Where's The Outrage?

The defense is going to struggle against passing teams for 2 reasons. 1) We are playing one cover corner who is still very green in C. Harris and overruns routes or get juked frequently because he lacks experience. And the other corner, Thomas, is a taller, run stopping, tackle oriented corner. He's big and still recovering from a nasty ACL but he's not a cover corner certainly not as a match up to smaller faster wideouts like Hill and Bumpus. Doba identified this and picked on Terrell all day with success.
2) We haven't had an impact DT since Manny Wright. Before him it was Patterson and Cody. And while Ellis is developing into a very good DT he's the best we've got. Our DL recruiting has suffered since Ed O departed and we missed out on some true studs who went elsewhere. We are very average on the DL and lack talented depth. Also Doba found a way to neutralize Cushing at Elephant by running a fair amount of 2 TE sets. This helped and put the onus on our young DBs who are overmatched. Taylor Mays isn't yet the playmaker that Pinkard was and often times is still lost in translation as a true freshman will often be.
But given all that this defense slowed down a very potent Wash St offense on their home turf in the middle of nowhere. We always have one close difficult game up north a year (Stanford, Oregon State in fog, etc.)We had one again but survived. Moving on the home games over the next 2 weeks will help us improve greatly.

Sorry to disappoint you Scott. Some of us are actually content at being 4-0 and see the team as a work in progress, just as we were in each of the past 4 years -- all top-4 finishes.

No criticism here.

All good points, Scott. For me, this is the first we've seen of the lackluster defense, so I'm willing to give them a break for the week - everyone can have an off game. The offense has been underperforming (based on the talent, IMHO) since week 1. I'm not expecting a 40 point average, but sensible play calling shouldn't be a tall order.

If Lane Kiffin should be pining for any departed personnel, it should be Norm Chow!!

You are an idiot. I know your comments are supposed to get responses like mine, so here you go.

What do fans of a 4-0 #2 ranked team have to be outraged about? You are a tabloid journalist and nothing more. Your top 25 and continued negative slant over such a successful team is ridiculous. Sure there are areas to be improved on, but 49 of 51 and palying in 3 straight championship seasons has got you playing to the very spoiled USC fans (probably new fans since 2002).

There are times Scott, when it is really hard for even the most naive of us to believe that you don't take pleasure in stiring the pot. The defensive problems emerged immediately following the 2005 Orange Bowl when the heart and soul of the defense including Patterson, Cody, Tatupu, Grootegoed, Leach, E. Wright (I don't count Manny "the crybaby lousy student and classic lazy underachiever" Wright.

Those of us at the Rose Bowl saw multiple Texas receivers running open all night long. I think we have to consider the obvious - Pete's defense works well when you have two All-American lineman putting pressure on the QB, but is vulnerable when you have none as we do today. No one can reasonably expect a young secondary to play at a championship level 4 games into the season.

I think the defense is improved over last year, but replacing the overrated Rucker and the Ting brothers made that pretty easy.

No way the Trojans can beat Ohio State even if they somehow run the table and get past Notre Dame, Cal and Oregon.

This team is 4-0 and JDB is playing at a far higher level than ML was in 2003. There is plenty that to be outraged at but obviously this team doesn't have enough experience and it's hurting especially on the road.

I think the Trojans played conservative defense and did not want to show all the schemes and formations they have in the playbook.
PC wanted to save something for Cal, Oregon and Notre Dame. Unfortunately, WSU moved the ball well and almost ruined SC's season.

Scott,

Can we put a moratorium on the invoking of Norm Chow's name in future posts. It really is getting old. I won't dispute that Norm Chow is a world class OC (at least at the college level) - he has 20+ years of experience. However he's gone. He's never coming back. The only way he comes back to USC is as head coach and we all know who has to go for that to happen. Can we please just let it go already. Here's a suggestion - whenever a poster suggests that Kiffin be fired it should be required that he also suggest a suitable replacement. One that will guarantee the continuation of the ongoing 20 ppg streak and also help a young, inexperienced offense with massive injury losses flourish. I'm not the biggest Kiffin fan but at least I realize that he is likely the best option out there currently. Any other OC would likely make massive changes to the USC offensive scheme - which as we all know is clearly one of the best in CFB.

Terrell Thomas was definitely the weak link at CB on Saturday. He blew coverage and made a few other costly mistakes. I hope this is a wake-up call for the defense. By the time they play Oregon, hopefully all the holes will be filled in. Aside from Washington, the defense won't be tested until then. It will be interesting to see how the defense fares against Stanback.

