The rivalry between Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh goes back nearly two decades. During the late 2000s, Harbaugh’s Stanford teams twice came into the Coliseum and knocked off Carroll’s USC Trojans, including the infamous “What’s your deal?” game in 2009.
After several more intense matchups during the early 2010s when Carroll coached the Seattle Seahawks and Harbaugh led the San Francisco 49ers, the rivalry was put on hold for more than a decade with Harbaugh returning to the college ranks to serve as the head coach at his alma mater, Michigan. With Carroll now the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders and Harbaugh coaching the Los Angeles Chargers, the rivalry was renewed on Monday night in the Sin City.
Advertisement
While there was no, “What’s your deal?” postgame exchange this time, the matchup was similar to the 2009 meeting in that it was one-sided in favor of Harbaugh. Los Angeles took the lead in the first quarter and never relinquished it, cruising to a 20-9 win that did not feel nearly as close as the final score indicated.
Obviously, it is just one game in a long NFL season. The two teams will meet again at SoFi Stadium on November 30. But in the highly-anticipates return of one of football’s greatest individual coaching rivalries, it was the man in the khaki pants who came out on top.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Jim Harbaugh’s LA Chargers outclass Pete Carroll’s Las Vegas Raiders