They Find Hackett Hard to Follow

If I follow Paul Hackett’s logic, USC must now be the team to beat in the Pac-10, since they lost to the team to beat in the Pac-10, who received that distinction by losing the previous week.

CHRIS PISANO, San Pedro

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USC in the Rose Bowl game [Oct. 28]? Somebody wake up Paul Hackett; he has fallen asleep again.

DAVID ALLEN TYAU, Pasadena

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It appears that Coach Paul “Buddy” Hackett actually has guts; after all, it takes courage to face the media and fans week after week, trying hopelessly to defend some of the most astonishingly inept coaching decisions imaginable.

WARD D. SKINNER, Northridge

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Hey, Coach Hackett! It’s really neat the way you always start the slow guy with the stomachache and then pull him when he finally does something right. I think it’s great the way you convert those field goals inside the five at the end of the half and the end of the game. Seems like they make the losses closer and more honorable.

I wonder when the little guy with the bad back is going to pick up a third and one (probably when he has a functional offensive line or when hell freezes over). Also, thank the defense for letting practically any collection of 11 people run out the clock at the end of close games. It sort of makes up for all the time you guys waste letting the clock run out just before you score meaningless touchdowns.

Anyway, good luck, beat Stanford, go 6-6 and keep Trojan football tradition alive.

JACK VON BULOW, Temple City