FOOTBALL

Morning Buzz: Another Perspective On USC

I spoke to a Pac-12 coach who watched the USC-San Jose State game for his thoughts.

“They don’t look like they got a whole better,” he said. “The defense is still missing assignments and playing out of position. We’ll see if they can get more physical when the schedule gets tougher.

“You have to be a physical defense to be elite. They aren’t physical yet and in this game they weren’t too smart at times, either.”

One positive, of course, was freshman wide receiver Zacariah Branch.

“They found their next superstar,” he said. “I’d be a little worried if I was No. 4 (Mario Williams). He’s going to get affected.”

  • Former Los Angeles City Council member Mark Ridley Thomas, who has a doctorate from USC was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison; 3 years supervised release and fined $30,000 on Monday. He reports to prison on Nov. 13.

Ridley Thomas voted in support of county contracts that favored USC while accepting benefits for his son from the university.

Former city council member Bernard Parks, who has a master’s degree from USC, said the prosecution’s recommendation of a six-year sentence was “too lenient.” You might remember Parks fought against USC taking control of the Coliseum and lost to Ridley Thomas in a 2008 race for L.A. County Supervisor. So he had multiple reasons to want a harsher sentence.

“The entire community has been victimized by the defendant’s crimes,” U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer said Monday. Fischer said Ridley-Thomas “has committed serious crimes, has not accepted responsibility and has shown no remorse.”

76 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: Another Perspective On USC”

    1. Like I said before, the Trojans will finish the season 7-5 at best. This is definitely a Mike Leech type of team, load up on skill players, and ignore line of scrimmage play, and hope for the best.

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    1. Grinch was at Ohio St., Shaun Nua was at Michigan, both aren’t worth a shit and were gotten rid of at those schools

      If those two clowns and the other idiot Donte Williams are still at USC next year when the Ladies of Troy enter the B1G it’s going to be a disaster.

      Michigan and Ohio St. know those clowns shit style of defense and will absolutely shred the Ladies of Troy defense. The Ladies of Troy will likely only play one of those two schools, but word will get out about their idiotic tendencies and the Ladies of Troy will be done for.

      I’m actually looking forward to seeing ‘Ol Mule Shoe getting embarrassed just because he’s so fucking stubborn in keeping these clowns around when he knows they aren’t worth a shit

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      1. And that shit defensive performance vs San Jose St. was with ‘Ol Mule Shoe holding Alex Grinch’s hand with the defense which proves that there isn’t one coach on staff that knows shit about defense.

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  3. When it comes to ‘getting even’ vindictiveness knows no bounds

    Back to that SC defense, the sample size is too small to make sound assessments. Wait until Nevada before decreeing “final” judgment

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    1. Giving up 28 points and 400 yards to a mid level MCW school is alarming, if they do the same against a MWC bottom feeder, you better be worried. Truth is, I don’t think the DC and his dimwit DB coach should coach a flag football team, Donte will probably make a great car salesman one day

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      1. Donte’s schtick is too obvious to help him hit the big time in car sales….
        #WorksBestOn17YearOlds

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    2. USC lost to 1 PAC 12 team last season, UTAH. Yet we are supposed to be impressed by an evaluation of a PAC 12 of our current defense by a coach who probably lost to us last season!

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  4. Article from Athletic (no paywall) describes how Grinch turned around the OK D in 2019.

    Sooner D went from ranked in the 100s to around 30 in one season.

    Where is the F is that Grinch? Excerpt pasted in below:

    “Oklahoma’s defense was historically bad in 2018, ranking near the bottom of the nation in virtually every important defensive category. The Sooners’ struggles on that side of the ball cost then-defensive coordinator Mike Stoops his job, and also might have cost Oklahoma the chance to win at least one national championship in the past two seasons. But the defensive difficulties went well beyond points and yardage.

    The culture on that side of the ball had gotten to the point where Oklahoma defensive players often seemed defeated and uninspired. Coach Lincoln Riley repeatedly has said since hiring Grinch that getting the mentality right was far more important than anything schematic.

    On that point, Grinch seems to be wildly succeeding. Entering its eighth game of the 2019 season — Saturday at Kansas State — Oklahoma is ranked 23rd in the nation in scoring defense, 28th in total defense and 37th in passing defense. Those rankings were all in the 100s last season.”

    https://theathletic.com/1320430/2019/10/24/how-alex-grinchs-motivational-tactics-have-helped-turn-around-oklahomas-defense/

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    1. Yeah, and then the D gave up
      48 to Kansas St ( L )
      41 to Iowa State
      31 to Baylor
      24 to TCU
      16 to Okie St
      23 to Baylor
      and 63 to LSU

      The defense wound up ranked 64th ( USC was 79th )

      From the KSU game on they were squeaking out wins, so either Grinch stopped making adjustments, the D had a lot of injuries or the other OC’s figured him out, maybe all of the above

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      1. The way Riley sees it —
        “Big fucking deal. I can beat teams scoring 48, 41, 31, 24, 16, 23 and….. well… 63 is maybe a bridge too far…”

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  5. USC was a mess on Saturday and they still beat the tar out of a solid lower level team. This isnt the Helton years.

