Will this be the week Clay Helton finally admits USC is not playing to its potential? Or if it is, why everyone was so wrong. If you want to respond by saying USC is 5-1, then you have a lower standard than Sam Darnold, who said he would spend Saturday night thinking about what he did wrong.
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Bama struggled to beat A &M and said that he was tired of the positive media coverage surrounding his team. He says that Bama will not blow out all opponents like the media says. I suggest SW listen to the player interviews- Trojan players- and what their mindset is. Helton doesn’t have to admit anything especially since he is the head coach of a bunch of young men that need guidance and who won’t throw them under the bus when they are winning. This is a young team. If even Alabama is going to struggle, why wouldn’t SC?
One week at a time and keep looking forward only as far as this week.
I don’t think he’d throw them under the bus even if they weren’t winning. That’s just how good coaches are. And it goes for his assistants too, how does it help to create a soap opera type atmosphere just to please the lonely old geezer who pretends he knows something.
Do you think that his loyalty can be a fault? Better stated, he’s loyal to those around him, could this become a problem with him hiring or firing new assistants?
To soon to tell. I’ll tell ou this, I really like his rb coach. Great hire.
If he can recruit (why wouldn’t he be able to?) this could turn out to be a terrific hire. Maybe he can bring in some of that Midwest beef to help along the trenches.
Actually we always assume the team across the line of scrimmage isn’t worthy of playing USC. But the fact is we are playing another division 1 scholarship laden team. They have had another week to improve. The other team is usually up for SC. It is simply ludicrous to think that we should beat a team as if they don’t belong on the field with us. Unless we are talking Ucla in which case…
Classic example is Cal. Gave USC all it wanted, played a tough game then along comes Washington and they fold. Every team is UP for USC, every week USC gets the best the other team can throw at them. ucla is inconsequential.
Half of every PAC 12 roster is comprised of CA players. If I were a player, I’d be up for SC and would want to play well in front of friends and family.
Notre Dame has this problem too. Who doesn’t get up for playing the Irish? I like it this way. Getting people’s best shots eventually makes you better.
But, Jack, we are half way thru the season and not seeing any improvement anywhere.
I think it all starts with the OL which hurts our passing game, our running game and also keep our D on the field too long.
I think all of our games might be cliff hangers because with this basic OL problem, literally everything is affected. Sadly, I think we lack talent there and the talent we have is just too young. OL is a cohesive group and takes longer to fix.
I bet our WRs are super by season’s end. But I can’t say I’m confident we’ll ever be able to run the ball this season. Too bad too, because we have really good RBs.
Checked out the domers stats today. Don’t sure don’t pass much.
Yeah, there’s no passing game in South Bend; let’s hope Clancy doesn’t play Nickel for 3# like WMich…stack the box and make ’em throw the ball. Stuff the run!!!
The Domers are gonna try to punch us in the mouth big-time. Can’t you feel it? This is gonna be a brawl. Lots of chips on the table. We’d be on GameDay were we both undefeated. I love this rivalry.
They will be talking playoff elimination the week prior to this game for the loser so this will be knock down drag out head banging at its best. I can still see those boys sitting on the Coli turf at halftime being read the riot act.
Plus that knucklehead that stomped on Aca Cedrick Ware while down on the field, oohbbaby!
Man that ND guy dropped Ware .. just blasted him on a run play , Ware learned to lower his pads real fast after get KOed Ouch
What do you know, very well said JB!
I’m on a hot streak. USC football gives us lots of opportunities!
Every player thinks about what they did wrong, because they hear about it in films. Then they hear about it at practice. 5-1 is not bad. I think I have heard Coach Helton say we have some work to do. Does that infer there is room for improvement? Right over the top of the reporters head. There is one team in the nation playing to its potential, Alabama, and even then Saban is never happy. Clemson has a defense playing to its potential too, but Swinney says there is work to do.
Helton has never remotely suggested USC is playing to its potential. Everyone knows and admits USC is underperforming, still feeling its way around and winning ugly. Darnold isn’t even a Heisman candidate now. Our OL doesn’t block half the time and our DBs often give more room than a muumuu.
But we’re hanging in there. Our receivers are coming around and Darnold will return to form, especially if we can re-establish our running game. Darnold’s a true leader and never shies away from taking blame.
