USC Morning Buzz: Here Are 10 Things To Fix Against Ohio State

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The Cotton Bowl is quickly approaching, which means it is time to list 10 things USC needs to fix to beat Ohio State.

5. Hire more honest coaches: USC running backs coach Deland McCullough was asked this week why the Trojans rushed for only 153 yards against a UCLA defense ranked No. 128 against the run?

“I don’t have a good answer for that,” McCullough said. “I give UCLA credit. They weren’t going to let us (run).”

It’s OK to admit there are not always easy answers. USC needs more coaches as secure as McCullough.

Wolf: Here are 10 things for USC to fix to beat Ohio State

 

71 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Here Are 10 Things To Fix Against Ohio State

  1. This again? Come on, gonna win by 4 this time. Wake me up when the clock hits triple 0.

  2. Weak, tepid stuff. Rojo flips the ball to the refs after every touchdown. Implying that the team doesn’t is just foolishness.

    • Agree. And course the things like the two fumbles they couldn’t recover were boneheaded, but the fact they need to “not celebrate after a TD”… that’s a key to winning the game? Really?

  3. Seems like Wolf doesn’t like the canned responses to his derisive and decisive questions,so he calls the answers dishonest? Really, coming from a guy who takes quotes out of context and is always painting a picture of a team in disarray, even though it has 11 wins. Of course the best way to beat Ohio st is to hire a coach wolf considers honest, and to do it before the bowl game…what a joke

    • If I was one of those coaches I would have Scotty by the scruff of the neck today an ask him if he needs any clarification on things. The man has no dignity. Imagine how Saban or Meyer would deal with Scott?

      • I’d rather a sceptical 4th estate than the fawning guffawing lap dogs evident everywhere outside major cities in the northeast and far west. Winning has a thousand friends while losing is an orphan. OH St is going to be ready

        • Apparently the “warrior” half of “Peaceful Warrior” got the better of his other half (i.e., the half that values “peace” and “dignity”).

  4. Hire more honest coaches before the Cotton Bowl? Huh? I agree about the celebrating though, its gotten out of hand.

  5. I agree…but as my accusers note I am old school; first SC game 1951…Ohio St will be ready,guarantee it. They played extremely physical football teams all season long…it will be 4 quarters of relentless collisions.SC getting 1st downs will be critical,to keep their offense off the field and let SC defense rest and adjust….so,fight on all 4 quarters.

    • SC used to be very physical on both lines. Sc needs to get back to that. That is through weight training and being relentless on the practice field

      • yes…like a heavy weight champ does not just shadow box and walk through, he must take hits to prepare for the slugfest, his body must toughen for the blows it will receive,and deliver

  6. Ohio States been an up and down team most of the season, but I know they’ll be fired up during the Bowl game, so If USC can’t run the ball, they might be in trouble

  7. I think this game will be about which team will out-physical the other, not about making a couple of cute plays or getting a few lucky breaks. My guess is these two teams will play the game like a couple of old-school teams with heated battle in the trenches, all-out pressure on QBs, and fierce efforts on stopping the run game. Oh yes, the heat will be on that evening. FIGHT ON!!!

    • Hope I’m wrong about it, but I’m reading the same negative energies from Helton’s demeanor from his interviews this week as what I saw prior to the ND game. Let’s hope for the best, though.

      • Ohio St and ND do share some common elements in that they have very physical OLs and DLs as well as running QBs, which are usually bad news for SC. Hopefully, Helton will get the team ready this time.

        • Good point – between toughness and finese, touchness usually wins. This game gives me trepidation.

          • When healthy we are fine. Stanford and Texas were both very physical. ND is an outlier…we had significant injuries, didn’t play well and got ambushed.
            That game is not the typical way our D plays.

        • They were ready for Tate and he is a way better runner than Barrett. Tate still put on a show.

      • You know they’re doing inhome visits and having to fly all over after practice? Helton himself was in Utah, Ohio and Hawaii on separate nights this week..maybe that accounts for a little worn out attitude during his pressers? Just thinking…

        • I certainly hope that’s the case because we need him to be very high in spirit to lead our team for a victory in this game. What a huge game this is for us!

