FOOTBALL

USC-Fresno State Report Card

QUARTERBACK

Jayden Maiava must think he’s playing a video game when facing these teams. He completed 23 of 25 passes against Fresno State. I’m waiting for him to complete is first 23 straight passes and then USC will try to compare it to when Aaron Rodgers completed his first 23 passes against No. 1-ranked USC in 2004. You know they would.

Grade: A-

RUNNING BACKS

This remains the first mystery of the season. Why aren’t the backs showing breakaway speed when they did last year? Surely USC will break some long runs in the next two crummy games. Right?

GRADE: C-

WIDE RECEIVERS

Trent Mosley has been explosive the first two games. When will Boobie Feaster get a chance? These games are like 7-on-7 exhibitions. When do we get a real game?

GRADE: A-

OFFENSIVE LINE

Where is the push in short-yardage situations? Here’s a factoid: Fresno State defensive end Dylan Hampsten graded out at 83.4 vs. USC, the second-best mark in the West last weekend for defensive ends. Who was blocking him?

GRADE: C-

DEFENSIVE LINE

Jide Abasiri is the best defensive lineman right now. Not Luke Wafle (who is also off to a good start), not Thanos. And 247 rated Abasiri a three-star prospect in high school. It’s going to be fascinating to see him and Wafle against Oregon’s offensive line.

GRADE: B

LINEBACKERS

You can see signs of being susceptible to the pass even against a pop-gun offense. Will Louisiana QB “Lunch” Winfield will provide more of a test.

GRADE: B-

DEFENSIVE BACKS

I can’t honestly say this group was much better when Fresno State had a Tomato Can at QB who was so clueless he took two safeties. But his ineptness allows the secondary to celebrate that it looked better in the second game. High-fives all the way around.

GRADE: Incomplete

SPECIAL TEAMS

I knew Mike Ekeler during his first term at USC when he was not yet known as a special teams guru. He still hasn’t proven to be one at USC, after having 12 men on the field for a punt vs. San Jose State and 10 men on the field for an extra point vs. Fresno State.

Imagine what might happen when USC finds itself in a stressful game.

GRADE: C

COACHING

Lincoln Riley blamed the first game breakdown on the third-stringers playing in the fourth quarter. So who was to blame for the offense scoring 2 points in the third quarter vs. Fresno State? It wasn’t the third-stringers. He isn’t getting a tune out of the running game and his playcalling on the two plays that gained 0 yards at the 13-yard line was uninspired. You can bet the marketing dept. wishes they had more to work with at head coach as they try to sell tickets.

GRADE: C-

31 thoughts on “USC-Fresno State Report Card”

      1. It’s Make Believe Day!

        Don’t knock others who want to play make believe, if you’re going to do the same.

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  4. that’s some hard-hitting stuff, wolfman! of course the Fanboys, Homers and Company Men will vilify you for speaking truth to the Evil Empire, but you keep on boogeying, brother!!!

    #ClawOfTheWolf

    Liked by 1 person

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      2. KAM: Some pretend OJ wasn’t a convicted criminal who was found to have committed armed robbery and kidnapping and spent 9 years of a 33 year sentence in a Nevada prison.

        DON: He let down the Trojan Family. What a disgrace he turned out to be.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. I’m not one of the people who claim it went the other way, Buddha, but thanks!

        As for LV, I don’t claim that didn’t happen. I’ve said he was an idiot for pulling that. Even if some of those things belonged to him, that was not the way to go about it. Don’t be making up stuff like that, or we’ll have to lose the SANE Gabby name. 😉

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      4. KAM: OJ wasn’t an idiot for committing armed robbery and kidnapping, he was doing what criminals do. The Los Angeles Times describes O.J. Simpson’s adolescence in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill as involving street-gang activity and identifies him as a “street thug” during that period.

        DON: He was also a gifted athlete who became a football star, but that does not erase the documented juvenile street involvement. Like a chameleon he pretended he had changed. We students, fans and alumni all wanted to believe he had changed. But he hadn’t changed and 9 years in prison is proof of it.

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  8. Kiffin just can’t get out his own way

    Leaders of the Southeastern Conference will meet Thursday to discuss whether to kick LSU out of the conference in the wake of a simmering feud over whether players who spent time in the NFL should be allowed back on the team’s roster.

    On Tuesday, the SEC amended the federal lawsuit it filed last week, asking the judge in the case to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent LSU from taking action to block or interfere with the Thursday meeting of school presidents and chancellors.

    A vote of at least two-thirds of the conference’s CEOs would be needed to dump LSU, which is a founding member of the conference that was started in 1933. An LSU spokesman declined immediate comment.

    The SEC established a rule forbidding teams to bring players with NFL experience back on their roster. Two of those players, Zxavian Harris and Dae’Quan Wright, have been practicing with the team but were not placed on the roster in advance of Saturday’s 51-10 win over Clemson. They still could be added.

    In a statement, the SEC said it has the right to establish rules and “a commitment to those rules and to the core principles of the Southeastern Conference is an essential element of SEC membership.”

    “Today’s filing is necessary to defend that right and preserve the Conference’s ability to govern competition among its members,” the statement said.

    Liked by 2 people

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  9. Wolf, the expression, “Sad little man,” fits you perfectly. You make yourself look very pathetic and sad. Lighten up a bit Scotty before you end up with a coronary. No one really believes that you know what you are talking about anyway.

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      1. “Sad little man” is nothing like the vile things the things our favorite poster has posted.

        A little grumpy maybe. But hey, most of us are guilty of that, at times.

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      1. we need a Hard Target search of all HI themed restaurants, bars and bordellos!

        i’ll take the bars.

        #TheFugitive’sNameIsMickeyG

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    1. Absolutely … if Ricky wouldn’t have had so many injuries in 1976 he, not Archie Griffin, should have been a 2 time winner (even though a topic of immense acrimony – both in general and recently on this site – OJ should have as well).

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      2. And for the national championship OJ scampered to the winning score against Beban’s Bruins … kudos for an excellent amplification!

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  12. KAM: If Kiffin were still the SC coach he would have the Trojans in bigger trouble than Bush had them

    DON: I am sure the SEC is not going to kick out LSU because of Kiffin, but the guy should work on his halftime speeches

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    1. Victory Lane was at the prom with a pretty girl (Tennessee), but when the prom queen came a callin’ (SC) he got out of town like a bat out of hell. 😂😂😂😂😂

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