FOOTBALL

USC-Arizona Report Card

QUARTERBACK

Kedon Slovis missed a lot of passes and played maybe his worst game of the season. It happens. Fortunately for USC, it happened against Arizona. He can’t play like that against Oregon.

GRADE: D+

TAILBACKS

Some people don’t like when I say USC recruits USC. You think Kenan Christon is at USC so he can play for Clay Helton? He committeed three months before USC hired running backs coach Mike Jinks. Now he is making them look good. Except for the fact they made him fifth string.

GRADE: B+

WIDE RECEIVERS

They weren’t getting much help from Slovis. But it’s also true the nation’s best receiving trio can be contained. Amon-Ra St. Brown didn’t do much after his “big game” vs. Notre Dame.

Grade: C+

OFFENSIVE LINE

This was mixed bag. Arizona’s defense actually did pretty well in the first half and then the line opened some nice holes in the second half when one could argue the Wildcats had pretty much given up.

The fact Stephen Carr could not convert a third-and-1 on the first series was a flashback to last season.

GRADE: C

DEFENSIVE LINE

Drake Jackson moves inside and Clay Helton acts like Clancy Pendergast revolutionized football. It’s a lot easier when you play a bad Pac-12 South team.

GRADE: B

LINEBACKERS

It was refreshing to actually see linebackers making plays. Kana’i Mauga did more in one game than the other linebackers did all season. And John Houston, who probably wasn’t undersized in the middle for once, rebounded with a nice game.

GRADE: B+

DEFENSIVE BACKS

I keep reading how USC shut down Khalil Tate without seeing anyone admit Tate was awful Saturday night. The secondary didn’t get much of a challenge until backup Grant Gunnell got into a rhythm.

GRADE: C-

SPECIAL TEAMS

Is Chase McGrath the MVP? He hasn’t missed a field goal. Ben Griffiths had a 55-yard punt but still looks far short of winning the Ray Guy Award. I don’t see much on kick returns since the Fresno State game. Overall, it’s a good night when you can’t remember seeing too much of John Baxter.

GRADE: B-

COACHING

I want to repeat two things: Markese Stepp did not start. Kenan Christon played behind a walk-on. Where else would this happen? We were promised a culture change and there are nearly as many injured players as when USC play Utah last season.

GRADE: D

24 thoughts on “USC-Arizona Report Card”

    1. If they beat Oregon and ASU, the players will have somehow banded together and overcome Helton and staff.

      #HellWillFreezeOverBeforeScottieGivesHeltonAGradeAboveA_D

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      1. 67 — I guess it’ll all come down to HOW we beat Oregon (IF we beat Oregon). If it’s on ‘miracle’ plays by Christon and Mauga —then I guess Helton should stay at ‘D.’ [It’s not the bad coaching grades that surprise me —it’s the fact that Scott hasn’t commented on the stilted player interviews that occur in post practice. It is SO obvious that Helton has absolutely stifled their ability to say anything other than “the coaches are doing everything they can to put us in position to win.” They repeat the same phrase over and over to any question, sounding like Stepford Wives. You can see that Helton is such a control freak that he can’t get the fuck outta the players’ way in any aspect of their lives. The unfortunate result? Often they play this way].
        #LetTrojansBeTrojans

        Liked by 3 people

    2. Hugs looks good compared to CBS Anchor Babe and former Chrissy Matthews intern Norah O’Donnell, who is getting Nick Saban money (at least $7 Million annually, a $5 Million raise over her predecessor’s salary) to lead The CBS Evening News to not only its perennial 3rd-place rating, but a 25% loss in viewership by the 25-54 demographic…in only one week.

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      2. karma — Norah is the kind of person who —if you walked into an interview and saw her behind the desk — you’d want to say “oh, that’s okay” and walk back out….
        #…GettingTheJobWouldMeanLivingWithThePrize…

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  2. Two comments on the QB rating.

    One is that you can’t separate the QB’s performance from the O-line’s performance. The O-line has been deficient all season.

    Second, How is a game with passing stats of 19/28, 232 yards, 2 TD and 0 interceptions a D+?

