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Lane Kiffin has broken many a rule in his time. From secondary violations aplenty at Tennessee to having a player switch jerseys to fool helpless Colorado and so on, it's part of his thing. So when USC has to fire a student manager for deflating footballs below the allowed level, it is not at all unfair to wonder just how much Kiffin's staff had to do with it, despite his own explanation and denial.
Especially when, according to CSN ...
RE USC deflating footballs: source telling me that the UO fb program was aware of the situation going in to the game and "prepared" for it.
— Jen Beyrle (@JenBeyrle) November 8, 2012
As for why this matters, well, it affects things like grip and how far a ball travels in the air. Obviously this was super effective against the Ducks, who dropped more points on USC than any team in the Trojans' 124-year history had.
It's nothing to get worked up about -- plenty of teams in plenty of sports enhance their home field advantages however they can. We've all read The Jordan Rules here. And, yeah, it wouldn't really be a story if it didn't involve Kiffin, who's pretty much removed any benefit of the doubt when it comes to stuff like this, fairly or unfairly.
At least Chip Kelly's long since moved on:
Chip Kelly told @siriusxmcollege he heard after game USC deflated balls. "This story means absolutely nothing to Oregon Ducks"
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) November 8, 2012
Look through SB Nation's many excellent college football blogs to find your team's community.