          • I’ve seen pics on twitter of him in the recruits homes this week, very busy week for all our coaches and those at every school..

          • Is that your excuse? I guess the OSU coaches are not on the road–just hanging around and coaching up the team.

          • Whoa there quick Dickie, I guess the part where I said “and those at every school” must something else on the moon, be here in reality it means they’re all doing it

        • Few take into consideration what you pointed out.The fact is we recruit nationally.We fly from West coast. Unlike other teams that fly out of say Ohio, or Alabama to visit recruits.With the early signing date we have to do in homes before.
          This is all NEW.Coaches are learning the new normal as they juggle bowl prep

          • The new early signing is the only thing new here and as noted it’s all across the nation. Nothing else is new we were in a bowl of equally national prominence last year.

          • Then after the bowl they had until Feb 6th to travel and recruit. Now they have to touch all the bases before Dec 20th to make sure they are keeping what they have and see if new ones are leaning toward USC. It would be way different now. Twice as much work.

          • I differ. What is new is the coaches approach in recruiting. They have to in many cases close a player much earlier. Before they had January to close or flip.We the early with many highly rated they must close them and sign them BEFORE the bowl.
            I’m not saying I don’t like it,but the strategy is different now.

    • I personally hope we mix speed & finesse into our power game, RT. If we mix it up (including throwing long on a couple of first downs in the first quarter), I think we’ll be able to exploit the same weaknesses that Oklahoma exploited in Ohio State’s second game of the season.

  8. Same day 2018 linebacker stops his recruiting visits 2019 linebacker decommits. DeGabriel Floyd to look elsewhere after Gaeteote reaffirms Trojan commitment. Looks like someone doesn’t like the competition.

  9. USC defense is the key to winning. Offense will get its points, but if defense bottles up the OSU qb then game over. It is going to take a great game all around, USC passing will open the run again. The pressure USC applies on defense will disrupt Barrett enough to shut him down. If they can’t score, they can’t win.

    • If SD takes care of the football we are fine. In all the games we haven’t looked all that great turnovers killed us. People on here keep blaming the coaches and ignore our lack of turnover margin (not because we aren’t creating them either). If SD doesn’t fumble or throw the ball to guys that aren’t open we are fine. Ohio St on the other hand has a very streaky guy under center.
      If he’s hot he is ok, but if he isn’t they really struggle on O.

  10. I always knew grammar was not the writers strong point, But his math may be worse. USC averages 35 points per game, which according to wolf, equates to seven touchdowns.

  11. If Gomer doesn’t stop all this sloppy play and “watch me-hollywood” BS, it’s going to be the Alabama game all over again. Do you think Urban Meyer would put up with this garbage? Cranky Old Man out….

  12. Can you imagine Jon Gruden saying, “The keys for USC to beat OSU are, hire honest coaches and no celebrating after plays.”

  13. If USC plays to their potential, they should win easy. J.T. Barrett sucks. All he has are runs on broken plays. However I do feel that the refs will be looking for every little thing to call a penalty on SC, while Ohio State will be allowed to hold on offense and commit PI on defense. We’ll see how much the 12th man helps OSU…

    • I would think they would have refs from the big12 or ACC do the game. God forbid they have pac12 refs do any games.

      • It doesnt matter where the refs are from. They always call it slanted against SC. Its getting real old

  14. McCullough knows the reason alright why his RBs are not running up the middle with success and have to run around the end to gain more yards. But he isn’t going to tell any reporter the truth. Nobody on this coaching staff is going to point fingers.

    • I don’t know if you have noticed, but Rojo has this season adapted to the run to daylight. His vision is better and now he sees when a hole is closing and where another is opening.

  15. I like Pete Carroll’s philosophy about big games: Play within yourself, compete, limit mistakes. The team that makes the less mistakes will win. In their loss against Iowa, Barrett threw like three picks; Darnold’s costly fumble, along with Jack Jack’s, swung all the momentum in favor of the Irish.

    Put simply, the team with the least turnovers and mistakes, wins this game.

    The talent level is even pretty much.

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