The Dog Days
Believe it or not, it's only the fifth game of the season but a lot of players and coaches told me this week that it feels like the dog days of the season. Back-to-back road trips and an accumulation of bruised-up players contributed to this feeling.
``Usually you have it about right now because guys get beat up at this time of the year,'' quarterback John David Booty said. ``That's why you try to fight through it.''
No, he wasn't referring to fullback David Buehler's brawl with tailback John Griffin.
Imagine how much worse the feeling might be if USC did not have a bye the second week of the season.
Comments
Two more weeks to another bye Boys!!!
Posted by: TrojanHorse | October 6, 2006 03:13 AM
I raised a question on the USC Message Board during Summer Training Camp. Might the Players get burnt out during season due to the fact that they seem to go intense the year around?
The fact that they played the Rose Bowl the end of January. They were right back in an intensive Winter Workout. They were then in Spring football. They had a couple of weeks off then they were in another intensive early morning summer workout program. They had a week off then they were in Training Camp. Then they were right into the season.
It seems like its intense action the year around. You have to suspect will there be burn out during the season. I can see a sport like Baseball that is not as intense to play Winter ball maybe but for football you need time for wounds to heal.
Posted by: TrojanEncore | October 6, 2006 09:25 AM
Who really cares about a minor brawl between a couple scout team players?
As for burn out, I don't think it is a serious issue. Don't forget, these are 18-22 kids with energy to burn. A huge number of these kids didn't start or get significant playing time last year - they are not going to burn out easily.
Trojans have not had issues with burnout during the Carroll era, unlike the Hackett era when many players were burnt out by the end of training camp.
Posted by: OC Nels | October 6, 2006 01:31 PM
Ummm, the Rose Bowl was played at the beginning of January.
Posted by: KingOfLA | October 6, 2006 02:02 PM