Losing to 41-point underdog Stanford or 25-point underdog Oregon State?
5 Comments
Trojan in Redondo said:
Oregon State is easily the worse loss.
With Stanford, Booty was kept in and played with a broken finger. He threw more interceptions than ever before in his life due to his broken finger.
With Oregon State, Sanchez simply proved he was not ready for college football and was in over is head. He had no poise and was rattled easily, making one stupid play after another.
uscmike said:
This loss was worse. USC led Stanford the entire game until the very end. USC lost because Booty was injured, but was allowed to keep throwing INTs. Here, USC was down 21-0 to OSU. 21-0. Think about that! We were too confident and arrogant. Our O-Line and D-Line, which were question marks coming into the season (and who played well in the first two games), were exposed. Where is the "thunder" in our ground game? As soon as Johnson started rolling, the coaches took him out. Where was the deep ball? Why is USC always in a one-RB formation? What happened to Havili?
Mike Riley noted that OSU was able to run because he knew that there would be cutback lanes. This morning he noted that Penn St was the most disciplined defense he has seen. Reading between the lines, USC's defense was undisciplined. One example was Matthews flying to get the QB, while Rogers ran off tackle for big yards. And they blocked the DE several times with the WR Rogers coming in motion, and RB cutting behind that block.
Sanchez's pick reminded me of Jim Everett - panicking and throwing off the back foot. That INT was a gift TD, and was the difference in the game.
And what happened on Oregon's 3rd TD? How the HELL do we got a personal foul on 3rd down? How the HELL does Thomas not intercept, or at least knock down, that ball? Poor attitude. Poor game plan. Poor execution.
I just hope the boys had their eyes opened last night, and will work harder. As for the rest of the season, I think it will be extremely difficult for USC to make it in the top two. The perception is the PAC-10 is weak. Perception is reality. (Heck, Utah will probably beat Oregon St next week.) USC would need the top SEC and Big-12 teams to lose twice. I don't see that happening. USC has the talent to win the rest of its games. But does it have the desire, discipline, and focus to do so? The ability to make adjustments?
These losses are so hard to take. At least with Texas it was against a top team that was undefeated. But Stanford? Oregon St? Down 21-0? The pattern is troubling.
Fight On!!
Rah Rah's Bite said:
Booty plays with a broken finger, Sanchez is in over his head, undisciplined defense, poor "special teams " hmmmmmmm sounds like a coaching problem to me.
Pete has surrounded himself with ass kissing sycophants, not good.
Stanford didn't dominate USC the way Oregon State did... but it was Stanford.
DFWTrojan said:
Great comments, USCMike. Interesting to know the Penn St references. Make no mistake, Mike Riley is an elite level coach, stuck in Corvallis. Discipline, or lack thereof, on Defense explains a lot. I also wish that I better understood the zone schemes that OSU was using on their line. BTW, I vote for Stanford being more painful. It was later in the year, at home, and even a bigger upset. I didn't feel like Stanford deserved like I feel that OSU deserved. It's less painful if we get beat as opposed to giving a game away. Kudos to Mike Riley. Let's learn some discipline on Def and fix the crummy RB rotation.
Oregon State is easily the worse loss.
With Stanford, Booty was kept in and played with a broken finger. He threw more interceptions than ever before in his life due to his broken finger.
With Oregon State, Sanchez simply proved he was not ready for college football and was in over is head. He had no poise and was rattled easily, making one stupid play after another.
This loss was worse. USC led Stanford the entire game until the very end. USC lost because Booty was injured, but was allowed to keep throwing INTs. Here, USC was down 21-0 to OSU. 21-0. Think about that! We were too confident and arrogant. Our O-Line and D-Line, which were question marks coming into the season (and who played well in the first two games), were exposed. Where is the "thunder" in our ground game? As soon as Johnson started rolling, the coaches took him out. Where was the deep ball? Why is USC always in a one-RB formation? What happened to Havili?
Mike Riley noted that OSU was able to run because he knew that there would be cutback lanes. This morning he noted that Penn St was the most disciplined defense he has seen. Reading between the lines, USC's defense was undisciplined. One example was Matthews flying to get the QB, while Rogers ran off tackle for big yards. And they blocked the DE several times with the WR Rogers coming in motion, and RB cutting behind that block.
Sanchez's pick reminded me of Jim Everett - panicking and throwing off the back foot. That INT was a gift TD, and was the difference in the game.
And what happened on Oregon's 3rd TD? How the HELL do we got a personal foul on 3rd down? How the HELL does Thomas not intercept, or at least knock down, that ball? Poor attitude. Poor game plan. Poor execution.
I just hope the boys had their eyes opened last night, and will work harder. As for the rest of the season, I think it will be extremely difficult for USC to make it in the top two. The perception is the PAC-10 is weak. Perception is reality. (Heck, Utah will probably beat Oregon St next week.) USC would need the top SEC and Big-12 teams to lose twice. I don't see that happening. USC has the talent to win the rest of its games. But does it have the desire, discipline, and focus to do so? The ability to make adjustments?
These losses are so hard to take. At least with Texas it was against a top team that was undefeated. But Stanford? Oregon St? Down 21-0? The pattern is troubling.
Fight On!!
Booty plays with a broken finger, Sanchez is in over his head, undisciplined defense, poor "special teams " hmmmmmmm sounds like a coaching problem to me.
Pete has surrounded himself with ass kissing sycophants, not good.
Stanford didn't dominate USC the way Oregon State did... but it was Stanford.
Great comments, USCMike. Interesting to know the Penn St references. Make no mistake, Mike Riley is an elite level coach, stuck in Corvallis. Discipline, or lack thereof, on Defense explains a lot. I also wish that I better understood the zone schemes that OSU was using on their line. BTW, I vote for Stanford being more painful. It was later in the year, at home, and even a bigger upset. I didn't feel like Stanford deserved like I feel that OSU deserved. It's less painful if we get beat as opposed to giving a game away. Kudos to Mike Riley. Let's learn some discipline on Def and fix the crummy RB rotation.