Cam Ward praises USC atmosphere, pushes back on narrative

The LA Memorial Coliseum where the USC Trojans play their home games has been criticized in the past for not selling out or being as loud as it could be. However, that wasn’t the experience for current Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward.

Ward was asked about the best stadium he’s played at during his college career during an appearance on 2Legendary with Shedeur Sanders. Immediately he responded that USC was the best road trip he’s taken as a college quarterback.

“Probably at USC,” Cam Ward said. “That was tough. It wasn’t packed but it was loud. People say like USC don’t get loud. They do.”

Cam Ward was still the quarterback at Washington State when he played a road game at USC. That came in 2022 when USC was the sixth-ranked team in the country.

“I did alright,” Ward said. “Best grass I ever played on, though. That grass smooth.”

Washington State ended up losing that game 27-14, with all of the Cougars’ points coming in the second quarter. For his part Cam Ward was solid, completing 19 of 32 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns in a performance that matched that season’s Heisman winner Caleb Williams.

“Nah, we ain’t win…I think two scores. 14 or 20. I said pain,” Ward said.

Now, with Cam Ward in Miami, he won’t get a chance to play USC in the regular season. The two are in separate conferences. However, with the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, there is a scenario where Miami could play a road game at USC. If that happened, Ward would be able to bring his experience at the stadium while enjoying the good grass again.

Cam Ward addresses the pressure on Miami in 2024

This is Cam Ward’s first season at Miami. However, it’s head coach Mario Cristobal‘s third season and it’s one that is coming with a lot of outside expectations for the Hurricanes.

With that in mind, Cam Ward addressed the pressure he feels is on the team in 2024.

“I mean, you look at it, I don’t really think there’s any pressure on us except for the pressure that everybody tries to put on us. Last year they weren’t a College Football [Playoff] team. The year before they weren’t a College Football [Playoff] team. So you know, we have nothing to lose this year; we have everything to gain. The more wins that we can get under our belt is the more we can prove y’all right, not proving ourselves right. Because we know the roster we have. We know the guys in that locker room who want to play football, that show up every day at 6 a.m. ready to hit somebody,” Ward said.

“So you know, we’ve got some dogs on this team, especially in the trenches. That’s where football is won. Football is won in the trenches. We added elite [players] on defense, on offense. So we put that all together and we’re going to get the best of both worlds come fall… One thing about this team, we’re probably the most connected team out there, in the locker room, everything, everybody’s the same. Nobody’s above nobody, nobody’s below nobody, whether you’re a walk-on, on scholarship, nothing. So at the end of the day, we know we’re trying to play football. We’ve gotta win games.”