FOOTBALL

Morning Buzz: USC-Stanford Report Card

QUARTERBACK

Caleb Williams was nearly perfect in the first half and the Heisman campaign is in full bloom. He looked more ordinary in the second half when he was 7-12 for 97 yards.

Grade: A-

RUNNING BACK

If you watched Oregon last season, you knew Travis Dye was a worker bee who always gives 110 percent. Austin Jones was less memorable and I can see why Stanford’s happy with E.J. Smith. Raleek Brown was also ordinary but his sprained ankle might have been the reason.

Grade: B-

WIDE RECEIVER

With all the talented wide receivers, the passing game revolves around Jordan Addison. Terrell Bynum has yet to catch a pass in two games. Gary Bryant has one catch per game. Brenden Rice had only one catch but you can see his potential.

Grade: B

OFFENSIVE LINE

They made Kirk Herbstreit happy Saturday night. But the protection for Caleb Williams was worse in the second half that’s saying something with his mobility.

Grade: C+

DEFENSIVE LINE

A little better this week as Solomon Byrd emerged at defensive end and Tuli Tuipulotu earned that Mercedes. But USC still looks too ordinary and gave up too many rushing yards (221).

Grade: C-

LINEBACKER

Eric Gentry is already the tallest defensive player and he is also the steadiest through two games (10 tackles vs. Stanford). Shane Lee also is a steady performer. Ralen Goforth did not have a tackle but maybe his time was limited.

Grade: B-

DEFENSIVE BACKS

Is Donte Williams teaching the corners to be so grabby? Mekhi Blackmon had three pass interference penalties and could have had more. Ceyair Wright also had a pass interference penalty. Max Williams made up for some of it with his two takeaways.

Grade: D+

SPECIAL TEAMS

I think it’s fair to say it’s a good thing USC hasn’t had a close game yet. Denis Lynch made two field goals but missed a 39-yard attempt. Punter Aadyn Sleep-Dalton has not been impressive the first two games. In his defense, he hasn’t gotten much work (three punts).

Grade: C

COACHING

I might give Lincoln Riley an A grade just for that tiny piece of paper he holds while calling plays instead of a Cheesecake Factory menu. Last week I saw USC fans compliment Riley for two things: A four-quarter performance and few penalties. This week? It was a two-quarter performance and USC had a Helton-like nine penalties for 104 yards.

As we all knew, Alex Grinch is going to be juggling balls all season trying to keep that defense from imploding.

Grade: C+

SPECIAL CATEGORY

In what might be a first, the Trojans left the Stanford locker room spotless after the game. Director of football operations Clarke Stroud tweeted a picture of it and it’s a classy gesture.

Grade: A

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50 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: USC-Stanford Report Card”

  1. I probably had a little problem with the offense in the 3rd quarter. It seems that they let up. All they got was 2 field goals. The 4th quarter, they were ahead 41-14 so they did not completely run their offense. They just ran the ball a lot to keep the clock running.
    I don’t trust Stanford at Stanford. They will do whatever it takes to win. I noticed that the field was slippery, as if the grass was wet. There is no record that it rained up there. Even if they turned on the sprinklers on friday, with that heat, it would have been dry by saturday. Unless, they turned on the sprinklers right before the game to cut down on SC’s speed advantage.
    I listened to David Shaws’ post game press conference. He had very little good to say about SC’s team. It’s as if he were saying “SC didn’t beat us….we beat ourselves”.

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    1. You have to remember: Coach Shaw is used to Coach Helton. Coach Helton was his kind of coach — a guy who didn’t mind getting beat….a guy, in fact, who’d give ya a big hug after getting his ass kicked. Coach Shaw isn’t gonna be too happy with Coach Riley —even though Riley completely called the dogs off in the second half. Coach Shaw was only thinking about the first half …. when the Trojans ran all over their purposefully drenched field ….scoring many, many touchdowns.
      The drenched field tactic, btw, is a lot more dangerous to players than Weiss’ tall grass stunt at Notre Dame. Luckily no one got seriously hurt —though I did notice Caleb stretching his leg after he slipped one time. I hope Coach Riley remembers this bullshit stunt and plays our guys hard all 4 quarters against Shaw from now on. He rates it.

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      1. If you look at Stanfords schedule for the rest of this year, there may not be a “from now on” for Shaw after this year. That schedule is brutal. I think Shaw was oveconfident in the post game press conference. It’s going to take a pretty good team to hold their own with that schedule.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. LOL!

      Mr. Wolf has taken up smoking crack if he thinks the Trojans defensive line is anything but shit

      Their grade for Saturday’s disappointing performance…

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    3. Where is Domani Jackson or whatever his name is?

