Live Mock Game Updates
A live recap of the mock game, which featured the first team against the scout team.
If you didn't come you're not alone. The crowd is much smaller than at last year's mock game, probably because of the late start. However, that did not stop the Coliseum from running out of hot dogs. Unlike last year, the Coliseum is not mistakenly selling beer.
The first home game is still nearly a month away, which is good because the field clearly needs work. The goal line near the tunnel entrance is noticeably chewed up.
And we're off, Cary Harris returns the kickoff 39 yards. The first-team offense is facing reserves, and John David Booty completes a 19-yard pass to Steve Smith, 7-yard pass to C.J. Gable, 9-yard pass to Smith and Gable gains 7 off tackle.
Booty throws a 20-yard touchdown pass to always impressive freshman tight end Anthony McCoy, who caught a touchdown in Thursday's scrimmage. Shareece Wright and Luthur Brown each had two tackles in the series.
Wright makes a freshman mistake by fielding a kickoff that is headed out of bounds at the 13, and then going out of bounds. The scout team offense comes in with Mike McDonald and doesn't gain a yard, with safety Kevin Ellison nearly intercepting a pass.
Desmond Reed returns the punt 60 yards for a TD.
The scout team goes three-and-out again, and Booty is back to face the reserves. Booty finds Brad Walker for 12 yards, but Clay Matthews applies nice pressure to force an incompletion. Allen Bradford then sweeps right for 7 yards. Bradford goes for 11 and Emmanuel Moody jukes for 7, before fullback Ryan Powdrell gains 9 up the middle.
Two false starts by the offense line bring the ball back 10 yards before Booty completes a 4-yard pass to Walker.
Moody gains 8 around the left end but Smith drops a short pass on 3rd down, so Mario Danelo kicks a 23-yard field goal.
Scout team offense back on field. It's tough work for the reserves tonight going against the first teams. Actually, the first-and-second teams, as players like Oscar Lua and Taylor Mays are rotating in on the defense. The reserves are making headway though, as Travon Patterson catches two passes for 18 yards and tight end Jimmy Miller makes a 7-yard reception. Stafon Johnson gains 9 yards on two carries. Johnson then gains 4 and 6 yards to push the scout team to the 27.
On 3rd-and-10, McDonald completes a 13-yard pass to Patrick Turner. Mark Sanchez must be antsy for some action with less than 4 minutes left in the first half. Johnson gains 4 to take the ball to the 8-yard line. Two straight incompletions and David Buehler kicks a 26-yard field goal that is blocked after a somewhat high snap.
John David Booty scrambles for 27 yards, then Sanchez gets inserted into the game for the first time. Sanchez completes a 6-yard pass to Smith and 8-yard pass to Michael Coleman before finding Travon Patterson alone for a 27-yard gain to the 7-yard line. Sanchez throws a 4-yard TD pass to Powdrell. The offensive stats should be pretty good tonight going against the scout team.
The PA announcer is not exactly in midseason form, calling Emmanuel Moody ``Manuel Wright.'' Well, maybe Wright can come back from the NFL since he has those extra years of eligibility. He also says ``Vidal Hazelton'' is covering a receiver instead of Cary Harris.
It's getting sloppy for the scout team, as Taylor Odegard's punt is blocked by Kyle Moore. Booty right back in and throws incompletion. A personal foul penalty also stalls the drive, as Danelo kicks a 35-yard field goal to end the first half. Sanchez threw four passes while McDonald threw about 15.
Haltime stats: Booty 10-12, 98 yards 1 TD
Sanchez 4-4, 45 yards, 1 TD
McDonald 6-17, 55 yards
Whoa, the PA guy announces Chauncey Washington returning a kickoff. Alas, it's Vincent Joseph. But that doesn't stop a second reference, ``Chauncey Washington from 5 yards deep!!!!' Joseph returns the kick 42 yards.
The band just left, but Stafon Johnson gained 16 yards for the scout team. Mozique McCurtis intercepts McDonald's pass, the first interception of the night. Booty's back, but fumbles a snap, which means someone other than Ryan Kail is in the game. This time it's backup center Travis Draper.
We're deep into the scout team now, with McDonald even out of the game. At least it gets interesting as C.J. Gable breaks through for a 24-yard run (incorrectly called Stanley Havili if you're at the game). Gable's runs against the real defense are one reason Pete Carroll's called him the most consistent runner of camp. Gable's touchdown cuts the scout team's deficit to 27-7.
Gable returns the kickoff 37 yards and is still called Havili on the PA. Sanchez back in and he completes a 17-yard pass to Smith on 3rd-and-14. Sanchez hits Hazelton (the real one) with a 17-yard pass and Moody breaks a 13-yard run up the middle.
Gable ends the slaughter with an 11-yard TD run. It's good to be a starter, the stats are better tonight.
hey wolfie...why doesn't the pa annnouncer ever say steve smith's name
Scott
Another great report.
Thanks again.
Fight On!
Thank you for the scrimmage updates!
Scott, Patrick Turner did not play tonight, the catch was by Vidal Hazelton
I went to the scrimmage. Scott's play by play is perfect. It was interesting how the PA announcer kept mis-naming players. He also mis-took Patrick Turner for Hazleton a couple of times.
Anyway, I was at last year's, too. I actually thought the size of the crowd was close to last year, but last year I also remember it was blistering hot. Glad this was at night.
The team looked okay. And if that was the scout team (the "Herd" as they were named) the first team was going against, then our offense is very basic and competent, but not inspired and certainly not intimidating. Last year, LenDale busted a big run; Reggie made a big play; there was a buzz about that high-powered offense. This year's offense looks to be mostly a grinding, methodical work-in-progress. We're a good team -- #6 in the country??? Hmmm, I don't know yet.
