Halftime tradition

By Jordan Moore on October 6, 2009 12:26 PM | No Comments

We received a question from RipsIt reader Amy Dam about a unique aspect of the Trojans' game routine: "We've noticed that the players haven't run into the locker room for the past few games at the start of halftime. I think they haven't at away games ... Is there any reason why? It just seems like when they do, they're more pumped and energized."

As most have probably seen, the Trojans have a habit of sprinting up the tunnel at halftime. It's merely a tradition that has a psychological effect on both USC and its opponent, since it shows the Trojans aren't tired and are excited to play another half. But for the past two road games, stadium logistics have prevented USC from partaking in its intermission ritual.

At Washington, both teams shared the same tunnel to get to their locker rooms, so the Huskies, as the home team, got to go up first (home teams get the option of going up first or second when sharing the same tunnel). That left USC waiting outside the tunnel while Washington ran up, but once the officials gave clearance for the Trojans to go into the tunnel, they sprinted up to their locker room. It just happened to be out of sight from fans and TV cameras.

And then at California, the Trojans had to go down stairs from the field to reach a tunnel to get to their locker room. Because of the hairiness of walking down stairs with cleats on, the players ran into a bottleneck at the edge of the field, but upon reaching the tunnel, they could start running up -- "all the way up," as linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. bellows every halftime.

University Southern California Trojans

Halftime tradition

Halftime tradition

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