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USC football: Have opponents ‘caught up’ to the Trojans?
November 3rd, 2009, 11:00 am · 34 Comments · posted by Michael Lev, staff writer
In light of recent events, the question had to be asked:
Have opponents “caught up” to USC?
Coach Pete Carroll didn’t exactly say yes or no. But he did acknowledge that most of the rest of the Pac-10 Conference is playing at a high level. If that qualifies as “catching up,” then yes, other teams have, or at least are on their way.
“The conference is as good as I’ve seen it,” Carroll said. “I’m really impressed. Across the board, the offensive line play is really good this year. Quarterbacking is excellent. Everybody has got a good runner or two. There’s good receivers on every team. Defenses seem to be active and running. There’s a lot of speed on defense.
“This conference … it’s better than I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be strong anyway. I think the emergence of the quarterbacking is probably the biggest key there. A lot of guys are doing good stuff. In that regard, it’s going to be tough every week, all the way, throughout. I know we’re up against it every week.”
Several Pac-10 teams entered this season with questions at quarterback. (That was evident on Pac-10 media day, when not a single school brought a quarterback.)
As we enter November, five Pac-10 QBs rank in the top 40 in the nation in passing efficiency: Stanford’s Andrew Luck (16th), Arizona’s Nick Foles (19th), Oregon State’s Sean Canfield (32nd), USC’s Matt Barkley (35th) and Cal’s Kevin Riley (40th).
More from the USC blog:
- USC football poll: How will the season end?
- USC football: Trojans won’t lose again this season
- USC football: Carroll, Galippo point fingers — at themselves
- USC football: Galippo should be available for ASU
- USC football: Kickoff time set for Stanford game
- USC football: Can the Trojans bounce back?
- USC football: At least Matt Barkley was OK
- Report card: Grading the Trojans (vs. Oregon)
- USC football: Insight into the defensive breakdowns
- USC football: Trojans plummet to 12th in BCS standings
- USC football: Malcolm Smith likely is ‘out for a while’
- USC football: Five observations from Oregon 47, USC 20
34 Comments
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I’m not buying it. The conference looks solid, but not great if you look at OOC results. Oregon lost to Boise, Wash lost to ND & LSU, ASU lost to Georgia, Zona lost to Iowa, OSU lost to Cinci, Stanford lost to Wake, etc. The only schools w/ decent OOC wins are SC and U¢LA. Are the PacX QBs better? No way, the PacX always has good QBs.
The PacX has “caught up” because they know our schemes as well as, or better than, we do.
Yes. An emphatic YES. And judging by how Pete Carroll refuses to acknowledge that fact and say’s it’s all about them not executing, USC won’t be in pole position for quite some time.
You can execute all your plays to perfection, but it won’t matter if the opposing team can see it coming a mile away. They’ll be ready for it.
Derek Anderson, Kellen Clemens, Aaron Rodgers, Kyle Boller, Trent Edwards, Rudy Carpenter, Dennis Dixon, Matt Moore, Sam Keller, Willie Tuitama, Cody Pickett, Drew Olson. No, the Pac10 QBs are no better than they have always been. This conference has always been an NFL factory for QBs.
The PacX has “caught up” because they know our schemes as well as, or better than, we do.
More like the wheels have come off the Trojanmobile and the are as bad as the rest of the PAC 10. Oregon is the only exception this year.
I will have to disagree and say that execution can be all a team needs to be a dominating force. As Chip Kelly talked about in his Nike Coach of the Year article, Oregon’s run-based offense relies on only 4 run plays with the Inside zone read and the Outside zone accounting for over 50% of their rushing attack. The difference is they run these plays to absolute perfection. Opposing defenses know what is coming at them, but Oregon still averaged 251.7 rushing yards per game in 2007, 280.1 rushing yards per game in 2008, and currently lead the Pac-10 with 233.3 rushing yards per game. All this coming off of 4 run plays…no trickery needed.
If you execute to perfection and your plays successfully complement themselves, it doesn’t matter if the opponent knows your schemes.
After SEVEN fabulous years, the Pac 9 have finally caught up to USC. I had faith in Pete Carroll when they were dominating the competition and I have faith they will return to dominating fashion in the future. As far as this year goes, they still have a chance to finish in the top ten and go to a decent bowl which is something most other rebuilding team can never say.
I somehow dont think USC will be in the 11 year rebuilding faze that UCLA in going through. Pete doesnt make 4.5 mil a year for nothing. Im sure he will have the defense revamped next year. I also expect them to play with life this week.
UCLA isn’t a football school, Boo, there is no “rebuilding faze”. Just like USC is not a basketball school. You are comparing apples and oranges.
