USC Morning Buzz: 10 Things To Fix Against Arizona State

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It’s time for my weekly list of 10 things USC needs to fix. Here is this week’s to-do list heading into the Arizona State game.

Excerpt: Stop getting pushed around: Notre Dame manhandled USC on the offensive and defensive lines. USC needs to ask itself if it is related to its strength and conditioning program. The Trojans did not exactly dominate Utah either. If the Trojans cannot run and stop the run against Arizona State, it will be a long night in Tempe.

Lose the special teams arrogance: Imagine the hubris that allows USC to throw Jack Jones on punt returns for the first time in his career at loud, sold-out Notre Dame Stadium. Punt returns were a problem for weeks, but Jones never got a chance to break into the role against awful Oregon State or even Utah at the Coliseum. USC’s attitude regarding special teams is always, “We know better.”

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104 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: 10 Things To Fix Against Arizona State”

  1. The morale of the team appears to be pretty much tanked right now, and it’s pretty difficult to picture the team beating a hot ASU this Saturday. Yes, it would be quite depressing, but things can get even worse from there. Hope Helton still has control on the team, but he looks like a man who has lost confidence at this point. I’m afraid the picture’s decidedly bleak at the moment for SC football.

    • What team comes out Saturday night will go a long ways in knowing Helton’s future. Losing badly on national tv, losing a playoff spot, tough to overcome. They still have plenty to play for, winning the conference would be sweet. But the little cupcakes that are the under 25 generation have fragile egos. It will be interesting to see.

        • Helton will be given the opportunity to change his staff. It won’t be easy for him because all realize he’s on a short rope.

          • But he can’t get anyone good. NO ONE will come to work for him knowing that they might be out of a job in a year. Gomer is toast

          • I bet Lynn Swann’s football friends, are probably planting a bug in his ear, in regards to upgrading his football coach

          • It’s hard to say, because I don’t know if USC will attempt to hire a coach away from another program, or roll the dice on a up and coming coordinator. Greg Schiano is available, and he has solid head coaching experience, which is more then what any of the last three hires had . Michigan State, and Stanford have excellent coaches, but in reality, they won’t win a national championship at their current schools .

          • Schiano has NFL experience and recruiting savvy, but the knock, has been his over the top disciplinary persona. Kids can only take so much before they start to tune you out.

            Numerous players left Rutgers due to his abrasive mentality. Football is about having fun, not feeling like your enlisted.

    • If the team wins Saturday it’s because they did it for them self and the fans not the coaching staff. Lots of guys left practice wensday saying thing like how much of a joke the staff is that the have no idea what they are doing. I’m not talking about practice field to locker room I’m talking after the locker room. The press needs to interview the players then. Ask them to be honest about the staff. You’ll see

      • If the staff is that bad, then Swann needs to know about it. There is no excuse for a school like USC to have an incompetent staff. The one thing that people need to understand is that these players only get one shot at playing college football, these coaches have been doing for a long time and will continue to do so.

      • Okay. The staff is bad. So what are the players gonna DO about it? Not rush the passer? Not tackle the runner? This staff was bad last year too —-and the PLAYERS got together and promised each other THEY were going to DO everything it took to turn the season around. Helton can TALK all he wants about technique after each loss —but the PLAYERS know that the things that are really missing are HEART and WANT TO.

        • True. Nut here is the big picture. When you run plays that a pop Warner team run with no success what makes you think you will in d1. Not enough miss direction plays. The rpo is good but the real issue is the lack of tech with qb rb read. The qb is reading the wrong person for one which is a huge coaching/player mistake. Second the rb is reading line shift and not lb pursuit angles. You fix those things the can run the ball. Those things are not being fixed because they are running a system they don’t fully understand. Coaches have to go to fix the problem.

  2. It takes a particular arrogance to keep a façade for years. One has to believe you can fool enough all the time while you do the opposite of what you stated you were going to do. When you listen and remember over 3 years, you get the picture. Most can’t remember, they do not have any attention span at all,easily fooled.Enjoy the game Saturday,and the excuses too.

  3. I don’t know why but I’m not too confident that they will beat ASU this week. I’m just listening to some of the interviews of the players. They just don’t seem that confident.

    • I think I know why. You’re just being logical. How can you possibly feel pumped up for the team that just got their rear ends kicked by one of their archrivals by the biggest spread of points in its series history? Simply impossible, unless you’re delusional like some of the twisted sunshine pumpers with agendas in here.

    • The good news is that ASU does not have the quality of players that ND has. USC can beat them on sheer talent in spite of poor coaching. It’s like the Union gradually wearing down Lee’s superior led forces with overwhelming numbers. USC can run the table against the remaining inferior opponents and everyone will think the problems are solved.

