Why has tailback Ronald Jones been so invisible through the first five games? It’s one of the running game issues I look at in this analysis.
Excerpt: The use of tailback Justin Davis (above) has also been criticized, which frustrated running backs coach Tommie Robinson. USC fans were upset Davis did not get a single carry in the fourth quarter against Utah despite gaining 126 yards in the first three quarters.
“Tell those fans I invite them to come and watch film,” Robinson said. “He played in the fourth quarter. They need to watch the same game I watched.”
This is a disagreement based on semantics. Davis might have played in the fourth quarter but he did not carry the ball. Instead, third- and fourth-string backs Aca’Cedric Ware and Dominic Davis were in for a crucial drive.
Clay Helton said the exact same thing on the Mason and Ireland show a few days ago, he said Justin Davis was in the game. So I’m not sure if Tommie Robinson, and Helton are playing dumb, or just can’t comprehend the question. It seems like Helton wants to win his way, or not at all, because he refuses to run the ball even when the opponent is vulnerable to it. And that’s the similarities between Steve Sarkisian, and Helton, which is another reason why you don’t had the program over to the previous coaches, assistant.
You can also add Kiffin into the mix, he wouldn’t run the ball either, that’s not flashy
Boy is Saban taking kiffen to school.
Kiffin does what Saben tells him to do, and with the talent Bama has even Kiffin can’t screw it up.
Neither the Drunk not Gomer have ever had confidence in the USC o-line to block when it counts. Can’t blame them for that. USC’s OL doesn’t show up much of the time which is why USC’s running game hasn’t been dominant since PC left. That’s not because of no RBs. SC’s has had good RBs. Most schools do. But USC’s o-line has stunk for years.
Sarkisian wanted the fast pace no huddle offense, but one thing he forgot. And that’s your offensive linemen have to be conditioned, and in shape. He was just an idiot coach that could recruit. Sarkisian would just line them up, and throw the ball all over the place. Forget the little things, like player development, conditioning, and teaching physical football. And it appears Clay Helton is doing the exact same thing.
Don’t agree. The oline talent was overrated and has been exposed. They worked them hard in the spring, summer and fall.
They were/are overrated but the are also out of shape. USC’s conditioning coach has been there 3 years, what is he doing ?
Exactly
The exact same linemen played 10 times better under Tim Drevno when they were freshman. When Sarkisian hired Bob Connolly, they played horrible. Fact!
He may have been in the game but he never touched the ball. USC had ONE drive in the 4th quarter. Here is that drive
(9:45 – 4TH) ANDY PHILLIPS KICKOFF FOR 49 YDS , STEVEN MITCHELL JR. RETURN FOR 17 YDS TO THE USC 33
1st and 10 at USC 33
(9:35 – 4TH) SAM DARNOLD PASS INCOMPLETE TO DEONTAY BURNETT, BROKEN UP BY JUSTIN THOMAS
2nd and 10 at USC 33
(9:15 – 4TH) RONALD JONES II RUN FOR 1 YD TO THE USC 34
3rd and 9 at USC 34
(8:50 – 4TH) SAM DARNOLD PASS COMPLETE TO TYLER PETITE FOR 22 YDS TO THE UTAH 44 FOR A 1ST DOWN
(8:35 – 4TH) TIMEOUT USC, CLOCK 08:35
1st and 10 at UTAH 44
(8:30 – 4TH) DARNOLD, SAM PASS COMPLETE TO ROGERS, DARREUS FOR 32 YARDS TO THE UTAH12, PENALTY USC INELIGIBLE DOWNFIELD ON PASS 5 YARDS TO THE UTAH49, NO PLAY.
1st and 15 at UTAH 49
(7:30 – 4TH) RONALD JONES II RUN FOR A LOSS OF 1 YARD TO THE 50 YARD LINE
2nd and 16 at 50
(7:00 – 4TH) ADOREE’ JACKSON RUN FOR 11 YDS TO THE UTAH 39
3rd and 5 at UTAH 39
(6:00 – 4TH) SAM DARNOLD PASS COMPLETE TO JUJU SMITH-SCHUSTER FOR 2 YDS TO THE UTAH 37
4th and 3 at UTAH 37
(5:37 – 4TH) CHRIS TILBEY PUNT FOR 30 YDS, DOWNED AT THE UTAH 7
Exactly
If they had run the ball more and Davis had been ineffective, we’d all be wondering why they didn’t pass more.
It’s in the past. Let it go.
Lets look at what Davis did against the Utes.