Big concern: punt and kick-off coverage. Either we have really blinding-fast returners, or our coverage teams can't stop anybody inside the 35-yard line. Hope Arkansas doesn't excel on special teams!
On the other hand, Danelo was perfect. Didn't miss a kick. Othe highlights: McCoy's TD was a one-handed grab that was highlight-material, and Patterson (the frosh receiver) looked really good.
I can see why Booty is the starter. He has nice command presence. But Sanchez' does have a cannon for an arm.
Anyway, I'll stop now, this is not my blog. Bottom line: we look okay. I don't know that we are anything special yet.
WHy make fun of hte pA guy for mixing up some player names and numbers. I see that you have passes being completed to Patrick Turner by Mike McDonald when Patrick Turner didn't even play at all tonight. So apparently you are also not yet in mid-season form.
The PA announcer just needs to adjust to the large amount of players that share a jersey number on the team. (See Hazelton and Harris). At least he didn't announce Brian Cushing as throwing any touchdowns. I suppose thats a good problem from having so many Heisman numbers retired.
Wow that was a really poor attempt at typing last night. Anywho.
It's somewhat unfair to make comparisons to last year's team. It just is. There were 2 Heisman winners on that offense last year. No offense in the country (aside from maybe ND's) will look that polished this early in the season - we just lost too many players on the offensive side of the ball to look as explosive.
It'll take some time for the O to really start clicking but what I did take away was that Booty and Sanchez looked much better than they have in practice and Moody/Travon will break a long one on someone this year for a Sportscenter Top 10 play. Those boys are shifty and quick. Stafon and Bradford give something to this team that we really needed with the loss of Lendale - a grinder that can get it from the 10 to the goal-line. Now it's just up to Sarkiffian to realize that and use the weapons accordingly.
Let's not also forget that Jarett didn't even play last night. With Jarett on the field teams will find it almost impossble to match up one on one - which is what the scout defense was mostly running last night. He is a difference maker (to cliche it up a bit). I am psyched - let's go get some Razorback.
Dude, why do you obsess on beer sales? Aren't there better (read: more important) things to report on?
who's obsessing on beer sales??? my scotch and soda was just right!!! as were the chocolate raisins after every touchdown...what a beautiful evening in l.a. y'all going to forget about lendale once ryan gets rolling......!! i'm ready to start livin' high on the hogs.....make mine ribs with lotsa bbq..!!
Beer sales? Get drunk while driving to the game.
The team looked pretty good. I drove down from the Bay and was happy with the first team offense. Regardless of which team they went against, seeing Booty complete a pass was great to see after all the bad practices he has had according to media.
Desmond Reed touchdown was a giveme by the special teams, no one wanted to tackle him....
We are loaded and will be favored in all our games this year. FIGHT ON
Talk about an easy-to-please group that reads this blog. Sorry, but I'm not that optimistic. Don't get me wrong, I bleed Cardinal and Gold and I'm pulling for 12-0. But, what I saw out there, says more 8-4 or 7-5 to me. Which is okay. Next year ('07) will be a monster year given that these new kids will develop.
OKAY ?!?!? ... 8-4, 7-5 ... ?!?!? ...
Losing to the likes of WHO ?!??!?!!
Ray:
C'mon Trojan ... are you NOT familiar with the works of one PETE CARROLL ... ??
Even before he said it ... the Trojan faithful, who've followed games for, let's just say, a minimum of 10 years ... were already discussing the similarities to the '03 squad ... that was a 12-1 squad ...
Do you NOT remember that PC's teams get BETTER WEEK OVER WEEK ...
... and, for the most part, dominate in late Oct and all of Nov ... (save a few close calls here and there - last year of which - our D was ravaged with injuries).
Honestly, ... the 1st 4 games scare the hell out of me ... because 3 are on the road - and we're vulnerable, if at all, early!
After @ WSU, we've got 2 home games and a bye before the late Oct/Nov run ...
However, we are LOADED on D ... partly due to recruiting - as is well documented and discussed; but, also due in large part to all the returning players from injury ...
Think about it:: Sartz, TThomas, TWilliams, Lua, K.Ellison ... all were OUT or very dinged up at season's end, ... including Cushing (a true freshman at the time), Rivers - sore hammy back then (remember), and Rey-Rey (another true freshman) ... who will show light-years of improvement between year 1 and 2.
It's a fact.
You talk as if the team that takes the field in 11 DAYS will be no better than the team that takes the field in Nov - against Cal, ND, and ugla.
Anything less than 10-2 (barring catastrophic injuries) will be a HUGE disappointment.
11 DAYS!!!
FIGHT ON!!!
I am actually surprised and nervous now that we are only 8 point favorites at Arkansas. That says a lot considering we scored 70 pts. against them last year. But, that was then, this is now.
TrueTrojan, I hope you are right. And In Pete I Do Trust! But... you ask who we are going to lose to if we finish 8-4/7-5. Well, hopefully I am dead wrong, but consider these possibilities:
Arizona on the road
Oregon
Cal
Notre Dame
Nebraska and UCLA in the Rose Bowl (despite 66-19 last year) are no gimme's either.
I do agree with you that we'll be better in the seond half of the season than in the first, so we might be ready to handle the challenges of Cal and ND by season's end. If that is the case, then I can see your 10-2 predicition coming to light.
I'll be happy if we win the Pac-10 again and go to the Rose Bowl.
Where's the National Championship game next season (in Jan of '08)? I see SC in THAT game.
The BCS Title game will be at the Sugar Bowl site in '08 ...
Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, Rose ...
and those 3 tough games u mentioned - Cal, Ore., and ND ... are all at home and all in Nov ...
September will determine it all ... 4-0 or 3-1 results in 12-0, 11-1 or 10-2 ... count on it.