FOOTBALL

The USC Method To Success

So back in the spring I wrote that Texas tailback Keaontay Ingram looked impressive, according to the coaches.

And now Memphis wide receiver Tahj Washington has been impressive the first couple fall practices.

That led a reader to contact me today with the following: “I think Washington and (Ingram) are going to look great because they have been coached up at other schools.”

Is that the USC method for success? Simply rely on players that were developed elsewhere?

64 thoughts on “The USC Method To Success”

  1. The new normal at USC: 4/5 star DB and DE recruits, 3/4 star transfers, 3 star OL, lose big-time Southern California recruits, inordinate number from Texas. Bohn’s recruiting wall crumbling. Not sustainable.

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      4. Pudly —UCLA is performing unexpectedly high in this USA Poll—- 42nd in the nation…. [yes, only 41 teams ahead of them this season]…..
        #They’reBACK!
        #TakeThatChipKellyDetractors!

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      5. SC is getting big time QBs but not the quantity or type that it used to and that it needs to compete, particularly with this offense. The big misses on several top QBs, particularly mobile QBs in our backyard hurts. But then again, there is the decision making to go with less talented QBs like Slovis (in terms of his limitations with his arm strength and mobility) because of favoritism with the OC, and the offense itself that turns recruits off, so that we don’t get the depth of quality despite being in the most talent rich area for the position.

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      6. Kedon is the best fit for Harrell’s offense. The problem is: Harrell’s offense isn’t a complete offense. The reason? Harrell isn’t a complete coach. He’s enthusiastic, loves the game, understands the passing game as well as anyone alive….and is terrible head coaching material cuz that’s all there is to him. [It scares me when I hear Slovis say he and Harrell are so much alike they could be brothers]…..

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    2. Loser pudly said that Palaie Gaoteote was going to be the next great USC linebacker, said that clown might end up being the best linebacker to ever come out of USC.

      LOL!

      That girl Gaoteote always had a sprained toe or wrist that was too painful for her to deal with. That clown was a huge bust.

      Total waste of a scholarship and space.

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      1. No doubt Gaoteote underperformed, but then again, Ohio State is taking him through the portal. He needs to get his grades up before he is eligible, so academics ended up being a big issue for him at USC.

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      2. Tebo,

        You might be right on this player, but to say all Polynesian players are a bust for SC, is not correct. That is, if you are saying that. I hope you aren’t. Just to name a few that aren’t, Seau, Kenndy Pola, Troy Palomalu. These are just a few.

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  2. Notice how some USC fans are more interested in recruiting rankings than actual in-season game performance and rankings? USC has so many internet all-americans.

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    1. So true.

      And you know what? Helton sucks on game days just as much as he does in recruiting.

      #CFBRecruiting=MostWorthlessPseudoSpectatorSportEverContrived

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    2. Dear Pisley is the #1, loudest, bozo recruit rankings slut.

      #Paging Bru McCoy

      #”Oh we got him; we’re going get him; SUCC is #24 in recruiting.”
      #SUCC FB: Tough as Porky Pig.

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      3. Ha!
        Let’s take this thing a step further, shall we? Why limit the article to sports?
        In fact, why limit it to UCLA’s undergraduate schools?
        #UCLA:FailingInSoManyWaysOnSoManyFronts

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    3. Certain people here (one in particular) have been the epitome of what Ryan Abraham long ago popularly associated with the term “sunshine pumpers”…the results are overwhelming, obvious, irrefutable, and not difficult to understand…and those of us who are older and don’t live in some form of in-the-moment psychological bubble can correlate this with previous dismal eras (e.g. Hackett, Tollner). The difference being, this time, there doesn’t appear to be a stumbling onto Pete Carrol even being possible to resurrect (many of us realized that that ship just sailed) this program, nor are circumstances operating in a way that suggests it will be possible. We have awesome uniforms and a heritage matched by few…but, that, in contrast to bad coaching being transcendent, is in the past.

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  3. USC has afforded that idiot Clay Helton so many 4 and 5 star recruits and he hasn’t done anything with them, just keeps wasting talent.

    The Rose Bowl win over Penn St. was won because Trojan players improvised.

    Darnold scrambling for his life and finding Adoree Jackson, JuJu, Deontay Burnett and others after Helton’s crap offense and play calling went nowhere.

    Helton doesn’t have a clue, USC wins on talent and luck alone.

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    1. I agree.
      Penn St scored 42 consecutive points and Helton kept Pendergast. What smart minded and successful coach would do that? Not Saban, Meyer, Dabo or anyone who wins.
      Helton is the luckiest Head Coach ever of the Pac 12.
      Him being part of that game only hurt the team but those player’s played on heart and abilities.

