Morning Buzz: Are USC’s Recent Performances Causing Stress Within Program?

USC Trojans quarterback Sam Darnold (14) after throwing to teammate wide receiver Tyler Vaughns (not pictured) for a touchdown against the Oregon State Beavers during the first half of an NCAA college football game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, on Saturday, Oct. 07, 2017. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)I wrote a detailed story here about Sam Darnold’s apology to the coaches that neither Clay nor Tyson Helton said they received. Clay Helton said Darnold might have apologized to Tee Martin.

But why did Darnold say “I talked to them,” and “They called me and wanted to get the context of what I said. I let them know.”

That sounds like plural. Here’s an excerpt from my story.

“Maybe the message here is Darnold took accountability for whatever did happen or did not happen. He was the adult in the room. You can blame Darnold for fumbles or some interceptions but he always speaks to the media, he always takes responsibility for the offense and never shies away from the truth.”

Full story here

111 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: Are USC’s Recent Performances Causing Stress Within Program?

  1. I think Sam’s play last year coupled with some of the veterans, masked some of the team’s deficiencies. With the veterans now gone, and a much less experienced team those deficiencies are affecting Sam’s play and his recent comments allude to it. The schedule is entering into a much tougher run and SC should be able to out talent the Utahs and Notre Dames. But eliteness is not a quality this team possess and I think Sam sees this and it frustrates him.

    • I think Sam is also a bit frustrated with himself. Two muffs,one a turnover other recovery on 1 yrd line.Forced interception. It’s all can be corrected, can change just like that.Alot of guys caught balls.Sam must be pumped to throw to new guys.

        • I think Cloud is suggesting Alabama won’t take the Championship for the 2nd year in a row —-and he’s probably right.

          • There is best of the bunch ….and, then, there’s elite. I don’t know yet which category Alabama falls in this year —– but, yeah, it’s been a great program under Nick.

        • That was kinda a provocative request, when you think about it, Alv……
          #GladTomSaid”Sorry”

          • You know nothing and I mean NOTHING countenances homicide save self-defense and family or innocent and fighting for your country ‘but’ Tessio sold his soul out to Barzini. Had Tom Hagen come to Tessio would Tessio acted any different towards Tom? No!

            The reality is ‘loyalty’ – it’s the bedrock of: marriages, employment, business and in particular friendship (not minimizing marriage i.e. what else marriage than intimate friendship n’est pas?).

            TRUST is ‘paramount’..

          • Nah Mike…you know – ‘Can’t do it Sollie!’ Hagen was no fool….Hagen would of known ‘Tessio’ was the ‘rat’ and that the next invite to a ‘beach hoe down’ at Jones Beach would of come courtesy of a 0.45 and the US Army (Michael being a commissioned 1st Lt. and allowed to keep his personal fire arm.)

      • Not quite yet, j. [But he has good reason for hiding in the locker room during post practice interviews].
        #Don’tTellAnyoneI’m Here!

          • Sam’s comment couldn’t have been gentler or more well intentioned. All he said is he’d like to open up the offense [he’s said before that he loves the idea of fast break football]. If coaching a kid with that kind of love of the game annoys Tee, we’re in deep doody.

          • Hopefully the restraints are removed and in a hurry. On the flip side, perhaps Tee is over his skis and searching for answers beyond his skill set

          • I’ve found that when people are forced into “searching for answers beyond their skill set” they frequently “panic.” Grow up, Tee. You don’t need to be Norm Chow —just let Sam and the team open it up a bit. So many elite players —-so much trouble mounting drives. It’s not acceptable.

  2. Don’t believe this crap. SW doesn’t know what happened. So much mis-information going around. If I were Tyson I would have said the same thing. Why blow something out of proportion. Reporters have to write articles to get paid. No matter if they are correct or not.

    • I think there’s no doubt among the players and coaches this is it. lead and win. Each knows their job and task.Saturday we will see USC take a big step back to playing complete game both sides of ball.

  3. Not sure if all of this story is true, but Mr T certainly deserved it from Darnold as he’s made too many boneheaded calls already. As a matter of fact, I’m sure SD had much smarter offensive calls in his playng days at San Clemente. lol.

