Defensive Issues
You could argue it was a first game. In Hawaii. And the Warriors ran a spread-out offense.
A less charitable view would be that USC's defense showed some disturbing tendencies that were peculiar to last season, especially in the Stanford and Oregon games.
The secondary is inexperienced, which is one excuse. The defensive line is experienced, however, and there were some near-invisible performances there. That was an unexpected aspect to be sure.
The defense was supposed to be USC's strength. But the Virginia game just got a lot more interesting to see if it actually will be this season.
There are no excuses. I mean, what are the rah-rahs going to say now? The coaching? You got Monte and Ed O. so it cant be them. The talent? There is plenty of talent of that side of the ball. The game? Its Hawaii! At no point should UH be able to compete with USC on the football field. The offense? Please.
Last nights performance is what it is. The Trojans did the best they could and that is what it looks like. Becuase what are you going to say, the D didnt try or care on the first game of the season? LOL. Its not as if there were freaky things going on. The WRs were wide open. There was no pass rush. The Trojans tackling was laughable. These are the basic fundamentals of the game. These types of things dont just fix themselves, get corrected over night or magically go away.
The simple way to beat USC is going to be: Pass a lot, tire them out and then have your way with them.
It might also be a good idea if SC used a little clock management and tries to let the D have a little rest. They come off the field and the offense scores in 90 seconds. And we wondered why they were tired at the end of the game? Get a clock and see that the D was on the field almost 70% of the time during the game.
SC's run game should get even better with Dillon back next week.
Wow I never thought I'd see the day where a coach was being blamed for scoring too quickly and too often. Yeah, I hate when my team scores a ton of points. Thanks for posting the worst comment of the year thus far. I'm sure you'll top it in the weeks to come however.
Time of Possession was basically equal at 27+ to 32+ for Hawai'i. The problem was that Hawai'i was passing, passing, passing and stopping the clock with incompletes, out of bounds and too many Trojan PENALTIES...again with the penalties...I do not think that the team is going to get exploited. Much of the second half was used to get the 2s and 3s time. DK will be able to make many of those plays in the near future--seriously, dude was a down lineman 1 year ago! It's going to take him a minute or two to adjust. 2 of our starting DL were out of the game. I wouldn't call the season a bust just yet. The kids will be watching the Virginia/Richmond game cheering on AC and watching what it is exactly the cavaliers do...
I expect the team not to have a problem until they have to stop Minnesota and the rushing game--then, It's Pac 10 time--WSU,is first
then:
UW, SU, Cal, Oregon -- tough run
ASU, UA, OSU ND and ucla to close out...OSU and UA the toughies there.
Still expect 9-10 wins this year...
When a team, ANY TEAM puts 588 yards of total offense on USC, it's time for the Sainted Elder Kiffin to step out of the 20th century and acquaint himself with modern college football offenses. No disrespect, but what worked in the NFL in 2002 won't fly in collegiate Football today, Carroll used a version of the 'bend, but don't break' system last year, we all know how that went, especially against teams that use the spread offense.
Hawaii is not a push over team, they went into Husky Stadium a few years ago and left with the win. Fresno State came into the Coliseum when we had our heroes and we had to fight for our lives in that game.
First game for the newly structured offense, a big improvement with the running game and Barkley is starting to look good!
Recap the Good: Matt Barkley's performance on par with Matt Leinart; 6'4" 235# David Ausberry's play remeniscent of Michael Williams; 6'5" 245# Rhett Ellison displayed talents similar to the University of Texas TE in the 2006 Rose Bowl game against the Trojans; TB Marc Tyler has the "knack" of avoiding tacklers, surpassing Bradford, Gable, Stephon J, McKnight, etc as an "every touch" quality running back; Kalil, Lewis, O"Dowd...WOW; Stanley Havili played healthy and excelled at all he was asked to do; Ron Johnson and Mr. Woods give Barkley two gifted speed merchant wide outs that Booty and Sanchez had to do without. On the Front Page should be the expert Play Calling and wonderful Execution by the entire offense except for the dropped passes.
This offense is going to set the world on fire if the OLine continues to pass protect and run block.
Recap the Bad: Galippo, son. you have no "feel" for the MLB position. You take yourself out of the play the second after the ball is snapped; defensive lineman are slow afoot, slow to react, out of shape?; with T. J. Bryant and Drew McAllister back on the field, and Marshall Jones getting more playing time, our secondary could go from "worst" to "first" in a hurry.
Say, why not put in your 4 quickest defensive lineman with your best linebacker and 6 defensive backs to best contain the spread offense?
after witnessing your ineptitude at defending the pistol I am reassessing my prediction for the USCheaters v UCLA game. I'm now going to call it 66 for the good guys and 19 for the cheaters.