      • They probably won’t run the table, and I am sure that loss to ND will stick in everyone’s mind for a long time. That being said, the war of attrition could be lost also if guys keep getting hurt. It seems they not only lost the will to win, but the will to play also. Yes, that is leaderships problem.

        I say again, Niumatalolo.

      • But General 22, don;t both teams have the same amount of players according to NCAA rules?

        And didn’t Lee’s knowledge of Virginia geography help Lee to slow Grant down…ex: the Wilderness campaign. Grant’s superiority rested on numbers and supplies, not the ability to engage and fight the union forces.

        • Remember Lincoln went through general after general before finally finding a keeper in Grant. Until then the Confederacy was breaking even or winning most of the battles.

          USC is looking for their US Grant. But even if Helton is just a Burnside, he can still run the table to finish 10-2. Look at the recruiting rankings of players for USC’s next 4 opponents. They can’t compare with USC’s.

          • Okay. The players know they’ve been under-served by this staff. So what do they do about it? Stop fighting (as they plainly did against Notre Dame)? I really hope they haven’t decided they’re gonna teach the staff a good lesson by driving down their own draft stock.

          • Perception is reality, but it is not the greatest truth. Often times we judge people or situations too quickly.

            Give it a little space to play out before you come to a conclusion.

        • Owns, cleaning chemicals are killing brain cells. A cranium scan is necessary to rule out the possibility tumors…….(never mind, skip the scan)

      • I’m with you 22. Wolf has mentioned numerous times, you can put anyone in there to coach USC and the team could still win on talent alone. I agree with Wolf(for once).

        Quality coaching has been nonexistent this season forcing the team to win their majority games with superior talent.

        From a betting angle, the team should be pissed off, motivated, wanting to get the monkey off their back..
        A live dog with some bite

  4. The most important suggestion that Scott makes is the one least likely to be implemented: no more Mister Nice Guy. After throwing in the towel after 2 minutes against Notre Dame (which is a lot faster than they threw in the towel against Notre Dame), the players EXPECTED tougher, more physical practices this week. Instead Helton gave them more ‘no pads’ workouts.
    What does it take to wake this guy up? Let the players know you CARE by showing some tough love. No more Mister Nice Guy.

    • I remember reading somewhere that sark believed lite practices meant you would have fewer game injuries. I wonder if that’s why Helton does that.

      That may also explain the bad tackling techniques that follow this team.

      You are correct that this coaching staff cannot change their personality. The worst part is the players tend to take on the coaches personality.

      • I’ve been waiting for someone to put my feelings into words, jojo! You hit the nail on the head. “The worst part is the players taking on the coaches’ personalities.” Somebody needs to tell theplayers that this team is on THEM now—-not the coaches. Arizona State can’t wait to get their hands on them. Unless THEY decide to fight back on Saturday , THEY (not the coaches) will go down as the biggest flop in Trojan football history.
        #OnlyTHEYHaveThePowerToChangeCourse

        • Last year , they had the players only meeting that changed the season around. This year looks like it may get away, if the players don’t realize they need to take control, Just like you said.

          • ALL they need to do is beat Arizona State, jojo. Prove to themselves they still have what it takes to win out. This game is make it or break it for THEM.
            #ScrewTheCoaches,WhoCaresAboutThem

          • Ha! …… [no more limiting his wonderfulness to Seattle or L.A.—-he’s giving it out all over the country]…..

  5. If USC wants to run this week they’d better tell the running backs to take the handoff and find a hole. While disciplined runners hit the diagrammed hole the line usually opens one first. A successful run with is team will take allowing the runner to pick his opening.
    I just hope we haven’t over taught our running backs. They do seem to run right up the backside of the bottled up linemen.

    • Take the handoff deeper and run to daylight? Or how about having a TE come in behind the RB to help push him forward.

      • i agree and I’ve been saying that for weeks, Take the handoff deeper in the backfield.

    • Good question 04…Let’s ask Fred S. He was the one who for years was beating the Tim Drevno drum.

      • I’m just saying…Things do not look good for USC, and I have a bad feeling about this ASU game, but there are other teams that had high expectations for this season and “proven coaches” that are flailing as well.

        • Fred I agree that Drevno is much better than those three. No question there.

          I know you really like Greg Schiano as HC material. I am thinking a very good selection would be to get Chip Kelly if he would commit to going out and recruiting big tough offensive linemen, to go along with hiring a hard nosed defensive coordinator who believes that you win football games with big, strong, fast and nasty defenses. He never did that at Oregon but that may have been a function of where he was recruiting to. Recruiting to a USC football program, I would think, would allow him to get both the big, fast and nasty LOS guys, as well as the fast and nimble athletes that work in his creative offenses.

