Under Pressure

In the first half. He settled down in the second half and almost lead them back.

As I predicted, UCLA notched the upset. But why? The answer is quite simple. The Trojans no longer have a legitimate offensive coordinator to direct and develop the considerable talent available on its roster.

As a result, teams are able to adequately scheme against USC's offense, even with lesser personnel. USC needs a more experienced and creative offensive coordinator to direct its offense--and soon--otherwise the Trojans could turn into a program that wins recruiting titles, but not much else.

Add to that the fact that our offensive coaching staff was auditioning during the game week for other jobs = recipe for disaster.

Some of you might blast me for saying this, but I wouldn't exactly be crushed if Kiffin leaves for another program. Even considering the fact that I didn't play football, it was very easy to predict nearly every offensive play that was called by SC last week.

Anyone who does blast me for saying it, is just as slackjawwed and bullheaded as the guy we're all shitting on. I sh-t on him proudly. He ain't cutting it, cut him loose. That simple. This ain't "eight is enough" or "highway to heaven."

No time for sentimentalism in the coaching staff or on these boards. He needs to go. Or at least work with the offense, but under a more experienced coordinator. But he wouldn't do that. So if he leaves, great.

Should he leave, hell yes. Kiffin will get the eff over it and move on to OC or coach a lesser team on his coaching level. No way a guy with his lack of experience should be helming the greatest collegiate offense in recent memory, let alone it's 2006 predecessor.

Bush and Leinart bailed us out of games we should have lost last year, the defense bailed us out this year. They're the reason UCLA didn't score 35 on us Saturday.

Lame Kiffin has got to go. He killed us against Texas and Saturday was just incomprehensible. The same slow hand off time and time again to Gable is not how you beat a blitz and strong rush. Is it arrogance on kiffin's part to refuse to adjust, is it stupidity, does he just not know how to adjust?

The 'ruins schemes were totally obvious througout the first half. Half time you adjust. Kiffin did zero and came out with the same bag of nothing in the 2nd half. He gave our team no chance for success. By the end of the 3rd quarter a kid sitting by me, who looked to be 5 or 6 asked his dad why we keep running that same (Gable to nowhere) play over and over.

Did Lame think if you do it enough times it'll finally work. Never seen anything like this. I realize Coach has a loyalty to Lame's Dad, but enough is enough; and where was Sarkissian, trying to update his resume all week to move on. This was really deplorable. CANNOT blame the players. This was coaching or rather the lack thereof.

We're 0-2 in the Rose Bowl under Kiffin. One directly cost us the NC, the other indirectly cost us a chance at a NC. Maybe third time is a charm before PC does something. Anyway the Michigan game is at the Rose Bowl, I'm afraid to even think about what Kiffin will do.

No more Kiffin. PLEASE!!

Honestly, I wonder if Pete is in total denial when it comes to why the team has offensive woes. He even stated in the newspapers today how he went and watched the film as soon as the game was over an didnt feel that that the coaching was part of the problem.

IMO this whole Kiffin family ties thing has really f'cked things up. PC will not do anything to strain that tie it seems...even if re-assigning Kiffin is obviously warranted.

Lame Kiffin has to go. he is absolutely horrible. Watching this game you would presume we had no OC, had no game plan or some new NCAA rule had gone into effect banning us from making adjustments. When you get the ball to Jarrett 4 or 5 times in the whole game.

When you never hand off once to your fullback. When you never try any adjustment to counter the rush/blitz. Kiffin is inflexible and has NO imagination.

SADLY MAYBE WE MUST REEVALUATE PETE,,,IF HE CANNOT OR WILL NOT DUMP THE WHELP THEN WE WILL LOSE DESPITE PETES GREAT RECRUITS...MAYBE ITS TIME NOW TO LAND A SUPER COACH LIKE SPURRIER OR SABAN WHO WOULD JUMP AT A CHANCE TO COACH A FULL CUPBOARD OF PLAYERS LIKE WE HAVE AND WOULD DO SO TO THE TUNE OF 4 OR 5 NC

Walt Harris is now available! Walt and Pete go way back PLUS he's proven to be a great offensive coach.

In Pete I trust and I am sure he has seen enough of Kiffin. I can only hope that the Lame Kiffin ties are becoming transparent, rather than remain invisibile!

