FOOTBALL

Discuss The USC-Utah Game

A Pac-12 defensive coordinator texted me: “Somebody is getting fired. They might blame it on secondary They might blame Donte Williams.”

There needs to be an inquest on what the defense is taught.

Utah corner Clark Phillips had a very costly slip there and Caleb Williams keeps making plays.

USC cannot cover a tight end. Period. What a shambolic TD that was.

Caleb Williams is still producing some magic.

USC is 0 for 8 on third down.

Where is the “offensive line is great” crowd now?

Someone should be fired with the tackling and defense on that 57-yard TD pass to Money Parks.

Lincoln Riley having quite a Pac-12 title game.

The run on 3rd and 18.

The 4th and 8.

The run call on 2nd and goal that led to settling for a FG.

USC punting with 17 seconds left on the play clock and 1:50, which helped allow Utah to score a late TD.

Some USC fans did the “Big Balls Pete” motion during the 4th-down calls. Not quite the same as during the Carroll Era.

Some parts of Allegiant Stadium are starting to feel like a sauna and this is a new stadium?

The Pac-12 can’t figure USC colors apparently.

You know who I credit more than Lincoln Riley for this season? The schedule.

No Oregon. No Washington. One tough road game (Utah).

That’s a pretty nice road leading into the College Football Playoff. Beat Utah and you’re in.

111 thoughts on “Discuss The USC-Utah Game”

  1. Scooter,

    It is not SC’s problem that they did not play whoregon or the doggies. Talk to the Pac 12. The only time SC has ever backed down from playing anyone was when they got rid of UC Davis off their schedule. SC played who they had to and they did wat they had to do. SC should be undefeated, but they will get their revenge and get ready for the playoffs

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    1. LOL!

      ‘Ol Mule Shoe screwed the pooch with that 4th and 8 clusterfuck.

      17-17 at the half and Grinch’s crap defense is getting exposed. That idiot Grinch is playing zone defense at the goal line…what a dumbass!

      This game is over, the Utes are going to come out of the half and score at will.

      I told you clowns the Ladies of Troy were going to lose.

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      2. 21 unanswered, ‘ Ol Mule Shoe and Grinch both clueless.

        LOL!

        TURN OUT THE LIGHTS THE PARTY IS OVER!

        AHA HA HA HA HA HA!

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  2. Wolf, your such a douche. You didn’t mention Washington all season but NOW your saying USC was fortunate to avoid a team that couldn’t do what USC did AND THAT’S BEATING UCLA AT THEIR HOME STADIUM?!?!!! YOU BELONG AT THE HERALD EXAMINER!!!

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    1. You have no idea what you are talking about – The Herald had the best sports desk in the USA
      Mel Durslag, Bud ‘the Steamer’ Furillo, Alan Malamud, Tom Singer, Larry Altman, Doug ‘e’ Krikorian, Doug Disney

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  3. That’s good. LR had more work to do than Oregon and Washington. They already had a team. They didn’t get rid of most of their team and re-stock the locker room like LR did. Most new coaches in their first couple of years take the team that they get and work with it until the 3rd or forth year when they have a team of their own players recruited by them. Obviously, LR didn’t do it that way. He got rid of the bad eggs and used the transfer portal to by-pass the normal process. But then you have a totally new team that has never played with each other. So the easy schedule is what he needed.
    But it wasn’t that easy. If you are talking about teams that won 9 games or more…..Oregon played 4 such teams and Washington played 3 and SC played 3

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  6. Mr. Wolf, you really want to go down this rabbit hole? Talking about scheduling? First, SC would compete with Oregon and Washington just as well as they have all year. With great effort. Second, if you want to chide the Pac12 and USC for scheduling, then let’s continue this debate. But in meantime, ponder this:
    SEC scheduling is intentionally formatted to get SEC teams highly ranked and with high perception value. Below is every SEC National Champion schedule (opposite conference / division foes) since 2006. (note – Alabama and Georgia have not played each other in the regular season since 2016. Can you possible guess ‘why’, Mr. Wolf?).

    2021 – Georgia played:
    Arkansas, 3rd place east & auburn, 6th place east

    2020 (covid) – Alabama played;
    Missouri, Georgia Tennessee, Kentucky
    2nd thru 5th place in Eastern Division – only Georgia was over .500

    2019 – LSU played:
    Vanderbilt, 6th place east, & Florida 2nd place east.

