Morning Buzz: USC Cannot Afford To Wait Till Next Year

If you look at USC’s roster, the Trojans look like they could be No. 1 in next year’s preseason polls. But in my story today, I discuss how there could be a large group of players turning pro, which means USC needs to treat this year with an all-or-nothing mentality.

Excerpt: Will quarterback Sam Darnold, tailback Ronald Jones, wide receiver Deontay Burnett, tight end Daniel Imatorbhebhe, right tackle Chuma Edoga, defensive tackle Rasheem Green, linebacker Porter Gustin, linebacker Cameron Smith, cornerback Iman Marshall or safety Marvell Tell all return?

Even if Darnold ignored projections as one of the top three picks in the NFL Draft and returned for 2018, it could be a vastly different team if most of his draft-eligible teammates departed. The defense alone could take a huge hit as many mock drafts list Marshall, Gustin, Smith and Green as players capable of being selected in the first three rounds.

Full story here

61 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: USC Cannot Afford To Wait Till Next Year

  1. What does this mean, quit the season if they find themselves out of the playoffs? This time you’ve outdone even yourself. Did you take all the mirrors out of your home and office so you don’t have to look yourself in the eyes?

      • Weirdest column I’ve ever read from a sports reporter. St. Paul High School must certainly be proud.

      • Hey goop, why aren’t you in Charlottesville, Va with your kind of people: the KKK, born again Nazis’ and gun worshipers belligerently marching to protect the the confederate flag and ugly monuments, in support of “locked and loaded Donnie” and the right wing 18th century agenda?

        • JustOwns, I expected you to post about that after far left kook website Vox just posted how you are supposed to think about it.

          You f uuclans can’t do any critical thinking on your own. You should have gone to Stanford where they offer a class on Eliminating Whiteness.

          You represent the race obsessed Democrat Party that left the Union to fight for slavery, the same Democrat Party that founded the KKK after the Civil War to continue the Resistance with General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Democrat Party that fought reconstruction and instituted Jim Crow laws, that gave us the racist Woodrow Wilson, that now uses race to decide who gets government goodies and who leads the Resistance after losing last November 8th. Is it true you likened Hilary’s losing to the death of Christ?

          • Plus the fact they continue to use slavery putting the poor into government dole programs, keep them down, and they will continue to vote for the dems so they will get the free ride. Never quit being slave owners.

          • You do know California is now a Welfare State where there are more entitlement voters than worker voters. And years back, we did nothing to stop it from becoming what it is today.

          • Gosh goop, I doan’t need to attend Sanford to think for myself.

            And by the same token goop, you doan’t need to wear a pointy head sheet mask to prove you’re an ignorant ofay.

            NBF was a brilliant CONFEDERATE, repeat goop, CONFEDERATE Cavalry General, perhaps the best of either side.

            It’s untrue, now there’s a goop surprise, NBF founded the KKK, but he was elected the first Grand Dragon. It is also true NBF tried to dismantle the KKK; a revelation you fail to mention – I’m shocked goop would stoop to hide the truth.

            Mr. Lincoln, I believe was the 1st Republican party POTUS.

          • LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Owns still can’t accept November 8th! You poor lib baby. Did you cry yourself to sleep until New Years? The Schadenfreude is sugar sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          • Whoa, 22 “locked and loaded, fire and fury” !

            AKA 22 erectile dysfunction!

            #”Donnie Piles”makingtreasonworthwhile

          • Don’t project your medical problems on others, Owns.

            Funny how you Democrats loved it when Obama threatened North Korea .

          • I never thought of OWNS as nutty ….until recently. Sad to see. It seems more than Trump is bothering my old friendly enemy….

          • His posts are one non sequitur after another. All those decades of alcoholism have destroyed the reasoning center of his brain.

