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USC Morning Buzz: Let’s Take A Close Look At Another Concern

With the season approaching, I can guarantee you one thing Gary Patterson is doing is trying to coach up the secondary.

His pet position is safety and he knows the secondary is an issue. Too often with USC, the fanboy media just lists names and acts like everything will be great with the defensive backs as long as you say “Fight On” at the same time.

But have you looked closely?

Is USC going to worry teams if Kennedy Urlacher, Alex Graham and Prophet Brown are the candidates to start at one safety spot and nickel back?

Does it concern people that Chasen Johnson, who is expected to start at cornerback, was injured most of last season? Why isn’t Marcelles Williams, who started last season, considered a starter? Christian Pierce is considered the best safety on the team. Will he be able to impact games?

Remember that USC will face some good passing offenses this season. Patterson will try to disguise some weaknesses but he’s got a big challenge ahead.

52 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Let’s Take A Close Look At Another Concern”

  1. USC will be challenged by Fresno St, trust me, they have a very good defense, and Entz is a better coach than Riley, then again, fake Gabby is a better coach than Riley.

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  3. KAM: Wiley might say that he feels no pressure, that real pressure is a family hoping to pay September’s rent

    DON: Patterson has no worries, he already made his reputation. But Wiley’s is still evolving

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  4. Scott, every position is an issue until we see them actually playing in games. If a starter from last year is not playing first team, it could mean that the player has an injury or a better player is playing. You are not a coach on the field evaluating them every day. Just let us know facts like who is first string at any given time during the sessions. Give us injury updates regarding who is available to play. Quit being a Debbie Downer just looking for problems or mistakes. Be a true USC fan who hopes for the best until proven otherwise by play on the field. As MG always reminds us, it’s all about roasting the Ducks. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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  5. DON: Some Trojans are talking as if Oregon is a must win game

    KAM: It’s not. When SC has 2 losses all the remaining games will become must wins

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    1. Urban Meyer was emphatic, if SC beats OR, they go to playoffs and Riley stays for three more years. Lose and they fall apart and lose 5 games and Rileys gone.

      #SoLetItBeDone

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      1. Chuck, Vegas is looking at another .500 season for the gutties. That would preserve their perfect, .500 W-L record of the last 15 years or so for yet another season.

        #YouCan’tWinThemAll

        #SoLet’sSettleForHalf

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      2. Think ucla will be better than 500, their coach can actually coach. Question will be, if he turns ucla around, can they afford to pay him to keep him from another BIG 10 or SEC school.

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  6. Ball control offense, keep the defense off of the field. What killed USC last season versus the quacks and the domers was an ineffective rushing game. That should be much better this season.

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  7. Will USC Home Football attendance continue to fall I imagine Season Ticket sales are also declining so I don’t think most USC fans are falling for all the hype and worry about who the starters will be, and how tough the schedule is this year. Only winning football games week to week will create fear in our opponents.

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    1. USC has already sold out the Oregon, Washington and Ohio State games…. & they only have 3 tickets left for Fresno State…. [I’d say the Indiana and UCLA games too — but So Cal would call me on it by pointing out they’re not ours to sell out]…..

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  9. HI JOHN. I HOPE WE WIN ALL OUR GAMES BUT I THINK WE GO 8 AND 4 AT BEST SAD TO SAY. IF WE BEAT OREGON THEN ALL BETS ARE OFF BUT OREGON HAS MORE GOOD PLAYERS THAN WE HAVE

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    1. WE WILL WIN SOME OF THOSE GAMES WE’RE SUPPOSED TO LOSE [EITHER OREGON OR OHIO STATE IS GOING DOWN —MAYBE BOTH]…

      #…BUT WASHINGTON COULD MESS UP THINGS IN BETWEEN….

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  10. I JUST CHECKED THE OREGON ODDS. WE ARE ONLY A FIVE AND A HALF POINT DOG RIGHT NOW. I THOUGHT IT WOULD HAVEBEEN MORE SO WE HAVE HOPE WHICH ALWAYS SPRIINGS ETERNAL AS MICHAEL WOULD SAY.

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      4. I HEARD SHE RECENTLY LOST HER VIRGINITY IN A FOOD TRUCK, GEORGE….APPARENTLY SOMEBODY REALLY GOT TURNED ON BY HER NEW “CLEOPATRA” EYE MAKEUP.

        Liked by 1 person

  11. DON: It is true, in last year’s Oregon and Notre Dame games our defensive line and offensive line went missing

    KAM: Those should be a snap to fix

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  12. DON: So SC has basically the same offensive line returning from the 2025 team. This is the same set of guys who could not move both Oregon and Notre Dame.

    KAM: –And offense is Wiley’s ‘cup of tea. It is his defense he had at Oklahoma and SC that has been his downfall. But now it is “Jim Dandy” Patterson to the rescue, maybe

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  13. DON: The line is saying Oregon is 5 1/2 points better than SC, and 11 1/2 points if played at Oregon. That does not look good

    KAM: Oregon has been the Best in the West for so long that the ’26 team will walk into the coliseum with an earned smugness as in ‘Let’s just see you beat me’

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  14. KAM: The Oregon coach has beat Wiley 2 times. No coach likes to lose 3 in a row to another coach

    DON: ucla’s coach Tommy Prothro got under John McKay’s skin by winning the first 2 games. After Coach finally won one, he said “Maybe now people in this town will stop calling me stupid”

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  15. KAM: Some are saying SC’s first 4 games are pushovers

    DON: Fresno St will battle them, and they have to fly Back East to face Rutgers

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  17. DON: But SC should be 4-0 entering the Oregon game, so a loss there places them at 4-1 with the following Washington game being a winnable game

    KAM: A likely scenario but Oregon hasn’t won yet

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    1. It’s up to Lincoln to make sure we do win. McKay and Carroll won games in which we were dogs. Now Riley has to do it.

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  18. KAM: Preseason is a fun time with all of the guessing and speculation

    DON: And everybody is in a pretty good mood with their team at 0-0

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  22. Worried about Urlacher, Graham, and Brown starting at one of the safety and nickel spots. The answer should be absolutely not these guys all have experience now, and were 3-4 star good athletes so it is time to perform they are getting paid, and have a free education.

    USC with positive thinking, and confidence should be able to beat Oregon at Home. The negative thinking won’t help the program ..

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