    And there is no way that Slovis’s performance against Arizona was his worst of the season. Slovis threw 3 picks against BYU, and the last one cost the game.

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  3. Funny how the cheerleader creeper wolf, keeps on referring to the ‘walk-on’, but USC has no walk-on running backs. If he’s referring to Jountti, then actually he EARNED a scholarship this year…
    Maybe if wolf was allowed out of his Mom’s basement, or even allowed on campus anymore, then he would have some good ‘inside’ information.
    Might have to take out the USC DPS records of ‘why’ Wolf isn’t allowed on campus anymore… rumor has it, several female USC students felt uncomfortable with him constantly asking for selfies with them…

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    1. Every QB NE plays will have issues this year, look at who is running the defense, hint, it’s the guy in the cut off sweatshirt

      NE has given up 48 points in 7 games

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  5. Wolf.. every time I start to kind of respect your beat coverage as more than just entertainment, you insult us and even more-so yourself, by publishing nonsense like this. Do you really need the ‘clicks’ that badly? Hell even my wife could write a constructive rebuttal to your grade points this week and her knowledge of Trojan football comes pretty much strictly from our shared conversations b/c she hates to actually watch football.

    Instead of this crap, how about some hard news, like a detailed report on at very least the dozen or so injury updates Including realistic estimates on any of them returning to the field etc. The projected starters pointing to the Colorado game three days out etc. Maybe an insiders investigative piece of what’s really happening in the AD and possible future HC searches. The past/present influential alumni realistically significant in this/there searches. Your contacts/associations after all of these years should be able to supply some newsworthy insight here. Currently I get nothing new from you that I don’t already get via my daily scrolls through twitter. I hope that is not your primary investigative journalistic sources. Come on Scooter.. give us hard hitting relevancy.. Kind of like Michael Lev used to give us and now gives his Arizona constituents.

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    1. How come Scott’s “crap” offends you more than the sources you say he’s stealing from?
      #IsItMaybeCuzHis’Crap’IsDifferent?

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      1. MG, you used to be a voice of reason on this blog. It seems you are now evolving or devolving into one of Scotty’s fan boys. Difficult to tell you apart from the other trolls.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Good comment. Actually, I don’t agree with half of Scott’s opinions. But, as someone who remembers how virtually everybody voiced their appreciation of Scott when the last site was unceremoniously cancelled, I am grateful for the give and take that Scott goes out of his way to generate here…and I recognize that (1) we’d miss this forum if it, too, disappeared and that (2) Scott’s a polemicist who knows how to tempt people out of their complacency and into joining the fray….
        #…OnBalance,IThinkThat’sAGoodThing
        P.S.
        The real “crap” that appears on this site is written by fans who attack each other personally —which is unnecessary and cowardly….and I try to call those folks out every once in awhile cuz they drive good people away.

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      3. MG there are way many other options other than Wolf. He is a whiny, narcissistic, lazy guy living off some half baked reputation as a Inside USC guy. He would not give USC credit if they cured cancer. I believe the entire USC coaching crew is shit like everyone else, but Wolf crapped on Carroll regularly. He is a full frontal jerk.

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      4. MG…For fear of being judged by the illustrious you, I’m trying to decide if I’m worth your judgement especially since being banked into your personal troll category.
        I feel and have for years that Wolf is about as lazy a so called journalist as there is out there and appears that he does most of his work primarily sitting on his ass in front of twitter, as that is what he portrays in this blog, along with some of the dumb stuff he makes up for laughs and clicks. Maybe I just misunderstand the definition of “INSIDE”… I’m wondering if that your querying may be part of of a different way, other than just carrying Scooters jock, in hopes that he’ll wave a magic wand and make you his official board moderator? lol
        IOW, I visit here to possibly get something new, other than what’s fully rounded throughout the twitter-sphere, rarely if ever do I, (oh wait, I do recall his “breaking” CJ Spiller flash err forget that one) but it’s also kind of fun to read the comments, as I value the topical back and forth from most of the recognizable participants here. I even enjoy some of what you bring.. really…

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  8. Scott is on the money. The team doesn’t tackle. The QB was awkward. The line’s runblocking is often poor. Too many stupid penalties. Fire the coaches. Clean sweep

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