FOOTBALL

My Take On USC’s Less-Than-Impressive Victory

Caleb Williams put on a fantastic QB performance Saturday night.

And it was offset by an utterly atrocious effort by the USC offensive line.

Williams bounced back from the Oregon State game with an incredible assortment of passes/runs under pressure.

And his offensive line needs to thank him profusely because they were an embarrassment. A normal QB would have been sacked eight times in the first half.

I don’t want to hear about the line pushing Williams to a first down vs. Oregon State. They couldn’t protect him vs. Arizona State.

Where were the media who kept saying this offensive line is really quite good? Did they watch this game? And it isn’t one guy on the line. Arizona State was beating them from different spots Saturday.

Can anyone imagine this offensive line against an elite defense?

  • Speaking of defense. USC couldn’t stop the run in the first half. It couldn’t stop the pass. But it really hasn’t done it consistently all year. People went nuts because USC contained Oregon State, who put up 16 points vs. Utah on Saturday.

At least Alex Grinch put more pressure on the quarterback in the second half.

  • There were too many penalties (8 for 63 yards).
  • Did we mention USC was favored by 25.5 points? The Trojans are up 10 points with 6:16 left and get caught napping on an onside kick that only came back because of an illegal block.

People need to relax about the national championship and just focus on USC winning the Pac-12 title first.

52 thoughts on “My Take On USC’s Less-Than-Impressive Victory”

    1. Wait until USC finally plays a competitive team, they’ll probably get exposed as they get their AZZ kicked like the game against Oregon State. Does anyone now realize how horrible Rice, Fresno State, Stanford , and Arizona State is ? 😂😂. And some in the media, and of course me, the ultimate Trojans AZZ lick, actually think SC will advance in the playoffs 😂😂😂😂😂

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    1. ASU is a 1-4 team

      USC has beaten nothing but a bunch of scrubs

      But it’s been enough to make Gabby/pudly wet herself

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      1. ASU is better than you think. They are not a very good team but that’s because they have a ton of problems. It’s going to be hard to get a real good coach since ASU is facing some serious sanctions by the NCAA. But they are not a bunch of scrubs. I think that they will a couple more games this year.

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  3. Caleb does appear to be able to make throws that not too many other QB’s can make. And he is very elusive. Their O-Line didn’t play as well as they did in the past especially in the run game. Oklahoma State ran for 197 yards against ASU. Utah ran for 205 and Eastern Michigan ran for 305 against ASU. SC only ran for 137 against them. We did have one key O-Lineman missing.
    WSU is the real trap game here. They are a really good team and they are coming right before the big game in Utah. WSU really should be 5-0. It took a miracle for Oregon to beat them by a field goal. WSU was ahead of Oregon 34-22 with 6:42 left in the game and they lost. Their defense is not great. They are only rated 69th in the nation when it comes to yards allowed.

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    1. ….I’m thinking that pass across the middle to make the game 14-7 was quite risky and a fair bit “lucky” for Mr. Caleb. A good defense (ASU is not one) might have intercepted such a pass. Otherwise, the QB is coming along nicely, now 14 games into his career.

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    2. They had two drives that didn’t result in a TD last night – one red zone int and a punt. I fail to see why it matters how they ran the ball. Clearly that wasn’t part of their offensive game plan. And with all the issues they had last week in the passing game, do you think their focus should have been to run the ball?

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      1. ASU pass D and tackling were deplorable.
        Why run the ball when the couldn’t hope to bat down a pass?

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      2. ‘O’ line needs reps in both run block and pass block…SC needs a ground game for clock management and red zone TD’s inside the 5, and 3rd down and 1-2 to keep momentum. Yes I believe running is primary to loosen up the back 7 for receivers.

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  4. Alabama, Georgia, and Clemson all sputtered at times. What they have that USC is getting a handle on pretty well is the will to win. Some teams have it while others don’t.

