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USC football: Pete Carroll defends Trojans’ sideline behavior

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Pete Carroll spent much of his weekly news conference answering questions about his players’ sideline behavior.

The Trojans’ celebration after a controversial last-minute touchdown pass against UCLA incited Bruins players to leave their bench area and move across the field.

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Carroll addressed the issue with his players on Tuesday but said he would not discourage them from responding emotionally.

“Last year in the Rose Bowl the officials told us at halftime if we continue to celebrate as much on the sidelines they were going to call a 15-yard penalty on us,” Carroll said. “And I blew it because I wanted to make them call that penalty.

“I wish we would have done it so they would have called the penalty on us, so we could have gotten penalized for having too much fun. Because I don’t understand that.”

Carroll added that his program was “mindful in trying to make sure that we don’t cross the boundaries that cause an issue, because we don’t want to be any part of that. But we want to have a great time doing it, and we’ll continue to find a way to do that.”

Carroll acknowledged that certain actions could produce a lack of respect, citing penalties incurred by the Trojans this season at Notre Dame.

“We’ve tried to stand for doing things in an unusually unique fashion for a long time around here,” he said. “And it’s, you know, it’s separated us in some way. We’ve been singled out, and that’s OK with me. I don’t want to be singled out for things in that respect, that’s for sure.”

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--Gary Klein

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