  4. If it is true that some in the program are unhappy with the performances of this 2017 team, then KUDOS to them!

    USC should play championship football. That is more than winning (“surviving and moving on” as some here call it), playing championship football means AT LEAST dominating a lesser team once in a while and playing NEAR one’s potential for most of a game — which we have not come close to doing once this season. (YEAH, I saw the Stanford game.) Simply showing up was enough to post a 28-point win over OR State, but does anyone think we dominated or played outstanding football??? THEIR coach resigned because losing to a team playing THAT poorly, by 28, was the last straw.

    The number of players who are consistently playing at or above their expected level number in the single digits. Forget about units on either side of the ball — we have to get players to perform before units can.

    Winning most of games we are supposed to win is not enough to be a ‘championship-caliber” team (though it is for most people posting here.) Most of our opponents believe that playing USC is their biggest moment each season, but they rarely believe they will actually win. Right now, even UGLY believes they can beat us BASED ON HOW WE HAVE PLAYED THIS YEAR.

    Does anyone remember 2012? We were 6-1 and playing WAY better than we are this season (smashing CO 50-6 just before the team and coaches just quit.)

    If we lose to UTAH, most of the commentary afterward will be led by “Well, you could see this was coming; they’ve been playing like crap all season and they’ve been lucky so far.” If we eek out another close win, the commentary will be led by “How long can USC keep tempting fate?”

    • I think some of the Trojans are overrated i.e. some players on the O line and some DB’s which accounted for a higher pre-season ranking.

    • So you believe replacing 2 starting WR and 2 offensive lineman (who are now hurt so staring freshman) is insignificant? SC has talent and the coaching is better than most on here think. Football is the ultimate team sport which requires all or centrianly almost all of an 11 man team to win an individual battle and do the right thing on every play. That cohesiveness takes time when so many on one side of the ball are replaced.
      Add into that the turnover issue eminating from the QB position and our O has struggled. If SD has a reasonable number of ints at this point (3-4) we could add anywhere from 6-14 points to every game for us. People keep talking about his throwing motion. The isn’t the problem. Watch his feet and you will see far too many plays w poor foot work. Some are due to pressure, but too many are due to relying solely on arm strength which impacts accuracy.

      • Well said and dead on, Brent.
        So do you think the rest of the team realizes Darnold can’t lead them?

        • Nice try j metaphor. SD is one of their leaders much like Cam leads the D. He needs to play better in the second half of the season. He isn’t immune to struggles and it’s more about how he responds to that now. I disagree with many on here that his struggles are not solely due to coaching just like his success last year was not solely due to coaching.

      • (Sarcasticly) Yeah, the 500 words above were all about Sam Darnold simply being awful, and the ONLY underachiever on the team despite new O-Linemen and new WRs. Ya got me. He’s the sole reason The USC Trojan Football Team, as a
        whole, are not playing championship football. My post mention nothing about the team playing poorly, just Sam. You’re comprehension and conclusion is awe-inspiring.

        (In reality): What part of “The number of players who are consistently playing at or above their expected level number in the single digits” or the rest of my post leads you to conclude that I said Sam Sucks and the OL and WRs have nothing to do with it??????????? Holy sh1te, how do you get that from my post and get two people to agree?

        You want to talk OLs and WRs? Fine:

        The OL was not forced to replace Mama, Wheeler and Banner with True FRs. The hype was that the FRs excelled and no one wants/wanted to say that it could be that the returning players were not coming along, so we’ll have to use the FRs. We rotate O-linemen, so last-year’s guys should have been ready to start. Is that too much of a reach for you? Hemsley and Johnston have been on this team for 3 years — Austin for 4. Heck, even Falah isn’t satisfactorily reliable as a snapper.

        The same could be said of the WRs. Does any number of new WRs account for why Darnold turned a TD into 1st-and-goal by under-throwing a wide-open receiver (I am stuck in a hospital room these past 8 days and can’t identify the play right this moment, but I will) or the number of overthrows, underthrows and throws into some (luckily) stone-handed opponents’ chests? It’s not all because of pressure, Sam seems to just fling it with a prayer sometimes this season. Is Tyler Vaughns this year’s Sam Darnold? (Helton afraid to put him in to start the season, but when he finally does, we all ask: What took so long?)