          • Nathan Bedford Forrest massacred hundreds of black soldiers who tried to surrender at Ft Pillow in 1864. If you knew anything about the Civil War, you would know Forrest was hardly a brilliant general. He lost a series of battles as the war wound down, then refused to accept reality and, in a familiar pattern for you Democrats, started the Resistance Democrat hate group known as the KKK. Then, when called before Congress, he lied under oath about his membership in that Democrat hate group. No wonder you think he was brilliant. You and your fellow Democrats are the treasonous ones who refuse to accept a duly elected American president.

          • goop, Ft. Pillow never surrendered; hence the Union Fort annihilation.

            Additionally goop, W.T Sherman investigated the Bedford Massacre accusation and acquitted Bedford of culpability.

            Bedford didn’t participate in the founding of the KKK, specifically formed to combat Union carpetbaggers; and, furthermore goop, he resigned after the KKK began engaging in illegal activities that they still engage in today.

            For you to compare Democrats of the 21 century to 19th century Confederate Democrats is simply obtuse, irrational logic – Somewhat similar to you trying to sink a Battlewagon with spitballs.

          • Wrong. You aren’t only an illiterate fuuclan but a liar and apologist for a proven Democrat mass murderer as well.

          • xlnt! Marv don’t forget that great student at ‘the farm’ Madison Grant…his writings were shared amongst the nazi elite. Alfred Rosenberg understood they didn’t need to come up with anything re. ‘untermench’ just use the southern democrats jim crow laws for their 1938 Nuremberg Laws.

    • Everything will play out exactly like last year, old buddy. The team will give everything they have every game. No matter what. And, this year, it’s a much better team.
      #AndThey’llDoTheSameNextYear

      • No worries, I’m know the team’s got greater aspirations than Scott gives them credit for.

        • Two things, Pudley76:
          (1) Deep down I think Scott realizes that it’s not “This year or never” for USC. Ever.
          (2) I think we all could do without the crap that JustOwns said to marvgoux1. How does mention of McCaffrey lead to KKK and Nazi references?

          • The far left kook website Vox just posted how their followers are to think about this protest in Virginia. I expected JustOwns to follow his marching orders like the drone he is.

          • Drone I may be, but I don’t need to wear a White Sheet costume, like you do goop, to prove you’re a half wit.

          • Hey Owns, you are the lemming, plagiarizing your hero and role model the KO Kid again. H Right before you posted the KO Kid tweeted that anyone who supports Trump is a terrorist. Try to at least come up with some original material for your hateful full mooner leftist rants.

          • Quit farting on the blog 22. You may not support terrorist, but you are a white nationalist, supporting US treason by the Donnie/Putain axis.

            22, you’re too insignificant to qualify for the aroma of schadenfreude.

          • You Democrats own the KKK, fuuclan. Democrat Majority Leader Robert KKK Byrd is your hero. Embrace your proud heritage of hate instead of projecting it on loyal and patriotic Americans.

          • Robert Byrd repudiated his prior political activities; Byrd wasn’t afraid to acknowledge his mistakes.

            Lest you forget goop, after LBJ signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 85% of the southern Democrats opposed to the CRA, became staunch republicans and supported Ricky Nixon for POTUS.

            #Goodthingrickywasn’tacrook

          • Robert KKK Byrd used his KKK membership to gain high office. He was a chameleon who adapted to gain more power and used the n word to the end of his life.

            Last I checked J. William Fulbright and Al Gore Sr, who filbustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act, never became staunch Republicans. They gave us Bill Clinton and Al Gore to continue their legacy of racial politics.

          • Why are you dancing around this. You’ve done everything but denounce the alt-right neo-nazis who started this horrible situation. Do you sympathize with them?

  2. This is an issue that has greatly affected college basketball in what it used to be in better play & competition. Knowing next year would be a banner year for USC if the juniors & redshirt sophomores would stay, but you know some will commit to the draft and the talent & experience walks out the door with them. Now you have to play a lot of players to prevent too much of a drop in execution when some of them leave early. But you pay a price in execution by rotating those who can’t keep up the level of play needed. A lose/lose situation.

