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Grade it: USC’s offense vs. Oregon State
September 26th, 2008, 3:55 am · 19 Comments · posted by Michael Lev, staff writer
LEV’S GRADE: D
While the defense struggled in the first half, the offense provided little, if any, help leading to the Trojans’ 21-0 first-half deficit. USC’s first-half drives ended punt, punt, punt, fumble, and the Trojans managed just 75 yards in the opening 30 minutes. The offensive line, which was so good in the first two games, took a step back, failing to consistently open holes for the running game and allowing Oregon State’s pass rushers to flush Mark Sanchez from the pocket. Other than two overthrown passes late in the fourth quarter - the second resulting in an interception - Sanchez actually didn’t play that badly. He just didn’t have the help he had in the first two games. The other player who didn’t perform up to his usual standards was tailback Joe McKnight, who netted just 10 yards on seven carries, lost the aforementioned fumble and dropped a pass. On a night when the running lanes were clogged, McKnight needed to go north and south and take what was there instead of dancing and trying to make something out of nothing.
Now it’s your turn:
Related links:
- Grade it: Defense
- Grade it: Special teams
- Grade it: Coaching
- Poll: What exactly happened to USC in Corvallis?
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We are four games into a long season. It was lame that the news media in this country crowned the Trojans national champions with 3 full months left in the schedule and it is even more trivial that they are now writing them off. The Trojans need to focus on Oregon and winning the Pac-10. Rankings, votes, Heisman, national championship, BCS poll, should all mean little to nothing as the season has only just begun.
Fight On!!
Mellon, Where art thou?
The “annointed” champions…right. That’s why they play the games.
How to lose to Oregon State in Oregon
1) Run against last year’s leading defense against the rush
2) Use direct snaps plays to the rusher having an off night
3) Forget about the forward pass until the second half
4) Refuse to fair catch punts that roll down to the 5 yard line
5) Go back to the run in the 4th quarter while still behind
6) Get flagged for holding on the running plays
7) Refuse to use the shot-gun offense to give your QB a better view
8) Refuse to rush 5 players on defense
9) Refuse to play tight man to man on their wide receivers
10) Not having the defense focus on stopping the run
11) Turning the ball over
12) Not intercepting the ball that is mistakenly thrown to you
It’s a long season, my little Mark will shake it off.
USC IS ONE OVER RATED TEAM..It never fails. They win a game and next thing you know every commentator jumps in the boat and crowns these premadonnas as National Champs….Congrats to OSU for not getting caught up in the hype and whooping some Tommy BAHAMA A–…..
I despise USC mainly because they have a bandwagon frontrunner type fan base…Yep OSU injected these kooks…
And I won’t even say anything about them mixing Sanchez and Heisman together …LOLOLOLOLOL
This was totally the coaches fault (Especially the defensive coach). They didn’t adjust, they didn’t do anything and in short, they got out coached.
The players are awesome, but it’s up to the coaches to adjust when they are getting their asses kicked.
Hummmmmmm, if the players are cold, need to switch them out.
It did cost them the game…….
13. Let a 5 foot six guy run right through your overrated o-line all night long.
Not the coaches fault, a lot of those players are OVER-RATED and that is the problem, wouldnt stand a chance against even a second tier SEC team.
ROLL TIDE ROLL
Even though the players had a bad game.. Oregon St out coached Pete Carroll and staff.. FLAT OUT! USC has had the same style of play for the past couple years. These interconference team are learning their play style. Time to make some changes to your offensive play calling.. MAKE THE CHANGES! For the 3rd year in a row, USC has probably played themselves out of a National Championship. Now we need a little luck!
That is all.
I agree, The game was lost by horrible coaching!!! Pete should have gone for it on fourth down in the first half and they should have let M. Sanchez take all of the snaps and not take a piece out of the Arkansas paly book!!! Mknight is an AWESOME athlete and the Trojans team is full of GREAT athletes and still the Sorry ASS OSU team EMBARRASSED the Mighty Trojans of Southern Cal… The Coaching staff needs to let the players play. The Defensive front was manhandled and they let some Chump 5 Foot nothing run right through the middle. As much as i HATE to say it, USC Deserved to lose and i Hope they learn THIS time around!~!!!!
The coaching staff needed to make changes. Mark was ruffled…..
Didn’t know how to act, when he had people in his face…Bad O LIne, Bad O Line.
Man can I get you fair weather fans a box of kleenex? No changes needed to be made according to the players and sports writers after they whooped Ohio States behind, they were on the way to get their clock cleaned in the National Championship game by a much better SEC team.
It looks like the way to beat the Trojans is to pressure Sanchez. Keep him on the move. He’ll head for the sidelines every time. Having said that, he still IMHO will improve with time like a good wine.
Hey Trojan fan….
NICE KARMA!
Welcome to 2 and 1…….
I’M A BEAVER BELIEVER!
This is what’s so great about college football.
Man it was great seeing SC get throttled by an UNRANKED team that lost to Stanford! Lmao…..
Please play man defense and pressure.
Please play CJ Gable, and remove McFright.
Please dont run when the defense will not allow it.
Please dont script plays. It wastes possessions.
Please remove McFright from the punt return team.
Well, well, well. Mix a team reading and listening to the press, along with coaches doing the same and NOT getting it done before the game and this is what you get.
Uncle Sanchez, I’ve been around a long time, played at the upper levels and I’ll tell you this. You are correct. He WILL shake it off. He has all of the tools and the most important one is between his ears. He keeps that tool in check and under control and THEY will be just fine.