FIRST HALF
3 yds
16 yds ( fumble )
18 yds
1yd
50 yds
14 yds ( TD )
6 carries for 102 yards 17.3 yards per carry
SECOND HALF
14 yds
5 yds
2 yds
3 yds
didn’t have a carry in the 4th quarter, NOT A SINGLE TOUCH !
4 carries 24 yards 6 yards per carry
USC had ONE drive in the 4th quarter and they ran Adoree and Jones, BRILLIANT !
Davis total… 10 carries 126 yards 12.6 yards per carry
Ronald Jones 8 carries for 15 yards 1.9 yards per carry
Ware 5 carries 20 yards 4.0 per carry
Jones and Ware combined for 13 carries for 35 yards 2.69 per carry. Darnold, 9 carries for 41 yards and a TD, had better stats than those two combined !
I can remember when USC running backs would get the ball 30 times a game. Why on earth would you NOT give the ball to Davis when he’s running wild ESPECIALLY IN THE FOURTH QUARTER !?!?!
Success?!!! You call the 2-3 record a success? Did I read it right? Truth be told, it’s Sam Darnold’s extraordinary talent that’s keeping Gomer alive at the moment, but I’m afraid his true colors as a head coaching trainee will show up in upcoming games with tougher opponents than ASU. You can count on it!
I believe John Robinson had the same record at this point when he came back to coach in ’93
Robinson won 104 games as the USC coach ..35 in his second stint..
You’re essentially backing what I’m saying. No one has a crystal ball to know for certain how well or how bad Helton will do. Right now, his season record matches JR’s during his second stint, if I remember correctly.
I looked up his win total.. I do recall they started off slow..
They started off 2-3 . finished 8-5 .. Won the Pac 10 title.
Come on Gravy, you remember everything about USC football.
Yes, and his second tint at SC wasn’t exactly so glorious.
It took Petersen 2 years to clean up the mess made by Sark Lets give Helton a full season to see if he can do anything. I don’t think he’ll do it but he deserves the chance. This weekend will be a good test to see where this team is. If we blow them out though Wolf will find a problem with it.
#bitterboy
Want it or not, he might be given a full season unless the team skids 3 or 4 more times. The results from the rivalry games against SUCLA and Notre Dame will determine his future with SC.
wolfman, isn’t Hell-TON the head coach??? assuming this is correct, then isn’t it accurate to infer Hell-TON only needed to tell Robinson “get Ronald in there” after noticing the back with hot hand was sitting out the 4th Qtr. Hell-ton could have similarly told the OC to give Ronald the ball on run plays.
wolfman, you can’t be expected to do ALL the thinking for the Dummies on this blog, and the coaching staff TOO!!!! you are probably the one person who COULD pull this off, but it’s not fair to put all this pressure on you!!
#CruelWorld
As soon as SoCal recognizes Wolfman’s true genius and puts him on retainer, UCLA is in trouble. As long as the keep the Lame Duck we are fine.
Hold out for more that Sark’s $35k, Wolfman. Remember those dummies paid St. Pat over $ 2 million.
Look in the mirror. Still waiting for the Mora victory to give UCLA anything.
#nobodycares
You’re talking to metamucus, one of the stupider Trolls you’ll ever encounter. As a group, the Trolls love The Chimp, even though our very own Gomer owns him 40-21. ucla football doesn’t need to win. It never has.
USC’s OL is not the only one with issues – UCLA coach Jim Mora was issued a public reprimand by the Pac-12 after he referred to the officiating as “criminal” in a postgame radio interview following Saturday’s win over Arizona.
Not-So-Brilliant move by The Chimp. I don’t think he’s gonna be able to FaceCup his way out of this one. Actually, The Chimp’s been lucky that the officials don’t think targeting the head applies to ucla. Just ask STAN, their conquerors as usual.
The Chimp! LMAO!
I always thought he looked like a hamster or a mouse, but chimp works.
I think in terms of stupid moves, SoCal stands alone.
Kiffin, Sark, Helton & St. Pat come to mind and I think each of those bozos are or were drawing over
$ 2million each.
Further proof that fools and their money are soon parted.
Typical little gutty, getting all excited about chump change for USC.
Do you even have a 100 yd practice field yet? No. Always on a shoestring budget at ucla. Too bad you’re so poor. Breaks my heart.
Disputing a call is an “issue”?
A reprimand by the Pac 12 is a “problem”?
Comparing Mora’s reprimand to Helton and SoCal’s coaching in terms of problems is like comparing Angelina Jolie’s posterior to Hillary’s and saying they are both problems.
A coach passionately disputing a call by Pac 12 refs (who we all know to be horrible) is not a problem for a program in the same way a lame duck coaching staff is.
Everyone knows Helton is toast including players, coaches and recruits. THAT is a problem.
