Steve Sarkisian said tonight, “I feel for our players, I feel for our fans because we’re better than we played last night.”
Sarkisian said there was not a growing gap between USC and UCLA because “we didn’t play that good.” Sarkisian said he knows the importance of UCLA game but “I want to win at everything I do.” A cynic might ask if he wants to win more than seven times?
Sarkisian also said his view of the state of the program is unchanged: “One game is not going to dramatically change my feelings on our program.”
He said “last night wasn’t our night from the safety spot.” Asked about UCLA being more physical, Sarkisian said the Trojans will have more physical practices next season with a deeper roster.
Overall it wasn’t hard to see the talent on your roster. Juju and AJAX looked great, with the latter playing especially well last night. O-line is young and looked it, but the worst part for your boys was watching Platt and McQuay just get abused. Kinda felt bad for them, because film review will not be kind.
Sark will get 2 more seasons to see what he can do with a full roster. Hiring Ogeron and Mushamp would give the program a spark. Let Helton call the plays.
He probably won’t change his staff, even if he does, Sarks still the head man, do it won’t matter
Golden was so close to the truth…replace Sark with Orgeron with Muchamp as his assistant head coach.
And who turns the O around? Will Muschamp and Ed Orgeron are both “all-D” coaches. No O in their coaching resumes. And WM hasn’t been out of the South.
you’re right
What makes you think Sark is going to give up playcalling? He is just as adamant as Kiffin, if not more in thinking he is a master playcaller. Ain’t going to happen man. In the meantime, we might see if he is willing to throw some of his coaching staff under the bus to save his job…
2 moore years of not converting on 4th and 2?
There was no difference between tonight and every other game this year! Unfortunately, you weren’t playing Fresno State, Washington State, and Colorado this time! Keep fueling the delusion so you keep Sark for a long time! Just remember you get Washington and Oregon on the schedule next year so bowl eligibility may be a challenge for you!
Delusion On!
I have a feeling that the mighty juggernaut at ucla may falter drastically when you lose all your talent to the nfl or graduation. Keep blowing smoke, it all comes back to haunt you anyway.
I thought so until I saw they only have 10 seniors leaving next year.
There are some big shoes to fill though.
Hundley and the LB Hendricks are the big losses. They are pretty young like us.
Was just checking the UCLA roster today. The Bruins lose a total of 6 starters next year, 3 on O, and 3 on D (that includes Hundley to the NFL). QB position of course is the biggest question mark. Rosen willl early enroll and compete for the starting position, which I believe he’ll win.
What if he pulls a PJ Loseman?
That would be disconcerting.
But possible with the logjam of QBs you have next year.
Rosen has bled blue and gold since he starting talking, and is enrolling in Jan. Could happen, but then again, the big one could hit and we could all slide into the Pacific tomorrow.
J.P. Losman was no Josh Rosen…
What if hell freezes over?
My Bruins are not a “juggernaut” Steve. We played a good game last night and Mora is doing a good job, but we have a ways to go. Stanford and Oregon have handled us the last 3 years. Until we beat them, there isn’t much to talk about.
Next year should be interesting in the South. SC should have a lot coming back as will Arizona and ASU. UCLA has a lot coming back, but the few that we lose are very good. Bruins will probably need to be more of a defensive team with a running game as we will be breaking in a new QB. It is difficult to have a great season with a true freshman QB.
The offensive line will have another year of experience under their belt, and the team is only getting stronger.
I don’t think we have to worry.
How much deeper will SC be? Let me tell you – not much. Get ready for another pansy group next season at old #clowncollege
As long as Seven Win Sark and his horrible asst coaches are there, nothing will change.
Remember when Sarkisian got hired , he said he was going to bring in the best coaching staff in college football ? The he was turned down by half the coaches he initially made contact with.
Hey Wolfie, here’s a recent history lesson. Alabama was sanctioned with scholarship reductions for 3 years starting in 2002. Guess what happened? From 2003 to 2007 the mighty Tide loss a total of 30 games. This was under the Mike Shula regime. Wow
However there was one blip. The 2005 season Bama went 10-2. Sounds familiar to what Kiffy did in 2011- Sc went 10-2
It took Bama about 5 to 6 years to re-establish their winning ways after the scholarship reductions in 2002.
The Rise of Dixie. It started in 2007 when Saban arrived however they went 7-6. After that they started to roll, only losing 9 games in 6 seasons under the General.