Missed tackle On!
Offense could be better than 04/05. Defense is another story.
breaking news...masoli wins appeal. usc will be next to win appeal. with everything else the ncaa is dealing with, usc's sanctions would be a VERY dangerous precedent. i believe the ncaa could simply say a mistake was made re: mcnair having knowledge and the sanctions would be cut in half and USC will be back in business rising like a phoenix with mamba locking down the corner next year. (saying usc should look into reggie having a new car is MINOR)
usc better get their stuff in order for notre dame/brian kelly's spread offense this year (ndlarry/gipper--now is your time to chime in. the possum is calling)
breaking news: lou holz, hall of fame coach, says usc will be "a force to be reckoned with" following the hawaii game...
watching arizona now. their spread offense will be very tough this year. can monte open up the old-school playbook and change up his defense. with the quick release of these spread offenses, maybe usc should rush 3, and blanket the field with linebacker-safety types?
scinsc5, are you really retarded, or do you just act like it? Masoli's case has nothing to do with the nature of USC's case. Masoli chose to Ole Miss because by Ole Miss offered an academic program Oregon did not, (Masoli found a loop) therefore he should not have been declared ineligible to begin with.
scinsc5, I told you, next year the mamba is going find himself squeezed in the bone-crushing grip of The Anaconda, WR from Blythe, CA, who will be busy catching Brehaut's passes with his other hand.
Taste it!
scinsc5, you have obviously been smoking too much of the OG Baxter Kush, or maybe the Diegoberry Haze. I hear that makes you TASTE IT even better!
isn't it cartoon time for you bruin trolls? bath time in one hour before your little brother goes to bed or the possum will haunt your nightmare dreams
@scinsc5: It's OK. Scott promised a special Bruin post or 7 when the Bruins get their asses handed to them tomorrow so we can make fun of them.
Still early, but this appears to be a 11-2 offense and a 6-7 defense
For a kid named after a chocolate syrup....Bosco get's a little too excited....He and science V probably need to modify the aderall dosage.
usc89...I had to actually struggle through all 18 or so comments to realize that no one bothered to call you an idiot! Belive me, it's due to your irrellevance! However...I just cannot let it go with that...hence....
You continue to be an idiot..for years now, you have never proven me wrong..you are still an idiot! One day you will just quit commenting...that would be a brilliant maneuver!
Fight On..
BruinRob you must be intoxicated if you want us to believe Masoli chose Ole miss or Hawaii voluntarily he is there because he was booted off period hd would go anywhere they will take him.
USC had a great defense in 2008 - they were big and fast
skip to 2010 - USC still has a big defense - but they are slow, out of position, out of shape and suck wind while chasing the play
I thought Orgeron's head was going to explode
Man, 1st game and we are already mediocre in peoples eyes. Perhaps Hawaii is that good, anyone thought of that? Our offense is dynamite, Tyler is what we have needed for a few years, and Barkley is coming into his own. Lets all relax a little and watch this all unfold, I think the season is going to be not only a great one but dramatically interesting as well. ucla still sucks.
Oregon111
RE: I thought Orgeron's head was going to explode
That was an expression of "WTF" is this? ;>)
Torpedoman,
I can't say that I am a follower of USC89, but he makes a valid and lucid point; "The simple way to beat USC is going to be: Pass a lot, tire them out and then have your way with them". We lost three (3) games last year in this manner and we were behind. This D let UH back in the game. It was basically, get yo (_)(_) and UH (_)(_)off the field and they couldn't pull it off and began sucking wind. Then the O comes in and bails the D out.
The D has had a problem with the spread for a couple of years now. But Petey, is gone, those suckin coaches are gone, a lot of the players are gone, we have new world class coaches now, and the problem still exists. In my opinion we have an "effin" problem and calling bloggers an "idiot" on this subject might mean you need a reality check. BEATND, FUCLA, and Fight ON!'
@Jay#42...regardless, it's 89's continuous negative attitude year in year out! The QB could be 19 for 20 with 6 TDs and no INTs...and we play a blowout and his blogposting would be bitching about the one incomplete pass, and that the QB didn't spread the ball around to all the receivers and he didn't go downfield enough and yadda yadda yadda...I just love Trojan football and I hate it when a so called Alumnus needs to be "devils advocate" on a continuing basis...Believe me, Nobody loves the devils advocate! The one guarantee is that regardless of how great our team would ever play on a given day..they could never please such a negatively miserable horses ass as "89"!
Fight On!