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USC-LSU Report Card

QUARTERBACK

Miller Moss lived up to his Holiday Bowl expectations, especially on the final drive. There won’t be a quarterback controversy now. He kept his cool in the pocket and got pretty good protection, so for now he doesn’t need to improvise.

Grade: A-

RUNNING BACKS

Woody Marks was solid-if-not-spectacular. It would have felt differently if his poor decision to flip the ball on the trick play that led to a fumble was recovered by LSU. Lincoln Riley needs to run more, a constant theme.

Grade: C

WIDE RECEIVER

The offseason publicity went to Zacariah Branch, Ja’Kobi Lane and even Makai Lemon.

But Kyron Hudson led the Trojans in receptions, led by his one-handed grab. He also had a couple drops, but no one will remember that. Duce Robinson had a couple significant catches and USC finally went to the tight end (Lake McRee).

Grade: B+

OFFENSIVE LINE

The good news is the line did a good job on pass protection. The less-than-good news was the run blocking as USC averaged 3 yards per carry.

Grade: C+

DEFENSIVE LINE

They definitely played better than last season but mainly it was because of the new transfers. Wyoming-transfer Gavin Meyer and Bear Alexander played almost the same number of plays (32 vs. 28) but Meyer stood out more. Vanderbilt-transfer Nate Clifton also had three tackles and Anthony Lucas had one.

Grade: B+

LINEBACKERS

This was an ideal set up for the linebackers. LSU didn’t commit to the run and its passing game was fairly conservative. The tackling was better, however, and Eric Gentry regained his 2022 form. Easton Mascarenas-Arnold had six tackles.

Grade: B

DEFENSIVE BACKS

This was the sore spot, which was not a surprise. They played soft coverage but the LSU receivers were consistently, even if they didn’t have a QB who could consistently find them downfield. It’s going to be something when USC plays a passing team but that won’t be a for awhile.

Grade: C-

SPECIAL TEAMS

This was pretty much as expected. Zacariah Branch almost broke a kickoff return. And new kicker Michael Lantz missed a chip shot right before halftime. But Lantz did make two other field goals.

Grade: C

COACHING

The good: D’Anton Lynn’s bend-but-don’t-break game plan worked fine against a QB making his first start. And the defense’s tackling was noticeably better.

The bad: Lincoln Riley’s clock management was a disaster at the end of the first half and then he had to burn two timeouts in the second half that would have mattered if not for the offense’s final drive heroics. At least Riley wasn’t berating the officials like he did in games at the start of last season.

Grade: C-

23 thoughts on “USC-LSU Report Card”

  1. Border Czar Kamala Gets An F For 32 ARMED Illegal Alien Dreamer Venezuelan Gang Members Overtaking An Apartment Complex in Sanctuary City of CHICAGO… At Least They Waited Until The DNC Convention Was Over.

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      3. Cowardly Gabby pushes debunked fables from the DNC while Kamala snubs the families of the service men and women she killed with her idiotic withdrawal plan from Afghanistan.

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    2. Border Czar Kamala Gets An F For 32 ARMED Illegal Alien Dreamer Venezuelan Gang Members Overtaking An Apartment Complex in Sanctuary City of CHICAGO… At Least They Waited Until The DNC Convention Was Over.!!

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  3. USC coaches made solid halftime adjustments, so they deserve credit for that. Kelly didn’t. USC outgained LSU something like 240 yards to 165 yards in the second half. I didn’t like the soft coverage USC was playing, but in the end, Lynn outcoached Kelly and the LSU O-coordinator. Their QB kept throwing checkdown junk and their offense never really got untracked. Holding LSU to 20 points is a significant accomplishment after last year’s fiascos.

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  6. well I disagree on a few points:
    the “d’ backs only once were no where to be found’cause they ran into each other..and they tackled extremely well while being there…the coached called the loose coverage and when he changed it those receivers were shut down
    the lincoln did mismanage the time at end of 1st half,but his coaching at the end called the plays to win vs a very good team

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  7. Wolf praises Gavin Meyer (because he’s the champion of undernoticed players?) but Braylan Shelby beat his blocks and pressured the quarterback more including winning battles against two future NFL 1st round draft picks on numerous plays. Wolf has lost it.

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    1. Speaking of losing it, Mochelle Obama and Hitlery and Laura Bush wrote a letter about the children that were being separated from their families at the border when Donald Trump was president. Do you notice the radio silence by all of these hypocrites and hacks that 320,000 children have gone missing under the Harris/Biden administration?

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  8. Scooter,

    Db’s played better than you grade. They played in the first half a coverage that kept everything in front of them. Second half that changed and they shut down Lacy. Give them a B. Defense overall played at a B level. Open filed tackles were awesome and the defense did have a couple of tackles that stuck the rb and he stopped and went backwards. Defense suprised me. They played so well and you forgot to mention that Cobb had an interception, the only turnover for the entire game.

    Oline is a C+. They gave up two sacks but they got pushed around. On run drives, if they have a tightend to help block, they can run the ball. They need work. If the line can play better, then watch out, SC offense will go balistic like Palmer did.

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  9. Wolf will spin anything as negative about USC. Example…

    DEFENSIVE LINE

    They definitely played better than last season but mainly it was because of the new transfers. 

    Why does it matter if they’re transfers? If we didn’t get these transfers, Wolf would say that the defensive line performed poorly because they missed out on some transfers that could have helped in this area. Nothing will make Wolf happy,

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