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      1. Pendergast also survived losing to the pathetic bruins when all they could do was have Joshua Kelly run for 300 yards. No half time adjustments whatsoever.

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      2. Yeah that one shined Kelly’s shoes. One of many embarrassing moments out of Clancy & Clay.

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      3. That’s not true, 67. In a post game interview Pendergast said he distinctly remembered telling the linebackers to “stuff the middle” during halftime…..
        #HowMuchMoreCanBeExpectedFromADefensiveCoordinator?

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      4. Mike, getting back to you on the Helton being the way he is and possibly sober or on lsd, I’ll just say for the man who had talked so much about family, God, honesty and everything else he said he sure seems to look like a top BS’er. He clearly has made so many moves and said so many things that have been nothing of the sorts. He got away the first season by having all the players at his house for dinner and them praising his ways but they were clearly conned by a pro. Some of sports most stubborn people have said they knew they were not getting results and they stepped down. His personality would say he would be a guy who knows he’s not getting things accomplished the way it should be. So now we (Helton and everyone else) he’s a guy who likes to pump out what sounds best but is not an honest one or he’d take responsibility. When does his family tell him that he’s fired so many people who believed his Family environment to be booted and blamed and he should do the right thing.
        All that said. Helton looks to send this vehicle to the junkyard because he’s riding this until the wheels fall off🤣🤣+😫😫😫😫

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  6. This method is like buying corn on the cob at Walmart and duct taping it to withering corn stalks. You can fool someone once and they don’t mind but if you are a lifelong fool people hire you to run USC football.

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  7. Both Ingram and Washington are breaking out, yet when both transferred in, Scottie criticized both, saying Ingram was a TX has-been, and Washington as just a 3 star from a second-tier program (Memphis).

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  8. Key element if your team has a weak offensive line- DUAL THREAT QB…like Vince Evans or Rodney Peete. If your QB’s can’t run the defensive linemen and linebackers can tee off on the QB, and running backs.

    USC has had good success with dual threat QB’s in the past- Until Kiffin, Sarkisian, and now Uncle Fester arrived. Yes, we have missed out on some great dual threat QB’s recruits in the past, but we need to get back to recruiting some kids that can throw and run instead of the Johnny Unitas pro style QB.

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      1. …or, we could just fix the underlying issue resulting in the offensive line being incapable of blocking in games featuring anything real competition…nah! that would be crazy! (to paraphrase Steve Martin from the ’70s…since someone brought up Vince Evans…).

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      2. It’s James!
        It’s funny/sad: we’re all so use to bad head coaching, bad o-line coaching and bad o-lines that we take them as “givens” and discuss how to overcome them…..

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  9. Mitch Mustain, Matt Barkley and Max Browne were also Gatorade National POY’s. All had promising talent. All coached and/or recruited by different regimes. None quite lived up to initial expectations. Put another way: each had varying levels of success. Gatorade, MaxPrep, Under Armour, POY type honors are subjective at best for putting up big numbers you did against varied, near impossible to compare levels of HS competition. Landing one of these dudes is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick no doubt, but landing one isn’t how you judge if a coach is good, bad, or ugly, and definitely isn’t reason to hail a helton. 64 buck question is can this potential be developed and improved to higher degree than comparable players who went elsewhere.

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  10. All this talk of the new guys reminds me of the old maxim about how crafty used car salesmen are keen to tell ya bout the shiny new things on the lot, but mum on the family sedan that’s been there a while

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  11. Helton reminds me of Colonel Klink of Hogan’s Heroes. A bumbling idiot that keeps getting threatened by being shipped to the Russian front yet he still survives. The only problem is that there is no Hogan to save that idiot. Harrell is Sgt. Shultz. I know nothing, I hear nothing, and I see nothing. He is so blind on this air raid offense, he does not see that it does not work nor does he learn a new offense to help protect the qb by running the ball with a fullback and maybe two fullbacks for goal line offense. Too many times has SC been turned back from scoring a td because they only had one back in. SC needs General Hoftsteter in charge. SC doesn’t have one.

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  12. Gee, now if the Small12 leftovers merge, will Captain Benteen gush so effusively over winning the coveted Pac in Part 20? Southwest Division? Guess that will at least enable the souls of the 1983 team release from their purgatory over the Kansas loss.

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      3. But how long did that age of Middle Earth last prior to the trip to Mount Doom? And didn’t Saruman and Worm Tongue stick around for a while longer to inflict misery on the Shire?

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Excellent points, my friend —but I’d still like being that kid with the shitty sword who hears Aragorn deliver that line on the eve of battle….