CAN THIS IMBECILE! Let him be the OC at Oaks Christian...I bet he would mess that up too!

Booty did a great job with the game plan(?)that was handed to him. My hats off to him...
2004,..lets see Matt also had Webb, Kirtman, White and Bush with him in the backfield,..and who was the offensive coordinator?..
Did we score more than 9 pts? How many points did we score in the second half?
Way to go JDB!,..
Fight On!

Why line up Thomas Williams wide when you never throw to him??....It's obvious he becomes an absolute waste of space when you line him up wide on 3rd/4th and short since everyone knows you''re not throwing to him.

Just leave him in to block and stop wasting everyone's time...

Remember the 1992 Freedom Bowl, Scott?

It was a cold and rainy night at Anaheim Stadium. Besides losing, what I distinctly remember are the cardinal and gold buttons which said, “All I Want For Christmas Is A New Coach�.

Will we be seeing buttons like those again soon, with O.C. instead of coach? I don’t know if Kiffin should call the plays or not, I’m not as football astute as most of you. However, my wife made an interesting comment during the game as I cussed a streak to high Heaven.

“How come when John David extends his arms and holds the ball out for so long for the half-back (she meant running back) to take, it never works but they keep doing it? Why do the boys keep doing the same thing if it doesn’t work�?

Fight On!

The posting from Lame Kiffin sux is hopefully PC in disguise.

Could not believe what I was reading when the UCLA Defensive coordinator stated that if you confuse Booty, Jarret becomes a non issue - why - because you are right SC should have adjusted to UCLA jinking - a good offensive coordinator would have burnt the Bruins - it's disgusting to see a team with SC's talent get beat by two teams barely able to compete in Division 1A - how disgusting - ultimitely PC will or he won't - he sure didn't deserve what his offensive coordinator gave him on Sat.

And I'm sure we'll start hearing the comments about how JDB is no Leinart or Palmer.

No kidding. One is quite possibly the greatest Trojan or college football player ever (even if he charges for autographs) and the other is potentially a multiple NFL MVP winner. So yeah, Booty is no Leinart or Palmer, but is still pretty damn good.

How about the pressure the ticket office puts on students trying to get Rose Bowl tickets? An email was sent out the morning of December 4th with a link to register for tickets.

The deadline to enter is the same day at midnight.

The link that the email provides only allows one to register for basketball lotteries and not for the Rose Bowl. There is no possible way on the ticket office site for a student to enter the Rose Bowl lottery, but the deadline is midnight.

Some students actually go on long weekends the first week of finals if they don't have an exam until later in the week or the next week, and might not be able to immediately enter a lottery given less than one days notice.

Interesting read from DSCBruin at bruinzone....

Carroll will need lessons from Kobe
USC coach has image crisis after losing Chow to NFL
CHOW CARROLL
Reed Saxon / AP
Southern California head coach Pete Carroll, left, and offensive coordinator Norm Chow led the Trojans to two straight national titles.

Michael Ventre
LOS ANGELES - Norm Chow is not good for 20 points and 10 rebounds a night. He is not over seven feet tall and does not weight more than 300 pounds. Yet he could just be Shaquille O’Neal.

Pete Carroll did not give his wife a $4 million ring. He is not battling a civil suit over an alleged sexual assault. And by all accounts he is only an average basketball player. Yet he could just be Kobe Bryant.

What the USC football team, and the city of Los Angeles, could have on their hands right now is another Kobe-Shaq situation.

If you have been hiding in an Iraqi spider hole for the past several months, I’ll refresh your memory: The Lakers broke up their team, sending Shaq to Miami, and Kobe was held largely responsible. Whether directly or indirectly, Kobe was perceived as exercising his ego and power to turn the Lakers’ organization into his own fiefdom.
Story continues below ↓ advertisement

Check out the standings, and the Lakers’ recent box scores, and you’ll get an idea of how that transition is turning out.

By the looks of things, Carroll may be pulling the same stunt at USC, although this divorce has been shrewdly camouflaged by both sides. Perhaps both Carroll and Chow saw the aftermath of the Kobe-Shaq acrimony and realized it would behoove both sides to put a happy face on the dissolution of their relationship.

