It is always easy to find fault after a loss but the troubling aspect of last night’s setback was the way the Trojans wilted in the trenches. Especially when so much has been said this offseason about the strength and conditioning program.
“They wore us out,” Steve Sarkisian said.
That’s something USC is supposed to do to other teams.
THE coaches ,unlike Bostons,never adapted to changes by the other team…believing you can just over power someone,who has stacked the deck is plain stupid;I am 71 and could see just forcing the run was not going to work;no defense can stay on the field forever vs an q/b option offense ,SC has rarely defended it well;but when the offense spends more time going backwards ,trying to run ‘all’ the time,giving the opponent constant great field position,you are just plain stupid;Boston made changes after the SC scores that stopped SC dead in their tracks until late in the game…SC needed to adapt…did not until too late…feel sorry for the players.
If Garrett had heeded to Carroll’s request and named Sark as Carroll’s successor, Sark would have been the coach at the start of sanctions era, USC would not have been any better or worse off, but it would have avoided the Lane Kiffin circus, and by now, five years into his tenure, Sark would be on the way out, Kiffin would have been Tennessee’s problem and USC could start looking for a real head coach.
LOL, Sark still would have had to deal with reduced scholarships. Don’t know Sark is the man for the job, but he’s got a couple of years to prove he is, but he better change his ways NOW or he’s gonna be Kiffin part 2.
Who’s a better coach than Sark that is available or willing to leave their situation? Nick Saban? Yeah right. Chris Petersen isn’t a good coach. Every time there’s an opening at HC for USC the talk is all Mike Riley which shows there’s no alternative. Maybe Sark’s the guy, maybe he isn’t. USC isn’t winning anything significant this year or next nor did they have a chance previously under Kiffin. Once they have a couple full recruiting classes they can contend, but nobody thought SC could beat Stanford, so they’ve already surpassed expectations for the season. Anything more is all gravy.
Couldn’t agree more. But Sark definitely put himself back a step last night. I’m not one for second-guessing. Too easy. Hope Sark takes a big look at himself and what he needs to do to figure out what his weaknesses are. There’s a lot of UW fans saying “I told you so.” We’re gonna find out what Sark’s really made of.
The biggest concern I have is play calling (well, other than the O line getting manhandled). Even the announcers were making it obvious that they thought the play calling was bad. When SC finally made adjustments on the O line with more blocking support and started throwing 10 to 15 yards down field, the announcers started saying things like “there you go, bring the tight end in close to block, throw it down field,” etc. like they were talking to a child and it was so obvious. But it was so late in the game at that point that it would have taken a perfect effort and no bad breaks to get back on top. Just dumb to wait that long because you want your team to be a “running team” so badly. Just do what’s working.
Realistically, passing is easier when the other team is focused on preventing the long pass, and is in nickel and playing back.
Nonetheless, when the game was in contention, running inside on first down didn’t succeed vs. Stanford (with some exceptions), and didn’t succeed vs BC. USC had run well in 2013, so BC expected some sort of running. It was predictable that BC would study Stanford video.
Sark has to call what is NOT expected. Maybe I’m missing something, but I’m not seeing Sark do that (with some exceptions). With this small, inexperienced roster, you’re not going to win with power alone; you need a healthy dose of unpredictability.
There were a lot of missed blocks vs. Stanford. How did Sark adjust? Don’t know. Comments, anyone?
Sark needs to have a 360-degree self-criticism session with his coaches. These are experienced guys. What is going on? What needs to be done–by each of them and by Sark?
If Sark goes Kiffin and insulates himself from his staff’s criticism, he’s cutting his own throat.
You’re right that passing is easier when the other team is playing back, and that may have accounted for the some of the improvement moving the ball later in the game. But I still feel that running it into the exact same spot with a loss of a half yard over and over didn’t make any sense. It was like the team was just pounding it’s head against a block wall dozens of times and never learning. Would have preferred that they pass more on first and second downs even with the understanding that the protection was bad and it wouldn’t have always worked. Anything is better than running the same ineffective play that repetitively.
