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USC Notes: Can You Guess What Moment I Liked Best?

You know what I liked best Saturday night?

When USC was on the goal line, Caleb Williams lined up under the center. It feels like a long time since that happened.

  • USC is ranked No. 7 in both Top 25 polls today.
  • The USC radio team talked after the game about how no one would beat USC this season if they only scored 17 points. Wasn’t this basically assumed as soon as Lincoln Riley got hired?
  • I could write every week about Travis Dye’s leadership and effort but he showed again how versatile he is by rushing for 102 yards and adding 36 yards receiving. None of this surprises Oregon fans.
  • Did Riley need to leave the starters in so long? Bobby Haskins got banged up on a play in the fourth quarter and it would have been worse if Caleb Williams had gotten hit with a 28-point lead.
  • BYU’s last two Pac-12 opponents (USC, Oregon) have apologized after the game for offensive chants from the student section. Oregon issued an apology this morning.
  • Here is how I imagine the conversation below:

Coach Bohn: Carol, this is Jake Haener.

Carol: Jake, will you be ready for the Oregon State game next week?

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70 thoughts on “USC Notes: Can You Guess What Moment I Liked Best?”

      3. …but she has a nice smile and sez “all the right things” ….
        #InOtherWords,She’sThePerfectChoiceFor”TheModernUSC”..
        #[HopefullyChangeWillBeInTheAirSoon…]

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Michael, You are a very forgiving man. She will always remain the game ball bitch who allowed helton to further destroy SC. I also don’t like many of her non-sport policies. She should be at one of the once heralded women’s liberal arts schools.

        Liked by 2 people

      5. Carra,
        You shamed me…
        #ForgivenessWithdrawn!
        #Carol:”IDemandYourResignation…
        #…PleaseHaveItOnMyDesk10MinsBeforeHerm’sComesIn!”

        Liked by 2 people

    2. Washington will win the PAC 12 Championship.

      USC’s crap defense (coaching, overrated players, just weak and small all the way around) will account for at least two losses this year.

      ‘Ol Mule Shoe overthinking the play calling will account for the other loss, not to mention that he’s targeting Addison and Williams with about 80% of the pass plays, that is not going to sit well with the other dozen Trojan WR’s who are pretty much an after-thought that could be seeing significant playing time elsewhere

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  3. Very off subject …but… Seattle’s BLM helmets aren’t doing them much good in the game with San Francisco at the moment…
    #PeteDoesn’tLookHisExcitedSelfOnTheSidelinesEither

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  5. So against BYU there were “offensive chants” from both the Oregon and SC student sections. What’d they say, “Hey Mormons, how many wives you got,” or something?

    Well, as MG wrote the other day, just another case of “run-of-the-mill” religious prejudice at work here– To which I say, we are in the Age of ‘Say-What-You-Will,’ so accept it and learn to counter it with some deflective humor

    And what is up with the cheap Wolf-shot at Carol, insinuating she thinks Haener is the SC quarterback,
    when in fact she doesn’t know who the Trojan quarterback is,
    but she knows it’s not Haener, for crying-out-loud

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  7. Chris Karpman: BREAKING: Herm Edwards is out as ASU’s head football coach per two people familiar with the decision.

    ASU staff member were told within the last hour that Edwards would no longer be the team’s coach.

    Interim head coaching plans are not clear as yet.

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      2. Herm is getting fucked over for recruiting violations in an era where 10 million payouts are okay — ain’t college football great?….
        #..ButGoodForHerm…HeKnowsTheScore

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Herm was only hired because A.D. Ray Anderson wanted to bring in his buddy. They had no business firing Todd Graham. Todd was great for the Sun Devils program and the conference.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. I think Herm is a great motivational speaker and I believe he DOES genuinely care about the young players unlike the frauds the press seems to love. Pandering was not in his bag of trick. Otherwise, he’d be a hero.