We’re 5-1 and we still have so much room for improvement. That’s a great sign. The next two games will tell our tale. Nobody, least of all our coaches, is in denial.
That said, I agree with Mike Leach when he stated that Sam has all of the skills/tools for the NFL, but needs another year in college to polish them. Our makeshift O-line is forcing Sam to scamper too often.
The Education of Sam Darnold. He’s probably learned more in the last six games than he did in his first season. I think he’s poised to break out. Too bad our OL has compromised him so severely.
Sam ain’t going anywhere. Needs another year to polish.
Take the money
Fool
Matt Barkley was the fool, staying around and getting his shoulder destroyed.
Absolutely needs another year. And everyone remember that this is exactly how Scottie sounded during year 2 of the Carrol era.
Can’t say I remember. I was at USC for the beginning of that era. Flow was not even a blip on my radar.
It’s too easy for me to sit at home and criticize the coaches, but if nothing else, they better get their running game going, or Sam Darnold will look like an ordinary quarterback , and that’s the key.. IMO
Fred, more often than not, I feel like a dinosaur. I miss the old I formation and really miss the games where a balanced offense meant you ran the ball 45 times and passed it 20-25. But I think those days are gone. I’ve always agreed with your takes on getting under center for short yardage, but you just don’t see it much anymore.
But what really sets me off, is not seeing your prediction. I’m still waiting on last weeks game.
Fred’s a great contributor here but he never likes to make predictions. It’s not his bag.
Not really my bag either, I was just teasing. Meant no harm.
There’s a heck of a lot to correct and we are 5-1.Let’s look ahead to Utah , make changes. …NOW ABOUT DENIAL…SW When will you acknowledge David Sills? That young man is one of ,if not the biggest feel good stories in CFB. Amazing what he’s done Reinventing himself . Look at his stats. ..near or in the lead for total TD in football.
I have no doubt that CH knows precisely what the state of his team is. He is not one to make intemperate remarks or “motivate” through passive aggressive comments to the press. He doesn’t get too excited when things are going well, nor does he hyper ventilate when things go awry.He is exactly what the previous 2 head coaches were not. He is a stable, self assured adult. He is not in denial. He is exhibiting leadership. Whether he has the coaching skills to get his team to the promised land is an entirely different question.
Speaking of Freshman, is Marlon ok? Heard Dan Weber say that he might need back surgery and that this is the reason why Pili played and burned his RS.
No clear message yet.
This is the one danger of playing true Freshmen, the other players are physically more developed and experienced. Hope he’s ok.
He was 320 lbs, I’d say he was pretty well developed.
I have a cousin that is this heavy. Problem is he is softer than a donut. In high school, Marlon probably outweighed everyone and was like Paul Bunyan out on the field. Wonder how strong he was.
Marlon was the state champion wrestler, defending champion too, I believe. Not too many soft wrestlers.
He was an early enrollee and played Spring ball. Rest and recovery are invaluable.
When I played high school ball, I only played my Senior year and started both ways. I was suppose to take Calculus that year but knew that I wouldn’t be able to handle both football and derivatives and work weekends. I paced myself during the week knowing that I would kill myself that Friday night. Managing your body and having healthy boundaries.
Get better, Marlon.
I’m not sure surgery has been prescribed yet. I think they’re still hoping for therapy to be effective, and he still might be back before years end. They burned Pili’s redshirt so we’d have depth along the line until it is worked out with Marlon.
Wonder how Tufele is looking. If Bigelow can provide 10 -15 snaps, Dorton can provide 20-30, and Pili can provide some depth for Fatu and Green, it looks a little better.
They’d like to not burn his redshirt.
He says it in every press conference every week. He admits when they do not play well. SW, when will you admit you are a subpar beat writer? Will this be the week?
Lol. Poor Flow. Burned again.
Hey blogger, one good question to ask the coaches is why they don’t go full pads/full contact at certain practices. From my understanding, the NCAA allots a certain amount of time to full contact but USC/Coach Helton doesn’t use all the time allowed.
If USC wants to get to being elite, hitting is going to have to be a part of that. Could be a good thing to bring along younger players and in reaching that “potential.”
