Defense wasn’t very good today. They were terrible on 3rd down.

Both sides of the line, offense and defense, need to improve. Some bright spots here and there though (Leonard Williams and Morgan Breslin showed nice flashes; Aundrey Walker seems to be transitioning well so far). But not getting a good push at the line, and Stanford will expose that next week.

On the other hand, the skill players on offense look real good. That was a big man play by Grimble, and on the other side, Robey and McDonald look to be holding their own despite the weakness at the Harris/Seymour/Baucham corner spot.

In general, it looks like the Trojans are capable of scoring quickly – RB, WR, TE look to be deep and strong. But if we’re going to run the table in the Pac-10, the O and D line will have to make a big step up over the next 3 games. Though I like Hobbi’s upside, if Holmes is hurt that could be really hard to deal with, especially with Standford’s aggressive front 7 next week.

Any update on Holmes?
Torin Harris got burned many times, and I still wonder why Starling is on the field, unless from an experience standpoint. Always felt he is as much asset as liability.
Breslin definitely the real deal, as is Silas.
Many many freshmen played, which is also the good news. We lacked experience today and it showed all over the place.

O line doesn’t seem to want to move anyone. Within tackles tough to move ball. Syracuse is a good offensive team, the qb is going to great.
Again, Monte has db’s playing bend don’t break. Looks like it will be the lb’s who get the interceptions.

Before the game, ESPN had them as No.5. After the game, they drop out of the Top 10!

I’m not quite sure what all of you expect. The scrubs gave up the last 7 points. Nassib will probably be suiting up on Sundays and making $1M or more a year backing someone else up. We had a really great red zone game. The field didn’t feel too short for our receivers when we got down there. The soaked field made defense an adventure in the 2nd half. We kicked all our PATs. Negrete kicked the ball back into New York state. There’s work to do, but that was a good job by a traveling squad sent clear across country.

I’m with the BoscoH. The defense wasn’t stellar but Syracuse is a much better team than people give them credit for. Nassib is a very good college QB and better than most QB’s that USC will see this season. Sure there were some costly/unnecessary penalties and some missed opportunities. Remember, at this time last year, we didn’t think USC was going to be an 10-win team. If they play this way going into the Oregon game, I’d be concerned. The biggest concern for me right now other than Khaled Holmes is the kicking game. Andre Heidari is a very good kicker and not having him is limiting us in field goal situations.

Not being able to kick field goals cost us probably at least 6 points. And Redd and McNeal still did well despite too much disruption in the backfield (Redd’s 40 yarder was a busted play). Still, the Big Three look to be clicking.

Also, I’m seeing a lot of praise of Nassib on here, and I disagree. He will not be playing on Sundays, at least not regularly. Cuse runs that spread offense, and I’m telling you, without depth on the D-Line, we’re going to be playing shoot-outs against the Oregons and Zonas of the world. You need to be able to cycle in 6-10 different D-Linemen to keep them fresh and able to get after the QB. While the young D-Linemen showed nice ability tonight, in general they didn’t get after Nassib enough (though I do think Townsend’s roughing penalty was BS, especially with Breslin being held and facemasked in the same frame). But to be effective against Oregon, we need D-Linemen flying all over the place, and the ends to be forcing the QB out of his comfort zone. Perry did that perfectly last year, even though he didn’t have a lot of sacks to show for it. But SC needs to cause havoc on the D-Line. I like what I see from Williams and Breslin, and I hope Horton is back soon, but after game 2, I don’t think they looked NC caliber against an overrated QB in an offense designed to pad numbers.

A win is a win is a win…
Seems the team was on auto-pilot most of the first half. The rain delay helped the ‘Cuse defense as they were showing signs of fatigue. Kiffin was showing a lot of respect for Syracuse’e defense not challenging them deep. And that made it easier for them to defend the RBs & WRs at the line of scrimmage. Kiffin tried to get more touches for the RBs but the line (for the 2nd game now) wasn’t doing much up front, at lest in the 1st half. The defense, so far, reminds me too much of the 2004/5 defense that played like a prevent defense the whole game. Could we be looking at reincarnation of sorts?

Credit where credit is do, Jim Mora has UCLA looking better than they have in quite some time, and for me I am excited by that. I want the rivalry to actually mean something. Kudo’s UCLA, great win and I hope we kick your ass again this year!

if Syracuse had a better QB, their offense would have gotten more 1st downs and had a better chance

OK, so both Oregon & USC continue to TCB, although the injuries are a steep price to pay

the powder blue panties slapped the farm boys right off their john deer’s

our little sisters, the beavers, got some respect

Arizona showed that Okie state’s previous 84-0 win wasn’t all that much to brag about

the inland locations of Wa st & Col are pathetic

but the real story was Washington: they were supposed to be ‘second tier’ pac12 – and they looked like an 8th grade team playing a high school varsity team…

if, if, if they could have made a better showing, it would have been a very good day for the pac12

but now the pac12 is STILL a weak conf

Oregon111, what you’re saying is that if Syracuse had Barkley they would of won the game……some of the shit you post is too funny

Run a long the ducks need feeding

3rdandlong

I’m with you. With one exception in the past 12 YEARS, our cross town rivals have STUNK. If the Bruin team I saw play yesterday stays healthy, they will be a FORCE, FINALLY !!!

Ocean 111, enjoyed the post.

This coming Saturday, if the Cal Bears beat Ohio State in Columbus, and the ASU team beats Missouri at Missou, the PAC-12 will be on the BIG MAP, BIG TIME. The Beavs have a bye before traveling to the Rose Bowl on the 22nd where the Bruins will kick their A$$ if the young Bruin QB’s right ankle is healed, an ankle injured in the fourth quarter against the Corn. The Bruins catch a depleted 0-2 Houston team on the 15th.

Ocean 111, our PAC-12 may be one tough SOB this year.

The loss of our starting Center could be (?) a bummer. Time to SUCK IT UP and bring to an end our pathetic record against Stanford !!!

FIGHT ON, MB7 !!! FIGHT ON, MEN OF TROY !!!