Washington State Report Card
Here's the grades for last weekend's game.
RESULT: NO. 3 USC 28, WASHINTON STATE 22.
RECORD: 4-0, 2-0.
WEEK 4 GPA: 2.4.
QUARTERBACK
Whatever else is going on with the offense, John David Booty is running things more smoothly than a lot of observers expected. Not perfect by any means, but he’s actually played better than Matt Leinart in his first four games.
B+
RUNNING BACKS
Emmanuel Moody never got enough carries to make a huge impression (save one long run) while Chauncey Washington showed glimpses of promise but nothing extraordinary.
C+
WIDE RECEIVERS
Steve Smith was probably the happiest player in the country, especially without another go-to guy in the offense. His 186 yards receiving was the ninth-best all-time performance. Patrick Turner’s fumble prevents a straight A.
A-
OFFENSIVE LINE
They had their hands full with Washington State defensive ends Lance Broadus and Mkristo Bruce (three sacks total) but also gave Booty enough time on key pass plays.
B-
DEFENSIVE LINE
Washington State quarterback Alex Brink never got sacked. Part of that was moving him around the field, the other part was a non-existent pass rush.
D+
LINEBACKERS
With the Trojans sitting in their base defense, there were not a lot of highlight play opportunities for Rey Maualuga. Maybe some blitzes would have taken pressure off the defensive line.
C+
DEFENSIVE BACKS
The first true test was met with mixed results. Some pass interference penalties and an inability to cover Michael Bumpus were red flags for future Pac-10 opponents.
C-
SPECIAL TEAMS
Imagine the outcome if Desmond Reed’s fumble on a punt return or Allen Bradford’s fumble on a kick return were recovered by Washington State? Punter Greg Woidneck deserves praise for catching a high snap near the end of the game.
C-
COACHING
With the defense so hyped following the first three games, USC chose to sit back and play it safe against Washington State instead of pressuring the quarterback. Ultimately, it worked, because the Trojans won. But it was a risky maneuver.
C+
"Whatever else is going on with the offense"-this sounds like you are also wondering what the hell Lame Kiffin is doing/thinking!
Anyhow, fair and accurate assessment, Scott!
Keep up the great work!
First decent report card that i actually somewhat agree with. Although i believe booty should have gotten an a. Cant believe i actually just wrote that.
Can't really argue with any of this. I hit the coaching a bit lower due to lack of 1/2 time adjustments on D but all in all about what I thought
Nice article Scott. Well put.
This latest edition of USC has ALOT of problems.
There are 3 things that worry me:
1. Most USC fans will not accept that they are not a real good team. ("Never doubt Pete Carroll!!") So problems are not going to be fixed.
2. It is not just one problem. Some posts try to blame Kiffin/Sark, some try to blame Booty, other the WR's. It is a joint effort. All these areas have problems. It is not just one person's fault that we look so bad. Kiffin is being way too conservative, he is playing not to lose instead of win, the WR's don't bother to show up except for Smith in the last game, The OL sucks so our running game is hit and miss, the defense goes to sleep as soon as we get a lead. Booty, well all I can say is that it was pretty funny watching him hit that Washington St. DB in the back of the head with his "pass". The WSU game was the worst I have seen a USC team play since Sept. 2002, when they lost to Kansas St.In that game they were doing the same thing, dropping passes, taking stupid penalties, fumbling all over the place.
3. Before the game a group of the players went and stood on the Cougar logo at midfield. Not a very classy move. Leave that bush league stuff to the Hurricanes and Notre Dame and the other garbage schools who like to insult their opponents.
In summary, they need a real wake up call. I hope this week Sed Ellis and DJ can come back to play and they get their house in order.
For once, I actually agree with you Scott.
Washington "nothing extraordinary" pretty much sums him up. If we must play him, how about 75/25% with Moody the 75? Or make him the FB...
This is the first time I have to say that I agree with all your grades.
This is by far your best review so far this year. I don't know what Pete can do about the D-line but that is the area of most concern to me. They just aren't getting the pressure we have come to expect from Pete's D-lines. Not sure if this is a personnel or coaching issue but it needs work. It's clear now that defensive line is the position of most need in the off-season. Marvin Austin is a must get.
The offense is getting better each week and I have full faith in Booty after this weekends performance. In the second half when Kiffin opened up the playbook Booty was calm, collected and deadly accurate. He really is much better than Leinart was at this point in their careers. Time will tell if he improves game to game as quickly as Matt did.