      ‘Ol Mule Shoe better get that kid on the field in a hurry and give him a shot to see what he can do because the DB’s are almost as bad as that Shaun Nu crap coached dedensive line

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  2. Rice won their 2nd game 52-7. Maybe they are better than we think. Maybe Stanford is also a pretty good team. We’ll have to see how the rest of the season turns out for them. But their schedule is brutal. Of the next 10 games, 9 are against outstanding teams. The only break that they get is California and even that game is a crosstown rivalry. They play Washington next. Washington is outstanding. They will probably win the North. Oregon plays BYU. I would take BYU.

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    1. I’d take BYU too if the game weren’t in fucked up Eugene.
      And, right now, I’d say the team to beat in the north is Oregon State….and even if I’m wrong about that I’m sure Oregon State is better than Stanford. We need all hands on deck for that game….for 60 minutes.
      #AndFresnoStateIsAlmostAsGoodAsOregonState…
      #AllInAll,WeGotAnInteresting2WeeksAheadOfUs

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      1. OSU against Washington. That will be a good game. But Washington got the right coach. If you want to see 3 coaches who had phenomenal records previous to where they are now coaching, it is:
        1) Kalen DeBoer….Washington
        2) Lance Leopold…..Kansas
        3) Chris Klieman….Kansas State

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Yep. I agree. November 4th –Washington vs. Oregon State is gonna be for all the marbles. Both teams have a bye the week before and will be rested and ready. Too bad for Oregon State the game will be at Washington …but too bad for Washington their next game is Oregon at crazy shit Eugene.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. hi john,wil theese graids go on thare pirminint reckurd? I watch game tru mi new peenus binoculars cuz I had bad seats. missus put them in my posterior after game

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      1. Personally, I would prefer it if these grades were mailed to the individual members of the team…
        # ..WithThisNoteAttached:”ImmediateReplyRequested”

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Grades…we don’t need no stupid grades. We all saw the game, we each have our own opinion, which generally is less of a downer than Wolf’s stupid grades. How can you grade a coach for game day when he has to coach all week. What was his grade on Tuesday and Wednesday? How about a grade for Game Plan, and a team grade for execution. That puts the writer’s head on the block to define the game plan correctly, then grade on it. How about a grade for carrying on momentum or reversing it.

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  5. You know some of those old fools walking next to the queen’s hearst/casket probably have to take a piss.

    They obviously can’t step out of line to go take one, their back teeth are probably floating.

    How damn far do those clowns have to walk anyway? Why would anyone sign up for that nonsense.

    LOL!

    That street they’re walking is never ending

    LMFAO!

    OH MY SIDE HURTS FROM LAUGHING SO MUCH!

    AHA HA HA HA HA HA!

    #FUCKTHAT

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    1. I guarantee you those old buzzards walking next the that hearst are wearing depends.

      Those fools catch a break they’re all going to make a run for the John I’ll tell you that much

      That fool driving was going extra slow, he’s probably going to catch a beating for sure

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      4. It’s fairly obvious that tebow has neve worked with, let alone managed, other people ….he’d be a Human Resources nightmare.
        #ThoseAreUsuallyThePeopleWhoSpecializeIn”Critique”

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      5. LMFAO!

        Michael Guarino spends more time on this blog than he does with his supposed wife

        Mrs. Guarino must not be too into him if she doesn’t mind.

        Maybe she spends her time in the back seat of a Chevy ’69 or down at the corner shaved ice stand having a few licks with the poi poi pineapple boys

        #HowBizarreHowBizarre

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  6. Good reference to the Cheesecake Factory menu, Scottie gets an A for that one.

    The sleepy guy from Australia only punted twice, he put one of them down on the 3 yard line from around the 45, and it was a fair catch. About as good as it gets.

    Defense is going to get better. Some easy to fix mistakes (in principle) in terms of obvious missed assignments and the Shane Lee figuring out how to respond to audibles on the other side.

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  7. We need to shore up n make changes on the defensive line Solomon B. needs to start, D. Jackson get healthy. We need some body who can set the edge, we give up 4.89 per carry and 10.34 yards per completion, we need that per rush average needs to be 2.20-2.90 to be elite. Average yard per completion needs to be around 7.00 yards per completion see college team stats know https Maybe it’s on Charles link but it has every category. You will find USC defense is better in some areas than Alabama Ohio St Clemson, Utah Washington and UCLA by the numbers, are the top 2 defenses in the PAC12/10. We are 1 scoring offense 13 TOFFSE Alabama 63 TO? Ohio state not too far average 465 yes a game. We just need to stop big run chunk plays and we will be able to get that average around top 25 in TDefense

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      1. Steve49 ncaa.com you have different areas of offense and defense not into https: just Google college football team stats n go to the above ncaa.com n u will see how we stack up on offense and defense

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  8. Grinch entered the game expecting the power I offense, but had to adjust to the slow-mo-RPO . Throughout the first half I kept hollerin’ “blitz those slow idiots.” When they finally did, they were able to stop the Trees. That style may never catch on, but if it does it should be called deer in the headlights offence.
    Grinch was mentioned as a possible replacement for the Nebraska head coach. (The Facebook article I read had Grinch listed as the offensive coordinator at USC) Ordinarily I’d worry about that, but knowing there are better Defensive Coordinators out there, in this instance, I think I’ll wish him luck.