        Further, what does Darnold, the OL and the WRs have to do with the D and ST under-performing all too often (save McGrath and Budrovich)?

        I won’t revisit your previous remarks from 2 or 3 weeks ago about coaches not being able to change players (specifically, you said that coaches can’t change a player dropping balls and other things).

        Why don’t you stick to raving about our performance against Oregon State. USC beating them was the best game of the season — for Oregon State (outside of beating a DII team who had more offense against the Beavers than we did). No one has beaten them as poorly as we did.

          • Thanks, Michael. Wife nearly died in crash in Utah. Just returned an
            hour ago to find that response was held by censors because I used the
            word common in the 1940s (male rooster + a + mamie, spelled correctly). Really, “Another xyz response” is
            the only sentence I removed before re-posting. Lucky I left the
            “pending” up on my laptop. the even censored a respelling so this is my 3rd attempt to use a word allowed in kindergarten, but not here….

          • You’ve always been a straight shooter and I respect you a lot. Sending all good thoughts to you, your wife and your family, my friend.
            [As far as the censoring —it would be hilarious if it weren’t so maddening].

        • Man you are an angry little one aren’t you. First of all no good team “rotates” offensive lineman. Offensive line is very much about cohesion and nobody worth their salt rotates the 2nd string guard and the 3rd string tackle in every 5 plays or so. The D has played very well. If you don’t think so then you don’t know football very well. Fatu has played better than expected and our secondary has held up fairly well. For having Gustin and the frosh DT out most of the year so far I don’t see how you say they underperformed. Our walk on kicker I believe is perfect on fg and is regularly putting the ball in the end zone. Other than 1 k o return in the first game how has special teams been so bad? Guys like you knit pick everything as if out know anything about the game or buikdig a team. Get better soon though

          • Can’t figure what words offended the censors THIS time (If you see a stupid phrase, know that that was a change):

            So,
            responding in a way you disagree with equates to anger. You’re just full
            of tin-foil-hat theories. You’re the one who can’t let someone who is
            not addressing you have an opinion.

            Rotating Mama and Brown last year certainly stunk for us last year. (According to you.)

            I’m
            sure there are lots of people who strive to be 59th in total D and 45th
            in scoring D with DBs who fall down on their own a lot. My OP comments
            specifically mention playing “championship football” not “very well.”
            59th is neither, nor is 45th.

            Who are the top 10 in scoring D?

            1 Penn St.
            2 Georgia
            3 Washington
            4 Alabama
            5 Clemson
            6 Auburn
            7 Michigan
            8 Virginia Tech
            9 Wisconsin
            10 Ohio St.

            Any of those guys expected to go to the playoffs? At least 3 of the 4 will be from this group (Probably with USC, OK or Wazzu)

            In my OP, I never mentioned a single player by name for under-performing. Yet you insinuate that I do. Magic!

            However
            I have pointed out both McGrath and Budrovich are NOT underachievers,
            so you arguing against my points by citing McGrath is silly.

            I won’t stoop to saying “Guys like you.” YOU completely mooch my OP
            (again) with another obtuse response. If you think we’re playing
            “championship football” and impressing the football world, then enjoy
            yourself and leave me alone. WE ARE SC and WE SHOULD BE playing better
            football than we are. This haphazard rolling of the dice like we’re in a
            Hollywood-movie dice game is gonna bite us in the behind like it did at
            Wazzu. How many more times is acceptable for you??? Shake those dice
            really hard and pray for 7 (BTW: 7 is the worst number to throw in a
            certain dice game)

        • The TD turned into 1st and goal play by a poor pass by Darnold under no pressure:

          You ALL remember…

          3rd and 13 at WSU 42
          (6:39 – 4th) Ronald Jones II run for no gain to the WshSt 42

          Then,
          4th and 13 at WSU 42
          (6:05 – 4th) Sam Darnold pass complete to Tyler Vaughns for 15 yds to the WshSt 27 for a 1ST downplay

          …and here it is:
          1st and 10 at WSU 27
          (5:39 – 4th) Sam Darnold pass complete to Tyler Vaughns for 26 yds to the WshSt 1 for a 1ST down

          Vaughns has to wait at the 4 yard line for a long time waiting for that pass.

