The crowd is screaming louder than it had in years. It is raining, the wind is howling, it is dark. The Huskies defense is getting tougher as the game evolves (only allowing about 65 yards in the last 20 or so runs). The quarterbacks (both) are throwing high, an indication of the wind factor, so scoring is at a minimum. This is not a moment to explore the possibilities of your running backs. Stay with what got you here-- Washington and Johnson. SC can "play around" all it wants with Stanford and perhaps Arizona.

You can't have it both ways Scott. First you go on ad nauseum about McKnight's fumbles, then you complain he doesn't play. With your weekly whining about McKnight, Gable, Johnson, etc, I guess Sark is supposed to come up with a formation featuring 6 running backs. Then we will hear how the receivers aren't being used. These aren't the lack of talent Trojans from your undergrad days. Not everyone will play. Deal with it. I think Coach Carroll know more about the game than you do.

Its not WE didn't get into a rhythm its JDB couldn't find his rhythm all night-Dont make excuses for him, he just had an off night-Even his short passes into the flats weren't on target. JDB was a bit below average for the game and thank goodness our D showed up as usual and saved us from an upset.

just a bit below average???? hate to see him when he's worse.

he was plain awful

Yeah, if he hasn't shown he's better than Reggie at this point in the season, he never will! Kick him off the team.

Almost forgot...that's sarcasm.

Don't forget that it was drizzling and the ball became harder to control.

Okay, I'm sufficiently thawed out from my trip to the Pacific Northwest to finally sit down and watch my HD DVR of the game and break down film.

First things first, the girls at UW reflect the weather...not too hot, pale, and water logged...

Anyway, onto the game. Couple of things you will notice right off the bat when breaking the film is that after Booty's pick in the first quarter (where he did totally lock onto his receiver) he consistently threw behind receivers in order to avoid another pick by putting the ball only where the receiver would have a chance. On the throws where the ball sailed up, you can tell it's a grip and mechanics problem with a wet ball...and believe it was wet and slick out there. The funny thing was that Booty doesn't wipe down his hands on a towel before coming up to Spanos which I thought was odd if you're having grip problems.

The other thing you notice was how aggressive UW's corners where are on checking Ausberry and Hazelton on the line of scrimmage to disrupt timing. Turner can out-man his guy, but the kids are still learning to get off their blocks. The O-Line did a great job blocking and Booty has tons of time to throw, but Sark doesn't go for slants or much over the middle, settling for post and curl routes along the sidelines that don't tax the receivers too much in terms of timing patterns.

The one thing you do notice right away is how much difficulty the line calls were with O'Dowd and Rachal out and the noise volume way up. And let me tell you it was loud. I was shouting to my friends next to me to be heard, let alone being out there on the line. That makes audibles impossible, which means hand checks and that causes more procedure penalties because the linemen are being asked to hold their stances almost a full 20 seconds and that's a long time to be in a three point stance.

Booty does have an annoying habit of throwing a flat ball since he's stronger now and really guns it. You can see it as he steps up into the pocket and really throws from the front foot. Either Sark has to get him to put more air under the throw and let the receivers run under it, or he's got to switch more to slant routes to let receivers take the pass right in the chest at full speed.

The problem with all this is that the word is out that Booty throws a flat ball so D-lines are coached to get their hands up and stay in the gaps, especially the ends over the tackles. You don't see D-ends go wide on us much anymore, because they're taking inside pass rushes to clog up the passing lane for Booty on any sideline curl pattern or to the fullback running an out.

The converse of that is that our running game is set up perfect for sweeps and Student Body Left/Right runs and you see that more often when Chauncey or Stafon break off big gains by going around the tackle who seals off the D-ends, especially on the weakside where the linebacker is often on an island alone against Havili and the running back. If the safeties bite on the play action fake by Booty, we're racking up 5-6 yards a play....which makes it all the more frustrating when Sark calls for passing plays for Booty when the defense is totally keyed to what he is doing.