So out of fairness. Sark deserves a chance. Sc fans it took Bama 5/6 years. Sc was penalized in 2010, so 2015/2016 should be our recovery. The other thing if you compare Bama’s record during their down period with Usc, Usc is doing pretty good.
Are we impatient? yes
Do we need Orgeron? also yes he’s dedicated, loyal, and the players like him
this was a comparison of big programs with similar penalties
You seriously are considering Mike Shula to be a competent head coach?
Bama thought he was the right guy
That was his last head coaching gig. Like Kiffin, he is a good assistant but not head coaching material.
Yeah, when I see Sark I think of Saben, NOT
dude Saban went 7-6
dude Ed Orgeron almost won as many games as Sark last year in half a season.
Orgeron is a good guy and coach. If that’s what your saying.
we want to rule out all excuses from mgt in 2016. that’s the deadline date
How did Ohio State do on probation?
I think Ohio St had a small scholarship reduction?.?? I’m unsure what it was. And yes going undefeated is an amazing accomplishment for any team in any sport. Meyer and the players were awesome
So you agree great coaching can overcome NCAA sanctions. Now we need to get a new AD who will bring in the best head coach available instead of a basketball pal of Pete’s.
Yes, I believe a truly outstanding coach could have done better than what Sark did with what was available to him. How much better? No one knows, since we haven’t tried another guy. lol. But my gut tells me Sark is not that “outstanding” coach judging from what I have seen so far. Hope I’m wrong about that, because it’ll be another several wasted years for the program if I’m right about it.
Per Rivals…OSU signed classes of 25-’12, 24-’13, & 23-’14.
Agree with your points. The sanctions have crippled the program. It will be good to see what we do on a level playing field. What is crucial is that Sark needs to give up the play calling duties and hire a better DC than Wilcox. We need someone who can handle spread offenses.
Coaching matters.
As much as I appreciate Neu and Dorrell, Mora has made all the difference in the world at UCLA.
Yeah, because Sark is just like Nick Saban.
Comparing the two situations, you make reasonable points. But when he showed up at Alabama, Saban had already had great success with LSU, so (I’m assuming) that made it a little easier for Alabama fans to have some faith that Saban would right the ship. Sark has never had that kind of success as a head coach, so everybody here seems to have given up hope already.
The most telling remark was “….will have more physical practices next season with a deeper roster.” I understand his caution in causing injury to the players he has on scholarship getting any undue injury but that was a poor way to state such i.e. ‘next season’.
He’d better be prepared for next Saturday – whoever wins that game will be the one with a pulse of hope. The one who loses will have nothing but a lost opportunity and regret – two bad things to lug around for an nearly an entire year..
Sark has got to get better assistants now!
True the coaching staff has to deal with a smaller roster in protecting their 1st string players. True the coaching staff & the players need at least 1-year feeling out period. And true, the 1st string includes numerous freshman starters that simply cannot handle more experienced players. But sensing Sarkisian is the reincarnation of Pete Carroll is flawed even though the level of talent Sark has vs. what PC had to work with his 1st year as coach is clearly superior. But Sarkisian does not have the overall football knowhow experience PC had, which Mora also has and it showed in this game last night. When the talent is somewhat comparable but the other headcoach has a Mora or PC type experience, you are going to see what we saw last night more times than not in getting outcoached & gameplanned.
The saddest thing was to watch the USC team droop off and accept their lot after they fell behind by 10. While I thought the team actually fought hard in the second half, there was a hopelessness about the effort. A resignation.
Switch coaches and SC could have come back from 10 down because Mora and his tough staff inspire and ignite their team. They don’t accept what the USC coaches do, which is why the bruins have improved so much is the last month.
Mora’s an adult in this game. He shoots for your weakness with no mercy and exploits you. Sark’s just not ready for that type of competitor and the quotes that I’ve read since the slaughter show his inability to accept what he needs to do. I’m sure if we could talk with Kennedy Pola, we would all have a much greater understanding of the difference between Mora and Sark.
I hate to say it but the affable, excuse-making Sark is a true weakling compared to the heavyweight coaches in this game. You could see he was lost last night on the sidelines. I actually pity him, and feel bad that the USC players don’t have a leader to guide them.
I know USC doesn’t have ucla’s overall talent. Understood. I also know Mora never questioned for one second that he would bury Sark, just as he did with ease. I wish we had that type of talent instead of the physical stuff.