Gee, that was my second paragraph. I was complaining about that against Stanford, and again last night.
He must call what is NOT expected. Maybe Nick Saban doesn’t have to do that. But right now, at USC, you have to call what is NOT expected.
Gee, that’s called agreeing on something.
Gee, that’s called agreeing on something.
Ben, I tend to think Sark specifically hand picked this staff in order to “insulate himself from staff criticism.” Do you see Wilcox as a step up from Pendergast in any way other than social graces?
Pendergast was good. Supposedly, Wilcox is very good as well, and Sark knew him, and Pendergast disliked recruiting. I hope you’re wrong that Sark isn’t insulated from criticism. That Kiffin approach is a very dumb approach to leadership.
Agreed. Coach O was not perfect but he LISTENED to his assistants.
I should mention, though, Ben, that recruiting top defensive players will not exactly be a breeze (however much Wilcox likes doing it) if we get shredded by every running quarterback we face. (We could let these coaches off the hook by saying they were less familiar with Boston College than any other team on the schedule– but how could any Pac 12 defense be so unprepared for the zone read)?
Now you’re talking–it’s the mental game. Sark has to examine his weaknesses, and compensate. His play ordering sure seems predictable. Should Helton do more during games? Is Kessler making calls at the line and the right calls? Is it all too complicated for these young players?
It was telling for Shaw to state that he was the red zone problem, and for Sark not to state that about his own work against Stanford. Be serious! If you’re HUNH and score 13 points, 3 of which were lucky, you probably didn’t have a great plan and call a great game. If you started well, and then it went south, you probably didn’t foresee the opponent’s counter-measures, and have your own counter-measures planned and ready to go.
Sark is apparently insecure. Shaw is not insecure. You can get by being insecure, but not if you don’t know you’re insecure.
I agree that Sark is insecure. He wants everyone to like him. He’s more of a follower. I definitely respect Shaw more, even if he’s too conservative for me.
I also think Sark’s simply confused about what to do. The guy’s no genius, not a real innovator. Most alternatives he faces have problems or limitations. It’s not easy or he wouldn’t have failed so miserably last night.
And he’s got some talent, youth, depth problems. But, my response is…so what. That’s why you got the job and the big bucks.
He’s worried USC fans won’t accept a non-running dominant team. He needs to be worried about a lot of other things (like a horrendous defense too) or he’ll be forced to absorb the Kiffin II label so fast it’ll make his head swim.
If he loses to both ND and ucla this season (and both are clearly beatable), he’s gonna experience a whole new dimension of coaching life. I fear for him.
I don’t think it helps to say “so what” to the problems and limits. And I think it’s early to declare him a failure.
His best bet is to get with his coaches, most of whom have a lot of experience, and to brainstorm their way to taking the best steps to maximize a situation with limits.
That’s the realm of the possible this year, and maybe for 2-3 years. To have thrown in with the Stanford “bubble” was not too smart. It’s not smart to feed the fans what they want to hear, if it veers too far into fantasy land. The players need to be told what’s real, in a teaching sort of way. And he can’t tell the fans things that make him look insincere to the players.
Haden hired him. He’s got time.
I suspect he needs to delegate more to Helton. What he adds by calling each play is much less important. He would be smart to be the generalist in that sphere.
But Sark really needs to know what each player is struggling with, and to optimize the teaching, and to encourage. I think he wants to connect with them and he has the right stuff to do that, and he needs to focus on that.
He needs to know all the details about what each player is struggling with in order to improve, from the position coach’s POV, and the player’s POV. He has to make sure each player is getting the teaching and repetition he needs to get better, and that each player is doing what he needs to do to get better.
(Now, if Sark knows that, it may have implications for offensive or defensive strategy, at a macro level and a micro level. Then he has to take action.)
