Discuss The Game

Say what you will and say what you want.... that's another victory. My hat goes off to the Beavers, they played their butts off. The Pac 10 is for grabs next weekend. Fight On!

Embarassing performance, especially for the defense...need to get more pressure on the qb as we made that clown look like an all American...we better not take this garbage to Oregon or they will make us look stupid and end our season...also is Taylor mays going to be any sort of factor thus year all he does is show up to put a hit two steps after the ball has been caught...don't know if were not using him right or if he is just playing awfull...def need to address our middle defense as it was wide open all day

mb7 w three picks...wonder how Petey will spin that

- They better figure out the defense's problems or they will lose to Oregon.
- I thought the secondary was supposed to be the strength of the defense. It's the weakness.
- Taylor Mays needs to cover someone and go for the ball instead of waiting for the receiver to catch the ball and then try to take out the receiver.
- The short middle pass has been exposed by Washington, Notre Dame, and now Oregon State.
- The offense looks really good but the injuries are a concern. McCoy & Havili.
- Barkley should win a Heisman and a BCS title in the next 2 years.

Need a much, much better defensive effort to have a chance up here in Oregon. D looked pedestrian for the second week in a row. Canfield for Heisman...

I haven't seen the USC D play a game like that since the 2005 Rose Bowl against Texas. And I honestly don't believe that 4-3 OSU is any 13-0 Texas. A lot will be answered next week, but I'm not really looking forward to the answers.

Fight On Anyway!

Wow, the defense is just struggling right now. The DB's are just bad outside of Kevin Thomas. Pinkard, Will Harris and Taylor Mays have all struggled a bit. Mays needs to come up with more big plays.

Barkley has great moments along with some pretty bad moments. He misses too many open receivers. He had an absolute gun in his first game and then that injury happened and it seems like he just lofts balls now. Maybe he's still a little hurt but he definitely isn't zipping the ball in anymore. He underthrew or floated a number of balls today.

A lot of fans had a feeling that Bradford was going to be a player. He's finally showing why so many wanted him in more often. He has the best blend of power and speed among the USC TB's.

Scott,

A game like this makes one wonder what Riley could do with the talent and resources currently available to Pete Carroll.

Incredibly unimpressive "win".

Agreed. Is there any doubt that Riley is a top 5 coach in the country, and arguably the best offensive coach? Has anyone done more with less? Corvallis has a population of 50,000, yet OSU will finish top 3 in conference for 5 of the last 7 seaons with 8 or more wins! Mike Riley is great.

Maybe the defense is just too used to going against USC's antiquated, pro-style offense, and simply not used to the extremely creative looks of an OSU where they seek and exploit mismatches? USC had big plays and put points on the board, but we have the talent to score +50 against weak defenses like OSU and underachieve. Oregon is going to be too tough a hill to clime. Yet, 10-2 with a true frosh at QB is very, very good. Let's take it for what it is. No BCS this season, but Barkley will win championships during his time.

Two in a row now where the offense has to bail out the defense. OSU was basically doing whatever they wanted in the second half. It was painful to watch by the end.

-- I'm clearly the only one here that thought Mays was impressive. He was all over the field all night. I'm sure the NFL scouts are drooling all over him right now.

-- The linebackers looked tired and lost. They better get refreshed next week or it's going to be a long game.

-- Barkley looks better and better every week in terms of poise and game management. Bates's play calling is getting much more varied. The offense is finally starting to click. How about those three pass plays on that last series to run out the clock!

-- Bradford is a beast and needs more work. Maybe Bates should start using McKnight more creatively and let AB handle the carries.

It was good to get the win.

We must be a little too aggressive in our base defense, because a couple teams in a row have quickly found the matchups to exploit. And the defense looks like it gets tired by the end of the 3rd quarter. But who could really blame them? Ironically (I don't use that word lightly), Williams' punt return for TD probably hurt us as much as it helped. It put the defense right back on the field when they deserved a rest.

Bates and Morton called a good game. One improvement they could make is putting together a 6 or 7 minute drive in the 3rd quarter when we're in a position to just grind things down. It'll give the offense practice on the tempo it will need to to burn the final 5 minutes. They did a good job at the end.

I agree with Caesar about Canfield. The kid is good, he's poised, he throws a nice ball, and he will play on Sundays. Finally, we all seem to get upset when we don't clobber opponents at home. But look what Tennessee almost did to Alabama! This is why we play the games, and why we should be happy about every victory.

Yes, but Pete Carroll's the one responsible for getting all that talent.

It would be interesting to see what Riley could do at USC though. He does a pretty good job in Corvallis.

reminded me of the 2005 fresno state game when they came to the coliseum and punched us in the mouth.

And if you remember, the game following that Fresno State game was the 66-19 woodshed behind kicking we put on the bRUINS. (no point, just wanted to bring that score up)

But maybe it does bode well for the trip to Eugene. I am as concerned as anyone about the porous defense, but anyone who watched UofO against Purdue, Utah, and Boise knows they can be very vulnerable. Of course, they could always come out like they did against Cal and we'd have some tough sledding.

All in all, even though the defense did not play well and we almost blew a 20-ish point 4th quarter lead for the second consecutive week, I am happy/relieved to get the win and move on towards November.

PS - anyone else catch fUCLA's fourth consecutive loss today? They look more lost than they ever did under Dorrell. I don't think Slick Rick is going to be reciting any "trend of the program" speeches to Jim Rome for awhile.

FIGHT ON!!!

to borrow a line from Scott Wolf:

"Doesn't USC have a special teams coach?"