    2017 – Alabama played:
    Vanderbilt, Tennessee, – the two worst teams in the east division

    2015 – Alabama played:
    Georgia 2nd place east, Tennessee 3rd place east

    2012 – Alabama played:
    Missouri, Tennessee – two of the bottom 3 in east division

    2011 – Alabama played:
    Florida, Vanderbilt, Tennessee – 3 of the bottom 4 in the east division

    2010 – Auburn played:
    South Carolina (9-5), Kentucky (6-7) – the top and bottom teams in the east

    2009 – Alabama played:
    Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee – 3 of bottom 4 in the east division

    2008 – Florida played:
    Ole Miss (5-3), LSU (3-5), Arkansas (2-6) – [SEC conference records]

    2007 – LSU played:
    South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky – 3 out of bottom 4 in east division

    2006 – Florida played:
    Auburn (6-2), LSU (6-2), Alabama (2-6) – [SEC conference records]

    Mr. Wolf, I can throw in Clemson (2018) and Ohio State (2014) if you like. Be very careful how you format this debate. It will bring about all your own negativity right down on top of you.

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    3. Yep, Caleb definitely won the fingernail contest. I’m sure his opponent in the Jimmy Kimmel Bowl will be intimidated too.

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      1. You sonofabitach I got you! You think you could fondle my nephew and get away with it? I got your name, I got your number! Bingo! You about to get another asshole!

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    1. They need to recover their poise at the half. Too many people talking about big win and Heisman trophy…and they believed it.
      Now they’re in a dogfight.

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  18. LOL, shit is serious now!!! Murphy is getting his ass handed to him at RT. Either shoot up Voorhees or roll out Caleb more. Kincaid is getting too many free releases. I told y’all about #87. I’m not worried though.

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      1. Riley has his work cut out for him at the half. The Trojans are acting like they believed all the homey talk about a Big Victory and a Heisman.

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  20. Alex Grinch—halftime adjustment. You have better team speed get out of that zone defense, and play man to man. All Utah is doing is hitting the 10 yard seam in the zone on each side time and time again. Cover their receivers 1 on 1 you have the speed knock the TE off his route there other receivers are not a factor at all.

    If they continue to play this same defense USC there is a good chance Utah will win.

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    1. I just figured out what happened after our offense put 17 fast points on the scoreboard: Riley actually started playing NOT to lose, he stopped attacking. Utah is attacking and we’re not. Time to get into this dogfight and out physical ’em….
      #….AndIfWeCan’t,WeLose
      #It’sThatSimple

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    1. Is the game too big for them?
      They’re playing like it. Bought the hype.
      [But] There’s still time.
      They don’t have to embarrass themselves.

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      1. But they did MG. “Who goofed, I’ve got to know.”

        You knew SUCC was in trouble when Utah tied the game 17 up @ the half and would get the ball starting the third quarter.

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  31. Scott is right. Anyone could have gotten USC here- hell Helton could have on one of his better years, his last full year coaching shows that. I think USC pulls this out but every shortcoming of Riley is still there. He runs the same counter trey to the dirt as his running play, he depends on getting the top QB coming out, he doesn’t know how to use TEs and Backs to block properly and he’s not a strong OL guy. His defense is always hung out to dry on quick changeovers and a large number of possessions… When there is big boy football Riley folds. I hope this is his chance to finally break that record.

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  32. I was told I didn’t know football when I said USC’s offensive line was terrible. I believe it was the LawyerJohn guy who told me not to believe my lying eyes.

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      2. It’s easy for us to say —we’re not the ones out there [and we’re not the QB fucked over by Vorhees’ decision to “save” himself for the NFL]— BUT — a lot of injured Utes stepped up and we didn’t.
        Caleb may have played as well as he could with the knee problem —but I think we’re all sick of the pouting.

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  33. They finally managed to get the QB hurt. Just like they did JT Daniels, Slovis, Jaxson Dart, and Matt Fink. Took a bit longer than I thought it would tbh.

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    1. I think Caleb got hurt on his long run (hamstring?). He came up limping and seemed to never recover. At game so not sure what announcers said but he has been in walking gingerly since that run.

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      1. The only reason he ran is because the line couldn’t protect him. It was a pass play. His throwing pinky is all torn up from when they hit him while he was trying to throw. It was a pretty gnarly gash. His pants are bloody from where he’s wiping it.

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      1. Oh relax JustOwns, I am sorry we SC folks showed any compassion toward you about your wife you nasty filthy hypocrite, how did your wife ever put up with the likes of you–

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      2. I’m not the least bit butthurt. I’ve been getting killed here all year saying they aren’t any good. Jesus couldn’t make the playoff with a team that was coached by Clay Helton the season prior to him taking over

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    1. Look back, Vorhees decision to take the game off [probably his agent’s choice] was the beginning of the end.
      Caleb got zero protection. And then he started playing “dejected” ball —not that it mattered to the result but it looks bad.