But every time I hear a USC player asked “what do you need to do to get better?”, I hear a vague, uninsightful response. I think there may be something wrong with that.
Is it just me? Personally, I have never improved at anything using that approach. To me, to be vague is to fail.
Players, at any level, don’t like to admit weaknesses publicly. So their vague, untruthful responses don’t bother me.
I do hope Sark is taking the approach you outline regarding improving his players. That would be great. If he does that with himself too and gives Helton some more power…and also takes a hard look at this brutal defeat by an average team, maybe he can really fix some things. If not, “Seven Win Sark” will have lived up to his moniker.
“Lane Kiffin circus”…..no you didn’t?
fit Un Clown School!
Sark needs to dump some of his dead weight coaches after the season, loosen up his play calling, recruit big d linemen and get some LB’s who can ward off WR’s, Hutchings got shoved around like a rag doll all night.
Hate to blame Kiffin again, but . . .
The lack of the physicality at LB is a result of Kiffin’s recruiting smaller LB’s to “match up” with the spread offenses. Hutchings is out of position MLB. He should be playing on the weak side. Sarao and Starr/Felix just cannot make plays, period. They wouldn’t see playing time at at least half of the Pac 12 schools. Tavai is totally out of position being asked to play weakside LB, drop into coverage or seal the edge. Should be a rush only specialist.
The fact the Cravens is being asked to play nickel LB rather than controlling the middle of the field is telling.
In retrospect, moving Madden to RB was a bad idea. Dawson and Ruffin getting hurt was bad as well, as having Bigelow going down hurt, because Simmons and Pelon still take plays off.
Defense misses Uko and Kennard. They haven’t been able to replace them.
But that shouldn’t take the heat off of the coaches, especially Wilcox. Last night they looked like the offesne did last year under Kiffin. They flat out quit.
Really smart observations, I.G.! Particularly, the last one —-it did look like the defense quit. If an inspired Boston College team can do that, I kind of hate to think what an inspired UCLA or Notre Dame can do.
Better to have an embarassing loss after an unlikely win then have a chimera of greatness that gets ruthlessly exposed when Pac-12 games continue 2 weeks hence – Coach Hyde bluntly asked who was calling the plays last night? If it was Sark then it’s Kiffin all over again and if not then why the continuation of the Stanford game plan.
Poor pre-game preparation and soundly beaten by an underrated foe.
1 down and 4 to go. Otis, we now know SUCC will not be undefeated Nov. 22. Tsk,Tsk.
blaming wolfman anymore, the Dummies are not.
right he was, about the trOXans.
much FEAR i sense in the Dummies,
Fear leads to Anger,
Anger leads to Hate,
Hate leads to, Suuuuuuffering
Wilcox did very little to be defensive co- at USC and it is showing.
Kudos to Ben Factor, Jack B, Michael Guarino, USC Rising,
Independent George, Sandy U, Yale L, rusoviet, & Go Tama. This has to be the best set of responses to a thread on this site in the last year or so. Intelligent dialogue, regardless of viewpoint
is very refreshing. Thanks to all of you gentlemen. This is what it all should be about. (Obviously ignore the 2 trolls throwing mindless smack).
On behalf of all, thanks, Larry. And ditto! Maybe, someday, we will outnumber the kindergarteners.
I have to believe that the players are in good condition, there is this factor about having a lack of them that tends to shI don’t thin anyone expects them to win conference, but they can influence the outcome. A couple of years and then we roll.
I agree Sark should have started passing sooner…not waiting until so late in the game and 14 down. However Southern Cal QB being Cody Kessler, didnt have much choice. I think most would be complaining about why throw the ball instead of running! If Sark had let Kessler air it out. I think lots of interceptions and sacks would have happened. Flat out the SC OL is the problem. Not much options when OL is being pushed around like little girls…Kinda ironic being that Mama is like 390 pounds!