The funny thing is defenses are finding it easier to defend Booty and the passing game, than the run game, especially if they can get pressure on him.

Booty is still a good QB, but Sark needs to do a better job of running plays that go to his strengths, which is NOT timing patterns and anything requiring a soft, deep throw. He's throwing a lot like Carson did in 2003.

Okay, I'm sufficiently thawed out from my trip to the Pacific Northwest to finally sit down and watch my HD DVR of the game and break down film.

First things first, the girls at UW reflect the weather...not too hot, pale, and water logged...

Anyway, onto the game. Couple of things you will notice right off the bat when breaking the film is that after Booty's pick in the first quarter (where he did totally lock onto his receiver) he consistently threw behind receivers in order to avoid another pick by putting the ball only where the receiver would have a chance. On the throws where the ball sailed up, you can tell it's a grip and mechanics problem with a wet ball...and believe it was wet and slick out there. The funny thing was that Booty doesn't wipe down his hands on a towel before coming up to Spanos which I thought was odd if you're having grip problems.

The other thing you notice was how aggressive UW's corners where are on checking Ausberry and Hazelton on the line of scrimmage to disrupt timing. Turner can out-man his guy, but the kids are still learning to get off their blocks. The O-Line did a great job blocking and Booty has tons of time to throw, but Sark doesn't go for slants or much over the middle, settling for post and curl routes along the sidelines that don't tax the receivers too much in terms of timing patterns.

The one thing you do notice right away is how much difficulty the line calls were with O'Dowd and Rachal out and the noise volume way up. And let me tell you it was loud. I was shouting to my friends next to me to be heard, let alone being out there on the line. That makes audibles impossible, which means hand checks and that causes more procedure penalties because the linemen are being asked to hold their stances almost a full 20 seconds and that's a long time to be in a three point stance.

Booty does have an annoying habit of throwing a flat ball since he's stronger now and really guns it. You can see it as he steps up into the pocket and really throws from the front foot. Either Sark has to get him to put more air under the throw and let the receivers run under it, or he's got to switch more to slant routes to let receivers take the pass right in the chest at full speed.

The problem with all this is that the word is out that Booty throws a flat ball so D-lines are coached to get their hands up and stay in the gaps, especially the ends over the tackles. You don't see D-ends go wide on us much anymore, because they're taking inside pass rushes to clog up the passing lane for Booty on any sideline curl pattern or to the fullback running an out.

The converse of that is that our running game is set up perfect for sweeps and Student Body Left/Right runs and you see that more often when Chauncey or Stafon break off big gains by going around the tackle who seals off the D-ends, especially on the weakside where the linebacker is often on an island alone against Havili and the running back. If the safeties bite on the play action fake by Booty, we're racking up 5-6 yards a play....which makes it all the more frustrating when Sark calls for passing plays for Booty when the defense is totally keyed to what he is doing.

The funny thing is defenses are finding it easier to defend Booty and the passing game, than the run game, especially if they can get pressure on him.

Booty is still a good QB, but Sark needs to do a better job of running plays that go to his strengths, which is NOT timing patterns and anything requiring a soft, deep throw. He's throwing a lot like Carson did in 2003.

GlobeHop: You almost had me with you until you dropped the "Carson did in 2003." I'm hoping that was a typo since Carson's last season was 2002 and he did not take a snap in 2003 for the Bengals since he backed up Kitna.

GlobeHop,
Excellent, however, Ty and Dorrel figured that out last year. I don't expect JDB to get solved at USC. He has been in the system since the first flood and the QB coaches have not fixed it.

GlobeHop - can you start a blog?

GlobeHop,
Nice Post.

GlobeHop, much props. You have to get a usc blog going!

“the girls at UW reflect the weather...not too hot, pale, and water logged...” – classic!

GlobeHop - Great Post! If you can only master typekey when posting novels on this Blog...your contributions will continue to be well received. (that was sarcasm just in case you missed it). Keep up the insightful posts!