USC Morning Buzz: Defense Key To Preseason Projections


USC is ranked in the top 5 of the major preseason college football magazines with an over/under of 9.5 victories in the regular season. That assumes the defense will be one of the team’s strengths. But if you have doubts, this key play above from the Rose Bowl shows a lot of returning starters at less than their best. Remember in the spring, Clay Helton referred to the front seven as “violent.”
Now if your counter argument is USC will not face anyone like Saquon Barkley next season, that’s a different matter. But even in 2005, one of everyone’s favorite USC teams got pushed in games against Arizona State and Notre Dame more than most presumed before the season. And in those games, USC allowed 28 and 31 points, respectively. This was also also before most college football offenses reached their current high-powered states.

34 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Defense Key To Preseason Projections

  1. Hey while we’re waxing on about what happened 12 years ago against AZ St and ‘the Princess’ anything new about whats happened with Pat Haden specific to that incident 3 weeks ago this coming Sunday?

    How come you never comment about that?

    • There are several things the Media has agreed never to talk about: 1) Pat Haden’s Foundation Dealings 2) Who really was behind the curtain in the NCAA Bush Investigation and 3) Who related to the Football Program paid off the Aaron Hernandez Victim in the 2007 Bar Fight at Florida

      • Well served sir I must say well served!

        Opps you forgot about the Klintonska s%#ual assault charge, Barakska ‘fast and furious, Kosiken and the IRS, Lois Lerner taking the 5th and Loretta Lynch’s meet with Cousin Bill at Sky harbor Airport – Comey saw nothing worth indicting on any of it….you know the drill, the old Gertrude Stein maxim, if the charge is moving towards a demokratiche there is no ‘there’ ever there.

  2. One play defines a season. Deep moronic thoughts by Scott Wolf.
    #jackhandey

    • Maybe it did. What happens if Adoree’s shoe doesn’t come of on the last defensive play against Utah? I say he jumps the route and either knocks the ball away or makes an interception. That play would put us in the playoffs.
      So basically, save for that play that defense was good enough to be a playoff defense, and with the right draw, washington or Ohio St., good enough for the championship.

      • Or he busts his ankle on the play he sat out and is lost for the whole season, demoralizing the team further and leading to a 6-7 season. What ifs are dumb.

      • The authors point was looking at that one play we should be wary of the defense this season. Which of course makes no sense. Yes if a key player is injured that could effect a season.

        • Got it. My point was if the shoe stays on we’re in the playoffs, same defense, just as stupid, no?

  3. Spring play doesn’t always reflect what happens during the regular season, so Clay Heltons opinion about how violent the front seven is, would weigh more if that exact group had a full season under their belt. But if USC starts the season with the same intensity on defense that they had in the Rose Bowl, then their PAC 12 opponents should be concerned.

    • I must be missing your point about the defense intensity in the Rose Bowl? They scored 31 points.

      • The most intense, and hardest hitting football game that I’ve ever seen, was the Saints vs the 49ers in 2012 playoffs . Final score was 31-21 San Francisco

  4. To win the game they had to outscore their opponents. I hate that this play got away from the defense, but it happens.
    What happened after this play is what made the team a team – they didn’t give up.

  5. The 2005 defense was not one of Carrol’s top defenses. They had many injuries in the secondary. The Ting brothers, playing in the National Championship Game, tells you their defense was not top notch.

    • You are so right…. it wasn’t up to the standard of the ’04 defense.

    • All one Ting brother had to do is catch that duck that Vince Young threw instead of batting it down and the game would’ve been over. I’m still haunted by that.

  6. In the End, It’s all about the “W” Fight On✌til the final whistle. It’s scary to think how great this defense will be. Coach “P” defense looks primed to do great things for years to come.

  7. Add Fresno State to the 2005 list that pushed USC as well. It was actually surprising that Texas only scored 41 points on that team.

  8. That was a nice run though, got to give Saquon Barkley some credit on that one.

  9. Yes, when you look at the longest play the defense gives up all season, they’re not going to look all that good. But, if we use the Wolf logic, SC won’t need to worry because Deontay Burnett should go for 2100 yds and 39 TD’s and Darold should throw for 65TD’s. Hey, all we’re doing is extrapolating from one game.

    At the end of the day SC was in the top 40 nationally and top 3 in the conference. Good, not great. They should get a bump in the second year in a new system and they are going to need a bit from both sides to have a really good season.

  10. The author makes a good point that its only important to focus on the negative. Cuz a team only improves by getting better when they play better than there worst plays. You don’t improve off you best plays. Or something like that.

    • Ed! So glad you’re getting (as in “giving yourself”) the votes you deserve.
      #ActuallyPrettyPhilosophical

  11. When you have a winning streak like that 05 team had to deal with, all those opponents played to their epitome as ASU & ND did. This is why long winning streaks are few in the nature as those teams from Oklahoma, Miami, Nebraska, Alabama could tell you. Injuries, graduation/draft losing talent, off-day performances by your go-to-players, etc. all played into each game’s scenario.
    As for this team, Most are concerned about the defense, especially in the start of the season where games are lost due to sluggish play/mistakes. Darnold bailed the defense out last year. This year, the defense and especially its backfield is and should be a major concern.

    • You nailed it on every point, DK —-especially the last one: the Trojan secondary. We face three great coaches in September —-Shaw, Leach and Herman. And all three will have their quarterbacks throwing for the end zone. The D-Line has to make Chryst, Falk and Buechele pay (big time) for every pass play that takes more than 2 seconds to set up.

      • Exactly what we’ve been missing, we need hurries and hits as well as sacks, getting those guys off their spots.

        • And it’s always nice when an opposing quarterback gets hit (cleanly) hard enough to do a couple of backwards somersaults. It seems to take all the fun out of loading up for the bomb.

          • Yea, I love it. Especially when he’s trying to figure out who it was and where he came from. You can see the confusion in their eyes, and their feet just don’t get set right.

  12. With the way coach “P” and his defensive staff is recruiting. The defense do look violent. I see nothing but talent. Only time and development will tell how great these guys will be. The future sure looks bright though. Just talking about our defense again feels really good. “Their Back!!!!”✌

  13. Wolfie, show Barkley’s last run in that game, which was a huge loss and a game changing play. Ped State scored 0 points in the 4th quarter. Ped State was supposed to be unstoppable in the second half. But that doesn’t fit your argument, right?

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