Saturday was the first time in memory that I didn't notice ANY 2nd-half defensive adjustments. There were zero turnovers until Mays' meaningless pick at the end of the game.

I agree that Holt ought to call more blitzes, but Scott's supposition that more blitzes will help our DB's is not very well thought out. It might help them -- if it's effective -- but blitzing often involves putting CB's on an island. That may not be the best idea right now. If the Thomases and Harris can improve in their ability to locate the ball, I'd be a lot more excited about bringing more pressure. Till then, I'd stay fairly conservative if I were Holt. Our back four definitely have the necessary speed and ability, but they're young and learning. Between the five primary DB's we're using, how many starts do they have between them? They'll get better and I expect to see greatly improved coverage skills in the second half of the season.

I agree with you, Scott. The most alarming part for me was the poor defense. In the past few games I have always been able to take comfort in solid D. Now I'm not so sure the solid the Trojans are on D.

I'm happy to be 4-0, but I won't be happy if we lose to UW.

im happy at being 4- 0 but will someone please tell our corners to turn @ look for the ball when the wide does not looking results in pass interference calls @ blown oppertunities for pics plus we need some kind of pass rush let most d 1 qbs have 6 seconds @ they are going to find someone open lets hope for some improvement next week

I think we all thought of the defense as a rock, but in retrospect maybe they are not that good:

-Arizona got -16 rushing yards against us. Well, Arizona got minus 7 yards rushing against Washington which means Arizona can't run.

-Nebraska was stopped but they were one-dimensional and didn't try to pass.

-Arkansas started the wrong qb and their rbs couldn't hang onto the ball.

I commented about the lack of adjustments during the game as well, but I do not have the football expertise and intimate knowledge of each player's ability (there is no shortage of experts on this board) to determine what should have been done. It does appear both the offensive play calling is unimaginative and the defense well, rests. On the other hand every type we play it is the "Big Game" for our opponents and it can't be that way for the Trojans. You are bound to have down weeks, but we still win.

WE NEED PASS RUSH! NO SACKS AGAINST WSU IS SOFT!!

here is a question, You can ask coach Pete., when USC made their last TD, why did they not go for 2 point instead of a kicked extra point. what is the difference of 12 point lead and 13 point lead? but making the 2 point gives you 14 point lead and of WSU needed 2 TD's, The scored would have been a tied. but with 13 points you can still lose....It could have happen...

The D had one bad game out of 4, so thats 75%.

However, the offense has been weak the last 2 weeks, and a bit against Nebraska. That's 50% at best.

When all is said and done, we definitely need Marvin Austin for 2007!

Plain that coverage scheme caused too many penalties, handing Wazzu 4 first downs via PI calls. Despite the coverage problems blitzing worked well and forced bad throws and losses for WSU. But you cannot blitz every down, SC gave up its last TD on a blitz, losing containment on the back.

4-3 isn't cutting it, don't know why Moore and Scweigert aren't doing any more. Cushing played well in the first half. He has more game experience than Rey who still can make a play, even if he does stuff the wrong hole.

Wazzu receivers were well covered and still made plays. SC defense needs to make a play on the throws, can't do it with their back turned.

Gotta get the 4-3 going and continue to mix in a blitz package.

Thank God Booty can play and Smith was on his game.

You are wrong. There was plenty of criticism stated in sites re defense. This was first balanced offense met and USC flunked test.

D-back are young, even the inteference calls can be pointed at youth. But at least on those plays the coverage was tight. No doubt there are ahtletes. LJ and linebackers looked asleep.

Doba finally coached a good game against USC. The game plan was great.

All of this is truly silly. These players are a good team, a sort of McKay type team, they are just under glass being held in comparison to 2002-2005 teams and those coaching staffs. That is not just.

Their ability is what it is. USC does not win titles every year.

There should not be any outrage!
They are doing great with all the new players!
They are right where they should be at this time in the season.

LOL @ scfighton and Mike. They are the very definition of rah-rahs. These are the guys who take the time to read Wolf's columns and then whine on the message boards about what he writes.

4 and 0 is a great start. The problem is that we kept inferior teams in the game much longer than they should have been. An average WSU offense shredded our D, much like a below-average Fresno State shredded our D last year. There were mistakes made and issues that need to be corrected. No coach or player is immune from criticism. Without critical analysis, these problems won't get solved.

