USC Fan here, I came across this post and thought I would give my opinion. I was at the game last night and man it was very boring to say the least. Most people left in the middle of the third quarter. Having attended most of the major scrimmages this summer, it reminded me of a spring ball practice. In USC defense, they were without:
Matt Spanos (wont be back for a while however his replacement Kristofer O'Dowd didn’t miss a beat, this kid is solid and has a nasty streak in him)
Chancey Washington (from what I hear from insiders, he could be out four weeks, we will see)
Brian Cushing (sprained his ankle real early in the game, didn’t look that bad and he should be ready to go in Lincoln)
Josh Pinkard (hurt his knee the Thursday before the game, we really need this guy to play in a big way, hard to say when he will be back)
Broderick Green (most likely out for the year with a stress fracture)
Patrick Turner (will be ready to play in Lincoln)
Overall, we were missing a big part of our offense with Washington and Turner out. The play calling however was very vanilla. We didnt want to show anyone the changes that have been made since Kiffin moved on. The only real change that we showed is throwing more to the fullback who looked great. The offense will be alot more dynamic against Nebraska. On the defensive side of the ball, we didnt look great either. For whatever reason, we could not pressure the QB. We rarely blitzed, again the play calling was very vanilla. I believe we will be a lot more aggressive against Nebraska. On a positive note, the special teams looked great. USC has a history of playing to the level of there competition so I wouldnt get to excited about this game, we will see what team comes to play in two weeks. I think having the week off to prepare while you guys have to go to wake forest, gives us a tremendous advantage. Looking forward to the game!