I really enjoy your blog and agree with most of what you say. I'm a huge Trojan fan and supporter, but I have to say that the offense for the entire season (save Arkansas) has looked mediocre, and the defense looked a little weak this week especially. We put zero pressure on the QB and that allowed them to pick apart our secondary. I think the pass interference calls on both the Trojans and Cougars were a little "ticky-tack." Coach Carroll, pick a feature tailback and let them get in a groove!
Booty hasn't impressed or disappointed, he's not doing anything to lose games, but he does not inspire me he could lead a comeback either.
We continue to field some of the worst special teams units in the college game. We got very lucky to recover some of those muffed kicks. Why is Bradford even on the field at this point? I thought he wanted to go play safety, because "I'm no fullback."
These might be the most accurate grades I have seen you give. Its the first time I wasn't tempted to tear up my newspaper.
Wow,
I actually agree with Scott on the grades this time. Good job.
This quote from Trojan Horse (above) deserves a response:"Most USC fans will not accept that they are not a real good team. ("Never doubt Pete Carroll!!") So problems are not going to be fixed."
Does he believe "most USC fans" are better at fixing the problems than the coaching staff? What's more, it's too early to tell how good the team is. So far, they have a better record than most teams. Finally, I suspect that Trojan Horse might consider himself a Trojan Horse rather than a true USC Trojan rooter.
Suede Barstow as an FYI - Those comments were actually made by Patrick, not a or the Trojan Horse. Poster name, including yours, is below the comments, not above them.
There are only 10 other undefeated teams in 1-A, all of them (except Louisville which has 2 home and 2 road) have played more home games than away. USC has played only 1 home game thru September and back to back road PAC-10 games. If you don't think that all that traveling makes a difference check how other teams do when they have a similar schedule.
nice post
Suede Barstow, I saw that too. I think it's just a hilarious example of how out of it people who post on internet message boards are. I guess some think that expressing outrage on the internet, whether or not not you know what you are talking about, is "fixing" things.
While I can agree with most of the post, one has to understand that this is a incredibly YOUNG team with some significant injuries. The O line is playing as well as it can, but one of the problems with the new r-backs is that they are missing reads, not hitting holes hard leading them to to get wrapped up quickly. This was evident in the Arizona game.
We're still trying to find that one-two (read:Bush, White) punch and it's just not going to happen this year. It seems as every team is trying to take away the long ball, playing tight inside and daring us to run - forcing the short pass. And, it's been fairly effective so far...
Bottom line: God, we're spoiled... have been for years. But watching this team develop will be tons of fun...
Hmmm, now that most people are starting to agree with your critical analysis of the team, it appears that you are switching it up and being more fair and balanced. There has been no criticism of the defense up to this point because it has been pretty good. It wasn't as strong during the WSU game is appears by all indications to be getting some critical remarks by everyone.
A few tweaks…
OUARTERBACK--a ‘B’ at best. Two good drives and calmness under pressure were his strengths. His ‘frozen rope’, throw as hard as you can passes, have their upside but until he learns that sometimes it is proper to put a tad of air under them, he will continually have many batted down at the line of scrimmage. His last faux pas was with 5� remaining…Chauncey keeping the onrushing defender at bay…a wide open Davis (by at least 10 yards)…so what does he do? Throws a rocket that is easily batted down. My grandmother could have softly shot-putted the pigskin to Fred, but of course that would have just gotten the job done…hardly elegant. Hopefully as the season progresses JDB will show some semblance of play-action and will be able to look off of his primary. When all the good and bad are mixed together he comes out C++. The kid has quite a bit of talent. I was expecting more given his length of time with the system combined with some of his actual battle experience of last year. Given the same amount of experience, I believe that Sanchez, who is not quite as talented, would eat him up.
RUNNING BACKS—At least a ‘B’. They were hampered by almost non-existent run blocking by our OL.
DEFENSIVE BACKS—A C+ is being quite kind. Our CBs hit with authority but are almost clueless when it comes to basic mechanics. Why do we usually suck in this department?
SPECIAL TEAMS—I realize that Bradford and Reed (who I think the world of) are part of the Special Teams but take them out of the equation and I would give them at least a B+. What is Van Blarcom…chopped liver? Next to the fantabulous Smith, he was the man. Last I checked, he was on Special Teams. Desmond is just not cutting it as a punt returner and it seems that Bradford is a few games away from returning KOs. The same does not seem to apply to Gable or to Moody, should PC decide to do so.
COACHING—Not too fond of kicking the extra point when we were up by 12…or for all of our naked backfields, especially when under center and not in shotgun…but what really sucked was Kiffin’s play calling. The Coug game was worse than anything that I used to gag on during the Hackett tenure. Lane should be drawn and quartered. His ineptitude drops the grade to slightly below a ‘D’. It is much more than debate ably being conservative, he is predictable to the point of nausea.