed on defense.
The team was 2-0 to start the season, but lost to Stanford 21-14 on Sept. 15 to fall out of the national title picture. The Trojans reeled off five straight wins, including a 50-6 thrashing of Colorado, but has lost two-straight games since.
The team hosts Arizona State on Saturday in Los Angeles and must win if they hope to stay alive in the Pac-12 South. UCLA is 4-2 in the conference this season, while the Trojans are just 4-3 and one game behind.
Haden said Kiffin's job was not on the line, but if the Trojans fall again on Saturday, his opinion may change.