Not sure if this question is being viewed in a valuable context. That conference opponents are the toughest to face and most successful versus the flagship, is uncontroversial really. It’s the primary reason why the SEC “powers” schedule FCS and borderline FBS teams yearly for their OOC schedule. Further, the Pac-10 plays Round Robin so extra losses are guaranteed, which escapes the analysis of those at ESPN/CBS in love/contract with the SEC.
The Pac-10 is a better conference than many give credit for, well before Oregon dismantled us. Over the past decade, it has become regular fair to see Oregon, Cal, AZ ST., and sometimes OSU in the top 25. The polls at this moment bear this out, with Oregon, SC, AZ, and Cal ranked.
KRM has the stats right but do you notice the pattern? Most of the top ranked teams and traditional powers are playing the lower half of the Pac-10, which makes a difference. Not convinced? Consider SC, Oregon, and Cal playing Vanderbilt, Miss St., Ole Miss, or Kentucky and the likely outcomes. Moreover, when AZ St. played Georgia (when Georgia was regarded) it was a miracle win by the Bulldogs and Wash played LSU very tough. UCLA beat Tenn at Neyland…the same Tenn that handed #2 Ala a miracle gift win and played FLA to almost a draw.
Unfortunately, the sports pundits consensus is that the SEC is the elite conference (despite Pac-10 being 11-10 vs. the SEC in the last decade) and if that’s so, in a twist it puts the Pac-10 in a very good light, if facts mattered.
Thus, if the Pac-10 has “caught up” to SC, that’s not necessarily a bad outcome, unless SC does nothing to acknowledge and react to it by displaying will, effort, and discipline in a way that has been missing this year.
Thanks,
Greg
You can talk about rebuilding or you can talk about execution of game schemes untill the cows come home, but the reason USC got their clocks cleaned last saturday is because they ran into a team that has what PC or any other coach cannot teach. The Oregon team has “HEART”. USC will be back to their old glory because of the level of athletes they recruit year in and year out. I am a Duck fan from Oregon and I have always had respect for USC and always will, but i think the Ducks could have beat half the nfl teams last saturday. Enough said.
Bill
Bill is right. USC got their clocks cleaned last Saturday.
Marie is a loser. Always on a Trojan site writing silliness to make herself feel better. Dont you have better things to do with your life? You must be a miserable person.
Thanks Bill, you have a very good observation. Oregon had the heart and the will to take them to win last Saturday. USC may have had the better talent, but Oregon was the better team for sure. USC needs to find the will and the discipline it had in 2002-2004 era.
Wow, this is my first time actually reading the comments because the OC Freedomblog articles are very informative and to the point. Just clicked out of curiosity and I can already tell who the trolls are. You people are all the same and can be found on any team’s sports blog besides your OWN. You troll around taking shots at people’s teams when they are down because you feel some sick joy out of it that fills a void caused by past offenses. I’m SORRY MARIE THAT YOU DID NOT GET YOUR MILK AND COOKIES!
Cue 7 more posts from “Marie” until she beats whatever rational thought left in the room to death
Boo is a bigger loser. If you don’t like what I have to say, ignore me. Don’t you have better things to do with YOUR life? You are for sure a miserable person, especially after your Trojans got their clock cleaned. Score was 47-10, which is incredibly humiliating.
Hey Mario, still getting “manhandled like a prison bride?”
lol. Very cute Marie. Disappointed in the loss? Yes. Humiliated and miserable? No. USC will rise again, cant say the same about you. Its unfortunate that you dont have anything else to do with your time. Just the fact that you go on a USC site to write your silliness says you are jealous and bitter of USC Football and I LOVE IT!
Boo; Well done and said. I think you hit a nerve with little maria, she/he is about to have a conniption fit. Look more redundancy - you gotta love maria’s commitment to foolishness.
Yes, they have caught up and kudos to them. They did their homework and has USC’s gameplans and tendencies charted out and broken down. An SC player said it best after the Husky game when he said that the other team was calling their plays. I was certain that the coaching staff will change things up given the fact that Sark and Holt knows everything about them, but they didn’t do anything at all.
If the opposing team knows what’s coming, especially if it’s a team that is as athletic and talented, they will stop it. The rest of the Pac10 are no longer on their heels when they line up against USC, meaning USC has remained stagnant while others have evolved and devised ways to carve them up. Heck, WSU, the doormat of the Pac10 and devoid of talent actually moved up and down the field against USC (Take away that 1st quarter and it was a 7-6 game). They made adjustments on the fly, which is something USC doesn’t do anymore. The USC mentality now is “Just keep running it, it’ll eventually work”
It speaks of stubborness and arrogance when they always reason “We just didn’t execute etc..etc..” after every loss. Has it ever dawned on them that they did execute the ply and the other team knew what they were going to do and they broke it up.
