Justin Who?
And hear we thought Cal tailback Justin Forsett played well last night.
``We made some uncharacteristic mistakes on easy things and gave them 60 yards,'' USC coach Pete Carroll said. ``They weren’t complicated schemes. We didn’t react and made it so easy for them. There were some big holes and it wasn’t because they blocked us.''
That still means Forsett gained 104 yards on his own doing by Carroll’s calculations, so I guess we'll give him a little credit.
I am in agreement with Pete here. Justin Forsett is just a running back. He is no Marshawn Lynch. We were not doing something right and one of those things was tackling. To give Forsett some credit, I have to say he is a good wet weather tailback. He knew where he wanted to go and that made him seem faster than his defenders.
Right now I'm more concerned how USC contains the Devilish RB Duo of Dimitri Nance and Keegan Herring.
Also I wonder how Carpenter's thumb is?
I know how it will feel for him after the USC game.
"we thought"? Who exactly is "we" in reference to?
Go back and look at Forsett's TD run. Rey left his lane too quickly on a pass blitz and the middle of the field was wide open. I'm sure that's one of the plays Pete was referring to. There are several other examples of clearly missed tackles due to the weather that prove that PC is absolutely right in his analysis. USC made some uncharacteristic big mistakes that gave Forsett some big plays.
He did have a strong night, though it's too bad that that seems to be Cal's MO in all their USC games. Someone has a great game, they still lose. See Aaron Rogers, Marshawn Lynch and now Forsett.
Oh and DeSean is a blowhard who has a total of 8 catches in 3 seasons against USC. Good luck at the next level returning punts and getting destroyed coming across the middle by bigger tougher safeties and LBs. He can't beat the jam, can't take a hit and weighs about 180 lbs. Something tells me he won't last very long...keep talking DeSean one day it will help you catch a TD.
LoJack is righ: "A win is a win is a win..."
The Good:
-CW running like he should've been all year
-O-Line kept Booty safe
-two picks by the secondary
-RoJo's KO returns
-Stefon with gutty 9 yds
-96-yd 4Q drive
The Bad
-Turner drops one, catches one
-holding flag nullifies long pass to Turner
-Booty puts no air under ball to open RoJo
-fumbled snaps
-more crucial penalties
-partially blocked punt
-no pressure on Longshore
The Ugly
-offside call which nullified fumble recovery
-ABC fails to show replay of this offsides call
-CW fumbles at the goal line (ouch), and failure to score TD after Ellison pick
-sloppy tackling, they need to wrap up
If USC and Oregon win out, we go to the Rose Bowl.
There are four at-large spots, and six conf champs in the four BCS bowls and NC game. There are only a handful of 1 or 2-loss teams for those at-large spots:
Pac-10 (1 at-large)
Oregon - champ
USC-ASU winner (so...USC gets it)
Big 10 (0-1)
If OSU beats Mich, all other teams w/3 L's
If Mich wins, OSU may not get at-large w/ 2 L's in a row.
Big 12 (1-2)
Okl, Kan, Miszzou, Texas all viable at-large teams; Texas stays out of fray, and gets at-large berth;
Loser of Big 12 champ may get at-large;
SEC (1)
If LSU wins out, all others w/ 3 L's;
If LSU loses SEC champ, it gets at-large berth;
3-loss team might get at-large, also.
ACC (0)
B.C., Clemson , Va., Va. Tech all have 2 L's;
only one will stay that way and win champ;
rest end w/ 3 L's
Big East (0-1)
W.Va., Cin, UConn still in mix for conf. champ., but W.Va. plays both;
If W. Va. loses to either, at-large berth is dicey.
NON-BCS (0-1)
Winner of #18 Boise St. v. #16 Hawaii may have a shot, but only w/ top 12 finish. Hawaii may land in top 12 with 12-0 season.
Thus, at-large berths to: (1) USC, (2) Texas, (3) loser of Big 12 champ (Okl/Kan/Mizzou), and (4)(a) Hawaii (if 12-0), or (4)(b) a 3-loss SEC team gets the at-large berths.
(at least, there is no N.D. this year!)
Rose Bowl gets first choice to replace Oregon, and picks USC to face OSU-Michigan winner. If Oregon doesn't end up at No. 2, we could still get at-large with Fiesta Bowl.
Beat ASU & FUCLA!!!!
Fight On!!!!!
Mike,
I think your analysis of the BCS is pretty accurate. One thing I have a problem with is placing Texas in a BCS game. Experts around the country are also doing it, including Pat Forde (ESPN) and Stewart Mandel (SI), but I have a tough time putting that team in the BCS ahead of other deserving Big XII teams such as a one loss Kansas (if they beat Missouri and lose to OU) or a two loss Missouri team (if they beat Kansas and lose to OU for the second time) or especially a two loss Oklahoma team who would have beaten them, and then lost to an undefeated Kansas team or split with MIssouri. Texas, in my opinion should be out of it as of this minute.
Aside from that, I'm not sure Boise has much of a chance of getting to a BCS game. Although I do think their win over OU in last year's Fiesta Bowl would help them, they have no marquee wins (beating Hawaii even in Hawaii to me is just kinda blah) and they did lose at Washington, which looks worse now than it did at the time.
Overall, great job of breaking it down. I think if USC gets pressure to Carpenter and tests out his thumb, and if Booty practices getting arc on his deep ball, USC has a tremendous opportunity to get by ASU (who did not wow me, by the way, against FUCLA and their 4th string quarterback)
If we don't take it to FUCLA on Dec 1st, we should voluntarily relegate ourselves to DII. That, my friends, would be embarassing.
By the way, is there anyone like myself, who is still pissed at FUCLA for screwing up Notre Dame's perfect season? Had they not gift wrapped that game for the Irish, only Duke and Stanford would stand in the way of Coach Weis' destiny. Failed opportunities.
uscmike...I enjoyed your post a lot. Thanks
Yeah, and "hear" I thought "they're" biggest problem was getting "two" aggressive "too" play under control. I can "here" it now, all the fans screaming "were" number "won".
Scott, you do get paid to "right", "write"?
I agree that Texas may not deserve an at-large berth, but will likely get one if they win out. I also agree that Boise State is a long shot...several teams ahead of them would have to lose. However, if Hawaii wins out, it should climb to No. 12, and get a spot.
Frankly, I'm glad that UCLA lost to Notre Dame.