Yes, my wife's family lives down there and we were there for several of that particular game. We lived ~30m away from Cal. Of the in state games played it was the closest I felt that came to being a "rivalry." Take an OhSt/Mich, Aub/Al, Fl/FlSt, etc game on the other hand and that potential internal fighting isn't necessarily just around the time of the game. It's just not quite the same. I did mention the Money Bowl vs ND prior as it did seem the closest to a big "rivalry" that I saw while I lived over there and I wonder if it was due to the large catholic population (compared to other areas I'd lived at least) that I found in Cali.
As for USC directly, I don't hate them because they are successful. I hate them for very different reasons which I won't detail on here. I also didn't pick on them (at least intentionally) due to corruption until you pointed out my "Hypocrisy." I do agree on the NCAA thing and I think that the rules they impose on players, while well meaning perhaps, is largely unreasonable. I also don't think for a minute that the average player (for football especially) is adequately compensated for the kind of abuse they sign up for when considered in conjunction with the stipulations they get placed upon them to keep the schools "righteous" in the NCAA's eyes.
As for Miami, I do not claim to know that much about the U but as I recall hearing it there was some weird thing that drug out one of the investigations that prolonged one big huge list of corruption into one instance. IIRC there was some kind of fraud vs the Govt and they shut down the investigation until the feds finished theirs. Then when all that got aired out they were granted leniency by the NCAA as they had been cooperative with the Feds investigation or some such and they managed to escape the "Death Penalty" (which didn't OSU get something very close to that or at least closer than anyone else save SMU of course have ever gotten?) purely on that point.
I do, however, wonder what your standards are for declaring Auburn the most corrupt. You'll note I do not deny that they've done some pretty severe rule breaking mind you... They are also in the lead with 7 major infractions since what, 1952? None of the ones that stuck have been in the past two decades I might add. The Newton thing? Well, while I call bull**** on him not knowing about it... It doesn't have much to do with Auburn unless they paid him. They stood behind their player regardless of their motive and if in fact they were not approached re: pay for play for the kid (which again I find highly unlikely) they technically did nothing wrong. MsSt would be the culprit there and tbf to them they did report it even if it was rather late but they had those allegation on their (NCAA) desks over 2 months before the 2010 season started (not to mention the SECs desk a full 8 even with the 1mo wait MSU did to see if they successfully recruited him first... They reported it after he committed to Auburn). Further, I would also point out that Auburn is not the only program with 7 strikes (major) so to speak. Going from memory ASU is up there (some people even claim more than 7), SMU of course, Wisconsin, FSU, Cal, Oklahoma, and ATM all share 7 strikes a piece. I think there are several others in fact including a couple Big Ten schools. USC as a comparison IIRC was actually at 6 as of 2006? There are those who have suggested in the past that Bowden (towards the end) was more pushed out because he wasn't cooperating with the P4P scheme. Same thing for Tuberville at least allegedly.
That said and while I'm thinking about it... Personally I believe Paul Bryant was the most corrupt coach of all time. Alabama was always one of the NCAAs darling teams. And yes, they did escape any penalties while Bryant was a coach... However, I would point out that versus the above they have 5? major infractions and all in the past 20 or so years? What, no death penalty? Oh ya, it's Alabama. Not to mention the fact that Pat Dye was an assistant to Bryant for what, a decade(?), before moving on to be successful at other schools before ending up at Auburn. To be the best (at cheating the system anyway) it pays to learn from the best I'd say. Hell, who better to point the finger at Dye than the guy who taught him how to do what he was doing to try and circumvent the rules. Don't get me wrong, Bryant was a tremendous coach but he should have been once he reached Alabama considering he most likely had the best talent money could buy... (Disclaimer: No matter right or wrong I'm definitely going to be slightly biased here.
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