    Tackling was much better, not fantastic, but much improved. Physicality is much improved.

    Yes, there is a huge schematic/missed assignment issue in the defense. The defense will probably not be elite, despite the talent on the roster (due to horrible coaching). But that isnt the formula for USC to win the Pac-12. They need to score 45 per game and have a defense that can get some stops in each game. With the new clock rules, scoring will be reduced 5 points per game, so 45 is like 50 last year.

    My biggest concern about this team is whether the o-line can get elite. With an elite o-line, the offense is unstoppable, even by great defenses and the defense just needs to get a little better.

    I personally think the linebacker coaching might be as bad as the secondary coaching. Or maybe it is the schematics. Eric Gentry might be the most important player in the defense, simply because Cobb is too slow and Curtis is still not competent and we havent seen enough Raesjon to know if he can play. If Cobb cant really run down QBs, then how can he “spy” a mobile QB?

    The solutions for the USC defense might be:
    – Move CRW back to corner and have Covington and Domani compete for the other corner position. Domani needs to learn to “make the play”, he is in position on most of the plays, but didnt execute when the ball gets there.
    – Get Zion on the field as the nickel. I have a feeling he will be like his brother and simply perform in games.
    – Get Christian Pierce on the field as the other safety or Bryson Shaw is also OK
    – Maybe the real linebacker solution for passing downs is Raesjon, who is faster than Cobb?

    or go to a 4-3 defense with 3 linebackers – Gentry, Cobb, Raesjon

    I think the d-line is simply about coaching assignments. There is plenty of talent on the line. The edge rushing looks particularly good.

    There were 3 problems in the SJSU game for USC’s defense:
    1. Mobile QB and no good plan to stop him from running
    2. Gap integrity in the d-line
    3. Players in USC secondary that are still not good enough – Wright, Smith, Max – get them off the field
    4. Poor linebacker play – cant stop a mobile QB and cant handle simple cross routes – or is that a corner issue or a schematic issue?

    All these problems are solvable, but Grinch and staff might not even be able to coach effectively to make those changes.

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    1. All great points about the problems connected with defensing dual threat QB’s—luckily we will only face that problem again in the Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Notre Dame, Washington, Oregon and UCLA games…..

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    1. Great thought! Everything is Aces! I already feeling better about hearing that no one on island is having their fire insurance renewed …and all the mortgage companies are demanding fire insurance or foreclosure….
      #LandGrabAnybody?

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      2. Every day I hear someone else who I knew is either gone, lost a relative or is out of a job. My buddies and I were kinda joking around after the fire [just happy to get back to our homes after the evacuation I guess] …but…now it’s starting to hit me. Many, many children lost their lives. The tourist and business district is gone. And Maui still has NO plan for the next fire —

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      3. It could never make up for the devastation there, especially the loss of human life.

        But if you want just a brief feel good moment, you should watch the video of the tribal police handling the climate protesters who were blocking the road to Burning Man. Hearing that one dumbass say, “We’re climate protesters!” as if it came her some kind of pass was pretty freakin’ hilarious!

        Hope you and all those with whom you come in contact remain as strong as possible. But don’t be too macho to shed a tear here & there. It can’t be easy.

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  7. Just like Clay Helton was the obvious problem, so are Grinch, Nua and Donte Williams, everyone knew it, everyone knows it and yet USC is poised to repeat the same mistake in keeping so called coaches around that don’t know how to coach.

    That new A.D. better get a line open to Chris Petersen because this clown ‘Ol Mule Shoe is not going to fire his boyfriend Alex Grinch. Just get rid of both of those idiots and hire Petersen

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    1. When no one else is trying to hire Chris Petersen? REALLY? Do you wash your body with bleach as well because it will kill all viruses?

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      2. The only job Petersen is interested in is the USC job, he said so in an interview a couple of years ago.

        He removed his name from consideration after interviewing with that idiot Pat Haden.

        Now that there’s a competent A.D., Chris Petersen would be more than interested in the job. It’s the only job he would come out of retirement for.

        Petersen is the guy that developed 3 star and below athletes into players that not only competed against the elite of D1, but beat them on a routine basis.

        He took over the mess left by Sarkisian at Washington and got them into the CFP and gave Alabama a run for their money with so called inferior players. This is a coach that puts as much emphasis on defense as well as the offense.

        Go fuck yourself because you don’t know shit.

