Question Of The Day

Coming back. The key OOC matchups this season show that the conference isn't any better. Only USC and UCLA have decent wins, with the rest all having bad losses.

But, the conference is on the brink of having one of its best runs over the next few seasons with some awesome young talent, especially at QB. Unless PC overhauls our schemes, the field has caught us as they simply know our schemes too well. They have closed the coaching gap, if anything.

I think it is a little bit of both - Stanford with Luck and Gerhart and Owusu are a much better team than the years past, Oregon is a very solid team, Arizona's tough schedule is remaining but they seem to be solid, and Oregon State making the typical late run. I think the Pac 10 is definitely the toughest conference this year, and our offensive and defensive struggles have made us just one of the teams rather than THE team in the Pac 10.

DFW: I disagree.

Nonconference records for non WSU Pac-10 schools:
Zona: 2-1 (lone loss at Iowa)
ASU: 2-1 (lone loss at Georgia
fUCLA: 3-0
USC: 3-0
Cal: 3-0
Stanford: 1-1 (ND game coming; lone loss at Wake on questionable call)
Oregon: 2-1 (loss to undefeated Boise and wins over Purdue and Utah)
OSU: 2-1 (lone loss to undefeated Cincinnati)
Wash: 1-2 (close losses to LSU & ND)

There's no other conference in America (no, not even the SEC) that can claim that kind of tough schedule and good results from their nonconference schedule.

But what I think the past three games have shown us is that injuries matter. A lot. Just go down the list of guys who are hurt (especially on offense right now) and you'll see a who's who of important players to the Trojans: Havili, McCoy, Ausberry (even though I think he's wildly overrated), Williams, Griffen, Perry, Smith, Armstead, McAllister, etc, etc, etc.

Injuries take a toll, even when a team is as deep as the Trojans are.

the monopoly is over....Sweeeeeeeeet!

The defense right now is on two brinks: one of being very good and the other of being a disaster. I watched the ASU game again and the big thing that comes to mind is how they position and use Mays. He is way off the ball and he always looks like he is more focussed on making a huge hit than getting the ball. While it seemed like showboating early, later in the game, they didn't really challenge him. A similar thing can be said about the D-Line. They seemed a little porous at first, but were really having their way at the end. The linebacking core doesn't seem capable of asserting itself, and the corners give up a few too many plays.

On offense, the injuries hurt. Shoemate had one nice play, but he is not the safety valve that Havili is, and doesn't do the little things that Havili does. Was Ayles sobbing on the sideline when Coach was talking to him after that dropped pass? Geez, that didn't look good on TV at all. Let's hope Williams isn't too hobbled. That kid is a gamer. That reverse field run was up their with Reggie's best runs and his nose for the end zone was a thing of beauty in slow-mo. Damien is a game changer. It's been 3 years since we had one of those.

All that said, this team is still a very good Pac 10 team, and if we had an 8 team NC playoff, I'd have my money on it after a win at home versus Stanford. In the 90s, we'd have all killed for an SC team like this one. They've just had that yearly fluke loss and a tough 3 week stretch.

both BUT USC's return to the rest of the conference won't last past this season. also, it will be a long time before they get a schedule like this one (six of nine games on the road, four against ranked opponents). i think they'll be a heavy favorite next year to win the pac-10 with most of the team returning (hopefully the juniors will stay) and a more experienced QB, linebackers and coordinators and hopefully far less injuries. next year's class looks stellar again. let's also not forget this season isn't over yet and the trojans can still make the rose bowl or a bcs game. still, i'll be nervous the next three saturdays.

SS, the OOC record is skewed with cupcake games. I looked at the apples to apples comparisons: 'Furd lost to Wake, Oregon lost to Boise, OSU lost to Cinci, Zona lost to Iowa, and ASU lost to Georgia. In the good win category, USC over OSU (not counting a win over cupcake ND), UCLA win of Tenn, and Cal played only cupcakes. So, in the tough OOC games with our better teams (not counting the Washingtons), the PacX was 2-5. We can't claim to be the best conference with so many disappointing, evenly matched losses. IMO.

here is the way i see it...

usc still recruits the best, but this bunch is not nearly as bad-ass as the last set of 5 stars

(except for everson griffin - he kills it)

other players in pac10 playing above what they should be playing: rodgers bros, la michael james, masoli, gerheart and his o-line, locker without much else on that team, new qb for az, etc

other pac10 teams are reaching out nationally so they dont have to just accept the usc unwanteds

hot players are going places where they can play so they dont have to be like mustain, gable, etc.

usc's big run was an abberation - it will be much closer the next decade as i see all teams getting better except wazzu

also, national population is growing and usc cant get all the good players anymore