Key Stretch

Waaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr ttiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmeee

I would think that 1-2 is the likely outcome again, but who knows with this team. 0-3 or 3-0 is possible. It likely all comes down to turnover margin.

I would lean towards 0-3...the only reason we were in the games last year was our o line was decent..I shudder to think of how many points Oregon is going to put on us. I am planning on drinking all day and not even watching it I wouldn't be able to stomach it.

Stanford, ND and Washington will all beat us too..nothing worse than losing IN south bend to the creepy leprechauns.

Until something is done about this defense nothing is going to change. We cannot win every game 48-41.

really no excuse for it, either, with talented players like big juicy and nick perry and tj mcdonald on the field. I am not saying we should be the 1985 bears but this should be a respectable defense. Not to mention N Robey who seems to be turning into a decent CB.

Anything to say Monte?

My plan for Oregon is Tivo and pray. I'll check out the final score and hit delete or watch based on same.

I am curious to see how the playcalling will change when 2 of these next 3 opponents try to take Woods out of the gameplan. CAL may try to go man on him like they did against Oregon where he & Barkley will have a field day if that happens.
As for ND & Oregon, I will also Tivo for two reasons;#1-NBC will turn this into a 5 hr game with a ton of commercials and I will not sit thru all that garbage.#2-Like "scidiot", I will see the final Oregon-SC score and then decide if I can stomach watching what Monte does as this will be his game not Lane's!
If the team wins 2 out of the 3, that will help Lane's cause...

Cal will be a good test for ND to see how we do on the road against a team with big targets at WR. (ND's Floyd is is 6'3"). But I think we will do ok vs. Cal if we are efficient on offense with no meltdowns. I don't expect that K. Allen will beat us (although he may have a good day). ND on the other hand has Floyd with a more balanced attack, a much better defense than Cal, and has a lot more to play for than USC. Plus South Bend will be rockin' at night. With the win in the Coli last year, Irish fans believe once again.

I think you're giving Washington a little too much credit. They don't match up as well without the scrambling abilities of Locker (Price doesn't run as much), they don't have elite receivers, and they don't play defense at a top level. Plus it is a USC home game with two straight loses that should have probably been USC wins. I'll give the edge to USC.

Oregon will spread us out and Stanford has proven they can "out-muscle" us and attack our back 7 with Luck. Plus Luck can extend plays.

We are expected to lose @Oregon and to Stanford. We're supposed to beat Cal and Washington. @ND is a toss up. I think we could lose at ND (60/40 chance of losing). But I'd more than take a Cal or ND road loss for a win over Oregon or Stanford. That would be a season of progress. Lose @Colorado and/or to UCLA and the year is a bust (unless with beat everyone else).

If USC loses at Kal, it could start a snowball rolling downhill that might make you all TIVO the rest of the games.

Looking at the next three games (which is what Wolfie was talking about; not Oregon or Washington):
@ Cal
@ Notre Dame
vs. Stanford

This is a huge stretch of games. Tomorrow night's game is basically the hinge pin of the season. Lose to Cal and we'll be looking straight down the barrel at 4-4. Win and we take some confidence into South Bend, which will be much needed. The Irish will be coming off a bye after putting up 97 points in it's last two game (albeit again Purdue and Air Force). Add to that, USC will be their only real test until the last week of the season vs. the Trees.