        ‘Ol Mule Shoe isn’t the answer you think he is, you’ll see that in due time you ignorant fuck

        LOL!

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      3. Aw, I apologize for making you type on your knuckles longer than what that gray matter of yours is used to putting out, but you wouldn’t happen to know Mr. Petersen’s age do you? Or his ability to attract coaches? Or his ability to recruit, his last time coaching? I know, I know, it’s like Wolf says, USC recruits itself, but that didn’t work for Helton, and Riley is having a hard time recruiting against the SEC and Notre Dame, as well as Sarkisian and whatever is left of the Pac 12.

        You truly believe Petersen is up to the task? Then you are drinking bleach. That explains the language.

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  8. I’ll just leave this here

    “Students in Portland, Oregon may soon be able to get away with cheating and not doing assignments, if Portland Public Schools implements new “equitable grading practices.”

    If adopted, the new practices will bring various changes such as new grading structures, not grading homework, not giving students failing grades for not completing their work or cheating, and not grading for “non-academic factors” such as behavior, participation, and effort. ”

    https://nypost.com/2023/08/28/portland-schools-mull-banning-zeroes-for-cheating-and-not-doing-work/

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    1. What’s the point?– If students get away with cheating and not doing school assignments guess who gets hurt, and it’s not the schools

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    2. “Equitable grading” is an oxymoron. Think about it. To grade is to analyze the numbers or the quality of work and then scale it. Equatable grading is just a waste of everyones time in the loop.

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    4. people need to understand what this is all about. destruction of the validity of the grading system allows universities to stop basing entrace on performance and allows it to be based on something else. that is race and gender, etc right now. but the end goal is very different. admission will be based on adherence to the official “party doctrine”.

      by destroying the reality of performance-based success, you make all success based on favors granted by the totalitarian regime. if you wield to their power, you will be fine. if not, you will be homeless and poor.

      you can easily be replaced by some illegal immigrant who is willing to give away his freedom, because he came from a country where he never experienced freedom.

      if the american people dont stand up right now, there will be no america left, only the uniparty ruling class.

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      1. Interesting!…….I don’t see any lazy entitled “white dudes” building homes in Las Vegas……why is that?

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    5. Who actually gives a flying fuck what they’re doing in Portland, Oregon?

      You fucking idiot ignorant fuck dumbshit motherfucking trumpster’s need to mind your own fucking business and shur the fuck up.

      Your twice impeached four time indicted 91 felony count pending Fuhrer Donald Trump is a fucking loser!

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  9. I guess I was the only SC fan who appreciated San Jose’s offense,
    which was pretty good, instead of castigating the Trojan defense,
    which was not That bad

    But it is the sign of the times especially with sports fans
    to perceive primarily the negative

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  10. Any more happy news Mr. Good News? Does USC make you feel small in some way? Does relentless trashing USC help your self-esteem? Can you ask more PAC-12 coaches what they think of USC? We really want to know more about what other schools think of us.

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  11. So I take it everyone criticizing Grinch is qualified to judge him? Or the staff? I complain about decisions that the entire staff make, including the head coach. Rotating 70 players in a game, makes sense if everyone is on the same page. They weren’t. I would like to see if Grinch has 6 defenders he trusts in the box and a go to 11 to make a stop when it’s needed. And does Riley have a go-to 11 for a get the job done drive. The blitzing is actually encouraging when it works like it did on that 4th and 2 for SJSU in the fourth quarter. Beating people up and making them quit before the end is a sign of physicality, so whomever Wolf is talking to doesn’t know football or is a terrible coach and that’s why they’re on the couch. How do I know they quit? They said things during the game that let the USC players know they were quitting.

    We should expect improvement in the next game, not just covering the spread.

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    2. I sure don’t think they will play 70 guys again. They now have game tape on everyone that has any shot at all of playing and can whittle it down. I say they may go 45-50 this next game with fewer freshmen. I really liked when they had Muhammad and Lucas at the ends with Barrs and Bear in the middle. Without the schemes running the players into the wrong positions I think our linebackers would not have been so out of position to stop the running Qb. Davis is the fastest linebacker on the team.

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  12. I said that Wolf would be quoting a “coach” this week. It is amazing that he can alway find a “coach” that prescribes to exactly what Wolf puts out in this blog. Funny, when everything is going great, he doesn’t talk to any “coaches”.

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      1. How dare you pick number one! And how dare you suggest number two!
        #HowCloseDidIComeToMeetingAllYourExpectations,Gabby?

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    2. #1-“The Coach” is the head-space between his ears. ….OR #2- “The Coach” is too embarrassed going on the record knowing Scott lacks integrity and would twist words to fit his anti-USC agenda……My pick is #1

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      1. Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal's Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young's avatar Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal's Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young says:

        You lied to the board last night about Curtis Conway and you talk about lacking integrity and twisting words to fit your hateful perverted agenda?

