Answer Wednesday!

Q: Jon said:
Did you catch the men's basketball exhibition game, and if so, any thoughts?

A: I did not as I was traveling back from Oregon, however I did speak to a coach who attended the game and said, ``it will be a long season,'' based on what he saw. Of course, Alex Stepheson did not play and it's always hard to go off an exhibition game.

Q: RedmondGuy said:
After the game, Coach Carroll made a comment to the effect that he and his staff had anticipated one style of play from Oregon and schemed around that, but the Ducks did something different than expected and we couldn't adapt because our game plan was entirely based around that assumption.

What was the assumption?

A: He did not really expect Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to throw so many high-risk passes. USC considered Oregon a running team that would sometimes pass but Oregon came out much more aggresive passing while Carroll worked to stop the run.
But that wasn't really what he considered the key to the game. He was more concerned with Oregon playing a much faster tempo than USC's players seemed to be playing at along with the fact USC players were unable to carry out his schemes.