FOOTBALL

USC Sunday Buzz: Break Out Champagne For Defense

USC had a pretty good defensive performance Saturday but it’s amazing how quickly the quotes and reactions go over the top.

Did Utah play its first game of the season? Were quarterbacks Cameron Rising and Jake Bentley awful?

It didn’t matter because Clay Helton never mentioned either of those things in evaluating the performance.

Clay Helton on Todd Orlando: He has no fear in his calls and the kids believe in him, in the system and tonight it was evident. The confidence was just radiating off of them.”

Linebacker Kana’i Mauga: “It felt amazing. There was a lot of talk with the whole defense that we were going to be in a bar fight, and that’s basically what we did all game. We took the fight to them. Hit more blows than we took, and we came out on top.”

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  • USC moved up one spot to No. 19 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

35 thoughts on “USC Sunday Buzz: Break Out Champagne For Defense”

  1. Wilner gets it right. Granted, Clancy was in the captain’s chair before, so the bar may be low, but you have to give it to Orlando, the line play and LB play were so much better, and some of his blitzes were well-timed and effective. Compare this to what we saw in the Holiday Bowl (?) when Iowa hung 49 on Clancy. Light years better now. If they could improve open-field tackling, we’d be good to go.

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. A Republican judge just tore into Trump’s election lawyers for their incompetence

      Trump’s lawyers asked a judge to disenfranchise nearly 7 million voters. It ended badly for Trump.

      The judge laughed Trump, Giuliani and the rest of the Tin Foil Hat wearing conspiracy nutjobs right out of the courtroom.

      LMFAO!!!!

      gotroll22 said he is trying to organize more republi-klan rallies in order to try and keep Trump as president.

      gotroll22 is as delusional as that senile fool Rudy Giuliani. Hey gotroll22, it’s over for Trump, he’s finished.

      OH MY SIDE HURTS FROM LAUGHING SO MUCH!

      CLASSIC!

      Like

      Reply

      1. Good news for you, you never have to achieve anything for the next four years and us productive members get to pay your way. Yeah socialism!

        Liked by 4 people

      2. If you were sure of any of this you wouldn’t use any capitals….
        What could happen department: the supreme court could take one of these cases, delineate the constitutional provisions allowing the state legislatures to step in under certain circumstances and, then, kick it back to the states [after giving them the cover they need to act]….

        Liked by 3 people

      3. Mrs. Helton — I wouldn’t mind socialism if the people who needed assistance got it —but that’s not how it works. In reality, those charged with dispensing the benefits end up rich —and the needy stay needy. As someone very familiar with Italian politics I’ve seen this first hand. And I saw it again here when I tried to get a dying 77 year old merchant some of the “benefits” promised by the Obama administration —the medical, nutritional and housing assistance that was supposed to be available was completely illusory.

        Liked by 3 people

      4. MG- I’m with you completely. Helping those in need is a far cry from socialism. I’m all for helping through personal service or working through charities. I do not believe the government does a good job of it, or really anything if I’m being honest. It’s bloated, inefficient, and full of way too many decision makers with pet projects. But the worst part is the mentality that government is the answer. Too many reasons to list why that is and always has been an abject failure.

        Also, to Tebow I apologize. I did not mean to imply you are not productive nor is that truly where my heart is at. I shouldn’t have posted that. I’ll stick to football from here on out.

        Liked by 2 people

      5. @ Mrs Helton

        It’s you and your red state trumpster brethren that are the biggest recipients and who are the most dependent on Socialism and Welfare. Hell, everytime there’s a flood, hurricane, tornado,, etc. that hits the bible belt or the deep south, there you all are with your hands out, whining and crying about why it’s taking F.E.M.A. so long to get that socialism to you.

        Socialism is the standard of living in Trump Country, without it you ignorant clowns wouldn’t know WTF to do.

        Keith Olbermann tells it like it is, rips you trumpster welfare queens a new asshole

        You republi-clowns have always taken more than what you paid in…that’s if you ever paid in anything at all.

        Like

      7. Mrs. Helton –For some reason I can’t quite put my finger on you seem more sensitive to the issues than tebow….
        #…[CouldItBeTebow’s”RipANewAsshole”Remarks]?

        Liked by 2 people

      10. gt –I don’t like to say this cuz there was a time when I really enjoyed watching Keith —– but—- from the looks of things, he’s not heading to a safe landing point….
        #FirstTwoActsWereFine…
        #PityTheLastActHasToBeSuchShit….