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    1. Right, get Grinch the hell out of here and hopefully he takes that worthless Shaun Nua with him. Unfortunately I believe USC is stuck with that idiot, another worthless clueless clown, Donte Williams.

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      1. Why don’t you in all your fucked up wisdom offer up who should come in to replace the the people you ridicule. Give us names, then we can laugh even more at you. You must have tons of close friends when you spend so much time calling everyone names.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. “the the people”? Flustered much Mr Dumb Fuck

        Okay here’s a name for you that would guarantee USC an elite defense and he’s a Trojan…Kris Richard as defensive coordinator, but ‘Ol Mule would never go for it because his type hates sharing the limelight.

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    2. In that delayed RPO you must concentrate on the running back not the QB since McKee is no threat to run and if he decides to keep the ball, with that delay, those D-Linemen will be all over him.

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  9. Leaving a visiting locker room spotless is NOT a throwaway. It means two things:
    1. Classy team
    2. Disciplined team
    Discipline starts at the top of the team with the head coach and goes throughout the organization.
    Proud to be a Trojan…Fight On!

    Liked by 3 people

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    2. Pasadena Trojan
      You’re right….he does have the option to throw but, as I said, if he holds on to it that long, he had better throw it real fast when he decides to keep it because those D-Linemen will be all over him

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  10. This was written on Sunday 9/11/22

    Scooter,

    My report card:

    Qb: B: First half he was outstanding, second half, he let his foot off the pedal. Don’t know if that was Riley’s decsiion or not.

    Receivers: A: Great game in the first half and they dropped three passes all game. Good blocking on the downfield when running the ball

    Rb”s B+: Hit the holes with determination and authority. Ran with conviction. blocked very well and caught passes. Hit the correct hole.

    Oline: B-: Two penalities and two sacks in the second half. they were coverage sacks but still sacks. Open holes and pounded stanford’s defense.

    DL: C+: Could not stop the delayed RPO by Stnaford. Nothing but a counter. Stanford allowed penetration. Dline should have just stayed at home. They did get to the qb in the second half for three sacks. Stopped the run in the second half.

    lbers” B+: This is the heart of the defense led by #53. They hit the hole and punished the rb and qb.

    Db’s: C-, got three penalities against them. However, I believe the refs were jobbing SC. Too many passes with out coverage. Need to get on recievers better

    ST’s: B-: 2 out of three field goals, but the ball hits SC player in the helmet. he should have been looking for the ball.

    Coaching: C: Took the foot off the pedal in the second half or the players were tired or second string was in. Until SC is dominant once again, there is not let up.

    Overall C+: Stanford was physical and took it to SC in the first half. Second half it was a combination of SC shutting down the run game and Stanford knowing that they had to pass to catch up. D in the second half looked better after adjustments.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Nice stuff, P. T. [I’d ease up on the coaching grade —Riley showed what he can do & then eased up on a worn out coach whose best days are behind him]….

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    2. Scooter,

      Time to compare:
      qb:
      S: A-
      Me: B

      Rec”s
      S: B
      Me: A

      Rb’s
      S: B-
      Me B+

      Ol
      S:C+
      Me: B-

      DL:
      S: C-
      Me: C+

      lbers
      S: B-
      Me: B+

      Db’s
      S: D+
      Me: C-

      St:
      S: C
      Me: B-

      Coach
      S: C+
      Me: C

      Lockerroom
      S: A+
      Me: N/A

      Overall
      S: N/A
      Me: C+

      He is getting close to me with the rankings. LOLOL

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  11. Lol. QB, RB, WR all get good grades but the OL didn’t. Okay.

    How did the LBs play better than the DLine?

    Gargamel not watching the game again?

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  12. Trojan football is back! USC is the No. 1 team in the country, I can’t wait to watch Coach Riley and Caleb Williams lead the band after winning the National Championship this year, Offense is potent, Defense is stout, USC should be No. 1.

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    2. We’re a long ways from a NC. Actually, I really think that this is a rebuilding year for SC. But we are on the right track towards a NC down the road. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

      Liked by 1 person

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  13. Scooter,

    I have a problem with the photo. The problem is, if SC left the locker room the way they found it, then Stanford did SC wrong. I do not see any chairs or benches to sit on while getting dressed. Not good.

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