The talent, coaching, and execution gaps have narrowed between SC and the rest of the league.
It’s a shame that when it comes to Oregon, Pete’s D didn’t have a clue. He ought to have looked at film of Ark vs Fl, Ark vs Auburn, Miss St vs Fl and other teams that significantly slowed down high octane spread offenses, and try to pick up some tips that those defenses used.
I’m assuming he looked at the Boise tape vs Oregon, but still I’m sure there are lots of nuggets of wisdom to be picked up from other D coordinators that held spread offenses in check. That type of offense is SC’s and Pete’s Achilles heel. You’d think he’d want to turn over every rock in seeking out tricks, tips, and techniques to stop them, but Pete’s arrogance methinks won’t let that happen, so we get massacres like Oregon. Oh well, maybe next year.
@Ron
I don’t think Pete is humble enough to ask for help or tips from other coaches and coordinators. He believes only in his way and that his way will always come out on top.
I think you may be right about Pete Carroll. He probably hasn’t learned his lesson and will think his way is the right wa when the Trojans beat weaker opponnents in the coming weeks. It will take another manhandling before he is forced to look deeper and admit he is the problem.
The only problem here is you Mario, or more correctly your blind hatred for USC.
Pete will right the ship, don’t worry. He will have USC contending for the national title every year you will continue to be a bitter angry, little man. Will we them all? No, but we will have a shot at some.
“Will we them all?” HUH? Apparently last Saturday’s humiliating loss has affected your ability to write a complete sentence. Try again fella.
Time for some USC jokes everybody!
Q: What’s the difference between the USC Trojans and Cheerios?
A: Cheerios belongs in a bowl.
Q: Did you hear that someone purchased the USC Trojans and is going to move them to Alaska?
A: They are going to rename them the Arctic Chokes.
Q: What do birthday candles and the USC Trojans have in
common?
A: They get blown out every year.
Q. What’s the difference between a dollar bill and the USC Trojans?
A. You can get four quarters from a dollar bill…
The Seven Dwarfs were marching through the forest one day and they fell in a deep, dark ravine. Snow White, who was following along, peered over the edge of the steep chasm and called out to the fallen dwarfs. From the depths of the dark hole a voice returned, “The USC Trojans are BCS contenders.” Snow White thought to herself, “Thank goodness… at least Dopey’s survived!”
Oh so funny Mario. Let’s see, you like to make jokes about:
1. Injured Trojan players
2. Special education children
Are you sure you don’t have a cute little diddy for us about kids on chemo therapy?
You’re so funny and classy, you must have some jokes about them?
No need to make jokes about injured Trojans players. The team has provided enough comedy fodder this season when they are healthy and on the field.
Thanks Mario. At least you’re finally admitting now that you made jokes at the expense of injured players.
The first step is acknowledging you made a mistake, the second is apologizing for it.
The Trojans absolutely CHOKED last week at Oregon, losing 76-20, which means it’s time for more USC football jokes!
Q: How are the USC Trojans are like a possum?
A: Both get killed on the road.
Q: What does the average USC football player get on his IQ test?
A: Drool!
Q: What’s the difference between a BCS Championship USC team and a UFO?
A. Someone has seen a UFO.
Q: What do you call a USC Trojan with a BCS Championship ring?
A. A thief
Q: What do you call a Trojans fan with half a brain?
A: Gifted!
LOL!!! Maybe next year, Trojans. But probably not!
Well Mario, when you can’t defend the indefensible, I guess the only thing you can try to do is change the subject.
How about one of your patented injured player jokes? Those really demonstrate your level of class.
What’s wrong quintiam, trying to shift the focus away from your 2007 arrest for having ‘relations’ with your neighbor’s dog? You are a SICK man and should be locked away.
Oh no, poor little Mario has ran out of jokes about kids in wheelchairs and he is now bringing up dark, dark memories from his past.
Hey Mario, regale us again with your stories about “prison romances.”
Don’t remember seeing any jokes about kids in wheelchairs. But isn’t slander fun?
Marie, er Mario:
In the last 3 months, you have:
1. Wished death upon all Trojan players and alumni
2. Made jokes about injured Trojan players (twice)
3. Made jokes about special education children
4. Made jokes about “forced prison romances”
5. Made jokes about bestiality
The Mods and other maggots may tolerate your disgusting humor here but I will not.
Please take your childish banality elsewhere.