        Liked by 2 people

      14. Recently I made comments celebrating Trump’s new attorney Sidney Powell and how she was gonna swing this election in our favor within a few days.
        Never mind…

        Like

  2. Don’t get me wrong Mr. Wolf I agree we have a long way to go before we are “that team” again, but it was an improvement and we haven’t seen improvement in a long time.
    The excuse of it being a first game and their quarterbacks sucked is a flimsy excuse at best. They had as much time if not more to prepare for this game. They actually had us where they wanted and we prevailed.

    Liked by 3 people

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  3. I did like how the lads rally’d up to the ball and put “lots of helmets (metaphorically speaking, of course) on the ball carrier.” Seemed to me that there was plenty of “team tackling.”

    I felt like the front was quite effective at rushing the passer–with or without the blitz. While I did not “scout” the Ute’s O-line, they were supposedly “more experienced and tougher” than our lads. I saw a good push from the front 3-5. Seemed like many Trojans were contributing–Echols, Murphy, the Tupi brothers, Mauga. Of course, we all love the Drake(s). Catching easy interceptions is part of the game, and glad we are holding onto those.
    Seems like ball hawking (fumbles also) is a bit more of an emphasis with this DC.

    QB containment? Many defenses struggle with this. If you have a front 7 full of big, strong, fast 5 star recruits, it’s less of an issue.
    Pursuit angles? Should not be an issue by this time.

    Like the first two games, the D has been sturdy on most plays with 3-5 long rips (mostly runs) expected each game. Against a high-calibre team, those long rips produce 6 pts. Versus ASU, UA, UU the long rips have not usually lead to a TD, but against Oregon (maybe UW) it ends “a house call.”

    Let’s enjoy a really nice win and build on it.
    A well-rested and intriguing Karl Dorrell-led CU Buff team comes to town.

    Liked by 4 people

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    2. Yes, Bourbon. And don’t underestimate what it would mean to Dorrell to win again at the coliseum — (check out the film: after he beat Carroll 14-9, or whatever score it was, he took a LONG moment to look up to heaven and smile]……
      #He’dSureLikeToExperienceThatSensationAgain….
      #[It’sOurJobToEnsureHeDoesn’t]

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

      1. Michael, how much are the brubabies wishing they hadn’t fired Dorrell? Would have saved themselves millions and millions and millions and the record would be better than it is.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Dorrell had the misfortune of coming along at a time when (1) Pete Carroll ruled the L. A. roost and (2) the L. A. Times mattered. Carroll won the match-ups and the Times under-valued the feistiness the bruins showed in a couple of those contests (due, in large part, to Dorrell keeping the team together under trying circumstances). Now, he’s back and Helton better pay attention. Dorrell is a real quality man ….and that tends to rub off on a team.

        Liked by 2 people

      6. It seemed like we had plenty of time to win the game and then that bizarre tipped pass play happened…makes me more thankful for our two last minute wins this year.

        Liked by 1 person

      7. That 2006 game wasn’t JDB’s best…losing to the brubabies when they only got 230 yards of offense. You don’t find that kind of energy on today’s ucla team.

        Liked by 2 people

      8. Booty got hit and brought down hard on the first series …and it affected him for the rest of the game —-but the biggest thing UCLA had going for them was the grit their quarterback showed when he jumped up from a helmet to helmet hit and ran back to the huddle —it sparked the whole team….
        #DorrellCanGetHisPlayersToPlayLikeThat….
        #USCNeedsToPlayLightsOut….NoMercy

        Liked by 2 people

  4. Coach Barry Switzer said it’s usually the case that one of the coordinators sets the tone for the team way more than the other. Switzer was happy that, for Oklahoma, it was his offensive coordinator. It looks like —for USC— it might be Orlando. Harrell’s side of the ball isn’t showing the same love of the game. They’re still a highly talented group of individuals —but they aren’t playing with the swagger of the defense. [BUT…due to our aggressiveness, our problem on defense is gonna continue to be getting burned by quarterbacks who can take off when the pocket collapses—something we’re likely to see a lot when we play “the hated ones”].
    Everyone owes it to themselves to check out Sports Illustrated’s game articles [and, then, vowing to never visit the site again]. Hilarious observations like “staying on top of the score helped USC to win” and “Slovis completed a short 8 yard pass to Vaughns on 4th and 5” —-without mentioning it was a TD!
    #WTF?!

    Liked by 5 people

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  5. Again look who we were playing…a team playing their first game of the season with inexperienced QBs and with a lot of freshman players. This was not an impressive win.

    Liked by 1 person

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