  3. Whoever suggested USC should wait until next year? Not one soul.

    NOW is USC’s time, with our best QB ever and a very nice, versatile, experienced supporting task. Duh.

    It’s been a long-established fact that really good players usually leave after three years in your program.

  4. Scotty CONTINUES to beat the drum, pump up the hype and set the trojies up for the big let down!!

    Item ONE: there ain’t no Crystal in Heritage Hall

    Item TWO: there ain’t gonna be no crystal coming this year OR next!!

    #HAWR-HAWR!!

      • Beefcake’s so stupid he doesn’t know about the long ago Trophy switch yet. bruins haven’t even smelled a NC trophy since 1954, when OHIO ST was really the nation’s best team.

        • It really HAS been a while for them Bruins. And the rest of the Pac-12, to be honest. They couldn’t make hay while the Trojans were in the woods. Next TV negotiation, SC had better not agree to that equal sharing of revenue nonsense. None of them had SC’s back during the nonsense NCAA investigation. (Hope McNair rips them a new hole)

          • Were it not for USC, the P12 would have no clout whatsoever as a football conference. USC is the only real national power in the West and always has been.

            Even so, USC will never claim a greater part of the pie money-wise. Never IMHO. In fact, It was already strongly hinted at by Haden and the P12 laughed it off (literally). A couple of the P12 big wigs literally said, go ahead, leave.

            The P12 knows USC doesn’t want to go it alone (and it doesn’t) and no other conference is possible, unless a new Super Power Conf formed. Nothing is developing along those lines or on the horizon. You think ‘Bama gets a bigger cut in the SEC? No way.

            I know it doesn’t seem fair, because football is the big revenue ticket. But make no mistake – the rest of the P12 would never agree to give USC more, has already firmly taken that position, and USC will NEVER leave, unless a new Super Conference for football shows up. USC can only fix this revenue shortfall through the Coliseum redo, which is why USC put all its eggs in that 100 year lease basket – because USC, as manager/basic owner of the property, can and always will make a huge killing financially off the Coliseum and adjoining leased areas.

          • Thanks, Jack. That’s considerably more quality info than I’m used to reading these days….

          • Right. And notice. The P12 voted not to take TEXAS, which would never in a million years go along with the P12 revenue split. By the way, the B12 is dying in football.

            The P12 isn’t like any other conferences and holds itself in many regards, very differently.

            Sure, SC can get a new, more unique deal if it joins somewhere else. But SC’s going nowhere, and ucla, STAN, UW, ORE ST, ASU, et al, all know exactly that. There’s no poker game going on here. You think STAN, CAL or ucla would put up with SC getting more? Never in a million years.

            USC has already been told where to go if it wants more. Same thing’s been told to anyone else who wants to play the big shot in the best conference west of the Mississippi. If USC doesn’t like it, it can leave and the P12 would immed fill the space with another school that would kill to join, and take whatever was offered.

          • You know what would not be a bad idea is to create a new Southwest Conference. You can have USC, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado, BYU, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, and Texas Tech. Thoughts?

          • I don’t know if that would be any better. Plus, I like the Oregon and Washington schools for many reasons. I even like the new additions, Colorado and Utah. I think they were both smart embellishments that helped our footprint.

            And it’s not all about football. The P12 has more NCs in all sports BY FAR than any other conference. A move or switch-up wipes that out entirely.

            And it’s not all about money either. Geography matters. Culture matters. I’m not all shot up about places like Texas Tech, TCU and Okla St. I’m not really big on Texas in general. I’d want to live in Oregon, Washington, Colorado or Utah long before Texas or Oklahoma. I wouldn’t mind adding, but not at the expense of subtracting schools that have been conference members for more than 60-70 years.

            SC isn’t hurting for money at all. In fact, we’re rolling in the dough, once again on the cover if SI (that doesn’t help the P12 near as much as SC) and shooting for yet another football NC. It’s great to be a Trojan.