Really respect your passion, Jack. You are a true Trojan.
i can go back and forth with Jack. Sometimes we agree and sometimes we don’t. He has a good take on this one. I can never remember being so relaxed during the 2nd half of a game against SC…at least not one in which UCLA was ahead.
LOL!!! The reason is rather obvious, isn’t it? I would be quite relaxed to see my team play against a team that’s seriously crippled by the ridiculous NCAA sanctions that limit the number of scholarship players to under 50. I’m sure your team and fans are high as a kite about those three wins in a row, but wins are more legit when the playing field is even. I think the notion of the whole school including the players who haven’t had a hand in violating any rules paying for the consequences collectively is an extremely unfair and boneheaded idea.
You can blame Reggie Bush and Mike Garrett for your shortages. However, you still felt confident enough in your shorthanded team to predict a win. At least that’s what this quote of yours sounds like when you addressed a Bruin:
“Shut up, and just get ready for some rear end whipping, loser. LMAO!!!”
You can’t have it both ways, RT. The difference between you and Jack B, is that he sees reality and he shows some class. You? Not so much. Sounds like excuses once the game didn’t match your prediction.
It’s interesting, also, that the USC Football website says the Trojans have 67 players available on scholarship right now. As ProbU points out, it’s disingenuous to talk loudly about how your team is going to win, but then blame sanctions when they don’t. Most of your fellow Trojan posters here have been classy and realistic about last night’s game. You not so much.
LOL!!! And all of your fellow Bruins have been classy? Look around, EB. I was only reacting to all the vulgarity and rudeness displayed by them, who were wreaking havoc in the blog dedicated to Trojan football. I’m glad you’re not one of them, though.
LOL!!! I feel almost honored that you’ve kept track of my replies in here. So you’ve taken what I said pretty hard, eh?
So you say I don’t see reality? Recognizing the hard and concrete numbers on scholarship players on the team isn’t seeing reality then? What kind of reality is reality to you?
Excuses, excuses, excuses. That’s all you got and all you ever have.
Oh, it’s you again. So are you still head over heels on that “phantom” win last night? It’s sure nice to be drunken in false fantasy, ain’t it? LOL!!!
Yawn.
Yep, I do understand you’re beat roaming all over town waving the school flag all day.
Yawn.
You’re a great big WHINER.
Whine on!
The nice thing, Prob, is that we CAN go back and forth with Jack. I want intelligent, engaging discussion. Disagreement is fine when its paid out with mutual respect, as I know you understand. And yes, I felt like I could exhale about half way through the third qrtr.
The ruins win bragging rights, that’s all they ever win.
http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/ucla/post/_/id/15735/three-seasons-of-dominance-over-usc-wont-make-the-bruins-l-a-s-team
I read that article, but found it rang a bit hollow in the end as it was written by an SC alum.
Same here. Clearly the author/SUCC fan is uncomfortable with UCLA FB superiority, and needs to reinforce and brace Clown U’s deteriorating FB reputation and performance. Like or not SUCCster’s, UCLA owns LA Football.
Keep your chins up, Trojans, your water polo team hasn’t been eliminated by UCLA (yet)
“Last night wasn’t our night from the safety spot.” Especially when Hundley ran right by Cravens for the clinching touchdown.
Isn’t that unfair to your safeties? The Bruins’ defense was pretty brutal, and the offensive line blocked well enough to protect Hundley.
I like Sarkisian, but I don’t think it’s fair to single out one position in a loss like that. (If anything, he should have said, “Last night wasn’t our night from the coaching spot.”)
It wasn’t our night from the fan-watching-it-on-TV spot either.
next season’s schedule is such a joke that even Sark might get 8 wins out of it………Ark. St. and Idaho to start the season?
I feel bad for our players too….. they seem like good kids……they deserve better coaching. I can’t imagine a good high school kid choosing to play for Sark and this staff
And therein lies the major problem. Great recruits will go elsewhere.
Very simple, Sark won’t leave, he gets an OC and a DC. I cannot belive Wilcox was worth the exorbitant buyout SC paid WSU. Pendergast was by far more productive in what he did in one year. So we wait and see if Haden leaves, (which means nothing) and what the head coach does with his staff. That will be the most telling thing over the offseason.
Bruins victory already paying dividends: 5 star LB Keisean Lucier-South committed right after the game!
He was offered by EVERYONE including Alabama, Fla St., USC etc….a 6’4″ beast. #3 LB in country per Rivals.
Actually, KLS committed before the game.