          This is available on watchBSPN for another 2 weeks, so look at the time Darnold has, how wide open Tyler Vaughns is, and how bad the pass is.
          No pressure, Darnold just throws the ball 6-10 yards short. Good thing Vaughns was so wide open that he could stop, sit down, wait, catch the ball and turn upfield (without getting hammered!)

  5. USC is 5-1, and lost to a pretty good team, the Trojans should run the table, because lots of teams with less talent are able to overcome injuries, why can’t SC ?

    • You already know the clear answer to this.

      Because USC’s o-line is bad, that’s why. That’s a fatal defect against really good teams that are capable of wrecking you in the trenches. If USC’s OL was good, we’d be undefeated, in the top 5 and guaranteed to play for the P12 champeeenship. With our OL, anything can happen against anyone good because we can’t control tempo and the game on the ground when we need to. Simple as that. All faults can be dealt with except a poor OL.

  6. Sure seems coach Martin has taken on a bigger than life persona. Why not stand and face the press, get it over with and move on. Is his ego so big now he cannot stand criticism? Perhaps Martin is the one that needs to apologize, to the team, for holding them back.

  7. First rule of any locker room is what happens here stays here, usually includes game issues, that’s why you don’t hear most players or coaches putting each other down, and are reluctant to even acknowledge such dissent.
    Of course if Scott would have followed some of the other real beat reporters he’d have heard that there were actually a number of players only team meetings. Hmm, wonder what went on Scott, what was discussed, resolved?

    Nope, not Scott he’s going after his Pulitzer with the did he or didn’t he apologize. What a piece.

  8. “The only adult in room” – Scott, your daily petty postings on tawdry aspects of college football are proof that you haven’t the first idea about what an adult is.

    Go report on the actual game, or just admit that you have no interest in looking at game tape, researching play calls, studying tendencies, being objective. Junkyard blogging at its finest. Like watching a vulture in action.

  9. Teenagers and 20 year olds get stressed when asswipes like wolfie criticise them day-in-and-day-out. Surprise

  10. Here we go again – SW trying to create “controversy” where there is none. Whether Darnold apologized for posessing a keen grasp of the obvious is meaningless. Seems like Scott has graduated from making catty comments to trying to create “stress within the program”. BTW, Scott: what University do you claim to have attended?

  11. WOW wolf!!!!!!, we all know your standards are low, but this takes it to another level. Trying to fabricate drama out of a non-story. I have said numerous times your skill set or lack of, would be better utilized at the National Enquirer

  12. Poor Tee. Darnold boxed him into a corner and we all know Darnold let it slip in public that our play-calling leaves something to be desired – such an obvious problem.

    Now Darnold falls on his own sword when he realizes the sh*itstorm he has created. Darnold can’t help but come out as the good guy here because that’s exactly what he is – the good guy. He’s taken a lot of blame too, so it’s not like he’s just blaming others.

    Darnold put USC’s offensive coaches feet to the fire, and just in the nick of time. Who knows? We may even see some improvement for the UTAH game. Can’t wait to see this game. We’re gonna learn so much about this team.

    • I’m going to be more than a little disappointed if Tee gets all defensive about Sam’s remarks and goes into a bigger pout than we saw after the Washington State loss——especially if that pout expresses itself in a stubbornly unimaginative game plan for Utah.
      #AndIDon’tCountFleaFlickersAsImaginative

      • I don’t really care if Tee gets defensive about his bad looking offense.

        Actually, I support it. Maybe that will get us a new OC. So, it’s all good. We either show improvement against the Utes and win impressively, or we see the same sluggish predictability on offense and Swann has to lay down the law again with Helton (who is basically an offensive coach).

        I’m really confident we’re gonna a lot less of our worthless dive calls up the middle. Tee’s not suicidal, so we’re done with that poor look. Helton’s future is on the line too. He’s already used up his Rose Bowl chips. Six games in and hanging on at 5-1, USC still looking like a dumpster fire half the time.