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  13. Gents, aint no way around it. Our antiquated views make us last of them there Mohicans. If its now illegal to expect kids to learn the 3 r’s, Im thinking that teaching tackling, catching, and running isn’t far behind. America used to be land of the free, home of the brave… now it’s land of no balls, home of the dumb. Fuck, Clay might get elected president.
    https://www.foxnews.com/us/oregon-governor-signs-bill-suspending-math-reading-proficiency-requirements-for-hs-graduates

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      1. Im always saying negative stuff bout Clay and the good book says you gotta mix in some good stuff to. So here goes: Clay’s bald head is perfect for wearing one of those laurel wreaths

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  14. 100% guarantee that if Helton becomes Prez, at some point he’ll get in one of them swan boats at Echo Park Lake, peddle it along the shoreline a good 10-15ft, then hold a presser comparing himself to Geo Wash xing the Delaware.

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      2. Captain Willard’s next line is the most important line in the film: “…unless you’re prepared to go all the way…”
        #HeltonHASToStayOnTheBoat….
        #GoingAllTheWayIsNotInHisDNA

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      3. Kurtz (Pete?) got off the boat…he split from the entire f’ing scene…

        What would the French family have made of Foltz, Bohn, and ClayDough? We know what Kurtz’s answer would have been…

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      4. If Kurtz was “above lying morality” I hate to think of what he’d do to Folt….
        ..Or Helton…
        #Let’sJustSayItWouldn’tBePretty

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  15. ‘…we expect these young men to make gobs of $ for parasites, but won’t let them be coached by a man who will demand that they write **** on the sides of their aeroplanes…’

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    1. Advanced Hypocrite Studies, James.
      “I told Bundini ‘If they say hateful stuff like that to my face can you imagine what they say behind my back?'”
      —Muhammad Ali

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      1. If only we could have The Greatest treat our Clown Trio like he did that toy gorilla in taunting Smokin’ Joe prior to The Thrilla…!

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      2. Ha, funny. If they sold them, I’d buy dolls of Folt, Bohn and Helton in a New York minute—but I’d buy a good ‘how to’ voodoo book first.
        Ya know what’s doubly nice about that story? Angelo Dundee said “Ali told me he didn’t feel good about that gorilla routine. He thought he mighta gone too far. I understand he apologized to Marvis for it.”

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      3. Yes, believe read similar account – he was doing it he thought to hype the fight (and of course by extension to increase payout for both camps)…talk about a complicated relationship (watching the documentary with the two of them – along with George, Norton, Larry, and Reggie as host – you could see it was one of those things that it went too far for too long and could never be made right, at least for Joe).

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      4. Here’s a story I love — Joe and George are at a posh restaurant. Joe orders roast lamb and asks if they have “any of that green stuff that goes on it.” The prick waiter sez, “it’s not green stuff, it’s called mint jelly.” George sez “if you know what it is, go get it.”

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      5. Excellent story MG (“…and be quick about it!…”) – the documentary I referenced above…it’s kind of neat watching George and Larry exhibit total class in working through the evening of filming…and in George’s case, to see where he came from to where he got to…Larry too (the most underrated fighter of all time?), but in his case mostly just impoverishment, sans what reputedly was a very violent upbringing for the Chicken man on the mean streets of the 5th Ward.

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      6. btw, All those guys were great. If you watch the first rounds of each of their fights with each other you’ll see there’s not much that separates them. Ali/Norton looks a lot like Norton/Holmes. Ali/Frazier looks a lot like Ali/Norton. The boxer is dancing & slinging with the left and the puncher is moving forward looking to land the right.

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      7. With the caveat that as was repeatedly noted during the broadcast of The Thrilla “Joe always loses the first round” – sure there must be others, but Joe’s “Go” button apparently was eating a lot of leather for 3 minutes…if Ali would have had just a touch more power, he would have knocked Joe out in the first round each time…but he didn’t, and Joe was one of the most determined fighters ever (I don’t know the sport as well as you, but I guess Holyfield and Ali would be on that level of determination and toughness). Holmes-Norton is in a lot of ways the nearly perfect fight…constant action, closely matches, different styles and skill levels, but two very high-level “want to” drives…

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      9. Yes – great clip – and to think, USC used to do something similar through a combination of being the strongest, toughest team that generally would take control of games through running (even up through the Pete years on many occasions, but mostly under McKay/Robinson I), and because they would play anyone, anywhere, anytime, and win (the bigger the game, the better they played). Now we’ve become like the 5th century AD post-Adrianople western empire…or, to borrow from Alice in Chains: “It…ain’t…like that…anymore…”

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