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  35. It was still a good season. I cannot expect any coach to get a team to the playoffs the first year. He brought the wrong defensive coordinator with him. He still has a chance to fire Grinch and get a real coach in there next year. You cannot expect the offense to score 40 plus every game!

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  36. Helton did the same thing: if you gave him Sam Darnold he could win the conference. LR doesn’t teach a hell of a lot how to move the launch point nor does he teach how to throw from the pocket, he just hopes that he can find an otherworldly athlete to make the offense work by the seat of his pants, and ditto with receivers, who he hopes can hook up. It’s a great system until it isn’t. I just hope we can keep it going to pull off this game and get the Heisman. This isn’t a NC contender and LR won’t make an NC contender.

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  38. Utah’s lineman and Defensive Coordinator at the least know what USC’s hand signals mean when Riley changes the play at the line of scrimmage. They’ve stopped everything USC has tried when they’ve done it.

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  40. This was SC’s year, it gets no better. They brought everyone.

    Bohn gambled on bringing someone that had the same offense, the same defense, only supposedly better.

    They had him bring a core of his players and even the top recruits that would have signed to Choklahoma. We had a base in talent that just a year prior had went 5 and 1 and were just an easy dropped pass from a perfect season and post season. That talent was the highest ranked per player talent in the nation.

    The USC boosters opened the pockets and Riley the top transfer class to boot… And don’t forget, we are in the portal era, like hoops, every year is like this for all the teams in the country, like hoops.

    Many of those players also weakened our competition, Oregon’s best back, Stanford’s best back, ASU’s All American LB, etc. etc.

    There isn’t a building year for several years, every year is a building year and a competing year at the same time.

    And how do you think this looks in 2024 when our games are all in the middle of Buttfug, Minnesota, or wherever in the Rust Belt and cornfields. USC doesn’t travel as it is, but those Big 10 team fans show up. And USC has always had a tough time playing in bad weather.

    Big 10 teams come in to feast on California recruits even more with the promise of at least a couple of games back in LA for their family and friends???

    Then there was the schedule this year… and Notre Dame and Oregon with new coaches when it lost a lot of players and gained nothing, and we didn’t even have Oregon or UW on our schedule, and our OOC schedule was laughable otherwise.

    Everything Bohn did for all his time was based on “win now in ’22, ’23 (?)”, and after that SC sports are riding off into the sunset, only the wrong direction. I suppose by then Riley will have punched his ticket to the NFL anyway.

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    1. This take is dumber than the dumping of DDT off of Catalina. This team was 4-8 last year. Did you really think the stench of Helton could be removed in a year? I thought they’d go either 6-6 or 8-4. I didn’t count on everyone else in the PAC-12 getting worse and Caleb Williams being the best QB in USC history. I’m shocked Williams survived as long as he did behind this trash offensive line .

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      1. LOOL Just like always, and you’re always dumb, sad and wrong and so ANGRY at everyone. lol I can’t even imagine how pathetic your life must be. Stop making it obvious that you’re ugly, fat, stupid, bald, impotent, angry and unloved. lmao Fckn no life having loser, stop trying to talk to me.

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    3. GC

      I typically don’t respond to heat of the moment comments but this deserves a rebuttal.

      Let me guess when stock market plummets you go mad and sell sell sell.

      SC will be just fine. The future is certainly brighter today than anytime since PC glory days. NIL and portal have changed CFB landscape. Riles knows how to navigate and I certainly trust him more than Lane, Sark, Ed O, Clay or Donte. You want Chip, Shaw, Peterson, Hetm, etc, you can have them.

      I am proud to have attended the games at the Coliseum this year and witnessed in person my 6th USC Heisman winner.

      Looking forward to tomorrow. As my friend and former Chick Hearn told me, the sun will still shine tomorrow and keep positive and most most importantly maintain good health.

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      1. Ok. Love your energy. Ftr, I happen not to look at games the way you may, they don’t get me down or up. I love the game itself. ‘SC is an alma mater, a place I love for memories and friends, even if the current admins are gutting it from what it was (not like that’s unique in our world today. That gets me a little sad but that’s life.) I love alum and students because I know they share some experiences and if you’re from my day more or less, or before, we probably have lots of the same memories and outlook in many ways.

        I always want SC to win and to be better. But I haven’t been an undergrad or played sports in college for more years than I care to count, that was then and now is now.