        I still think it all starts and ends with our substandard o-line (USC is only 34th in the country running the ball despite our excellent RBs and RB coach). Since I don’t see how that OL gets suddenly fixed, I wonder how USC can quickly start looking like a PO team? Doesn’t seem realistic.

        • Here’s what I fear, Jack —–Tee can’t and won’t deal with our serious o-line problems—instead he’ll insert some trick plays on Saturday and pretend that’s the “fix” everybody’s been waiting for. What’s called for here is more than one new pattern for Deontay or Mitchell to run —-it’s a comprehensive new approach to getting an offense with a sub par o-line (but lots of skilled players) to perform at the best possible capacity. My suggestion? I think if Tee would trust Sam to pretty much call his own plays, Sam would start enjoying football again and we’d see the offense take off.

          • I doubt we can just change who we are mid-season. And I don’t see how Tee can do anything to change our OL. These were things that needed to be addressed in the spring/summer/fall camp.

            The good thing is that I think we’re all okay with Tee leaving now, if he chooses. Before this season, it seemed like we were lucky to have him. I’m so over that now, regardless of his recruiting ability. He’s easily replaceable, and with a better X/O coach.

            I’d be all for Darnold calling plays, literally. Of course that will never happen, but if UTAH beats us in the Coliseum, we’ll be looking at some severe coaching anxiety at USC and we’ll find out if all those Swann dissatisfaction rumors are really true.

          • You’re right! This Utah game is it make or break it for Tee. It’s not like Washington State where key players were lost seconds before (?!) and all throughout the game. This Saturday, he knows our weaknesses going in —-and he has to show he can game plan around them. None of this “they just beat us” (actual quote after loss) will get a pass this time. Not from fans….or, hopefully, the Head Coach and A.D.
            And I’m not giving up on Tee —-he has the smarts to call a better game. He just needs to be honest with himself —-what worked in the Rose Bowl with a healthy, more experienced line is not gonna work against Utah or Notre Dame. So don’t call last year’s plays. That’s what Sam is TRYING to tell him.

          • Agree on most points but I’m done with Tee and want him gone when the season is over. He’ll do a lot of things now because of public pressure, but left to his own devices, we’ve seen him in action. Time to give some new hotshot a chance.

            If Tee were so good, he’d have a few decent HC offers by now. I’m not buying it. He’s already peter principled himself at USC and USC’s best QB ever just came out publicly and said the defenses he’s facing know what calls are coming up. Brutal, so much so that Sam had to apologize publicly after speaking with Helton. Good thing our coaches are on the line and hopefully Tee is on his way out!

          • After reading and assessing what you just wrote —-I really have to hand it to Sam for speaking out of school. I wonder if his family told him to just get it off his chest? It’s not like Sam to unthinkingly blurt out something so revealing of his true feelings about the Offensive Coordinator (and make no mistake about it —any criticism of play calling IS a criticism of Tee).

          • Having heard and watched his statement it struck me how naturally I rolled off his tongue as if this had been discussed at least a few times previously. I hope he has discussed this with T and Clay as that’s what their group meetings are for, if they haven’t, one might surmise that there’s a disconnect.

          • The disconnect, if there is one (and I think there is), is between Sam and Tee. Sam WANTED his feelings about the play calling to be aired outside private meetings. He said it in public. He meant every word of it. It’s out there.

          • Genie’s out of the bottle. Sam’s smarter at calling plays than Tee is already and wouldn’t make the same mistakes, at least at the same rate. I’d sure like to be in Swann’s head about now.

          • If you go the Ripsit Blog and listen to Deland McCullogh’s interview, I guarantee you’ll be impressed with his poise. Unlike Coach Helton, it’s plain he doesn’t care about being liked (or being liked is certainly not his top priority)—- got a bit of the McKay toughness to him. He’s part of the answer to us winning out from here.

          • I saw the interview and it just reinforces why I like him as a running game coord and RB coach. It wouldn’t surprise me if he and Tee are conflicted in some regards.

            If we lose to UTAH, which I don’t think we will, all hell will break loose, as we will for sure be headed to some Toys For Us Bowl.

