I spoke to a Pac-12 coach about USC on Monday, specifically its offense.
“They’ve got the best quarterback in the country, I just hope he stays healthy because they aren’t protecting him,” the coach said. “He’s elusive but a better defense will get to him if that line doesn’t improve. He was running for his life at times Saturday.
“The past three times the pass protection has gotten worse, not better. You just don’t want someone to get hurt. Their schedule isn’t bad, if you have a healthy quarterback. That’s one reason you don’t see a ton of deep balls. It cuts down on hits.”
InsideUSC with Scott Wolf 
According to Lincoln Riley before the season started “the offensive line will be just fine.” But realistically, from Tackle to Tackle, it’s totally Mountain West Conference garbage, because that all Clay Helton could recruit. And I’d take three other quarterbacks over the cry baby 😭 Caleb Williams, because he’ll caca 💩 in his pants if the going gets tough
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This post brought to you by the limp one.
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Travis Dye: “Winning does not come easy…It’s not something that you just get used to. You have to come in week in, week out with everything you have because you’re going to get everybody’s best shot. That’s just how it is. You go to USC with all this hype around you and you’re going get everybody’s best shot.”
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This post brought to you by the limp one, until I popped it in my mouth, then it was hard as a rock minutes later. Practice makes perfect.. Thank you very much 😀
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hi john,libarey iz probaly gunna taik a way mye innurnet axcess aftur latist insidint so aint shur howe we gunna komunicait but il tri to figur sum thing owt,smdh
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Ed, what access did you use this morning, the library doesn’t open until 10:00am, Dufus? And put your hands in your pockets, and get a laptop… smdh
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I guess now that Lawyer John has officially taken a leave of absence we’re gonna be getting a lotta lame remarks from “Lawyer John”….
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Hey Michael, I’ll be peeking in from time to time to give an opinion like I did with Ed. But you’re right, I did take a temporary leave of absence.
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Travis Dye is a helluva RB who can make something out of nothing, he needs more touches
Dye can work with that shit O line that USC has, give him the ball more and it takes pressure off Williams.
‘Ol Mule Shoe is getting to predictable with his play calling
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“too predictable”
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Constructive criticism?! Who is this and what have you done with Tebow?
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I’ve taught the real Tebow and Gab to self correct. God has given me purpose.
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I’m sure he now regrets the comment. How was the night at the Coli?….. I hope there were no incontinence issues
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Great analysis.
How might Dye do in the NFL draft?
Will the O-line and D-line get better as the year goes on?
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You’re right!….. I think Dye needs to be weathering more of the load. Five games in, he’s my team MVP
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Does that Pac 12 coach have any suggestions?
Riley is stuck, for now, with the players he has. As far as the o-line goes you can’t even say they’re “underperforming.” They’ve been mediocre since they got to USC. It is what is. We can only go as far as a healthy Caleb can take us. Luckily, he’s a tough kid who is built like an every down running back.
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USC needs better line play from both the defense and offense.
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I think we need to temper expectations. I can’t speak for everyone but I’m very impressed so far with the turnaround Riley’s been able to achieve. The offense looks real and the defense, while a grave concern on stopping the run, has at least shown signs of continuous improvement. (Second half adjustments against ASU! This is not a Helton team anymore.) But the biggest issue we all knew going into the season was the OLINE/DLINE. And it shows. They’re not awful but they’re not close to elite. And so I feel like this season USC might end up a one to two loss team, might barely make the playoff or be just on the cusp. But they are not ready to compete for a national championship. The lines must improve, and that will take recruiting and some additional transfers. The good thing is that with winning comes better recruits. It took PC three years to take a crap USC team and turn it into a champion. I expect the same here and always have.
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Pete had put together a very physical team [capable of beating anyone by season’s end] by Year Two — I think Riley will do the same.
[We’ll need somebody to replace Dye, though. That’s gonna be a HUGE loss: he’s our whole running game—Raleek Brown will never be an every down running back].
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Dye is a revelation. It’s such a shame this is his one and only year. Brown looks like a potential Bush type back but they need him out in space–not running between the tackles. If they can get a big back ala LenDale White to complement him–look out!
