It's Official

Et tu, Scottie?

I can just see wolf in a corner typing away with an evil laugh coming up with that witty comment.

huhuhuhahaha!

Scott, stop being an inflammatory b-hole. Nevermind, I know you're just trying to generate a response. And dammit, I'm responding. Crap, I'm playing right into your hands.

First of all, winning the Rose Bowl last year doesn't really seem like it should be considered outside of the Caeser Dynasty.

Secondly, can we go ahead and start playing the kids now that we've officially blown our chances at our beginning of season goals? You know, like, let's stop playing Chauncey. Ever. Stafon, Joey Mac, and Bradford only. Let's get this team ready for next year. Oh yeah, and no more Booty, even if he is a little better than Sanchez. Let's get Marky Mark as much time on the field as possible.

I love my Trojans, but it's hard to not look to the future after all the missed opportunities of this season.

I know this is a "pipe dream", but we still win the Pac-10 if:

1. We win out (big if)
2. Cal wins at ASU
3. ASU wins at ORE
4. ORE loses one other game (at UCLA, at UA, OSU at home)

Under that scenario:

USC - 2 conf. loss (Stan & Ore)

ASU - 2/3 conf. loss (Cal, USC (3rd loss depends on ASU-UCLA game)
UCLA- 2/3 conf. loss (WSU, USC (3rd loss depends on ASU-UCLA game)

(USC wins tie-breakers over both ASU and UCLA)

Cal - 3 losses (OSU, UCLA, USC)
Ore - 3 losses (Cal, ASU, UCLA/OSU)

Remember, we won the Pac-10 last year with 2 losses. The key is having Oregon lose twice, as we lose the tie-breaker with the Ducks.

I agree with you 2000Trojan. Sit Chauncey..his 5 years of trying to prove himself at SC have been enough for all to see--Let Booty "heal" his finger so he can try to finangle his way into the first 5 rounds of the NFL draft--ALLEN BRADFORD is a WASTED talent!! They need to start utilizing him-Atleast he hasnt fumbled the ball WHEN HE HAS PLAYED (eh hem HAVILI). AB, J-Mac and Stafon need the carries and experience to get them going for next years pac-10 title run with Mustain or Sanchez leading us. Keep throwing to Hazelton, he seems to be getting it lately, and PT finally found his hands again. Ausberry looks so stiff and insecure on the field...not like a big threat that he should be on the field whether to lay out a DB on a run or to go out and grab a ball in the air. Maybe Travon Patterson and ROJO could develop (key word DEVELOP=coaching**) into good deep threats next year for us. Butch Lewis needs to keep eating, and eating more, and more to get some more weight on him. The O-Line needs to do some summer studying on their line calls so they get it right everytime.

Even if we lose the tie breaker doesn't that give us a share of the Pac-10 Title, ala Cal last year?

I know it's not what we want, but doesn't that continue the streak of 5 straight Pac-10 titles or share of the title?

-Mikey
www.AllSmackTalk.com

I really wonder if you are a true Trojan Fan with Dumb comments like these. We just need a Norm Chow like OC, and we'll dominate like before.

USCmike, thanks for your evaluation. The Senario seems plausible, expect expecting Oregon to lose 2 out of the last 4 games.

i am so tired of everyone dogging sc it is just so la to jump on the bandwagon win they win hence 96,000 in the collsium which we all know was rare before then everybody is already jumping off again so sad

Let em jump, it'll make tickets easier to get.

Actually we don't even need to have Oregon lose twice to share Pac 10, or even lose for that matter for the BCS at large birth.
Which other conference will get an at large? I can't see the Big East, ACC, Big 10, Big 12 simply don't deserve a second team. All we need to do is finish in the top 14 for an at large.

I really wonder if you are a true Trojan Fan with Dumb comments like these. We just need a Norm Chow like OC, and we'll dominate like before.

USCmike, thanks for your evaluation. The Senario seems plausible, except expecting Oregon to lose 2 out of the last 4 games.

bigjsc--yeah were all jumping off the bandwagon just because were voicing our frustrations and opinions on a blog>? The fact that were on this blog should mean something about whether or not were "jumping off the bandwagon". save your cheap arguments for another season/time.

Hey PH55:

Possible BCS teams for 8 slots (6 conf champs* + 2 at large) (2 losses or less):

ACC: *Boston Coll, Va Tech, Virginia, Clemson, Wake Forest
Big East: UConn(!), *W Va, Cin, So Fla
Big 10: *Ohio St, Mich, Wisc, Purdue
Big 12: *Okl, Missouri, Kan, Tex
Pac-10: ASU, *Ore, USC, Cal (not if loss to ASU)
SEC: *LSU, Ala. Geo,
Other Conf: Haw. and Boise St (both from WAC)

I realize some of these teams will lose and the field will be narrowed. Also, some 3-loss teams could win a conference championship game. But there are only 2 at-large spots. I see a Big-12 team and a Pac-10 team. The SEC has only 3 2-loss teams, and Ala and Geo are bound to lose again.