Sorry fellas, but "I trust the coaches" doesn't cut it.

Fair points for the blog, given the reaction by myself and others to some of Kiffin's calls.

I think three things: Carroll's defenses have been at their best ('03 and '04, the first quarter of '05) when able to pressure with just their front four; Ellis is missed; without that pressure up the middle, routes are open underneath all night long (David Thomas in last season's Rose Bowl). So be it.

Norm Chow, Norm Chow, Norm Chow, Norm Chow, Norm Chow, Norm Chow, Norm Chow, Norm Chow, Norm Chow, Norm Chow.

Lame Kiffin, Lame Kiffin, Lame Kiffin, Lame Kiffin, Lame Kiffin, Lame Kiffin, Lame Kiffin...replace with anyone who has played NCAA football on PS2 or XBOX.

BUt, seriously, if Kiffin is making the majority of the offensive play calls then he should be blamed. I still am not sure what Sark does. He was supposed to be Chow's guy and knows Chow's system, but he is never the one making comments to the press about playcalling, so I am assuming Lame...I mean Kiffin is the main guy calling the plays. And from the looks of the offense of last year and the first 4 games of this year it has been consistently below the levels we saw when Chow was here...and there lies the disappointment.

Those Lame apologists must admit that last years offense was clearly designed to get Reggie the Heisman at the expense of the team kicking everyone's arse. Reggie was never an everydown back in college...look at the NFL, he still can't run between the tackles. Because there is a lack of imagination in playcalling, and the inability to make adjustments from the first half to the second half, the USC offense is clearly not as good as it was before. So, if Kiffin is willing to take some constructive criticism here it is. WATCH THE PLAYCALLING OF NORM CHOW WHEN HE WAS HERE, HECK EVEN GO BACK TO HIS BYU AND NC STATE DAYS, AND WATCH WHAT HE CALLS IN THE FIRST HALF AND COMPARE WHAT HE DOES IN THE SECOND HALF TO ADJUST TO THE DEFENSE. But, if he is stil unwilling to admit he made a mistake in the Rose Bowl this year, he will never grow as a coach.

So there!

Extremely well said. Well done Scott, well done.

From the WSU game this is what I saw from our Defense. Our Pass Rush did not get to the quarterback and to make matters worse I didn't see the defensive lineman getting there hands up and tipping ball (this is usually a staple of our defense). Several times when we played zone coverage the receivers were able to find holes in the zone especially Bumpus on the sideline between defenders and the QB had plenty of time to make very accurate throws. Our defenders all around in coverage did not look back at the ball but tried to play the ball off of the defenders hands and usually were a little early drawing the Pass Interference call and even when they weren't early they will get the call because they were not looking back to play the ball. However all of these things are coachable so Pete and the Coaches need to step it up the problems have been addressed lets get it done and kick some butt and take some names. I'm sick of hearing that Auburn and these other SEC over here on the East Coast are better than the Trojans. So Pete open that whole can of Whoop A** and spank everybody the rest of the season.

Fight On!!!

The D-Line as a whole is stuggling, but our D-end play is sub-par and I feel has been since BKU left. Rucker was highly overrated at best, and LoJack is no where to be found this year, picking up right where he left off in the rose bowl. (I still don't understand why all the preseason hype for him).

The thing I hate the most is when they rush Rivers, Schwiger, or some other 'speed end' b/c they have no one else. It's like playing w/ 11 guys on the field. They are too small to do anything but try to run around, and any decent tackle just runs them out of the play. The only time they are a factor is when the play breaks down and they can use the speed to get back into it or chase down a scrambling qb... but that is rare. They need a real DE so even if no one gets a push, at least there is contain and some of the lanes are closed down. Right now everytime they run around the corner, there are huge throwing lanes which make the pitch and catch pretty easy.

One other comment on the D in regards to stopping the run. Rey M. will be a total stud and has tons of talent. Still, he still doesn't fill a hole as well as Lua. He does everything else great, but I've been watching him close on tape and a lot of the time Rey picks a side of the blocker (either lineman or fullback) instead of taking him head on, scraping, and making a tackle. Running a 3-4 means he's taking on more blockers. SC needs to find some more/better D-Line & ends, and go back to the 4-3, and let Rey dominate that way... it free's him up to make tackles & athletic plays.