FOOTBALL

Discuss The Game

Has USC learned nothing since last season?

The defense, which the Internet media raves about all training camp, looked awful at times. Clancy Pendergast is obviously not going to change.

The special teams got caught flat-footed on some plays too.

I’ve repeatedly mentioned the offensive line and it looked shaky Satirday.

As for JT Daniels, he made some nice throws but he was more than human. His hype was too much for anyone to meet expectations.

71 thoughts on “Discuss The Game”

    1. Yeah, 3rd overall pick, making millions, playing in the media capital of the world, endorsement deals one after another, youngest starting QB in the NFL ever, babes all over him, and you sit on your pee stained couch with droll running down your chin while you have your hand down your diaper fondling yourself

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      4. Your predilection toward self gratification and your homophobic tendencies are well beyond the norm. But don’t worry your momma will still love you.

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    2. Worst safety on USC- Marvell Tell…..watch the first half tape…the one Td Vegas scored off their pass by the outstretched hands of Cam Smith and threading thru and by Ajene Harris, went for a score because Tell had vacated his spot chasing the misdirection wideout who was flowing right to Isaiah. They ended up 2 USC safeties on one wideout……The Vegas explosive run around right end for a Vegas td happened when #31, Hunter Echols, couldn’t set the edge and there was no safety to clean up….Tell made one significant play on a 3rd down tackle to stopem short on Vegas’ first drive of the second half…that’s it!!! He is way way overrated and when media and talent experts proclaim he’s the best safety in America LOL….he’s from Crespi…like Orange Lutheran, not much in football…I’d rather see Isaiah and Pollard in there…Tell continues to take bad angles and display poor instincts and is soft…these are inexcusable being in the program so long and given so much playing time…I wouldn’t draft him much like I said about Chris Hawkins…..they came in as probation players and can’t play…. first round draft pick, Tell? Please, what tape do you watch? After the one big play Tell made, of course, the media, Yogi Roth, who made his career only under Pete Carroll, started in with this false praise campaign about Tell….he obviously doesn’t watch closely as most don’t…the loss of Bubba Bolden hurt the Trojan defense, hopefully only temporarily, but who knows. Otherwise, I like the team….sky’s the limit and will hinge on making the plays presented because we have enough ability and depth….props to McGrath as well, what’s up with the punter? The offensive line blocked and the new center is very efficient and effective! The tight ends can do better, hopefully…

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      2. We can go 14-0 if we keep improving and thinking unlike steveg who is not that lol….you’re probably inclined as I have said before-inept and unoriginal and incomplete observer

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      3. Its clearly too much to ask you to have original thought because things happen too quickly for your comprehension capacity….

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      7. If Marvell Tell is any kind of baller like you proclaim, he’ll be very unhappy how he played in the first half , in the least….if not? That’s why there has been little improvement after all these years….

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      10. I thought Tyler Petite and Eric K blocked well for the most part, as did Clayton Bradley, Vorhees, Neilon, Brown, Jackson, Vera-Tucker and Chuma.

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      1. UCLA would take 7-5, collect their chips and go home happy. Unfortunately, a mere 5 losses is just a wet dream for Chip.
        #5WinsIsMoreLikeIt

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      2. Some stuff I saw needs improvement, but USC played just about everyone, especially on defense. Daniels has some maturing to do on his reads but that will sort itself out I am sure. What a stable of running backs. One thing I noticed is the lack of speed in the middle of the defense, our spy players are not fast enough to cover side to side. Contrary to what the blogger saw, there was some good blocking for the run game and Daniels got sacked what, once? That in itself is a big improvement.

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      1. 1-0
        That’s all that matters.

        Mr. Wolf probably missed or forgot that two (2)
        true freshman from Santa Ana Mater Dei made sh*t happen today.

        Vaughns & Pittman might have had a combined total of 20-30 drops today. JK.
        But they missed every 50/50 ball.