Also, Carroll has a huge advantage over Kobe: He made sure his roster was packed with talent for the post-Chow era. Kobe left himself with leftovers. Cold leftovers.

But Carroll has created a perception problem similar to the one generated by Kobe. Chow, who left Wednesday to take the job of offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans at almost double his salary, is widely regarded as an offensive Einstein. Give him enough time to prepare, and he will leave an opposing defense sobbing. He has coached three Heisman Trophy quarterbacks, two — Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart — during his four years at USC.

ALSO ON THIS STORY

* Titans name Chow offensive coordinator
* Carroll tabs two assistants to replace Chow

Carroll should have figured out a way to keep him.

Apparently, he didn’t want to.

The persistent word around USC is that Carroll and Chow have grown irritated with each other, for the usual reasons: jealousy, power, credit, ego. Both men are too savvy and respectful of their profession to air their grievances publicly, hence the denials all around about a rift. Yet the whispers have turned into a cacophony in recent days, especially after it was reported that Carroll was mulling some changes to his coaching staff that would diminish Chow’s influence. Despite their public stances on the issue, the chatter is impossible to ignore.

So what’s next for college football’s Kobe and Shaq?

First, Shaq.

Chow probably will have success in the NFL. This isn’t Paul Hackett, a nutty professor with no people skills. The Titans will love him, and he will do everything necessary to adapt his philosophies to the professional ranks.

Carroll is the Kobe in this equation, and thus will have a much more difficult time. He will have no problem making USC fans forget Norm Chow — as long as he leads the Trojans to another perfect season and an unprecedented third straight national title. Anything short of that will invite catcalls and chants of “We Want Norm!�

Make no mistake, Carroll is a genius in his own right. He is the best coach in college football. He is the primary reason the USC program has returned to its former glory. But his first major miscalculation is allowing his partnership with Chow to disintegrate.

It would have been fine if the two were lovey-dovey — like Bill Belichick and Charlie Weis — but a better situation came along that was impossible for Chow to turn down. That wasn’t the case here. Although Chow had been looking, he wanted a head-coaching position in the college ranks. He did not want to leave L.A., where his family was happy, to take an assistant’s job in Tennessee in order to avoid an unpleasant reduction of duties at USC.

What’s done is done, as they say, so now Carroll turns the Trojans’ high-octane offense over to one or both of these men: Lane Kiffin, USC’s 29-year-old receivers’ coach and passing game coordinator, and Steve Sarkisian, 30, a former Chow protégé who served as USC’s quarterbacks coach before leaving to spend last season with the Oakland Raiders in a similar capacity.

You can be sure that when Weis takes over at Notre Dame, one of the Irish’s strengths will be play-calling. Weis called the plays for three Super Bowl-winning Patriots teams. When the Trojans visit South Bend next fall without Chow, that is one area they will be forced to concede.

Kiffin and Sarkisian could turn out to be splendid offensive coordinators someday, but they’ll suffer next season and maybe beyond because of the apparently disrespectful way they muscled in after Chow was ushered out. (Conspiracy theorists point to the shouting match between Kiffin and Chow at an Orange Bowl practice.) At the first sign of slippage, fans will demand answers and assess blame. That won’t be a phenomenon specific to USC; that’s the way it happens around any sports team.

The stakes are also higher for Carroll and the young turks he has designated to replace Chow because Matt Leinart chose to pass up a sure NFL signing bonus worth at least $10 million in order to play one more season for USC. He made that decision believing Chow would hang around. Now that Chow is gone – with the lingering perception that Carroll pulled a Kobe – the new offensive braintrust has some Heisman-winning feathers to smooth.

One of USC’s great advantages right now is recruiting, a tribute to Carroll’s personality and work ethic. Each year they reload in astonishing fashion with top-tier talent. If the offense sputters next season, word will spread that playing for the new offensive regime is not the quick ticket to the NFL that it was under Chow. Slowly, the recruiting advantage will diminish, and so will USC’s competitive advantage on the field.
Story continues below ↓ advertisement

Chow’s departure is the most significant blow to the program, but not the only one. USC has lost a total of five assistant coaches since trouncing Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, including defensive line coach Ed Orgeron (now head coach at Mississippi) and offensive line coach Tim Davis (now assistant offensive line coach with the Miami Dolphins).