So how do you explain 40-21?
He can’t.. Josh Rosen was exposed as a horrible qb..
That was the start of his downward spiral.
#UnderPressure
Lol.. Truth!
He’s not horrible, just over-rated. Darnold’s already better and more of a team guy. Rosen’s so full of himself, you can see it when he plays.
Has any other QB ever lost two fumbles to TDs ever? With any luck, we’ll see it again.
Now you really enraged the Dr. Rachel Maddow of Inside USC!
They have circled the wagons, Wolfman.
He was in the game but didn’t carry the ball.
I guess that makes them better coaches.
Stop asking those embarrassing questions!
It’s embarrassing.
Why does Wolf fail to give Burnett any props at all? He had a great game against ASU and all he gets is the receivers after Juju are “non-descript” – whatever that means.
I love having blocked the trolls, I don’t even see their posts anymore. Remember Wolf can only center on just a few players, the rest are just background to him.
The block feature is nice isn’t it ?
Takes away all the stupid distractions of stupid remarks.
If more people would do it, they would just fade away completely
Agree about blocking the trolls–but your picture is a bit distracting
Teaches you concentration on the topic at hand. It is my presidential candidate.
You’re not admitting you’re voting for trump, are you??!
Love the troll-blocking feature as well. If everyone enabled this feature this blog would be something the Blogger is unwilling to do – remove the trolls entirely.
When has Wolf given credit to anybody at USC?
#sourpuss
And where was Darreus Rogers? He had a very good game vs. Utah.
WR Burnett from Sierra High, Compton, CA., is definitely coming to play !!!
Les Miles was spotted on the USC campus this morning.. Hmmmm!
Until I see a picture or receive a verifies. confirmation from a credible source —he wasn’t there. How many times have we heard that this coach or that coach was at this location or that location? Often at the same time. No knock on you DMH63–but I am not biting
Go to USC 247 .. Ryan Abraham is reporting it..
Why go there when we have INSIDE USC?
#can’tstoplaughing
SW might have been looking for Pat Haden.. Lol #stalker
Because Abraham actually attends practice and talks to the team.
Yep!
And is such a blind homer he can’t see reality
Twitter as well.
Will do.
“Often at the same time” ha ha
Miles went to Cowturds show.
I just read that and RA reported seeing Miles at USC..
Miles probably went to go talk to Helton. I doubt Swann wants anything to do w/Miles. If Herman can’t come, bring Chip! He’ll blow it up!
Don’t get into naming names, there are a lot of guys that USC could go after.
Many of them ex USC assistants !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t know. It sounds like interest is there..
I heard someone saw Jeff Fisher on campus.
I will ask Jeff…
Please do that.
Nope!
I will ask Jeff!
You da man, but is this confirmed?
He was on Cowherd’s show and was at USC for several hours.
I think he gave Swann the walk by wink.
At 2am, when Helton is still stressing about how to win the next game in his football office, he can’t resist the urge and starts reading articles and comments about himself, finally landing on Wolf’s page. “What do I do?? Howller at me, Wolf!” he beseeches.
Why go for it on 4th down on your side of the game? Because Wolf called you out on your lack of cojones. But you were a little premature, Helton…a little premature.
These are issues with you Wolf. Coaches will put in whoever they want when they want, your job is to report it, not turn it into some sort of failure. The issues I see with the run game is getting the holes open on a regular basis and moving the ball to stay away from 3rd and long. Those are football issues, not your petty BS about PT for your special players.
But don’t you think SC should stick with the hot hand, as Davis has been, instead of sub in others just to get them carries? Even Davis says publicly, what all backs feel – it helps to get warmed up and into the flow. The others come in cold, get minimal carries, and go nowhere.
It’s fine to stick with your rotation if you don’t need your hot guy. For Davis to not get 1 single carry in the 4th Q against UTAH isn’t a winning recipe and of course, we lost to a mediocre Utes squad. Neither ALA nor STAN would make this mistake and of course, both beat USC into submission badly.
SC had one drive in the 4th quarter against Utah. They ran three running plays in that drive, 2 by Jones one by Adoree, that’s just criminally stupid on Helton’s part. And don’t forget, USC has a DUNCE for an OC.
But RoJo is the guy everyone was raving about to see more reps from. If Helton left Davis in and he gets nothing, would you be saying why didn’t he try RoJo? Even Saban and Shaw make some peculiar choices. This is about the Utah game which is history and all the complaining in the world wont change a damn thing. We all know you want Helton gone right now, you have said it several times, but between us, I don’t see him leaving just yet. I have seen improvement, but then I am trying very hard to be open minded.