At least there is no Notre Dame or UCLA!

The chances are slim for any trip to the Rose Bowl, so let's not pile on Scottie. But ... why not 2006? 'SC was one tipped pass from the national championship game. If I were Scottie, I'd put it at 2002-2006.

A pretty darn good run. I'm not complaining, nor am I wishing Paul Hackett would come back.

I don't know about nationwide but the LA Coliseum is full of fair weatherers/bandwagoners nowadays. As somebody that went to USC from 1998-2002 (Hackett years) for undergrad then 2002-2005 (Wolf's Dynasty) for grad school, I am kinda relieved the "dynasty" is BRIEFLY recalibrating to bring the fans, bloggers, and scalpers back to reality. USC will be in the BCS hunt next year, so journalists nitpicking the team will get old in a couple weeks, tickets will get cheaper, and the loyal fans can get the Trojans back.

I agree with competition. Nothing is forever. But look at the positives, of which there are many: Sanchez by all accounts looks like he will develop into a great QB. McKnight has tons of promise. The WR's really made some GREAT catches. Stepped up with MS, much more than with JDB. Lots of promise. Maybe we can win out this year, maybe not. But keep building for next year. O-line looked lots better today, and should improve in the next couple of weeks. On the other hand, are we one O Coordinator away from a national championship? Need some adjustments somewhere. Not great play calling, should never have given up a FG in the first series to that silly handoff to McKnight. ON to next week.

I agree with competition. Nothing is forever. But look at the positives, of which there are many: Sanchez by all accounts looks like he will develop into a great QB. McKnight has tons of promise. The WR's really made some GREAT catches. Stepped up with MS, much more than with JDB. Lots of promise. Maybe we can win out this year, maybe not. But keep building for next year. O-line looked lots better today, and should improve in the next couple of weeks. On the other hand, are we one O Coordinator away from a national championship? Need some adjustments somewhere. Not great play calling, should never have given up a FG in the first series to that silly handoff to McKnight. ON to next week.

Yes, ridiculous statement. It is impossible to stay on top forever, or even for very long with scholarship limitations, early draftee options, and coaching staff raids of the successful. Carroll Era I was one of the greatest runs in college football history. I do believe that we have a shot at running the table, and capturing a BCS bid this year, but must admit that it is unlikely. I believe that PC Era II starts anew next year with a Pac-10 champtionship. With that, here is my summary of what went wrong today, and what must be corrected in the future:

1) Stat that explains the loss.....3.3 yds per rush. We could not run consistently against the #7 defense in the Pac-10. The Ucks D were in our backfield ALL DAY, played an awesome "shadow" defense on Freddie D, were quick and athletic forcing the Havili fumble and last Sanchez pick, and played faster and more aggressive than our O. Yes, Mark looked confused and missed reads at times, I attribute this to great Uck gameplan. Many of Mark's best plays were AVOIDING sacks, and I am sure that JDB would have been sacked 7x for -80 yards. And, MS's two touchdown passes/drives were beautiful. The kid has great talent, and we had a chance in this game BECAUSE he stepped up on O, along with PT (!!) and VH (!!!!!). But, UO had NO business dominating our line and keeping us to less than 4 yards per rush. Great game by UO D.

2) Defense played great! Without the Havili fumble deep in our territory, the Ucks only score 17. Awesome game from everyone! Although, we continue to miss turnover opportunties. If Terrell Thomas would have just TURNED around on that PI call, the Dixon pass would have hit him right in the #s. But, our D is AWESOME, and probably played their best game of the season. The will dominate even more over the last 4 games, and likely hold each opponent to less than 20 points a game, giving us a great chance to win. Go D!

3) Coaching is an issue. We were outcoached in this game. I love Pete, but he needs to realize that he is still learning and be willing to adjust his philosophy. If we kick on FG on that 1st Q 4th down, then we can go for 2 on the Ausberry TD, make it a 3 point game, and kick the FG on the last drive to tie. Reckless arrogance, rather than smart football, lost the Stanford game, and kept us from having a better shot at stealing this one. However, I am most concerned that we are so out of synch on offense. This is NOT a QB issue, but it could be a RB issue, as I think Chauncey is only the 4th or 5th most talented RB on the roster. And, it could be an O-line issue with all of the injuries keeping them from developing consistency and chemistry. But, I have reached the conclusion that our Offensive struggles are ALL a coaching issue. We are NOT in synch, yet our arsenal is loaded with racehorses. I believe that our offensive system has become TOO familiar to the rest of the Pac-10, and we NEED to evolve. Can Sark accomplish this? What is John Morton's level of influence on the offense? How involved is PC in the offense? Should we take a chance on a hotshot, young, new, fresh O coordinator like Belotti did? I'm not bailing on Sark, but we need to evolve....or die.