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    1. Don’t mention USC in the same breath of those teams you Delusional Trojans Azz Lick 😂😂 Go pinch yourself, and wake the Fucc up, Cock sucking Fanboy !

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    2. Steveg49 you are so right as long as you win the game that matters. It’s about how you play to win the game. Our win was not impressive at all our inability to stop the run is autricious game in game out. Our inability to penetrate in the backfield and get TFL is atrocious. Pass blocking and run blocking left me sick to my stomach had two smoke a blunt every quarter to forget what I was watching. I was watching a Avatar USC team with no energy looked disinterested and played like they partied the night before.

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  5. WELL, scottie is mostly correct. I don’t think SC is a top 10 team ,maybe top 20.
    They are not ready for Utah either,I thought they might be by this time but I was wrong. WSU will certainly be up for this game,so SC must play better than vs ASU.

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    1. I think USC can compete and beat top #6 to 12 teams. We (they) are not in the top 4-5 category…yet.

      With some great D and O-line recruits, we should be reliably good in 2 years. This team, cobbled together with players who were sick of losing
      (see the two Buffs on our roster) at their prior schools, is really playing well together.

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      1. Exactly. Can’t fault this team’s will to win [well, sometimes you can fault the o-line’s will to win….and Special Teams is a mess] —but, overall, the difference between 2021 and 2022 is night and day…
        #VeryNiceJob,Lincoln….
        #[SorryYouHaveToSpend30SecondsWithBohn&FoltAfterGame]

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    2. I’m more worried about WSU. That is, by definition, a true trap game. A trap game is where you are playing a truly outstanding game in 2 weeks but next week you play a really good team but not as good as the team 2 weeks from now. That’s what we have coming up with this WSU game. Considering that we have to play Utah in Utah, I’m afraid that they will be looking ahead to Utah next week.
      If they make sure to beat WSU….anything is possible against Utah.

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  6. It didn’t look like they’re ready for any major hurdle. As Joel Klatt made note of earlier this week right now USC doesn’t have the necessary skilled linemen on both sides of the ball to match up against: AL, GA & OH St.. The offense under Willams is strong but the defense……

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    1. …and, without Williams, the offense would be a mess too —Williams is the straw that stirs the drink…..
      #SpeedyReceiversNeedSomeoneToGetThemTheBall…
      #…AndTalentedRunningBacksCan’tWinGamesOnTheirOwn

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  7. Most of us knew that the offensive and defensive lines were going to be average at best. Fortunately USC has superstar athletes at QB and receiver, along with an offensive scheme that utilizes their skills. That being said, SC will more than likely get beat by Utah and UCLA, and possibly Notre Dame, because of the offensive and defensive line play.

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    1. The cross-town rivalry game will be a classic.
      I like our chances against UCLA.
      I’m thinking the team with the ball last wins.
      I’m thinking the team with the fewest penalty and T/O mistakes wins.
      That could be the Trojans.

      At least we have a coach.

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      1. MG
        Kelley is a great offensive mind on par with LR and Lane Kiffin. His coaching staff is really great at developing players(much better than Heltons coaching staff was). He takes 3 stars and gets them drafted. But he’s not big on defense and he hates recruiting. He’s one of the worst recruiters among the blue blood college football coaches. Hope he stays at UCLA. A really great recruiter and coach could turn UCLA into a powerhouse.

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    3. I’d be surprised if they didn’t win one of those games and they could win all three. I’m not saying that they will win all three…..just that they have the kind of team that could win all three(after all, they are rated higher than all 3 in the polls).
      The one game that I am not too confident about is Utah. For all intents and purposes, UCLA will be a home game. If there was ever a grudge game for SC, it will be the UCLA game after what they did to us last year.
      As far as ND is concerned, we have lost to them 4 years in a row. I don’t think that SC will want to lose 5 years in a row and, beside, I’m not convinced that ND is that good this year. There must be a reason why SC is rated #6 in the nation and ND is not in the top 40.