        But JT & Amon-Ra (RaRaRaRaRa) kept everyone in the stadium today for a good reason.

        WE ARE! SC!

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      1. Sam —We came alive in the 2nd half (especially J. T. and the o-line). Things might just turn out okay in 2018.
        Across town at the Rose Bowl things looked good, too —-about 700 brubabes got to watch Chip Kelly plod along the sidelines in his tight gray t-shirt (…and, hey, whats so bad about a winless season every now and again)?

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      4. It will get better. JT missed some open receivers too as he seemed too locked in on one side or the other. But overall, he played well and showed poise well beyond his experience. Good game from the skill guys.

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      7. Owns you useless slut. Just because you haven’t figured out how to beat the Shaw, don’t put it on us. BTW, how many years now? 10?

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      10. Hi Owns —Whatever happens next week, Stanford —as opposed to those games they’ve played with your boys for the last decade—will know they’ve been in a fight….
        #AndI’llEvenGoAStepFurther&SayWe’llComeOutOnTop

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      11. Man Mike😀I wish we could go back to the disqus format of comments/messages.
        It was so much easier to see that Michael Guarino has a message or Owns.
        BTW. Where is that guy. I liked him.
        But….
        1. My inner Sam says…..the only way we lose in Stanford is if our Linebackers don’t make those plug the gap tackles. John Houston+Jordan Iosefa can’t allow Love to run between the tackles and get to the 2nd level like today.
        That RB looked like he ran in a figure eight without a juke while the LB’s were chasing like a game of tag.
        2. That right side of the USC OLine got hit on the nose and couldn’t stop blinking! They better get they’e a**es in gear or JT may have to play with a OT as his 2nd RT but at TE.

        That’s my big concerns at the moment without watching the game at home. But JT played like he’s about buisness and this was just a normal day at the office. I think he will get challenged by Costello but will play well not making the game about the two QBs.
        I think we will all be celebrating a win over the Trees with cold ones. Heineken or Bud Light it doesn’t matter because it will be cold!
        #IAgree

        PS.
        Mike my man, why?
        Why?
        Why did Chippie have to get greedy and go for the vault with that 4th down only to be stopped!
        I almost had a flashback to his cocky ways of going for 2 point conversions and 4th downs while at Oregon but then Luuuuke (Fickel) said “NOT UP IN HERE!”

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      12. Sam —Great stuff. So glad you’re here. Owns is back (& deep down we’re all happy to see him). Pudly is eloquently defending the coaches and team (even, sometimes, when I wish he wouldn’t) . All is good!
        As for Chip —-he’s like the Archie Moore of football coaches. He knows his best days are behind him and he’s continuing for business reasons only.
        #Hope2018Doesn’tProveThatPeteCarrollMadeSameDecision

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      1. Pudly —I couldn’t believe how many passes went thru our receivers’ hands today. I know Pittman is a great receiver so I guess he was just having an off day. Hopefully, he’ll have his head in the game next Saturday —cuz we’re gonna need him.

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      5. Your homophobic rhetoric does you justice. You homophobic, racist troll. Must be a real gem. Bet your wife is real proud out in public with you.

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  6. Well that was no fun. I love that we won, I hate that 19 of our points were scored by our kicker. I love that kicker made all of his shots and even hugged the blind long snapper. I hate that the offensive line still has no identity and couldn’t block a third grade fat girl in a game of red rover.
    I agree with those who have pointed out that snaps were wasted in practice playing name that quarterback.
    I do not understand how our special teams and offensive line coach keep their jobs. A grad assistant with a clipboard could do a better job preparing the line . And special teams were a joke. Why are we still catching the punt inside the 20 yard line?
    I love the connection between the receivers and quarterback now if they start catching the ball we are better off.
    I want Helton to man up and get into the assistant coach’s face occasionally. It’s cool that he’s a nice guy and a good football mind, it’s a waste of space of there are no consequences for doing something stupid. I love that UCLA lost their quarterback and have no backup.

