Keyshawn Johnson responds to Mad Dog Russo rant on USC

Keyshawn Johnson had some words for Chris “Mad Dog” Russo after an impassioned rant from the latter on USC during an appearance on ESPN’s First Take.

While it’s usually Stephen A. Smith getting the attention for his famous rants, Russo couldn’t hold back regarding the Trojans’ celebration after defeating Oregon State last weekend. With USC defiling the Beavers’ logo at midfield following the victory, Russo wanted USC to act like “they’ve been there before.”

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“Can USC act like they’ve been there before? They came from behind to beat Oregon State. Oregon State!” exclaimed Russo. “They won the game, they got a late touchdown and they destroyed the Oregon State fan. They killed them left and right. They did the thing at the half, the midfield logo. Look at this! This is USC football. Lincoln Riley, get your team in the locker room. Thank god you won the game because you should’ve lost. They won 17-14 against the Beavers of OSU, and they act like they beat Alabama to win the championship game.

“This is USC! Act like it! Act properly! You don’t make a big deal about Oregon State. That drove me crazy that celebration, and they went nuts. That’s just a little bit of it. They went crazy with the Oregon State fan and everything else, so I’m down on USC.”

Indisputably, Johnson disagreed, asking Russo to please get with the times in 2022.

“This is not 1963 man, this is not that,” responded Johnson, via Keyshawn, JWill and Max. “These are young kids in a rough environment, in a tough place — as I said from the beginning, we can lose. It’s a tough — you’ve never been there Max, but imagine. Imagine going to Corvallis, first of all you either have to fly into Portland or take a bus. Or Eugene and take a bus. And then you’re taking this bus, it’s two hours. It’s dark, all of these woods everywhere. All of a sudden, there’s the campus, and there’s the stadium and the lights. There a little mist in the air and it’s drizzly and you’re hearing about how they beat us when we were ranked No. 1, and how they beat us when we were ranked No. 3. We were fifty point favorites and they beat — all of that. You get out of there and you’re excited. You got out of there with a W!

“What are you supposed to do? You’re supposed to be like oh, act like we’ve been there before? No, they’ve never been there before. Lincoln Riley’s never been there. … Chris Russo is a nice guy and all, but it’s not 1963.”

Whether you’re #TeamMadDog or #TeamKeyshawn, both make some valid points while arguing their stance. Still, USC deserves to be happy with their performance — keeping their College Football Playoff hopes alive against a rival squad.