USC Morning Buzz: Arizona Blowout Keeps Win Streak Going

jones-arizona-2016The Pac-12 has not done USC any favors as I mention in my analysis from the USC-Arizona game.

Excerpt: It was 137 degrees on the field at Wildcat Stadium because the Pac-12 bows to TV networks that don’t care how the players feel playing at 12:30 p.m. on plastic grass in the desert.

Sam Darnold once again led the Trojans to their third-straight victory.

“He’s like his coach, a perfectionist,” USC coach Clay Helton said.

Darnold might be more miracle worker than perfectionist because he is doing a better job saving Helton’s job than Helton. Darnold is also an eraser because you might not even see a bad play call if he just runs or finds someone open on his own.

Full story here

110 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Arizona Blowout Keeps Win Streak Going

  1. We’re seeing what a special QB can do for a footbal team right in front of eyes! It’s simply phenomenal to witness Darnold playing the way he is without intensive coaching at the collegiate level. As a matter of fact, he seems to be the one who should teach Gomer a trick or two on offense. LOL!

  2. Dominated a bad team with no QB. The only negative, 98 yds in penalties. Funny the narrative the team wins in spite of the coaches and loses because of the coaches. The same coaches that recruited Darnold are also coaching him. He does look like a special talent and will be fun to watch. Coaches should have fun dialing up plays for him. Zach Banner played much better, give him that. Ware better than Jones, what happened to RJ?

    • Have to agree on the narrative; the Blogger is known for weaving a story based on his agenda and the “bad coaching” agenda is getting hard to justify when they keep winning. Darnold is looking good because of the coaching and not despite of the coaching.

      Ware had the advantage of getting the majority of his snaps late in the game when the UA defense was clearly tired. The proper view is USC is still solid next year at RB with Jones and Ware returning and a very good RB recruit coming in to fill the pipeline.

      • This just in Helton is the one who recruited Darnold and convinced Sark to take him. Helton is the one coaching him for the last year and half. Helton only mistake is he let his loyalty to Browne keep him from starting Sam.

        • Agreed. Helton has righted the ship that got knocked off its moorings by Alabama. The sign of a good captain his experiences at USC will serve him well in his career. USC is not a good place for any coach. Mostly hype from exploiting exceptional black athletes from the inner city who would excel at any college they attended.

          • Helton & Co lost to a Utah team that lost at Cal, struggled to beat U of A at home and struggled to beat a very bad OSU team yesterday. Aside from beating Colorado, who is better but not great, who has Helton & Co beaten ?

          • I’m not saying Helton is great. Just saying he deserves some credit and he is not the huge dumpster fired everybody thought after Alabama. This USC team is fun to watch and lets give him the rest of the year to see what he can do.

          • I’m sure I can find a direct contradiction of this in your past comments. Gee, who on earth could’ve predicted your stance would change??

          • USC is fun to watch again. Darnold is the reason for the offense and Pendergast has made watching the defense fun again and Adoree has made watching special teams fun again.

        • From the QB perspective, his other mistake is using Browne for mop-up duty when he should be giving the more mobile QBs, Green or Fink, playing time in the event that Darnold, God forbid, gets hurt. Don’t get me wrong, I like Browne and admire his loyalty but at this point as a player, he’s history with the team.

  3. Can you imagine how effective Sam Darnold would be in a power I formation offense? The crap that Clay Helton runs has Darnold pitching options, getting hit , and running all over the place. And I’m sure he gets away with it, because the Trojans haven’t faced any tough competition since Darnold became a starter .

          • Look at Sam’s high school tape and you will see the difference in the way he ran then and how he does now. Obviously the coaches have been coaching him on how to run and how to not take big hits. What you’ll see in his HS film is natural ability. What you see now is a QB with natural ability who is being coached to channel it. Stop rooting against USC along with Freddy Frowns and his minion mascot. Beware the trolls in Cardinal and Gold.

            You accept a certain amount of risk to your QB when you run this type of offense.

    • More dumb shyt from you, Freddy Frowns. This offense perfectly fits Sam’s abilities. Max Browne is the one who would do better in a conventional offense. Who the heck told you your posts are well thought out? You’re running out of things to complain about and you’re reaching now. Face it, you’re wrong on about everything you’ve been saying all year about USC and Helton.