          While UCLA has some financial issues in dealing with Mora’s remaining contract, the thought scares the heck out of me of Chip landing some day at UCLA.

          What are your thoughts? If no Kelly or Sciano who else is out there who could assemble a strong coaching unit?

          • I know he’s a little Long in the tooth, and his roots are well established, but I like Michigan State’s, Mark Dantonio , Stanford’s David Shaw. I know they probably wouldn’t leave their current jobs, but anything is possible, because they will never win a national championships where they are . I’m not too familiar with the list of top coordinators, but taking that route would definitely be another gamble for USC . Chip Kelly builds teams from the outside in, and that will get you beat in the playoffs.

          • Agee that Dantonio is a solid coach. He actually may be looking to reboot his career in a new environment, plus if we were to get him you know he would not be looking to bolt to the NFL in 3 to 5 years. We could have him as coach as long as he was successful and he wanted to stay in coaching. David Shaw, while a great coach is not coming to USC, even for a huge pay raise.

            I think Chip was forced to build from the outside given his previous positions. I think at some level he really covets the USC job given the pipeline to top talent. If he got top hard nosed coordinators he really could dominate college football from this locale.

            One thing that concerns me is that I keep getting this nagging feeling that the top coaches in the profession quite frankly do not see USC as a good job given the expectations and the pressure of the LA spotlight. We may always be in this position of getting unproven guys because they are willing to take the plunge into the deep LA expectation abyss.

          • Question for you: You don’t think the expectations are the same at OHIO ST, OU, ALA, TEXAS, ND and a few others?

            TEXAS got their man, Herman, he’s none too popular anymore. Not at all. GA, always a good team, fired Richt just because he couldn’t win it all. If Harbaugh loses to the Bucks again, the grumbling over his big-game pitiful performance will only grow. He’s already pretty much labeled over-rated.

            USC’s no different IMO. We’ve got a cupcake for a head coach and our team has taken on his personality. We’re soft and built that way.

            It SC and Swann go looking, we’ll have some great big-time options, especially since none of the other big-timer schools are looking.

          • David Shaw knows that he’d have more to work with on the field at USC ——but he also knows he’d have way more to deal with off the field at USC. I would love to have him too, Fred —-but I don’t think he’d touch us with a 10 foot pole.

          • Swann is going to the NFL for his guy, just don’t think he’ll go for college guy. And you’re right, Kelly would be a disaster

          • Chip’s offense had their day in the sun. Now everyone runs a hybrid of what he was doing ten years ago, and defenses have caught up. Another factor in this is the rule changes when it comes to defensive substitutions. When the ref is standing over the ball you cannot go as fast as Chip wants to. Lastly, the offensive lineman needed to play in an up tempo offense need to be on the lighter side to keep up the pace.

  8. Clay Helton, and Steve Sarkisian would rather get fired before they run the ball more . When USC ran the ball up and down the field against Utah last season with success, why did Helton go to the air in the second half, to jeopardize the game, that they ended up winning by one point? And when Alabama played Clemson in the championship game, they ran the ball up and down the field in the first half with success, but Sarkisian put the ball in the hands of his freshman quarterback in the second half, and Bama ends up losing the game . Both Sarkisian, and Helton will probably be unemployed at the end of the season, because they just don’t get it

    • You should read the reports on the Atlanta Falcon’s offense this season. They want Sark’s head on a platter.

      They had the best offense in the NFL last year with a bunch of playmakers and a Super Bowl appearance.

      Now with Sark, they’ve gone to being a mediocre offense with complaints that they throw too much.

      It’s almost laughable how Falcons fan’s complaints this year mirror USC fan’s complaints ever since Sark was here.

          • People don’t realize, that Steve Sarkisian couldn’t even get a paying coaching position at El Camino community college, he was a walk-on quarterback coach. When Norm Chow got to USC, he hired Sarkisian as his assistant, because he played for Chow at BYU .

          • Worst move Norm ever made … Sucky went on to back stabb Norm and USC right out of more NCs and ruin SC football for another decade

    • Fred, if I have said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. Guys like Sarkiffin and Helton still believe that the game is 7 on 7, and you can win a title doing that. If that is the case then why has no team that ran the run n shoot won anything big in college or the NFL?

      • I always knew it was just a matter of time before Steve Sarkisian got exposed, he was always the beneficiary of great talent at the college level , and has zero leadership skills. I think if he stayed at Alabama, then Nick Saban would have ended up punching him in the mouth. Sark will probably end up being a position coach somewhere, at the collegiate level

        • Great post. I think you nailed it with the “eventual punch in the mouth” scenario.
          #Hey!ItWorkedForPolamalu!