PC was a defensive coach and knew it all started in the trenches and to build there. Someone else recently mentioned Shaun Cody as the lynchpin–and he was right. I just hope Riley understands this too or else we’re in for Oklahoma Part II.
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As a team leader, Dye has played a big role in bringing this team of transfers and holdovers together as a team and creating a new culture.
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Oaktown Trojan true that it took PC three years but they had better defensive coaches and PC was a DC. Remember anything can happen on any given Saturday. If somehow we can get both lines to play better, we have a chance to make it if we show we are worthy when playing Utah ND SUcLA. Must show CFP Committee on national tv games not at 7:30 Pacific Time. We are trending in the right direction.
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Certainly trending in the right direction but line play must improve significantly to compete with Ohio St., Alabama, and Georgia.
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They can get away with what they have. Those guys know they’ve been exposed so they will start being more grabby and cheat more against certain teams. The times of honorable play are no longer. It’s by any means necessary now. The writer is going to have a hissy fit over what the linemen do on offense and defense. You think the corners are grabby? Wait until you see the Trojans playing like Duke Basketball on the field.
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I find it highly questionable that a PAC12 coach gave the wolfman a few quotes. It’s been my understanding that coaches avoid Scott.
#EMBELLISH
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This week’s FPI data is out!
woo hoo!
This Saturday, at the Coli, the #3 offense in the Country goes against the #28 defense in the Country. I cannot tell how good is the Wazzu D, as they have played I the Ho, Wisky, the CSU Ewes (winless and hapless, having lost to Sacto state!), Ore, and Cal. I suspect that Wazzu is not truly the #28 defense in the Country.
The computer ranks Wazzu offense #74 out of about 130, but Wazzu has played against 3 “HISTORICALLY” pretty strong defensive teams–U Wisky, the Dux, and Cal with good defensive coaches/coordinators. While Wisky, Dux, and Cal have not ranked highly in D so far this year,
their D is probably better than the computers show this year.
Hard to judge a team at 5 games due to small sample size and inherent sampling error.
I might nudge USC’s offensive production down to 35-38 points at home. I might nudge Wazzu’s offensive production up to high 20’s or even low 30’s.
(As a point of comparison, ASU’s offensive ranking was slightly worse than Wazzu at 84 vs 74 nationally.)
If the PI is called closely, USC struggles vs Wazzu. If the zebras let the boys play, our D does pretty well and we win going away.
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Oh, I forgot to mention ST?
Wazzu #19 and USC # 82.
Just don’t punt and kick the kickoff out of the endzone.
Fair catch everything.
EXP’s and not FG’s.
Problem solved.
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Exactly! Our Special Teams are the worst in the Pac 12 — you want to minimize their involvement as much as you can.
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Nice analysis but you have to take account of who’s available and how many snaps. The Cougars have an issue with players being hurt and the replacements are subpar, hence the late game collapse against Oregon and the struggle to beat a mediocre Wisconsin team (who just fired their coach) plus home team gets 3 points automatically. Usually we have a good idea of who’s in and who’s out for both teams by Friday.
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Through 5 games my simple assessment is:
Defense makes good HT adjustments and needs to focus on stopping the run more effectively
DB play is vastly improved over years prior – biggest difference IMO
Riley needs to incorporate more TE packages
A few designed QB draws would really shake things up for opposing defenses
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If Dye was right, and the team came out flat in the first half, I wonder when it is that we’ll just put together a complete game on both offense and defense.
While this team is comprised of 44% transfers, that means there are 56% of the old team–made up of new recruits and old Helton players. And they’ve either not lost a USC game yet (new recruits) or may be still following old habits (Helton players). My guess is that something is going to have to change the mindset of that 56%, and I’m afraid it’s going to be a tough loss.
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Couldn’t the 56% receive their “mindset change” by way of multiple laps, food deprivation and, maybe, a bullwhip? Does it have to come as a “tough loss”?
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I think that we have been fairly lucky so far when it comes to injuries.
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