Last year, Max Tuerk competed with Marcus Martin for the center position and was defeated handily. I know it’s late in the day but the 2014 USC offensive line might have been a PAC 12 juggernaut if Di Poalo/Guertler/Simmons/Lobendahn were allowed to compete for the center position with the best man starting. Make Aundrey Walker a Team Captain starting him at RG alongside the big man at RT, Zach Banner. Tuerk assumes his “natural” position, where he excels, at LG. At LT start a vastly improved Chad Wheeler. If one of the four mentioned above became efficient at the center position, the Trojans may have ended up with the Premier Offensive Line in the PAC 12.
I am reminded of Kiffin”s catastrophic failure to move John Martinez, a 4 Star Center in High School, from RG to Center to sub for the injured Khaled Holmes. With one week to prepare for Stanford, Martinez’s OL would have protected Matt Barkley, USC would have easily defeated Stanford and waltzed on a BCS birth. Instead, Barkley suffered two horrendous sacks midway through the first half, receiving multiple trauma to his chest and spinal column that resulted in two interceptions before the end of the half, and diminished his performance the remainder of the season. Not smart, Lane !! Was Wolf under orders to keep Barkley’s injuries hush hush ? Could be,
If this situation was so graphic, why didn’t/wouldn’t Sark adapt to what appears a reasonable ( Wheeler’s injury excepted) goal?
After last night’s debacle, I have no faith left over for Sark. The pounding we got was brutal, heavy, relentless, and nonstop. We were never really in the game at all. I was there to witness a total collapse.
No faith in Sark and his fun bag of charlatans.
That dude Mcquay… Felt sorry for him. Talk about a bad night….
Leon McQuay directly gave up 3 touchdowns Saturday night. 1st the slip and fall, then he got juked outta his socks by Duarte, then got burned in the endzone when Hundley looked him away. Really bad night for him then gets thrown under the bus by his head coach! Wow!!!! That’s not how you do things, that’s what film review is for.
Hire Ed O back….learn how to identify and exploit other team’s weaknesses. Too much to ask?
3 more years of SUCkissian. Sorry SUCsters.
Coach O. fared no better last year against the Bruins.
Coach O brought an emotionally drained team to the UCLA game last season, they were too high emotionally after the Stanford win (understandable considering all that happened last season) and they crashed vs. UCLA. They also lost 2 of their O-Linemen in the first half of that game. Coach O would’ve brought a more physical & prepared team if he still were the coach this season.
One thing ,well more than one,but one in particular;I do not understand why the dual athletes are not on the defense,which always needs HELP…we have lots of help at receivers,so why doesn’t a great defensive back like JuJu Smith play on defense,where we need HELP…they were smart to put Adoree Jackson there…wish the smart part translated over to Smith;lots of speed and height too…he is a really good receiver,but there are others almost identically as good….probably not as many as good on defense;IT MAY BE TOO LATE IN THE SEASON NOW…I hope they look into it in the spring…I hate to do this,but congrats to the ucla staff and players,and a few of the less obnoxious fans…you kicked ass.The ucla lines were exceedingly dominate…road graders…I know if they man handle standord,they are going to give oregon all they can handle,Mora will have them prepared.
Funny how the “gap” doesn’t widen when UCLA handles USC, but it does widen when the opposite happens. Why is that? Seems like an extremely arrogant viewpoint.
Scott, would you please post a simple calculation for all of us that will put this “thin roster” argument to bed? All we need to know is how many players did USC play (not dress) vs the number of players our opponents played. Please make this comparison for each game because it’s the only stat that matters in this argument. If we are PLAYING the same number of players as everyone else, then it’s irrelevant how many players are AVAILABLE to play due to the scholarship reductions. Thanks.
Tom Oday, you ask who would serve as Offensive Coordinator for the Trojans if Sark is let go and Coach O returns as Head Coach. I can think of three: Norm Chow (also a superb QB coach); Jeff Tedford (excellent QB coach who was actually invited by Coach O to take the job shortly after CO took over for Kiffin); and our Clay Helton, who showed great creativity calling plays for the Trojan offense in the “Georgia Tech” bowl game.
What’s really discouraging its that a Rhodes Scholar see what is and had been crystal from both fan bases. It’s Nick Saban not the standard? Granted the it’s only one, but isn’t that what 90% of AD’s what their coach to emulate, how far off is Sark from that? PC? These guys weren’t coaches, they were CEO’s, who’s strongest abilities or skills were to manage, motivate and create a culture of winning scheme be damned! Need further proof look no further than Tuscaloosa.