Woah, Matt Leinart and Brady Quinn Got Pretty Heated on Twitter
While his lackluster NFL career has dampened his football reputation to a certain extent, Matt Leinart was an absolute stud in college. He went 37-2 at the iconic position of starting quarterback for USC—winning the 2004 Heisman in the process—and he played on one of the best college football teams in the sport's history.
Leinart's career is filled with memorable moments (including the iconic loss to Texas in the 2006 Rose Bowl), and one of them is USC's comeback victory over Notre Dame in 2005. Down 31-28 and facing a 4th and 9 with 1:32 left, Leinart hit Dwayne Jarrett on a streak down the left sideline to silent the crowd at Notre Dame Stadium. But the most famous play from that game is the "Bush Push," named as such because Reggie Bush gave Leinart a push to get over the goal line and score with no time left on the clock. The remarkable 34-31 victory kept USC's perfect season alive.
Notre Dame's quarterback at the time was Brady Quinn, who also enjoyed a legendary college career before a disappointing spell in the NFL. Quinn, who is now a co-worker of Leinart's at Fox Sports, went on the Big Ten Network's "Take Ten" Podcast and discussed the apparently still sour subject of that crushing loss.
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"They cheated. They know it. He knows it," Quinn said.
Quinn then said "if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying," but the cheating quote could easily be taken out of context, and it seems that's exactly what happened. Leinart probably didn't listen to the podcast and merely saw the tweeet, so he was mad and took the opportunity to remind Quinn of SC's dominance over Notre Dame during their respective careers.
Quinn then fired back with a below-the-belt shot, citing the scandal that led to USC's being stripped of its 2004 BCS National Championship, banned from postseason play in 2010 and 2011 and docked 30 scholarships over three years.
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Leinart then responded with a picture of the Bush Push before Quinn brought Reggie Bush into the weeds.
Bush voluntarily forfeited his 2005 Heisman Trophy award amidst an investigation into whether his mother received improper benefits from boosters.
One thing's clear: these guys still think about college a decent amount. That's understandable, being that these two probably had college experiences that you and I can only dream of. These beefs are what make college football so great—you have two 30-plus year old men arguing over what happened 12 years ago.
Never change, college football.
