The problem is not on defense---unless of course you consider Rey going out of control to try to get the big hit instead of playing good Grootegoed-type position defense! He killed us on that 3rd and 14 play.

But that has nothing to do with the coverage type.

It would have been nice to break it in when the outcome of the Notre Dame game was secure.

Oh well, maybe it will help for next year.

OMG!!

You mean 8 weeks into the season, the USC braintrust might finally be catching on??

wow that didn't take long..glad we have a coaching staff that is on the ball

Doesn't matter they will do the same thing..only play man to man if the game is getting away from them so they can blitz

They can't play man to man the whole game anyway "Mr. PI" Terrell Thomas would rack up about 100 yards in penalties

who would cover all the blown assingments by "Rey Rey"?

BTW they are laughing at USC on "FSN collegefootball scoreboard" right now

;o)

We must be in some sort of weird vortex if 66 is agreeing with me!

Everyone: Its not the defense! If the offense simply does their job these games would have been ours.

PH55 is right - last week's game at Oregon was winnable, thanks to the defense. It was a too conservative defense that lost the game, plus the stupid penalties (holding, blocking in the back on punt returns). Pete also needs to trust McKnight and Rojo and Havili and just let them play - don't give them only 1-2 plays, here and there. To make an impact, you have to have enough playing time - you can't break a big play on every play, but once every 12 plays and the opposing defense has a lot more to worry about.

Amen, the defense is very solid. Only 350 or so yards to one of the top offenses in the country. Only 24 points (3 of which we on the offense for putting Oregon in immediate FG position), I'll take that everyday. USC should have been able to score at least 28 points on that defense and didn't. The offense is the problem this year as it was last year. Hold onto the ball, run down the other team.

Hey 04Trojan:

You should also include Oregon's last two TDs as being the direct result of turnovers by the USC offense, and, hence, not the defense's fault (Havili fumbled on the USC 16-yd line, and Sanchez's first interception was an back into USC territory).

The only legitimate TD drive by Oregon was its first TD to make it 7-0. After that, the defense pretty much held the rest of the game.

oops, meant to write "run back into USC territory)."

Ok, here's a slightly contrarian opinion. This is a really smart move. The Def has been great this season - top 5 rush, and into the top 20 in pass efficiency - and is on track to finish the year as a top 5 defense. But, the offense is obviously really, really struggling. So, how can the team most help the offense......force more turnovers. And, I assume with a man-to-man, we jam the line, blitz more aggressively, etc., and perhaps create more turnovers. Should we be making adjustments to the defense right now....why not, they are a bunch of studs....7 potential 1st round draft picks. We are not trying to improve them so much as we are leveraging our strength to try to help the struggling offense more.

I really like this move against a weak QB in Canfield for this game. But, my biggest concern is why not earlier? Why not against UO, where Dixon has been killing people with his feet, and Stewart has been running like Stephen Jackson, but UOs best receivers were injured and he is not known for the vertical passing game? Why not go man-to-man against Stanford, and throw the kithchen sink in terms of blitzes against the new QB?

I really like this move, I just have to question why we didn't add this component to our package ealier with a struggling offense and a losing turnover margin.

This is absolutely the right thing to do against OSU. If this is truly the game plan I can almost guaranty 3 pics.

Is the Duckman hanging out to support 'SC vs. his in-state rivals?

Is the Duckman hanging out to support 'SC vs. his in-state rivals?

You betcha! Plus I grew up in California and I still have a soft spot for the Trojans.

Our defense isn't the problem??? I think what people mean is that the offense's problems are overshadowing the defense's problems. Washington looked like a potent offense and Stanford looked like they were suddenly good and in both cases they've got near blanked by good D's. And Oregon came in without BOTH of its starting receivers, a back who while great was having some injury problems and injuries on their line. And before that injury timeout the absolutely God awful Nebraska was hitting their one competent WR Purify like Christmas and they were threatening. WE ARE LAST IN THE PAC 10 WITH INT'S! A D-END LEADS THE TEAM IN PICKS! (That's me yelling.) Be happy PC is proving that he can and will adjust. We'll need it if Cal and ASU come in healthy and on their game. If our D played up to its talent they could have saved us the Stanford and Oregon game for sure.

the only way a defensive change will help is if we manage to keep the opponent from scoring even less than we do.

since Booty's starting, that means they have to outweigh his sacks and interceptions.

they'd have to be perfect to achieve that.