Injuries. Sanctions. Experience. Depth. 63 Fr or SO on team.
NCAA regulations allow 2 dye per week I believe.
I’ve heard USC goes full pads/contact only one day. I could be wrong.
Still, if anyone has info, would be a good question to put to the coaches in that reporter’s scrum they have every day.
That’s my understanding too, one day full pads three days shells. I’m not sure if they’ve ever gone full pads on Mondays as practices are closed so I just assume those are just shells.
USC favored by 11 vs utes.
Troy Williams, I think he’s from Narbonne high school, is a feast or famine QB. If he’s on, and that is a big if, he could spell trouble. If he’s off, SC will cover the spread.
Utah is a good team and it was shocking watching them lose to Stanford at home. They couldn’t stop Bryce Love and near the end of the game Troy Williams threw two straight interceptions.
For SC to beat Utah, we need to play tough defense and get in his face and harass him all night. We need to run the football well and not turn the ball over. Need an electric crowd. Win this game and we pretty much have a lock on the South Title.
Beat Utah and we’re a lock to grab the south title. I thought that same thing at the beginning of the season, Lajollaboy. Now I think I was wrong. Arizona, Arizona State and UCLA are all capable of giving us a game. Every week is gonna be a dog fight.
#Doesn’tMeanWeCan’tBeat’EmAll,Though
He beat us last year, no? But this won’t be rice-eccles, it’s the Coli.
Anyone from SoCal who has played football, dreams of playing at the Coliseum Sept to Nov then playing in the Rose Bowl in January. Make that dream a nightmare.
I’m not sure I’d give up 3.
USC 24-23 on a TD in last 2 minutes.
Not sure how they’ll do, they could win by 20 or 2. I do think they’ll win though.
I like it but do not feel it
Yeah, iwas surprised a little by that number. Furd did run them over pretty good in Utah though, and they haven’t really played well in the Coli recently.
I watched the post game press conference and was glad to hear Clay say that the team is not a finished product by any means yet. To me this means he gets it that we have to improve even though we’re 5-1. How we play against Utah and Notre Dame will go along way to seeing if the coaches and players improve.
By November, we need to be humming on all cylinders and be rolling.
I saw some good things in that game but there needs to be a lot of uimprovement in the next 2 games. If there isn’t, we could have 2 loses in a row.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Utah plays fairly straight ahead, like Stanford. Wittingham bets that his lineman and backs are tougher than yours, and doesn’t run any crazy blitz packages. I don’t think this is the week where there is a reckoning. There are three things going on that can and need to be turned around: offensive play-calling (looks like opposing Ds have this pretty figured out, something has to change), injuries (no matter how Scott tries to minimize it – I can’t remember a season where so many critical pieces went down so quickly), and lack of a surprise element (nothing killer on ST, no unexpected stars, with the exception of the injured Carr).
These are the same coaches from last year. They are all solid and mostly proven position coaches. Scott keeps implying that they are somehow doing something fundamentally wrong but never bothers to break it down (because he doesn’t know how). It is enough to say that the Martin-T Helton philosophy of play-calling is not working, in fact I don’t even know what it is. It’s kind of a game-by-game approach, that looks to be inconsistent and totally overwhelmed against a daring DC. Pendergast is confident of what he is doing and it shows. They’re going to get beat deep every once and a while, but they are prepared to contain explosive shotgun-pistol style offenses. They need a better D-Line though to really get to the next level, and probably a different CB across from Jack Jones. Baxter and the ST look like nothing special whatsover. Chase McGrath is great. But the scholarship guys are not showing up, and we look punchless in the return game.
What has to happen when a team is underperforming? Its coaches need to step up and push the players hard. And USC is not the only team suffering injuries. But why are the 2nd stringers so lacking, especially on the O-line? Is your recruiting suspect or is the position coaching not getting results? It is one or the other.
Why aren’t these questions being asked at Helton’s press conferences? Are reporters afraid to get Helton mad? Maybe putting a chip on his shoulder is what he needs and get off this “nice guy” stuff. When was the last time Nick Saban was nice?
SC is not playing that well right now but that could change overnight if Sam gets his confidence back. He’s just not playing like he did last year.