        • Fred, it goes back to Sark’s first year at USC. He knows he has a depleted front seven from a depth standpoint. But instead of huddling up and running the ball out of 21 personnel, he goes spread and up tempo. I remember him saying, “We want to run 100 plays per game”. So let me get this straight Steve. You know you have depth issues on defense, but instead of running the ball, chewing up the clock, and keeping your defense off the field as much as possible, you want to lengthen the game, have your defense play more snaps, so you can score more points and show what an offensive genius you are?

          • That’s exactly what he did, and he also forgot about conditioning his team for that type of offense. To this day, I have no idea what Pat Haden saw in that clown

          • He saw someone who he could control and fit the country club mold. Go out and play 18 and get liquored up,

  9. Clancys lack of coordinators, especially the DBs, is showing big time… Calloway can’t teach the big boys to drive their guys more than where they started before the snap… Martin is OC but doesn’t talk to Darnold that much?? House cleaning is in order.

  10. Some things to do on Saturday: Fly in on Saturday afternoon, let them sleep in their beds on Friday night. Game starts at 7:45 P.M., which is a horrible start time.
    Put fullbacks in the backfield. What bonehead does not do that when you are on the goal line. Martin doesn’t Darnold is built for power football, not this option read crap. He is not as fast as Fink. Bring in three fullbacks if necessary. They could have used them against Stanford, Texas, Utah, and ND.
    Get rid of zone blocking. Let them go Big Man on Big Man. the lineman can call their blocks and adjustments. This zone blocking slows down the oline because they have to think about who they are blocking and how to block them. One man on man, you know already who you are picking up. It makes a difference.
    Defense is non existent. When Marshall returns, put his a#s at Will linebacker. He is too big and slow for a corner position. He can cover though. Replace Houston. He got his a#s handed to him all season.
    Play Pittman and let us see what he can do. If he does it then fine, but if he doesn’t then the old man needs to shut his mouth.

    • If Mitchell will be limited, then no doubt put Pittman/Lewis in. As far as Houston, I would’ve put Levi Jones in a long time ago. Why does it take the staff so long to change something when they’ve been seeing it for over 6 weeks? (ie PR, still waiting for changes at safety, LB, CB only due to Biggie getting hurt)

  11. No. 3 on the list has nothing to do with beating ASU.

    Facing the media is nothing more than giving an interview. How is the OL Coach’s interview skills with reporters going to help beat ASU?

    I think the blogger got his feelings hurt in the after practice scrum and is looking to vent. Including it in this article is not very professional.

    • I disagree, marvienna. Part of knowing something is being able to explain it. If you don’t feel comfortable defending your way of doing things —–it’s more than a sign of bad interview skills, it’s an admission of failure. What is so wonderful about the play of the o-line that Callaway feels he is above questions?
      If we want to quibble about Scott’s list, I’d go with #7. What’s wrong with Special Teams coaching is NOT it’s arrogance, but it’s lameness.

  12. it is abundantly clear, wolfman, that you know this team far better than the coaching staff.

    oh well, wolfman, you literally gave them a checklist of items to fix prior to the game. can you start doing these lists for the Bruins? i gauran-f-ing-tee you we will use it.

    #PlusWeDontHaveFanboys

  13. Gentlemen, it ALL starts in the weight room!! You prep yourself for the season. Lifting prog prevents injury. Sorry to say that the BIG MEN are so soft on both sides of the ball.

  14. Chip Kelly? Heck no he can’t change. The best available coach is Les Miles. He has Head coaching experience in the SEC, Has won a Natty, is defensive minded and needs to prove himself again just like Pete C. Also, he has ties to the south and the big country kids we need for the O-line and D-line.
    Fire that red neck Callaway and bring in an NFL experienced line coach that wants a big O-line not a “small but Athletic” line as the red neck does. Bring in Norm Chow to coach the quarter backs and assist Tee with the offense.

    • Doug, I think Les Miles could work here at USC. Tough minded, fair, willing to take risks. I saw an expose on him a very months ago on television and I was impressed with the man. If he gathered the right coaches he could do a great job at USC. Plus he would not go running off to the NFL anytime soon…he is a college coach through and through. In addition, I think he could also hold his own in this town with the media. It would be fun to listen to his response if this blogger asked him a stupid question. Can you imagine?

      As for Norm Chow…I think his days are about numbered…not sure he is a fix we need.

  16. SW, you nailed it! Great article. Hopefully these millennials can learn to play for each other and show up. If I were Darnold and Cam Smith I would just audible to a different play if knew it wasn’t going to work.

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