USC-Oregon Report Card
Here's the grades for USC-Oregon:
RESULT: NO. 4 USC 35, OREGON 10.
RECORD: 8-1, 6-1.
WEEK 9 GPA: 2.67.
QUARTERBACK
John David Booty made some clutch passes, or maybe he just realized it’s best to always go to Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett, who caught 13 of 16 completions. Jarrett and Mark Sanchez added interceptions to give everyone who threw a ball at least one.
B-
RUNNING BACKS
Chauncey Washington’s 43-yard added a little pop to the backfield, especially since Emmanuel Moody looks to be sidelined awhile with a badly sprained ankle.
B
WIDE RECEIVERS
If you are going to stop the offense, you probably need to figure out how to stop Jarrett and Smith first, or hope they get injured again.
B+
OFFENSIVE LINE
A much better performance than last week’s average effort against Stanford. The run-blocking and communication between the backs and line was much sharper and maybe turned a corner heading into the toughest games.
B
DEFENSIVE LINE
Defensive end Lawrence Jackson reappeared as an impact player with his first three sacks of the season along with a tackle for a loss. On the other side, Brian Cushing didn’t get overmatched with four tackles and a deflected pass.
C+
LINEBACKERS
Oscar Lua deserves to start. But there were three times when tailback Jonathan Stewart got hit three or four yards behind the first-down marker on third down and managed to get a first down.
C
DEFENSIVE BACKS
Oregon could not go deep, which was a plus. But the Ducks found some holes in the secondary’s zone coverage.
C
SPECIAL TEAMS
Three of Troy Van Blarcom’s six kickoffs went into the end zone, which should keep him in the lineup for another week. More importantly, no fumbles on punt returns by Patrick Turner.
B-
COACHING
Pete Carroll did a good job keeping Oregon out of the end zone and seems well-positioned for another run to the national championship. But calling Jarrett’s trick-play pass was a bigger moment of madness than the outburst on the sideline.
B
Oregons high powered offense scored 10 points against our D. and scott wolf rates our defense:
C
C
C
hmmm...?
I don't see how
"Defensive end Lawrence Jackson reappeared as an impact player with his first three sacks of the season along with a tackle for a loss. On the other side, Brian Cushing didn’t get overmatched with four tackles and a deflected pass."
grades out to a C+. I think that may be a fair grade for the season thus far, but they did better than a C+ last Saturday against what was statistically the top offense in the best conference in the country.
COME ON SCOTT! For a team who just blew out Oregon and jumped to #3 in the polls not 1 A??!?!?! What does that say for Oregon . . D/F? Get with it
"More importantly, no fumbles on punt returns by Patrick Turner."
That's because none were even attempted to be returned. I think we should just rush all 11, or just make the PR a safety just in case the other team runs a fake.
THE REPORT CARD IS BOGUS--- USC PLAYED THEIR BEST GAME OF THE SEASON---- OREGON WAS RANKED 5TH IN THE NATION TOTAL OFFENSE AND USC SHUT THEIR RUN GAME TO 108 YDS---I SAW THE HOLES OPENING QUICKER, THE ENTHUSIASM MORE EVIDENT AND THE OVERALL PLAY MUCH SHARPER--- USC DESERVES A B+ ON OFFENSE AND AN (A) ON DEFENSE--- 35-10 AIN'T BAD AGAINST THE DUCKS..................
I would like to know who is ranking a B or A overall this past week. The D Line played well, limiting Oregon's running game and the 2nd best back (behind Lynch) in the Pac Ten. PLaying up the middle is not Oregon's style anyway excpet with Stewart and SC handled him. They got pressure on the QB. What do you want? Cody and Patterson back?
I would rate journalism by local media for small, local newspaper that starts with "Daily" the following grades:
Integrity: D+ (yay)
Engaging: C-
Originality: D-
Accuracy: C-
Dorkiness: A+
I will say, the stars of this site are the people responding. So in that regard you have a B+! You are a dork, Scotty Boy.
Scott, I'd be willing to bet that you never ran into a prof at USC that was as tough a grader as you are.
Turner might not have fumbled he grabbed a bouncing ball that could have squirted away alo OU in OB.
Maybe a lil' Flea Flicker back to Booty would have been more effective than expecting Jarrett to throw the ball 40 yards downfield into double coverage. The flea flicker would've fooled many more people whereas even I knew that Jarrett was gunna throw. It seemed like NOBODY was fooled...
Scott,
Last week was 2.54 for 42-0 thrashing.
This week is 2.67 for a 35-10 win over ranked team.
What would merit a score of 3.0 or better?
How do you give the defense three C's after holding Oregon to 10 points when they average 36? Oregon was continually shutdown in the red zone by the D. I don't understand your grading system.
Some comments:
Jarrett should not have thrown the pass and he was not supposed to do so if he saw coverage. That's not on the coaches, although I agree that we should not need that play when we're trying to go up by 18.
The Defensive Line held OU to 102 yards rushing on 40 carries for a 2.6 ypc average--and Oregon came in gaining over 200 yards per game and 5 yards a carry. We recorded 4 sacks and 9 TFL. Your explanation leaves a lot lacking in light of this information.
Defensive Backs: Taylor Mays returned a crucial interception 41 yards to set up our eventual game-winning touchdown. Is that factored into your compelling analysis?
if you think these grades are indicative of saturday's peformance over a strong Oregon team, then I'd hate to see the kind of grades YOU got when you went to SC.
Scott: How would you rate Pete's "vocal variety" on the F-Bombs:
A: Loud enough for Mike Bellotti to hear
B: Loud enough to get the ref's attention
C: Clear enough for Petros to catch on
D: Not loud enough for George Lucas to hear
F: He was actually saying "Thank You" for another
Duck Beating.
Actually, Oregon offense scored 3 points. The ref's scored 6. No one gets credit for the PAT. Defense did great job inside the red zone. It was between the 20's they didn't do so hot.
Scott:
I think I've figured out your grading system:
Since L.A. doesn't have an "official" NFL team, you're grading the Trojans on a curve as if they were playing in the No Fun League. I would be curious to know how SC's demolition of Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl graded out two seasons ago (maybe a B+?).
Keep zinging them as it seems they are raising their level of play. Bring on duuuuuuhhh Bears!
PC defense is great. We never get beat by the deep pass even though we have 4 new starters in the secondary. The only issue I have is the often soft coverage and the players want to arm tackle sometimes. No 100 yard rusher yet against us. OC has been bad. Kiffin is really bad and PC should be blamed partially for the offense because he has a bad Oc whm he only hired because of his friendship with his dad..
This was an accurate grade assessment. It's taken weeks for SC to truly 'dominate' a quality opponant; on both sides of the ball. This was the first time since last years squad, that SC took control and determined the outcome from early on. What a nice feeling and reminder of how things were, and a fortaste of how things might once again be. But, high grades come with consistancy. The one game 'fluke' factor must be dispelled first.
If the Trojans that showed up again'st Oregon are real,and they show up for the rest of the season and run the table--- WOW, if that actually happens, applying grades aren't going to matter much to 'National Champions' Fight On!
OSCAR...OSCAR...OSCAR...OSCAR...meyer weiner!
Play Oscar Lua more. He knows how to stuff the run.
Whose Duckbill did Scott blow this time?
John at least read the thread! This was a report card for the SC-Oregon game, not the season!
You know I really gotta second what these people are saying. That was an hell of an effort against a great team and they get a 2.64?
What do they have to do beat 1945 Army to get a 4.0?