Horrible coverage led to two scores, bumping the return man for a 15 yard penaly after a great punt, and god knows what was happening on that kick off return where no one knew where the ball was and SC got a block in the back penalty to boot! terrible...

Secondary very pedestrian, but lets give ND and OSU some credit; both of their offenses have proven this year they can move the football.

Regarding Oregon, am I the only one here who can remember 6 weeks ago in Boise when they didn't have the foggiest clue. Their most impressive win was probably today, against a depleted UW team- our loss notwithstanding. Other than that I am underwhelmed. I would also argue that OSU has every bit the offensive firepower they have.

The biggest thing going for Ore is that it is at their place, obviously. But if we dont make mistakes on offense and can stay in position on their spread, we win.

All the openings in the short secondary in the 2nd half could have been caused by the exhaustion of the LBs. All 3 of these guys backed up the starters last season and most of them got significant experience and playing time. The LB's depth this season is a realistic issue. Galippo, Morgan and Smith were out there the whole game.

I give AB one game ball for his tremendous rushing day and the other to Barkeley for engineering the possession for the last 5+ minutes to close out the game.

This was a hard earned victory, and with the addition of major minutes from RoJo coupled with a really strong cohesive performance of the O line, the offense was so much more dangerous, which kept the pressure on the Beavers who trailed all night.
Fight On

that was much closer than i thought it would be

the biggest difference maker in any pac10 game is the QB play and canfield was very good

now that all the pre-season games are over, its time for the one game of the year that really matters

the trick or treaters need to go early or stay home - im not getting the door after the game starts!

2 MB7 picks led to OSU touchdowns. Just throws that were not strong enough, or thrown into coverage, poor choices. So, 2 td's that more likely than not were caused by our turnovers. Plus we scored so quickly our defense spent most of the game on the field. MB7 needs some work, needs to see the open receivers better. If these td's not made, score is way different and no telling what we would have scored.

Barko,

RE: -- Bradford is a beast and needs more work. Maybe Bates should start using McKnight more creatively and let AB handle the carries.

I am in full agreement.

I've been saying all season long that the dbs are not up to USC standards, especially Kevin Thomas and Josh Pinkard, and this game changed not one iota of that opinion. They are truly more liability than asset.
The Ducks will exploit that factor big time, and while I don't like saying it, but they will ultimately be the downfall of the Trojans in Eugene this coming weekend, relegating the Trojans to a lesser bowl game for the first time in forever.
They really need to step up THIS WEEK in practice, and of course in the game on Saturday.

i am prediction an insane game with 4 barkley picks and 2 fumbles, one by mcnight

usc will be tested and come unglued

say what you will about talent and history, but...

oregon has gotten better each week and usc peaked at ohio and is very lackluster

the duck players have much more enthusiasm this year than the trojan players

oregon111....What an outrageous post! SC can handle that crazy Autzen! What they might struggle with is stopping the spread, but I have a feeling that they will be well prepared for that. It's not like they have not seen it before.

I think Barkley has the cool to handle that noise, and I'm not concerned about the O line protecting him. If the Ducks think that what they will see on this recent OSU tape is what they will get, then they had better be prepared to adjust. There's no way that the Trojans will come unglued. The game might be another shootout, but just remember the friggin stadium is not what the Trojans will be knocking around, it'll be your webfooted friends..and just the vaunted little stadium won't be enough to turn around last seasons 44-10 result.

Fight On

I don't see Oregon as a great passing team. Masoli is an average throwing QB. The teams that have given USC trouble had accurate QBs (ND, Oregon St, and UW to some extent). If USC can contain the run, then I think we can handle Oregon's spread offense.

The 4th qtr comebacks by ND and Oregon St concern me. USC is used to dominating the 2nd half. USC had both ND and OSU down by double-digits, only to allow them to get back in the game. USC needs to show more killer instinct. I wish the Trojans would just pound the ball on the ground to preserve a sizeable lead, instead of allowing a Barkley INT to get the opponent right back in the game.

DFW- it sounds like you are already handing Oregon the win. Not so fast, my friend.

torpedoman, its not the stadium that will pressure usc, it is the ducks playing at a speed that usc has not seen this season

i still think usc will be really tested, but i admit the unglued part is just wishful thinking

a big part of the ducks game this year is turnovers and special teams play

and uscmike, masoli can be a very good or a very bad one - we saw both in the last two seasons - but he always gets better as the season moves on

one thing that is not disputable - the ducks handled washington in seattle better than the trojans this year

as far as home field advantage - the fans dont play, but the ducks always play better at home than they do on the road

this game should be a lot of fun to watch, but i hope the weather is good / it almost always rains in portland every halloween and the kids trick or treating always have jackets on over their costumes

the northwest really sucks once it starts raining for 6 months

It's a little early yet, but the forecast is for showers in Eugene on Saturday night. (Indeed, they forecast showers from Thursday into next Tuesday.) The poor kids in the NW - what a bummer - trick or treating in the rain. Much effort for soggy candy bars.

Ore111 - my point with Masoli is that he is not a typical dropback QB like Clausen or Canfield. He is more like OSU's Pryor. He is less likely to pick apart a secondary like Clausen, and more likely to pick up crucial 3rd downs with his feet, like Dennis Dixon two years ago. It should be a great game. The current point spread is USC -3.

Lastly, USC did not peak with the Ohio State game. If anything, the Cal game was USC's peak so far this season...until this Saturday.

Beat the Ducks!! Fight On!!