60 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: Ex-USC Players/Fox Analysts Weigh In On Sarkisian”

  1. Sounds awfully PC to me. Not many on air talking heads are going to come out and say to fire Sark. Nothing new was said, just 4 guys using up air time. Great point about game management, Sark has repeatedly mismanaged games, time outs, play calling, and has not motivated players or made adjustments. Does he sound qualified?

  2. We’ve got to get used to it,” he said. “This is the way college football is right now.”

    Steve Sarkisian

  3. Petros looks very comfortable talking about the problems of USC football. You can tell leinart is hurt by it. He is paid to give his honest opinion, and he does. But you can see serious pain in leinart’s eyes talking about the decline of his close friend Steve Sarkisian. Leinart is a much bigger Trojan fan than Petros.

    • Petros took his ultimatum from his bosses too seriously. At the beginning of the Pete Carroll era Petros was a huge USC homer. What happened was his bosses told him to tone down the USC homerism, because so many people were annoyed by it. Since then, it seems like he hates USC, and loves it when they screw up.

    • Apparently you don’t know that Petros openly dislikes Leinart and it goes back to Leinart’s playing days. Petros has a well-known grudge against Leinart. Now he has to work with him so he’s had to pull off.

      • And it seems like Leinart hates Petros, too. That look he gives him after he speaks says it all.

        • This goes back to the fact that Petros was a team captain at USC as was Leinart. It pissed Papadakis off when as team captain Leinart had that Hollywood jackass Wilmer Valderamma up on stage during a pep rally.

          • If anyone could make that call Leinart was the guy, but I also agree with Petros on that one to some extent.

        • Remember when Matt Stevens would playfully choke Petros on USC/UCLA sports magazine shows. That had to be somewhat real!

          • I remember the days when Petros would call a USC game, and totally act like a fan. It ticked off a lot of people. I was once talking to a guy who works with petros at fox sports, and he told me that petros was told to stop that behavior. Petros has totally changed since then.

      • Yep. And I’ve heard Pete Carroll hates Petros. And Pete and Leinart never wanted Petros around the program. In other words Petros is the guy who shows up to a party and everyone says “FU**!”

    • You want the truth?!? You can’t handle the truth! Petros is the man! Former captain! He is the exceptional southern cal grad who sees things as it is!

        • “I killed my brother with malice in my heart” “Hatred destroyed my family” Petros is a trojan! Embrace your family ALBARADO!

      • I don’t know about all that. But it was refreshing to hear Petros rip Mora all week for the ASU loss. Oh you didn’t hear? Petros can be a d*** to the Bruins also! LOL!

        • Yes he can and yes he did not once but throughout the week – now Mora realizes he had better control his foolish self-pitying statements when he loses because he’ll need that skill real soon.

      • Ted I think you are right… that Petros tries to tell it like it is, sometimes bluntly, And some don’t want to hear it. Gut his schtick puts people off as a clown.

    • Except that he’s not being paid to be a fan. Leinart was actually quite unprofessional as a television analyst.

    • Leinart runs circles around Petros. Not as former Trojan football players, but in general Trojan personality. I get Petros wants to be professional and critical, but he comes off sounding like USC kicked him in the nut$.

    • I think both are saying the same thing in their particular way if you listen to their words. Sark is in on the hot seat now in his 2nd season.

  4. Sark and Strong are the coaches who are literally playing game-to-game for their jobs.

    Leinart lamely said Sark was a “fantastic coach”, obviously in deference to their friendship, but otherwise acknowledges Sark is on his way to being fired if he doesn’t beat ND and ucla.

    Feldman was right on and actually criticized the Sark hire, calling it a mistake, and said Haden should have found a way to make Petersen comfortable at USC. Perfectly stated.

    Now the veteran USC QB is critical of the team’s guidance and ability to adjust and make corrections. Party’s over.

    • Strong definitely beat Sark this week in saving his own behind.

      Did y’all see that Gatorade bath and the way he was grinning from ear-to-ear as his players crowd surfed him today?

      Pure. Unadulterated. Joy.

      It brought a tear to my eye…Chaz is getting his bone on tonight.

      • I seriously thought Texas had no chance at beating Oklahoma this time around. Good for Charlie Strong.