      • Fred was wrong about Kiffin and Sarkisian? Did you forget to order the decaf at Starbucks this morning?

          • All you do is harass Fred and he was right for the last 7 years. Yet Hillary makes stupid posts all the time and you ignore them. Why is that, Clay? Is she your sister?

          • He’s the guy who ate your McDonalds lunch last Sunday. Cobbling the truth from your own words.

          • That’s not all I do and harassing Fred is a fairly new hobby. I haven’t been here for 7 years and I haven’t said a darn thing about Sark and Kiffin.

          • No, I put him on notice. Marv, these nattering nabobs of negativity are about to go extinct and that’s not a bad thing. You need to get on the right side of history before it passes you by. USC’s darkest days are behind them and not in front of them. Freddy Frown’s shtick only works during sanction years and it’s going to be fun watching he and SW contort themselves to keep their negative outlooks alive.

          • He has no idea I’m not reading a word he posts, he has no clue what ” blocked ” means

          • You blocked me, but you up voted me a few days ago and you continue talk about me. Whatever you need to get by…

        • Marv, keep it simple for yourself. Do you think the offense we run is complementary to Sam’s skillset and Sam’s skillset complementary to the offense we run?

          • I would prefer Darnold taking the snap under center to maximize our talented running backs and minimize the hits he is taking. Is that simple enough for you?

          • Football is evolving away from what you guys think you knew. It’s not an accident that I’m using terms like evolution and extinct.

          • Keep in mind that you are only reacting to me calling BS in Fred’s statement. You guys are in such a hurry to rush to Fred’s defense that you ignore the truth. Is Fred some kind of special needs person that Im taking advantage of or something? It’s BS for him to say that Sam would be better in a conventional offense. Max would be better off in a conventional offense. Now, why in the h3ll would you not just see the truth in that instead of rushing headlong to defend a dumbsyht post?

          • You can’t handle me or the truth and blocking me is probably the best thing for you. Finally a post of yours I can up vote. Just remember to stay down.

        • (Repost) Clay Russell Fred Sampson 15 days ago
          If you can’t see that the team is improving then you’re blind. If you can see it then why not say it instead of looking for some way to take away from the fact the team played great tonight?
          2 Edit View

        • You’re not making my life miserable. I enjoy my time calling BS in your posts and there’s a lot of it BS in them. It’ll continue to be interesting watching you and SW struggling to find things to complain about. Complain on, blah blah.

          • Because a good Trojan never notices the flaws in the team. Right, Clay? Just shake the pom pom.

          • Marv, you don’t seem to think that clearly. However, I understand that you’re being political and therefore you aren’t really required to make sense.

            Can you not distinguish between someone who points out faults objectively and someone who ONLY points out faults? Stop looking for some sideways way to come at me because you’re just in the way.

    • (Repost) Clay Russell Fred Sampson 14 days ago
      I’m not using ASU as a measuring stick either. I can strictly look at the Trojans themselves and see improvement regardless of who they were playing. Your problem is that you’ve already stated that the team can’t get better and win with this staff. Of course you don’t see any improvement.
      Edit View

    • (Repost) Clay Russell Fred Sampson 14 days ago
      Fred, my opinions are not informed by media hype. Simple question: have you seen USC executing better on both sides of the ball? Who has been hyping USC anyway? What kind of sense does that make?
      Edit View

    • (Repost) Clay Russell Fred Sampson 14 days ago
      YOU can’t measure improvement. Obviously. Are you sure I’m the one who is susceptible to hype? Hype works both ways.
      Edit View

  4. only constant about the Gomer era is wondering when he will get canned … playing vs 2nd and 3rd team qbs each week is fools gold.
    Btw how bad is PAC football outside Udub and the SEC is just horrible , nothing but pick 6 returns and Saban bitching at Kiffin

  5. I guess Montana, Elway, Favre, and Young were all erasers. They covered the bad plays that were called by their coaches.

      • LOL. That has to be the Sunshine Pumper post of the weekend. But you can’t blame fans for believing again after those last two bad months.

        • Jojo is basically saying that those coaches wouldn’t have been as good without those QBs. Do you guys miss absolutely everything in your myopic desire to be negative and down the program?

          • They had a great ability to extend plays. That does not prove those plays they extended were bad plays that were called. It’s just a stupid comment by wolf.