        Gabby
        AUGUST 30, 2023 AT 3:07 AM
        Fake gabby: USC Fan would know that teams intentionally kicked away from Trojan star kick returner and WR Curtis Conway.

        you stupid senile troll…..a kick returner returns kickoffs, and a punt returner returns punts…..Conway never returned a kickoff in his entire USC career.

        DEBUNKED AGAIN……BAAAAMMM CROTCH KICK…..tooo easy!

        Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young
        AUGUST 30, 2023 AT 3:24 AM

        Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young, you better tell the Arizona Wildcats and the LA Times that Curtis didn’t return a kick 92 yards for a touchdown against them!

        https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-11-01-sp-1798-story.html

        Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young is such a shameless liar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  13. “There are three things that you have to evaluate. There’s coaching, there’s scheme, and there’s personnel. They’ve clearly tried to address the personnel. Now you’ve got to look at coaching and scheme. I thought that the scheme was sound,” Klatt continued. “It’s my belief that defenses in general, and I think that USC falls into this at times, play too aggressive. And when you play too aggressive? You leave your players on islands and you magnify small mistakes. When you play high-risk, high-reward defense? Everything is magnified. One gap responsibility that’s not fit in the run game is going to cause a big play. One missed tackle is going to cause a big play.”

    It’s fair if some people out in Los Angeles were a bit deflated by USC’s defensive outing this past weekend. Some of the statistics, such as giving up 28 points, just 105 fewer yards than their own offense produced, and six yards per play, including 7.3 yards per rush, were not ideal for the nation’s sixth-ranked team against their Mountain West opponent.

    Still, at least to Klatt, it was a step in the right direction. They just now need to take another step and clean several things up before they start to face some far better offenses around mid-October.

    “They’ve clearly addressed the personnel. I think they were bigger up front, they were more physical up front. They were faster at times, they tackled better at times. Now they need to address some of the schematic nature,” said Klatt. “How aggressive are you playing? How much are you magnifying the mistakes that your defense makes? And how much are you not magnifying? How much are you giving your defense outs when they do make small mistakes? That’s the defensive takeaway for me.”

    -Joel Klatt
    Foxsports Senior College Football Analyst

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    1. LIKED!….Still, at least to Klatt, it was a step in the right direction. They just now need to take another step and clean several things up before they start to face some far better offenses around mid-October

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      2. I agree with the schemes. To much, to soon, to often. Schemes are designed to compensate against superior offenses. Just like offensive schemes are designed to compensate for superior defenses. Line them up and let them go, see what the hell happens.

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  14. Well said ‘This World’.. That’s what we are all ‘Monday morning quarterbacks know-it-alls’. Grinch is well aware of the hostility he has endured culpable or not. That clown Plaschke unloaded on him in Subdat’s LAT screed saying what all here have said.

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    1. One worry: Players read comments. Once it appears the entire USC fan base thinks their coordinator is a clown the gig is up…..
      #..WhetherTheFanBaseIsRightOrWrong
      #LookAtTheCallawaySituation….MaybeTheFansWereWrong…
      #[Okay,BadExample]….

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      1. Yeah like that isn’t the cade elsewhere in any sport pro or amateur? Of course it is and strong ownership/administration don’t cave to such as I described. Look in 2019 the DC Nationals went from 19 – 31 to get a WC berth at 93 – 69 and then wom the WS…we won …. we nearly covered the 30.5 points came in at 28….we won that’s what matters, and as to rankings, we all have come to absorb the national animus that came with our resurrection under Pete Carroll

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      2. Michael – in response to your “Sky is falling” quip, I’ll have you know that Chicken Little was a four star!

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    2. Hey Commie Lush, How ’bout dem’ Angels. Artie Moreno, the non compos mentis owner of the last 1.5 centuries. I mean how bad could you blow the “Showboat situation.”

      Instead of a Baseball club for the future; Artie has created a dismal, 3th tier loser…OH WELL! The Angels were always glutton’s for self abuse and punishment.

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  17. I disagree. I think that the defensive front 7 is a lot better. That D-Line is getting penetration. The QB has very little time back there. Individually, the players were playing well. But they are not playing together as a unit.
    San Jose State is better than most people give them credit for.

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  18. MG, have deluge of 48 carpetbaggers and speculators hit the Maui/Lahaina beach yet? I’ve see some ugly snaps of burnt out locals guarding what’s left of their precious land.

    The Bible got one thing right: “All things must pass.”

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  19. Mark Ridley-Thomas aka Curley!

    Collecting pensions from the LA City Council, LA County Board of Supervisors…and possibly more from the CA legislature.

    And folks wonder why CA is so corrupt.

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