          • Well I think the Pac needs to add OU and Texas because this is probably the last year of the Big 12. People think they are going to the SEC.

          • What if OU and Texas want a bigger cut – like Trojans think SC deserves? What if the states of Texas and Oklahoma demand ride alongs and politics come into play?

            You think Oklahoma’s just gonna sit back and let OK ST get deserted? Maybe they will. I have no idea. But it could get real complicated and dilute the conference in ways the P12 has always resisted.

            And who would you cut loose from the P12 if you had to? Seems like you’d be willing to kick out ORE, ORE ST, UW and WSU. I wouldn’t. Too much history there. Plus I kind of like the Huskies and Oregon State. I’ve been to Husky Stadium before in a lot of rain. What a blast!

            I’d stay in the P12 the way it is before I’d leave just to be a part of Texas and OU. That’s what it comes down to for me.

          • We’re on our way to having four Super Conferences with an 8 team playoff. That means the Pac 12 and Big 10 are going to expand. ND would go to the Big 10. If OU and Texas go to the SEC you would have the rest of the Big 12 as leftovers. It’s going to get real sticky over the next two years.

          • If you were OU and TEXAS, where would you rather go? SEC or P12?

            Seems like the SEC would be A LOT more lucrative, don’t you think? Plus, TEXAS could get back its rivalry with A&M, which it really needs. Seems like the P12 has some big disadvantages in that arms race, no?

          • N.D. is half in the ACC in football and it makes more sensE geographically to go to the Big 10. It does make more sense for OU and Texas to go to the SEC, that’s why Larry Scott needs to be proactive and get the deal done so that the Pac is not on the outside looking in. From a national perspective, what is the Pac without USC?

          • Who knows what will happen? Nothing is a slam dunk re ND, TEXAS, OU, etc.

            Larry Scott hasn’t shown himself to be the type of guy who is gonna outwit the SEC, that’s for sure. He’s clearly not and the SEC doesn’t mess around when it wants something. So I don’t see him pre-empting any big move, especially when he’s not holding as strong of a hand as the SEC.

            It’s easy to say to anybody to get the deal done. The Direct TV fiasco is a great example of how it takes two to deal, and let’s face it, the P12 has inherent weaknesses in both leadership, composition and football culture that make the SEC much more attractive as I see things. Scott’s certainly no mastermind, though the P12 presidents treat him like he is.

            As far as ND goes, I don’t think the history of ND and the Big Ten is all that great. Actually, it stinks, and the Big Ten has been at odds with ND for decades, hence the ND affiliation with the ACC. I believe ND may be reticent to heal wounds with MICH for benefit of the the Big Ten which is already filled with football powers like WIS, OHIO ST, NEB, MICH ST and MICH. MICH ST is the only B10 team on ND’s schedule. ND football certainly isn’t what it used to be and for the last 20 years has only averaged 7.5 wins per year. Maybe the ACC is just a better fit for them. In the ACC, they’re the big dog, at least name-wise.

            This all started as a conversation about USC getting a bigger cut of P12 revenue. As I said earlier, that’ll happen over the dead bodies of STAN, CAL, UW and ucla. Were I in charge of one of those schools, I’d send USC packing long before I’d ever agree to playing second fiddle to the Trojans.

    • Chuckie, you still crack me up. Even when you know you are dead wrong you stand behind all the idiocy you believe.

  5. Sam Darnold, Daniel Imatorbhebhe, and Porter Gustin are the only sure things at this point, so the others need to step up their game, or they’ll be NFL free agents next year

    • Phil Steele lists Cam Smith and Iman Marshall as the top draft eligible linebacker and cornerback, respectively. I doubt they’ll have to worry much about getting drafted —-but I, obviously, hope they [and Sam, Porter and Daniel] stick around for their senior years.

  6. Mr. Negative strikes again….”With everyone expecting USC to make the College Football Playoff, anything less will be viewed as a disappointment.’

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