All of this is obviously doom-and-gloom. It could be that Carroll and Chow genuinely like and respect each other, but like any two people in a relationship, they might have grown weary of each other’s habits and attitudes and longed for a change. It’s conceivable that with the foundation built under Chow, the collaboration of Kiffin, Sarkisian and Carroll (yes, the head coach and defensive coordinator wants a larger role in the offense) could produce an even scarier unit to unleash upon opposing defenses.

But right now, Carroll might want to take Kobe Bryant out to lunch one of these days and pick his brain on dealing with fan and media backlash. He may never need the advice, but it’ll be nice to have, just in case.
Michael Ventre writes regularly for NBCSports.com and is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6941478/

MEMO TO COACH CARROLL ON HIS DEFEND BOOTY AT ALL COST ATTITUDE:

COACH PLEASE WAKE UP!
You are quoted in the Times saying "People are not paying attention. John David Booty had a statistical game that was on track from the games he had. There was a more effective rush on that day and he still got it done."
Coach, if Booty "got it done" as you say, you would have beaten UCLA for the 8th time in a row.
HE DID NOT "GET IT DONE."

There is more to football than Xs and Os. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or genius football coach to figure out Booty never brought his A game to the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

Quit defending him and please cut him loose from your charity and his 3 years he sat on the bench.

It is evident trojan fans can see through Booty's counterfeitness . WHY CAN'T YOU?

FIGHT ON AND PLEASE LET THE MARK SANCHEZ ERA BEGIN SOON!

I am sick of this inexperience Booty Crap. The fact is he has been in the program for 4 years. He has gotten reps in garbage time of past years and played like garbage.

This was the last game of the Reg season, so to say 4 years in the program and 11 complete games under his belt and he is still inexperienced to take some blame off of him is crap. The fact of the matter is Booty is a bonafied Loser. The only thing he is good for his nothing. I cant wait until next year when Sanchez is the starter and Booty goes back to transfers somewhere in Lousiana.

To The guy who posts under Lame Kiffin. Get off this board and go back to ucla where you must be from. There's no way you pimp pete here so you think you could steal him from usc. you're sick if you think people on this board would fall for your bulls**t.

Nice coherent post Lame Kiffin sux (unlike a lot of the others I see here) but too bad you're wrong about almost everything.

I'm not saying Kiffin didn't make mistakes on Sat. but you're wrong to place all the blame at his feet. The blame for the loss needs to be distributed across the entire offensive coaching staff and players.

The USC offensive playcalling scheme was specifically changed after Norm left to avoid putting all the responsibilty for the playcalling on the shoulders of the inexperienced Kiffin. PC knew they were losing experience and clearly stated as much. Yes Kiffin calls the plays but they are always reviewed on the sideline by Sarkissian and PC before they are relayed to the QB.

The fact is all the playcalls that were made on Sat were approved ahead of implementation by both PC and Sark. Otherwise they would have been vetoed. Kiffin does not make his calls in a vacuum. The 4th and 2 run in the Rose Bowl against Texas was also a decision made by all three coaches not just Kiffin. The 4th and 4 play action pass to Steve Smith against Cal same thing (btw PC wanted to kick the FG on that play - Kiffin and Sark had to convince him to go for it).

I realize that Kiffin makes mistakes - all coaches that young do but quit letting your myopic hatred get in the way of seeing the truth. The reason for the loss on Sat. should be split equally between the bad calls on offense, the lack of adjusments by PC and the ridiculous false starts by an unbelievably unsteady O-line. I don't now why so many fans are convinced that there is another OC out there than can do better than 10-2 with this squad. I don't see him...

OH and Kobe is Innocent. Shut the F up - just do it now. The last time I checked PC already has more NC's and NC game appearances than either Saban or Spurrier. Don't be an ungrateful ass. Spurrier and Saban are super coaches??? Since when and by what definition?

I hope that Carroll recognizes the need for much better coaching leadership on the offensive side of the ball. If not, USC runs the risk of becoming the next Florida State; a very talented team that chronically underperforms. Pete, step up and make a change before the program's offensive slide accelerates further.

PH55

NOT GOOD ENOUGH, NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Don't you mean 2003?