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      1. by the end of the season SC should be vastly better than now…so Wash St and UTAH are high hurdles…the rest low hurdles…

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  8. If I were Riley, I would be telling recruits, “you can play next year because we need a whole new o-line and d-line”

    As far as coaching, there are positives and negatives. The positive is that after halftime the defense started to use more stunts and actually would have shut down the Arizona offense, except for some very lucky catches (the Domani Jackson tip) and questionable pass interference calls. The negative is that they shouldnt have waited until after half-time to make changes. (It is possible that Grinch didnt really want to use that stuff in this game because he wanted to surprise future opponents with it)

    The positive is that the team seems to “Fight On”, but the negative is that they need to fight on because they can never put an opponent away, due to the soft defense.

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    1. Agree, gamer.
      The PI calls lead to 8 gift pts for Sparky.
      D played much better in the second half, but still will give up big chunks to UCLA, ND, Utah, etc. We will know a lot more about this D when it takes on a pass-happy Wazzu.

      As I despise everything that is ASU–sports, academics, attitude–I was kinda hoping that Bullock took his INT to the house.

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      1. Me too. And he could have –he just needed to cut inside 1 second sooner… Score!
        #…AndThenWeGoForTwo…

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      2. Pass happy Wazzu will tell us a lot about our pass defense. They don’t have a really good running game.

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  9. Yes, it wasn’t pretty. Yes, OL deserves C grade but man, Caleb and WRs are A+. Defense made solid 2nd half adjustments.

    SC holds #6 ranking in latest AP and Coaches poll.

    Seriously, at beginning of season no one expected 5 and 0 start and top 6 ranking.

    WSU will be tough and cannot be overlooked.
    Utah on road will be rough too.

    The key for everyone is that next 2 games will determine SC’s fate this year only.

    Can’t wait to see what another year of Riley’s system with more portal transfers in off season and better recruiting will do for 2023 team.

    Have not felt this positive since Pete era.

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    2. #6 ranking is not appropriate at this juncture based on 5-0 start vs suspect teams as to their true abilities…Ore St slaughtered by UTAH and Fresno St losing to a non winning U.Conn for prime examples. The other 3 not so great either…I thought SC was a true potential12-0 team after spring ball,if all returned from the ‘injured’ list to play this season…not so sure now after watching first 5 games…they are still 110% better than last few years under the hellton cabal.

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    1. …yes….kidding….
      #IWasTemptedToTakeItFurther,Though….
      #…[MaybeSaySomethingAboutScottCursingInAncientLanguage]…

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  11. John Canzano: Trojans’ QB Caleb Williams really competed in this one. He had 348 passing yards and three TDS in the win. ASU got after him and Williams had his streak of 215 straight pass attempts without an interception snapped. But I liked the way he competed. I thought it was his most impressive performance as a leader this season.

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    1. CU will never have a winning season in the Pac 10.
      Send them to the Mountain West and they’ll experience some wins.

      The CU student section chant?
      “Win or Lose–we still booze.”

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      1. CU, Mizzou, and Nebraska should all take less money and go back to the Big 12. They’re all punching bags now.

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      4. “Win or Lose–we still booze????” That’s why they are losing. If the only reason the fans follow a team is to party, they will never have enough incentive to put pressure on the administration to go out and hire a great coaching staff because you can always party. The fans of the great teams demand victory…..then they party.

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  14. If I had to guess to what the breakdowns are for both the offensive line and defensive line I would say that Voorhees, Neilon and Dedich need to clean up their technique and communication. The tackles can get help when needed. Blitz pickup by the running backs could be better and the sight adjustments need to be faster. The defensive line needs better edge play. Guys are showing when they plan to slant inside and not keeping the outside shoulder of the opponent while allowing the other teams linemen to put hands on the shoulder pads of Trojan defenders. Basically, guys are being rag-doll out of plays. The lack of depth on both lines mean guys army being developed fast enough to past this season. This ain’t gonna get them to SoFi this year. Rome wasn’t built in a year anyways.

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