          • “The Catch” came from Montana buying time and Clark continuing to work along the back of the end zone. That play wasn’t designed or called to go like that. How many examples of great QBs making the difference for their teams are there? Why do they make the money they make? There probably isn’t a more important position in all of sports than QB.

          • Darnold is extending plays because…..
            No one is open and he can move
            he’s running for his life because his OL is awful
            the play call was bad and he took what he could get.

          • So they play calls for the receivers to stand around and the offensive line to block for 3 seconds? Ok wolfie. Thats what makes it a bad play call.

          • Look, the OC is a functional idiot, his Wunderlic score of 11 proves it. When Darnold is more experienced he’ll audible out of the plays his morons for coaches call, just like Leinart did when he had Kiffin for his OC. Just hope he doesn’t get hurt dodging onrushing DT, LB’s, DB’s because his OL blows.

          • I understand what you’re saying. when Darnold runs for his life due to missed o-line communication, it’s not neccessarily the play call that was the problem. As much as I want SC to win out, I know that would mean keeping Helton for another year. I want a good experienced staff developing these kids.

          • Maybe if Helton wins out he’ll be able to get better asst’s and I can’t believe I even typed that

          • Clearly, I’m in your head. I’m going to put some WD40 on this wheel and give this little mouse some water. He doesnt look so good…

  6. Fact check: “only 20,000 fans” – B.S. I was at the game and it was close to a sell out initially. Ya, at start of 3rd quarter there were only 20,000 left — mostly USC fans. As Pete used to say “there must have been free pizza in the parking lot”.

    • This from the Arizona Daily Wildcat,”The announced attendance was 55,463. But just 60 percent of the student section was full, and the rest of the stadium was roughly 70 percent to capacity. Those are generous numbers mind you, just from the naked eye.”

      • 55,463 is 70% of almost 80,000. That stadium holds less than 60,000, so that 70% number is bogus. And students never make early day games — too hung over. They announced on the radio on the way in that it was close to a sell out.

  7. Arizona QB situation is an issue. Dawkins is very similar to Darnold not as good bit similar threat. Wilson probably at 80 percent and i think its safe to say Arizona probably the worst team in Pac 12 based on their QB situation. Again, USC dominated. A game it should have and thats the bright spot

  8. Darnold is now 8th nationally in passing efficiency. He indeed covers up a lot of warts. Directly – and indirectly through his leadership and his ability to keep the D off of the field – he must be worth 2 touchdowns or more a game.

    Agree completely with posters below that some of the play calling is an injury waiting to happen for Darnold.

    Helton is a perfectionist? If so, that makes all of the discipline issues, penalties, chaos, disorganization, really a testament to his inability to lead the team earlier in the season. Hope Trojans have truly turned a corner in terms of team organization and ability to function cohesively. An excellent win, even if against a poor opponent.

    • Gomer’s “perfectionist” self-description is one of the funnier things I’ve heard in years. It’s a toss away from the original “work in progress” coach.

      Bottom line is USC’s getting hot, Gomer deserves some credit, as does Swann, and Darnold is our savior and a great talent. If he stays healthy we should beat everyone except UW.

      Gomer cost USC a couple of wins with his Browne experiment and some call it loyalty, others call it just trying to keep Browne from transferring. Either way, we’re 4-3 with issues in the trenches, some spectacular skill and a QB who will be in the Heisman talk next season.

      For any who don’t think ND and ucla will be very tough to beat, I say don’t count your chickens. Both our rivals will be playing for every ounce of self-respect they can muster. The USC game can literally save their seasons, if not their bowl prospects. Thank God for Darnold. Without him all the talk would be about when Swann’s gonna pull the trigger.

  9. Beating bad teams is glossing over the fact that this is still a team with a bad OL, still undisciplined with penalties and a defense that probably isn’t as good as it seems due to the level of the competition.

  10. Playing football at 137 degrees in full gear is completely irresponsible, and very dangerous. Hopefully there were no significant heat-related issues among the players. I can’t believe that the Pac-12 attorneys let the geniuses running the organization make this choice. This was a huge lawsuit waiting to happen. For player safety, hope this is the last time that this happens.

    • I talked to a UA fan at the game yesterday and he said they used to have a grass field that was perhaps the best natural surface in the nation. He said Rich Rod came in and demanded they replace it with artificial turf to accommodate his high speed offense and the university rolled over. Now it is a health hazard with heat stroke as well as all those knee injuries and concussions.