        I’m just an observer at this point. I can have some say on teenagers I coach, I have zero say with what happens with Folt, Bohn, the BoT, Riley, etc. I contribute exactly enough to pay for pencils in Heritage Hall (and a little more for my fraternity house perhaps for a few extra kegs and a big screen tv when they’re on sale! Lol My old house will be happy to find that I will be transferring my pencil money to them too soon in protest of the Big 10 move! That will show ’em in HH! 😉

        Good, bad, middling coaches come and go but it’s fun to watch and comment. I’m always positive, but realistic too.

        Fight on and let’s hope we get an interesting bowl game.

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  43. Like I said; TIMBERRRRRRRRR!

    #SUCC choka, choka, choka, choka, choka, chokes!

    No Heisman, No CFB playoff. Sort of a $10 million F**K Up.

    Am I loving it?, hell yes.

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    1. He’s still winning the Heisman. I don’t even care one way or the other. He’s at -3000 odds and the next closest guy is at +2000. It basically means he’s 40 times more likely to win it than the next closest guy. I doubt anyone knocks him for being hurt. Also, chances are a lot of the votes are already in.

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      1. Who gives a shit about the Heisman? All the happy talk about the Heisman is one of the things that sunk us today. That…and the talk of a blowout win. Craziness. This was about getting to the playoffs. USC looked terrible –they got manhandled —and people are talking about the Heisman?!

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      2. How embarrassing to win the Heisman after losing 47 – 24. Williams captained a #4 bozo team to an ugly, humiliating 23 point loss.

        Stay tuned Clownster’s for details about the ring ceremony to celebrate the SUCC Pac-12 Championship game debacle.

        If I didn’t know better, I’d think Andyain’twinning designed the Clown U FB game plan.

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  44. The only thing that makes this fun is that I’ve been saying the same thing and listening to most to all of you snarl and growl and insult rather than admit that I was making valid points. There were no honest critiques, just as Wolf said, “fanboys”. That holds over to USC’s future in the Big 10 by the way. It’s one thing for casual fans but as alum or family of alum, etc. and folks that love the game itself, it doesn’t make sense to me to not look at the team and coaching realistically, critically.

    Anyway, it was good seeing our old Trojan greats out there. I love that Reggie is always passionate and honest including about coaches and coaching. And I love seeing him and Matt. Marcus Allen looks great, as does Carson Palmer, Mark Sanchez, etc. Absolutely love those guys and sorry that things aren’t what they should be and that they’ve had to hold on so long hoping that greatness returns.

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  45. I turned off the TV. However, this was a great season. Yes, a really bad game. Congrats to Utah. They were ready. Miller Moss probably should have been put in the game. I am just glad to have enjoyed college football for the first time in years.

    I was hoping for an 8-4 season. We got 11. Great season. Hopefully, Trojans will go out winners in a bowl game.

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  46. Every USC fan overlooked the horrible defense because of the record. But, it was inevitable that the defense would be the final downfall of SC and it has been. Grinch is a poor coordinator and was the achilles heel. Other defensive coordinators do more with less. He was horrible at OU as well. Not a new occurrence nor an issue with injuries or wrong player personnel.

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  47. The fact that Lincoln brought Grinch with him from Oklahoma is concerning. None of us can be surprised by tonight’s performance though. It’s just too bad our offense couldn’t make up for the defensive deficiencies.

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  48. In the biggest game of his short career, Williams chucks an Int and loses a fumble leading to 2 Utah TD’s.

    Let the bozo loser excuses/whining begin.

    I’ll start: a soft wood tree is easily chopped down.

    I loved the Utah players jumping up and down and waving towels with a minute or so to go in the game. SUCC did the celebrating in the 1st quarter, Utah celebrated when it counted.

    #Oh the sweet bozo Schadenfreude

    #Clown U choka, choka, choka, choka, chokes. What’s new?

    Let hope TIREBUMMER is still breathing.

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  49. Wasn’t just the defense. Go back to LR’s record, his offense fold against big boy football and good coaching. His running game is counter trey. The blocking is all the same, and any smart players and coordinators just tackle the RB and QB. The QBs can’t play from the pocket, and on schedule, all they know is a scramble drill. That’s why he’s 0-4 in playoffs, despite top 5 talent or better always. It’s also why the longer he’s around the more he loses, including to good coaches with mediocre talent. That’s not my opinion, that’s his record. One point that is funny– when I said repeatedly that Whittingham was a far better coach at the time of Riley’s hire I heard some folks in the peanut gallery say how stupid that was to say. LMAO

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