        Liked by 2 people

  9. I think the reason he left the starters in on the O line was because of the ineptness of Haskins backup. In one play he got beat twice and held on top of that. He looked totally lost, seriously. I bet LR said to Haskins: “If you are still breathing get back in there, we don’t want Caleb killed on the Coliseum floor.” Ford better get well FAST!!

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  10. Ha! That guy wanted to quit after the 2020 season. Well Urban is going to get paid very well to come back and coach. UCLA better fire Chip tomorrow then. Bill Bender just put out a rumor on Sporting News about the Bruins getting Urban to compete against USC and for the switch to the Big 10.

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      1. UCLA will have to sell off it’s undergraduate library, graduate library, law library and bookstore to pay Urban’s salary ….
        #[Nobody’sUsingThemAnyway]

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Ha!
        “Karl you are without question the best candidate yet*…!”
        * “yet” meaning “only”….
        P. S.
        To be fair, he did beat Pete…..

        Liked by 1 person

  12. I’m uncertain about this defense. I’m still not convinced that they can stop a good power running offense. They really haven’t played a team like that yet. Rice was a power running team but they didn’t have the talent to do it against a talented defense like SC. They gained 146 yards rushing against SC. Stanford is no longer a power running offense. FSU is also not a power running offense. So we will learn a lot about this defense when they play OSU. They are a legit power running offense and you know that they are going to try and hang onto the ball on offense by running it down your throat. Defensively, SC is 79th in total yards given up per game. They are 46th in points scored against them per game. They are 56th in passing yards given up per game. They are 103rd in rushing yards given up per game.Offensively, SC is 7th in scoring per game, 43rd in rushing yards per game, 17th passing yards per game, 11th in total yards per game. So clearly, the offense is the strength of this team.Is this just a bend don’t break rubber band defense. Do they just let you run up and down the field between the 20’s and then make you earn it inside the Red Zone? Maybe!  USC is rated 8th in the nation in Red Zone defense.We’ll learn more against OSU this coming week.

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    1. Thing about the red zone offenses is the spread type offense gets bottled up so teams go more conventional tighter gaps. This give USC the chance to line up the gaps and get better coverage with the linebackers and safeties up closer to the line of scrimmage. That was key to the goal line stand yesterday, every gap got plugged and help was close to make sure.

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      1. I think we are overestimating Oregon St. Fresno just about beat them, and look what we did to Fresno. I am thinking they will run the ball, try to control the clock to a point, then they will start having to play catch up through the air cuz USC is going to score and score fast to take them out of their game plan. Just my brilliant first assessment of the coming game. It will help if we are healthy too.

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  13. In the post game press conference, Jeff Tedford had a lot of positive things to say about USC….opposite of the Stanford post game press conference where David Shaw had nothing good to say about SC.

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    1. Agree with you parcelman007. I’m not going to repeat myself, everything I knew about Gentry before the season, I said he was going to be a star. If we could find two more player’s like Gentry we would be a lot better. The poll basis has already started with this week poll. We beat a D1 one school, not a cupcake like bama n ohio state played. Oklahoma & Clemson played D1 schools they didn’t look all that good just like us. Michigan doesn’t make the list OU will knock them out of consideration. It’s about 5 teams looking to secure the last spot. CBS sports has talked to college analyst 85% has us the last team. We have to go undefeated. Or show these pundits, media, and Committee our defense is better than the other 5 teams vying for the last spot.

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    2. Steveg49
      Oregon States defense is rated 64th in the nation. Their offense is 42nd. But Utahs offense is 27th and their defense is 9th in the nation. The will be a classic battle…..the 9th rated defense against the 11th rated offense. But Washingtons offense is 4th and their defense is 22nd. But we don’t have to play them until maybe at the end of the year.

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  15. When was the last time anyone saw a USC tight end in the defensive backfield, and then get the interception to boot. Good hands!! Great move by LR and Grinch to put the pass catchers back deep on a coming hail mary.