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    3. Agree 100% with what you said, Steve (especially the stuff about all the downs used up by Fink and Sears in fall practice). You also nailed it with your criticism of Special Teams coaching —-everyone in the stadium except Baxter saw the fake punt coming. And —-you’re right —-it’s on Helton that someone as lackluster as Callaway is still around. On the bright side, the o-line looked better in the second half—-J. T. mostly had time to throw and the guys blocked pretty well on a couple of runs.
      #ButToday’sPerformanceWon’tBeatStanford

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    4. Well said Steve specifically

      “I want Helton to man up and get into the assistant coach’s face occasionally. It’s cool that he’s a nice guy and a good football mind, it’s a waste of space of there are no consequences for doing something stupid.”

      If he can’t or won’t then do what McKay (Goux) and PC did – good cop bad cop – hire an assistant (Orgeron’s job) to do it for him

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    5. Weller, I couldn’t agree more with about 90% of your post. The assistants are bush-league, and how the offensive line coach keeps his job is beyond me. How did Baxter get his “Best Special Teams Coach in The Country” reputation? What a joke. Pendergast is hot-and-cold. As far as the offensive line goes, we shall see what happens up in Palo Alto. Folks, this was UNLV we were playing, and we led by two points at Halftime. Do any of you remember what Texas’ D-line looks like? (And, no, I don’t care that they lost yesterday, the point is, if our O-line doesn’t play out of their minds on September 15, we don’t rush for more than 30 yards, and Daniels is running for his life in one of the loudest stadiums in the country.) I’m as happy as anyone else to get a win yesterday, and Daniels and the Pharaoh kid (plus others) are going to be awesome, and probably by November. But, we have a date on the Farm next Saturday and then a tough trip to Austin on the 15th. Stanford is going to be pissed, after losing to us twice last year, and if you think “pissed” is bad, the Shorthorns are absolutely going to be out for blood. I hope we don’t get exposed, or get any key injuries, especially on Defense. Frankly, I’m a little concerned.

      My recipe for a National Championship in 2020 is:

      1. Helton (yes, a nice man) grows a dick and cans Baxter, Callahan or whatever the O-line coach’s name is, replaces Clancy with a top-notch Defensive Coordinator, and when Martin gets a head coaching job from some dupe after this season, Helton does the same with a top-tier Offensive Coordinator. Kind of a younger version of a Norm Chow.
      2. Bring in 5 top-tier linemen on BOTH sides of the ball. See #1 for a new coach to coach them.
      3. For freaking crying out loud, find more top-tier cornerbacks consistently, “consistently” meaning EVERY year. This is USC, and it’s located in Los Angeles. Even under Carroll, most years we couldn’t land top-tier recruits at cornerback. That boggles the mind.

      Do those things, and we are set for a few National Championship runs.

      Am I wrong?

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  7. Thought the offense was fine. 500+ yards, no turnovers, 43 points is more than adequate.

    Clancy sucks. Most overrated DC in the Pac 12. 400 rushing yards allowed. And UNLV is not good.

    Mediocre coordinator who stresses communication but doesnt communicate to the kids, and the transfer and leave.

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    1. Let me see on the first td, a reserve couldn’t get off his block, or did you miss that redshirt freshman? On the second, after we had them stopped, they ran the fake punt. 14 pts. Wow your criticism holds water like a broken glass.

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    2. Indy, defense gave up 308 on the ground and 80 in the air. One 71 yard run. The unlv I saw was pretty good actually. Their lines on both sides were experienced and did pretty well. Their pass defense was also man to man and because they crowded the box Daniels was able to beat them deep. Not only that, Clancy played just about everyone on the defense, people rotated almost every play. That sucks? At the end of the game the players were still fresh, remember all the complaints about that? Were you really watching?