      • Rich Rod is a total dipstick, and this shows how stupid he really is. My uncle played baseball at UofA and he DEMANDED they give him the baseball stadium to use as a practice field. UofA had one of the best natural grass playing surfaces in the country, but that wasn’t good enough for him. Hey Rich Rod, how is that pansy a** offense working for you in a real conference where your QB is plastered every play?

        • It’s a shame Steven Mitchell’s career may be endangered by that crap artificial surface. UA fans have figured out their own field is the #1 cause of the epidemic of injuries they seem to have every season.

          • I agree 100%. For Arizona to have field turf is ridiculous. As a matter of fact I think that field turf needs to be banned at all Division I football facilities. I can see the use for it at high schools, community colleges, small universities, etc. where there are budgetary concerns, but in the Power 5 Conferences there is no need for it. The technology of turf grass is so advanced that there is no need. If the Packers and the Steelers can have natural grass then so can everyone else.

    • Like I said yesterday, the bRUIN game should have been played at 12:30, the SC game at 7:30 but money talks and player safety and quality of the game walks.

  11. LOL.. Many or should I say most of you talk as if you played college ball. The teams USC are beating, are D1 teams with imexperience issues. Some are a rare bread like Darnold and Rosen this year and last year, who have come in as freshman and have played very well. USC is a great example of how a roster with limitations and inexperience will mature from season to season. Washington and WSU are proof of that. The others in the Pac12 will evolve as the inexperience matures to experience with playing time. The cycle of the Stanfords, Oregon and Ucla are showing that currently. USC is about to burst there potential and it shows based off of the kids gettimg valued playing time. We have to remember the Pac is very competitive!

    • Remember when CowPolyFan3.0 claimed he played football at Florida State and then transferred to Stanford ? Now that was comedy!

      • LMAO.. Loser troll that was not me.. Nice Ucla win last night . umm what was your comment to all of us a few weeks ago ? Losers crying about a 2-3 team.

        I commented Ucla will lose more games than USC.

        YC .. 22 : Yawn! Your usual comeback.

        Hey stalker rapist 22 LMAO its happening.. Maybe you should root for you mascot wifey’s Cal Poly.. They are better than your San Jose State LA campus football team .. BAT is 3-4 and will not win another game in 2016. Shine your own shoes and stick them up your troll ARSE!

        • Yes it was you, CowPolyFan3.0. You are too stupid and used your trademark emoticons to give yourself away once again . ✌

      • As funny as him swinging deals to bring the Rams back, helping Magic buy the Dodgers, his racehorses, his wife’s conection to the BOT, it’s endless

  12. Jojo is basically saying that those coaches wouldn’t have been as good without those QBs. Do you guys miss absolutely everything in your blind desire to be negative and down the program?

  13. SW, the game of 11 Man Football is a TEAM game. Eleven starters on offense, eleven starters on defense. You must include the special teams that include a punter and place kicker. Then you have a coaching staff and locker room assistants. Sam Darnold is not a miracle worker. In fact, he has yet to prove he is a QB who’s Offense can out perform a Top 10 opponent’s defense. To accomplish this, he will need his 10 teammates to do their job and Tee Martin to do his. Duh !

  14. Helton has a 6 game contract right? I think they can just switch Miles in now since the contract is already week to week. They’ve already played 7 games. Wow, this season is flying by.

    • It’s funny because we sweat it out most of the year waiting for the season to start, pouring over morsels of information. Then, when the season starts, it’s over before you know it.

  15. Here’s what’s funny. Darnold is rolling out just to buy time when the play is obviously not a roll out. Darnold is switching plays and directing blockers on the run where there was not play call for it. Darnold is scrambling then throwing to the backside of a play where the play, or throwing a middle screen to a running back when the O line gives way… It is like he is taking it on himself to do some of what the coaches are too stupid to put in. That’s all funny, except that he’s putting himself at risk and taking some hits he wouldn’t if the blocking and the play calling were set up for this instead of him having to freelance.

  16. I remember when teams didn’t make the TV line up every week. As many have pointed out the almighty dollar is driving this scheduled stupidity.
    Since the stadium was nearly empty the TV money must be phenomenal to offset the revenue lost by people staying home to avoid the heat. I guess that’s why there are so many commercials. But that just lengthens the time in the heat.

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