            We need for Darnold to hit some long range passes and with Burnett less than healthy, this game looks more and more interesting every day. We might need a guy like Grimes in a big way earlier than we ever thought.

          • The part of the interview that struck me is that Deland let it slip that HE has been assigned to toughening up the receivers. I have never heard of a running backs guy coaching up the wide receivers.

          • Thank God Sam came out and broke the logjam and said what actually surprised me – USCs needs a change-up. Fantastic! Somebody important needed to say it out loud and who better than USC football hero Sam Darnold! He oughtta know!

    • My real concern going forward right now is Burnett. Hopefully we start spreading the ball around more and he doesn’t get so beat up. He’s not very big and they’re pounding him whenever they can, even when he misses. Same can be said for Mitchell who has already sat out a couple of games. Pittman coming back and either Jody Lewis or Grimes need to take some pressure off. I don’t think Burnett weighs 160 dripping wet. If he goes out for any extended period we’ll really start to struggle, IMO.
      Then again, if we could just run the f’n ball….

  13. Scooter, you missed your calling, you should have been a journalist for the newest event craze, midget soccer. To see all those midgets run the full length of a soccer field and then run back would be too hilarious. It probably would draw better than normal soccer and get better ratings on tv. Too funny. You could have a team here in L.A. called the Giants. That would piss off the dodger fans.

  14. SW taken, writing things in the context that suits his needs. Helton is a class act, what he was doing was saying that darnold takes everything to the extreme. He owns everything and basically there was no apology because there was no need for one. If Helton doesn’t win then fire him. But I won’t allow a man to be scorn, a honorable man. A man with integrity, to take this situation and mislead a man’s character for blog hits is erroneous. Take me off the the blog but this is despicable. You SW could learn a lot from Helton.

    • Scott has a medical condition that prohibits him from comprehending what’s going on around him. There is Scott’s orbit than there is reality. When your wires are crossed there is no distinction between the two. Often early signs of dementia

      • Gabby, it’s hardly early stages of demented behavior! He’d love nothing more than drive a wedge into this team, whether it’s between the players and coaches or between the individual teammates.

  15. Darnold throws the coaching staff under the bus, now the coaches can’t get their stories straight and Tee is sulking….stay on this one wolfman!! i just hope all this distraction dont cost the trOXans the Utah game!!

    #Dissension

    • Brutus you always remind me of the Ben Franklin quote “we are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid”

      Get back to work putsz.

      • Remember when RoidBeef, aka Bucket Boy, had to leave this site in disgrace for months after the ’16 ucla season – another tremendous baby bruin collapse?

        Now he’s back all pumped up about everything USC but you’ll never hear him, or other ucla Trolls, bring up ucla football. They won’t touch it. They can’t afford to. They won’t even predict little gutty victories in important games because it makes them look so feeble when ucla always loses.

        • Absolutely, at least if they had the guts to back their own team I’d have some respect. Very little, but some. BUT NOOOOO!
          They don’t back their team ever, comically sad. Perhaps tragic.

          • That’s funny because RoidBeef also goes by the nickname Crotch Boy because he always thought he was the kicker. Now, it’s all come full circle for him here as he has become one of the hugest verbal abuse targets in the history of Inside USC. He likes it that way, It’s part of his gig. Just some backstory for you.

      • ignorant and stupid are completely different. i doubt the great Ben Franklin would attach his name to such a flawed aphorism.

        • With you Roid Boy, ignorance and stupid go hand-in-hand. You’re a double-barreled idiot, which is why you need to cling to us Trojans. We’re your lifeline in the sea of your own pitifulness.

          Now come on, say something you think is real cute or pithy and make sure and hash tag some lame thought for us. Don’t let us down. We count on you for this crap.

        • Flawed? Not so, but with hard work on your part you’ll still not get it.. check his work before you talk you foolish little imp.

  16. The answer is NO. The real question is:

    Are the daily posts from the USC beat writer at the Daily News generating any marginal ad revenue for the paper?

  17. SW, A top flight Trojan journalist would not make public team locker room “private” personal opinions of the coaches and players. It is none of my business. “If It Bleeds IT Reads” journalism, IMO, “steals”, “kills”, and “destroys”. Move on, Bush League.

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