FOOTBALL

Who Does Phil Steele Like In USC-Utah Game?

College football analyst Phil Steele had USC as his No. 6 most-improved team in the nation entering the season. He also had USC as No. 3 in his “best buy” category, which is teams ready to make a big jump back after a disappointing season.

But that does not mean he is picking USC to beat Utah on Friday.

“I think with the defensive line and the secondary Utah matches up well, I like the way they played against USC last year,” Steele said in an interview with ESPN 700 in Salt Lake City. “I do think Utah goes on the road and gets this one, maybe by a touchdown or more.”

22 thoughts on “Who Does Phil Steele Like In USC-Utah Game?”

      2. 67–
        I think I’ll wait for the Conquest Chronicles’ predictions —surely SOMEBODY on staff will pick USC [and, even if it’s somebody I don’t respect, I’ll go with them]…….

        Liked by 2 people

  2. MG, I think I have a better understanding of Wolf now that I know he doesn’t have access to the program. I didn’t know that he had been cutoff and I can’t blame a guy for still trying to make a buck. Unfortunately, it’s easier to get attention when you play on the anger, fear and anxiety that people have than if you just do straight reporting. I think your comment some time ago about him doing it for profit was an accurate one. The thing is, I don’t think the primary reason you get into journalism is to make a killing and he may have been better suited to be a business major if that’s what he’s thinking about.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Here’s the thing, Clay: Scott has a nose for bullshit…. even if he’s locked out of practice. He has sources that bring him up to speed on the “new and improved” conditioning program, he knows all about the re-treads coming in as assistant coaches, he understands Helton’s limitations and knows that he’ll be about as good as “CEO” as he was as Offensive Coordinator (hint: not very good), etc., etc. Add to that the fact that NO ONE gets to watch the full practices anymore —and Scott is in about as good a position as he needs to be to make smart assessments. For comparison’s sake, take Dan Weber. He’s allowed to watch 3 seconds of meaningless practice (before getting kicked out), he’s allowed to ask Helton one meaningless question before being cut off —- and where does it get us?

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      1. I think that a broken clock is going to be right twice a day. If you ONLY read Wolf’s work and didn’t hear anything from other sources, you would think that nothing good ever happens at USC. Can you recall for me a time when Wolf said something positive? In addition to making money, I think he holds a grudge against the program/school and it clearly expresses itself in his work. From what I understand, he was the same way when USC was winning nattys and Heismans.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Clay —Your’e spot on about Scott finding the dark cloud in every USC story. Remember Gore Vidal? I don’t think he ever said anything nice about anyone or anything. Robert Kennedy, Norman Mailer, God —-they all got the ‘Gore treatment’. But like Gore, Scott is right more than twice a day (he’s also wrong more than twice a day). I think he’d get the same # of hits if he’d occasionally recognize that something at USC went right —and I think an occasional positive nod would increase his overall credibility —-but, with all his faults, I still find him way more fun to read than the other people doing this. [I will acknowledge that he —like many of the rest of us —takes too many cheap shots at Clay Helton —who is a very average coach working very hard to put a finished product on the field].

        Liked by 3 people

      3. Scott Wolf has been on point about the USC program since Pete Carroll left . He said Lane Kiffin was an inept coach, who was a control freak, and needed to be fired, and he was. Wolf also said the Steve Sarkisian hire was a mistake, for more reasons than one. And we all know how that turned out. So what has Wolf said about Lynn Swann, or Bozo Helton that was incorrect? I’ll wait 🤔. Scott Wolf has been more right then wrong about anything linked to USC football.

        Liked by 2 people

      4. Scott has a nose for bullshit because he is full of it. I am as pissed off about the direction of USC as anyone, but Wolf will only report the negative. As for calling a blogger a journalist, not IMO, especially Wolf. For those of you who don’t remember or weren’t around, Wolf despised Carroll. Carroll knew he was a clown and treated him as such. No one likes Wolf, and there are many reasons. Don’t get me started….

        Liked by 2 people

      5. Isn’t it amazing that Scott Wolf is right once again and the brainless rah rahs who assured us the team was in better condition and focus and wanted revenge for last season were wrong?

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Link, the guy graduated for USC Journalism school, he wrote for a newspaper and does freelance articles for The Sporting News. The bottom line is that he writes for a living and if that’s not what a journalist does, what is a journalist?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. I think Linkster is right about Scott going Full Negative too frequently—and I’d like it, too, if Scott would admit, for example, J. T. has some upsides and Graham Harrell has raised our offensive capacity beyond what Helton could do with it —-but I have a feeling that Linkster still wouldn’t be too crazy about Scott. I can remember people refusing to watch Howard Cosell do Monday Nite Football —- it wasn’t that he was bad at it (he was quite good at it) —but he could never be what a lot of sports fans wanted and expected him to be….
    #…ItWasAPersonalityThing

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. I’m holding you to those words, Clay: “Scott made the right choice!”
        [For some reason, judges always hated it when I’d misquote witnesses like that]…..

        Liked by 2 people

Leave a reply to stephenmcghghy Cancel reply