Our offensive system needs to be refreshed. Not necessarily a complete overhaul, but a substantial tune-up. We can't run against average run Ds, our pass plays are WAY too short yardage/conservative, our play calling no longer fools anyone, and our penalties/turnover margin consistenly shoot us in the foot. Hats off to UO and I hope that they represent the Pac-10 in the Sugar Bowl. They played awesome and deserve a Pac-10 championship. Hats off to the USC Def, which really did play an outstanding game. We can STILL make a BCS game if we run the table, and our DEF will give us a chance at this. But, Sark/PC, something is wrong with the Offense, and it AIN'T the QB? Evolve our system/philosophy PLEASE!

This loss starts with me. I didn't make any dip, didn't buy any good beer, and didn't invite anyone over because most everyone down here is just fatigued by the week of fires. On top of that, I got called over to a friend's house to babysit in the second quarter. I let you guys down and I'm sorry for it.

Other than that, anyone else notice that PT has been reading this blog and took my question in open forum day about his face mask to heart? Yeah, that's right, BoscoH may not have given it 100% today, but the little things didn't get past him.

Well, the national writers are writing the end of the Trojans. See Tributetotroy.com. Now is the opportunity to extend the PC dynasty a couple more years by taking care of business the rest of the regular season and letting the bowls fall where they may.

In my opinion our issues start with the coaching staff. The defense did enough to win and they have all year. However, let's take a look at the offense. Conservative and predictable. Sark says that we're not the team of a few years ago where we could just impose our will. I'm sorry but when you have the best talent hands down in college football you have the guys to score from any where any time. I haven't liked sark running the offense. They have not developed either of their highly touted quarter backs. Further more, the play calling has been so conservative. Run on 1st throw on second for 5 yards run on third. Come on look what happened when we opened things up yesterday and let sanchez use the intermediate passing game late. Even when Oregon knew we would be throwing we got in rhythm and moved the ball a la the dynasty era. Yes sanchez threw a pic late in "desperation" but it is his third start and since we don't have the coaches to develop him he has to learn by fire. However, if sark would throw the ball down field a little bit it would pull the line backers and the secondary back a step and allow the run game to develop. If we ran our offense with as much enthusiasm and determination as we did in the last 5 minutes yesterday, but had the option to run with the calliber of running backs we have we'd be unstoppable. It's time for sark and Morton to go. We have the talent to impose our will we just don't have the coaching.

Rant Over

I agree with Jim.

A 10-2 or 9-3 season with a bowl win is still admirable (and achievable) and postions USC for next season.

You guys need to get a grip. How would you like to be Cal (5-3, 2-3 in P10) or even worse, UCLA (5-3 and sinking fast). The next two games (Oregon State and Cal) appear winnable. After that, there's Arizona State and UCLA. Yes, ASU is having a REMARKABLE year, but things can change quickly. A 4-0 finish, although not expected, is certainly possible. Then at 10-2, what would all the naysayers have to talk about? Keep everything in perspective, remember the folks who lost their homes, businesses, and loved ones in the huge California wildfires, and eat a nice Sunday dinner. There is more football ahead.

wolf,

puh-leez.

yeah sorry for the "garbage program" comment that was uncalled for.

I am just getting frustrated at sitting here week after week, watching them run the same play and same offensive scheme that they know doesn't work, yet they keep doing it. More penalties, fumbles, dropped passes...it never seems to get better. I don't mind that it happens but nothing is done to fix it or the players have some pretty serious issues.

Then PC goes on with his spin about how the other team had a "unbelievable offense" or something..and we sink lower and lower

Dynasty??? What joke!!Shouldn't a dynasty win more than one national championship? Shouldn't a dynasty have more than one great year!

Boise State, LSU, and Ohio State have been more impressive in their runs than the Trojans!

Dynasties don't choke in the Rose Bowl game against Texas!

Dynasties don't lose to the Bruins to not make it to the NC game.

Dynasties would have been impressive enough to get into the NC game instead of watching LSU play!

I agree with kriv.

IMO, the only thing that has changed for the worst this past couple of years has been the assistant coaches, especially on offense. Although I refuse to say this latest dynasty is over, I do like to refer to it as being of two different eras: Before Norm Chow, and After Norm Chow.

The previous offenses always took it to the opponents, knowing that they (SC) had the toughest and most talented players. Now its like SC prefers to use trick plays to decieve the defenses.

This was never more evident than this past Saturday, when SC decided to use a reverse, instead of run down the middle, on 4th an 1.

This is where I think SC began to lose the game this past Saturday.