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      1. Micheal, this format makes it nearly impossible to reply. But there was also a long qb run by Rodgers that exploited our true freshman DE/LB Mauga. In the third period I believe. I’ll be watching the game again tomorrow, but overall it wasn’t a bad day. Not necessarily a very good day, but look at the score predictions from yesterday and before and we were right in there.

        Steven, good points. Can’t play true freshmen and redshirt freshmen without some mistakes. Don’t know many people who learned to walk without falling down some.

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    3. Pudly —I just rewatched the first UNLV touchdown —and you described it perfectly. You’ve got a real good eye, my friend!
      #AndYouPickedItUpInRealTime,Too

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  8. Ah yes, good old hypocritical Scott Wolf:

    Pregame Scott: I predict USC will win by 21 points.

    Result: USC wins by 22

    Postgame Scott: USC is terrible and always disapppints me! Whaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!

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  9. The game was a major disappointment for me. As mentioned tirelessly, the defense was supposed to be vaunted, more experienced and have a deep D-Line. 300+ rushing yards to UNLV cannot be explained in any way other than poor execution. It’s a very, very bad indicator to me/

    There were two highlights and those were Daniels and Amon Ra. JT played more than well enough and Amon Ra is already a star. One thing to watch for moving forward is this connection cannot be too relied upon or we will find ourselves in a corner when teams devise ways to limit Amon Ra by shifting coverage….AND THEY CAN DO THAT because…

    We have NO RUN game! Once again I see this fantastical mirage that Helton holds as us being a physical team. I highly doubt there was one player on UNLV that we recruited. We should have been able to ram this down their throats on the running game. Helton is literally in fantasy land when he says we are and want to be a physical run team. Nothing could be further from the truth. We SCARE NOBODY.

    If there was a single most disappointing component of this game it was the run game. We continually have no answer for 3rd and 2 when any good to great team would run for two lousy yards. We cannot without any notion of confidence. I am very worried. Ware is no RoJo and Carr has lost his wiggle imo. I was really disappointed with Carr.

    Many will chalk this up to first game nerves and miscommunications but I submit to all, THIS IS the Helton era. Consistently unprepared to play. This game, last year’s opener, the Cotton Bowl and the Holiday bowl in 15. All games in which we were very unprepared to play. I won’t mention Alabama. I like Helton as a man and one with integrity at that. He is however a coach who is not top tier and it is clearly showing.

    Prediction: 8-4 with losses to ND, Wazzu, Stanford and Utah.

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    1. I agree with every single word you wrote, except I’d substitute “WAZZU” with “Texas”. Remember their D-line, with that monster in the middle? We didn’t run for crap last year in the Coliseum. How do you think it’s going to go when Clay gives up on his “physical running game” (*barf*) by the end of the first quarter, and Daniels is running for his life in a stadium of 100,000 pissed off fans (from their loss last year) and can’t hear? The running game goes kaput (quickly), and their D-line and blitz packages are in his face all day long. On the other side of the ball, that QB from last year (Ellingher) is now 6’3″ 235 pounds, and they’ll QB draw much more than UNLV did yesterday, and UNLV didn’t do so badly. If you remember that Colin-something #9 wide receiver, he had a field day on our DBs last year, especially Overrated Marshall. I hope it’s not going to be a long day there, but on paper, it doesn’t look great for us. Neither does next weekend. Our linemen still looked out of shape to me. 8-4 was my prediction before the season, with the same losses you predicted, except for substituting Texas for WSU as far as your prediction goes. And Helton (who is a nice man, yes, for sure) will get another pass, and his supporters will decry “Well, we’re a young team”. The last time I checked, Alabama is a “young team” ever few years, as well as every other team. I’m worried.

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      1. originally I had Texas as a loss but did you see their opener??? Not to good so I don’t think they are as good as last year. With that said, we could easily lose the game. I think we win, but wouldn’t be the least surprised to see us lose. Especially if we cannot fix the running game or the big play breakdowns on Defense. I have confidence in the Defense to fix it….the offense…? uh no.

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