FOOTBALL

USC Sunday Buzz: Do You Trust Your Eyes Or Stats?

Generally, I prefer to go by what my eyes see over stats.

USC’s offensive line was credited with allowing only eight QB hurries. That’s a good number.

But watching the game, I felt like Jayden Maiava was under a lot of stress from the pass rush even if he wasn’t officially hurried. Some of his bad throws were directly because of that pass rush. And don’t forget Texas A&M’s defensive line was depleted.

Here’s another one: Pro Football Focus said Eric Gentry was the highest-rated USC linebacker. He had three tackles. So that sounds more like an indictment of others than anything else.

To be fair, Easton Mascarenas-Arnold had six tackles. Mason Cobb had . . . one.

I’ve yet to find a college coach who uses PFF ratings over their own film evaluation.

  • Some USC fans like to complain that schools like Oregon and Texas A&M only get players because they pay them more money.

But UCLA now has 18 commitments from transfers. USC has six. I don’t think for a second that USC should want all those players. But UCLA doesn’t have more money than USC and is finding players. USC isn’t done in the portal but it’s been meeker than expected.

  • Why are players announcing they are declaring for the NFL Draft when they have no more college eligibility? It’s ridiculous.
  • How bad was this decision by Texas A&M on Friday night?

With a 24-21 lead early in the fourth quarter, the Aggies had third-and-5 at the USC 22-yard line. And they called a running play up the middle that gained 1 yard.

They had a QB who passed for 292 yards and rushed for 46 but called a run up the middle against a defense that loaded the box. Have they ever heard of a run-pass option play?

That run might be forgivable if you knew you were going for it on fourth down regardless. But the Aggies settled for a field goal.

Offensive coordinator Collin Klein, if he actually called that sequence, didn’t win any awards.

  • The news wasn’t all bad for Texas A&M. Four-star athlete Madden Williams (2026) of St. John Bosco committed to Texas A&M on Saturday.

32 thoughts on “USC Sunday Buzz: Do You Trust Your Eyes Or Stats?”

    1. Smart people know this. That’s why she didn’t.

      You’re responding to someone who talks trash behind a keyboard because she’s hundreds of miles away and no one is going to drive halfway there to “meet up”. only for her to not show up. She knows that and that’s why she barks & barks like the little Chihuahua that she is.

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      1. No NIL funding will be coming from Wiley, ’67, but he has inferred that SC was late to the NIL ‘party,’ and that they’re still catching up

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      2. I hope that LR is seeing the long game…if he was to contribute to NIL and bring in two very good OLs, that could mean a couple of Ws a year.

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  6. -I agree, this “announcing” stuff from pompous football players is a little over the top i.e. “Since I am out of college eligibility I am declaring for the NFL

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    1. It was good to get a come-from-behind win, and JM definitely met the moment in the 4th quarter. I had high hopes for this season from last year’s bowl game. Realistically, I don’t for next year. Maybe we can do better than the Tater Tot Bowl next year.

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      2. Former President Jimmy Carter has passed away at 100, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported this afternoon. Cowardly Gabby is inconsolable.

        Jimmy Carter had been in hospice care since February 2023, yet voted for Senile Joe  in the November election. His wife, Rosalynn Carter, passed away in November. We can be sure she voted for Biden too.

        Jimmy Carter (D) quoted the Misery Index ( Unemployment Rate +inflation rate) extensively during his 1976 Presidential campaign to unseat Jerry Ford, even though Ford actually presided over a declining Misery Index. Carter, on the other hand, presided over an increasing misery index of his own, starting his term at 12.72% and increasing to levels well above Ford’s highs. Carter’s misery index peaked at 21.98% in June of 1980.  His misery index was still above 20% come November 1980, so Reagan (R) was able to use Carter’s own words and the misery index against him in the following election and make Carter a rare one-term President.

        Reagan took office in January 1981 with a misery index of 19.33%. By November of 1984, the misery index had fallen steadily to 11.25%, and Reagan was reelected. By November 1988, the misery index was 9.55% and Carter is remembered as a failed president. 

        Carter also stupidly gave the Panama Canal to a Dictator, allowed Castro to empty his prisons in the Mariel Boatlift and bungled the Iranian Hostage Crisis for 444 days. But Senile Joe somehow surpassed Carter as America’s Worst President.

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  8. I was thinking JM was under stress from the A&M pass rush because he has a hard time seeing the field and holds on to the ball too long.

    In the NFL, the ball is out of the QBs hands in about 2.5 seconds. The QBs who can run (Jackson, Hurts) average over 3 seconds per throw, but JM isn’t Jackson or Hurts. JMs 40 time in HS was 5.2. If he is going to run, he should run north-south, not east-west IMO.

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    1. 5.2 is slow. He looks a lot faster than that. I wish he would bootleg at least 3 times per game and pick up a first down. The defensive ends were crashing down on the running backs all year.

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  9. I am always optimistic about USC football. Thought they would go 10-2 this year and then revised it to 11-1 after the LSU game. Not as optimistic for next year. The two big d line transfers will help the defense but we could still use an edge rusher and an experienced linebacker and probably a safety. I don’t know what we have on offense. Not sold on Maiava and the o line has at least two unproven players at center and right tackle. It could work out though.

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  10. Jimmy Carter dies knowing he was no longer considered the worst President in modern day history. Of course, that honor belongs to Dementia Joe. A person had to have been so stupid to have voted for him. The world has paid a dear price for that stupidity.

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      1. The incompetence & weakness of our current administration has gotten us so close to WWIII. Let’s hope a strong President can help to reign things in before we get there. A shame Biden-Harris voters never cared about lives.

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  11. is there any chance that you might consider covering Texas A&M instead of USC? We would like you to enter the transfer portal

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  12. is there any chance that you might consider covering Texas A&M instead of USC? We would like you to enter the transfer portal

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  13. is there any chance that you might consider covering Texas A&M instead of USC? We would like you to enter the transfer portal

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