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  17. Isnt it nice to get rid of Harrell? I really HATED that guy’s belief that he was right about everything, even though all the evidence proved him wrong. Stubborn and stupid is a bad combo.

    I wonder if there is a chance we will start to see Domani, Branch, Davis, CJ Williams getting more playing time? Right there are 3 very high potential defensive players. We need a couple more of the defensive line players to step up and do a better job.

    I know Shane Lee is a great leader, but cant really tell if he is playing well. I am not really able to see where the break-down is on those gashing run plays.

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      2. Maybe I’m wrong. I was under the understanding that it was a season ending injury. I certainly wouldn’t rush him back.

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  18. Per the other site WW, UCLA may not bolt to Big 10 after all.
    Wow, if true.
    Prefer that Oregon does not replace them.

    Thanks for your positive comments lately, Scottie!
    Looks like you are driving the bandwagon.

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  19. I went back and looked at the game highlights on my computer where I could slow it down to see who was doing what on defense. What a mess!

    The linebackers are literally lost on the field on the big plays. Shane Lee might be a great leader, but his missed tackles or simply not knowing how to take the right angles to the ball was responsible for some really big plays against us. Korey Foreman being on the field is a guy hanging out and watching, but doing nothing. Even Eric Gentry is out of position and lost in terms of his responsibilities on the field on some plays.

    I really wonder if we would be better off with Raesjon Davis getting more playing time, I know they dont want to take out Shane Lee, but he is costing us alot. Solomon Byrd can play more and until Korey figures out what he is doing, that eliminates one problem, but the linebackers need to get their act together.

    I also see numerous other times when players get burned by taking bad angles to a tackle. It is even happening with Calen Bullock a few times. Just seems these guys need to really get trained up on that.

    Ceyair Wright is getting targeted and making mistakes, like playing too far off the line of gain on 3rd downs and letting the receiver pick up an easy first down.

    I really question the defensive coaches if they have players so inadequately trained. Are the practices not teaching position responsibilities and techniques?

    It is more difficult for me to understand the defensive line play, but it looks like alot of guys simply getting pushed out of position.

    Maybe the only place this defense understands their responsibilities is at the goal line, with less space on the field.

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    1. Bobby Haskins doesnt look too good on any pass blocking. He keeps getting burned around the end, his feet are glued in space.

      It just shows you how very talented the skill players are and Riley’s schematics are great, that they can make up for such poor skills by a key player like the left tackle.

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      1. And Mason Murphy literally just stands there and lets the edge blow past him every time. Just horrible left tackle production.

        Isnt there someone they can develop to get the job done. Cortland Ford isnt much better.

        The only reason this wasnt a big problem is that Caleb Williams is very good at releasing quick and moving around.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I worry about Caleb —the last time we had an o-lineman play as spotty as Haskins (a guy named Aundry Walker), Matt Barkley got seriously injured on a blitz that wasn’t picked up… we have to worry about teams with great edge rushers from here on out….

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Gametv your right Korey plays at half speed looks like he is not engaged. I think Gentry is trying to guess too much. We need new players like Beavers Jackson Davis in there. Wright is not ready they have athleticism but no technique.

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  20. Montana State RBs ran 27 times for 170 yards and 3 TD against Oregon State yesterday. And they telegraphed the run, because their passing game was 9/18 and 3 interceptions, 100 yards in the air.

    Dye, Austin Jones, and Raleek should -should – have a field day against the OSU defense.

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  21. USC better stop the run first against Oregon State to prevent them from controlling the time of possession. If they don’t do a better job against the run it could be big trouble in Corvallis

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  22. Oregon State can’t win if they keep running Stanford plays. On defense, how do they stop the RPO counters? Who will spy on the Qb? On offense, can they throw the ball 15 yards or more on USC? They need two weeks to prepare for everything that USC does. If USC is healthy, this will get ugly for the Beavers. USC isn’t just faster, but more explosive and deeper.

    Looks like Arizona State wants to save money and will go for a coordinator instead of a coach with previous experience.

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