  5. Sark is doing well considering the circumstances. We should be happy that we are finally running a clean program. That is the most important thing at this point. No more embarrassing the university with scandals.

  6. Sark has to win at least 9 games and a bowl game to keep his job and has to beat ND and UCLA. The reality in the Pac-12 now is the competition level is a lot higher than when PC was here and we ran away with the conference titles year in and year out.

    • That’s true but Pete was still a helluva coach until he went soft with staff hires and his lame son as recruiting coord. Certainly one of USC’s top three along with Jones and #1 McKay.

      Pete would still win big today if he were at USC. And he sure as money wouldn’t be intimidated by the Pac-12 coaching scene like Sark is. The early-years Pete would have won the Pac-12 with this year’s team. The guy could develop talent and the kids played for him, pure and simple.

      • You are correct Jack B, the talent on this team deserves better coaching. The real crime in all of this.

    • With Stanford -slayer Northwestern getting shut out 38-0 today, it appears the whole Pac 12 conference was terribly overrated in the preseason. Oregon looks really mediocre suddenly.

  8. Petros was horrible starting out, he was an insufferable homer and Southern Cal was gonna be 15-0 every year. But he worked on his diction and now tells it like it is,

    His journalistic role model??? The wolfman.

    #AtTheFootOfTheMaster

  9. Petros and Wolf! two of the finest ever produced by southern cal! Why to you rah rahs bash your own?!? Petros especially was a former football great at southern cal! He was a captain for God sakes!!

  10. This SC team is too poorly-coached, mentally weak, and dysfunctional to bounce back. It will be a very difficult year with at least 3 more losses on the schedule.

    • Youre being generous with 3 more losses. Lucky to be bowl eligible. ND, Utah, Cal, Oregon Arizona and ucla are very probable losses given the state of injuries, motivation and disorganization at this point. Colorado is the other game i think and is a likely win. So well have to win 2 of 6 we’ll likely lose just to make a bowl. Pathetic….

      • I think 3 wins is doable but we have to play better than the way we did on Thursday. It is very important for the program to get to a bowl game this year regardless of who the coach is next year. Also beating ND and UCLA are essential.

      • Oregon does not look impressive against WSU today. We can beat them if our good team that beat ASU shows up.

  11. Spot on analysis from Leinart, Papadakis, and Feldman. I feel the same way. USC and Sark should beat the teams that we’re expected to beat. I think if Sark loses to UCLA he’ll be fired. As big as the Notre Dame game is, I think it’s beat UCLA or GONE for Sark. The Washington game was a giant step back in the season and for the rise of the program. Sark is giving bad performances as a coach and then he’s giving bad answers in his press conferences and it’s getting out of control.

    • If Sark staying on for another 4 years if he beat UCLA was a guarantee… The Bruins should think long and hard about letting sark win! I hope Haden signs Sark for another extension! It’s the sanctions!! The NCAA is hamstringing southern cal! Blame it on the sanctions!

  12. Sark is not the right coach for SC, plain and simple. He’s a mediocre coach, who delivers mediocre results. If you are happy with that, then he’s your man.

  13. Haden should be tarred and feathered for hiring this drunk co-ed chasing frat boy who brought along his staff of cronies. To bring in yet another proven mediocre (at best) former Pete Carroll lackey was stupid beyond comprehension. Until Haden is gone nothing will change and he is liable to hire some other incompetent to replace Cutty. We all know Cutty is dead coach walking. He may not even make it to the UCLA game due to the ever increasing pressure he is under. He is already taking meds for depression from his divorce and boozing as well. Haden is without question the most incompetent AD in the country. He would have been fired long ago at any other school which has a president who actually cares unlike the Greek guy running SC who only cares about fundraising.

  14. They did make the wrong decision. I don’t care if this season turns out better than we expect. The decision between Peterson and Sark was a no-brainer. Just look at their records. Who cares if he doesn’t handle the media well. The guy can flat out coach. That’s like pick a doctor when you are sick just because he is good looking. You hire a guy on his past record. If Sark only wins 7 games this year, he’ll be gone. I don’t blame Sark. I blame PH. Sark is just in over his head. It was PH’s job to hire someone who would not be in over his head. He picked mediocrety over greatness. Fire PH first and then you’ll probably have to get rid of Sark.

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