Some USC Gossip

[Husker_x]

Well, from what I hear the USC game was nothing to be dazzled with. The number 1 team (defense, especially) in the nation didn't have a great amount of luck with the run, giving up 98 total yards (253 overall vs. the Big Red's 185 surrendered). I know, not a huge number, but this was a nobody team. I hope we can assume Lucky and Castille will be able to surpass that with a good amount of ease. The time of possession differential in this matchup has me chuckling: Idaho 27:26, USC 32:34, a rather stunning lack of ball control for this juggernaut, especially when compared with lowly Nebraska's 40:38 compared with Nevada's 19:22.

 

Moreso their offensive production was nothing to do the ziggy-giggy about, leaving the combined 2nd and 4th quarters with a whopping 7 points––this the fruit of a worshipped Heisman candidate who as far as Mark May is concerned should just be handed the trophy. My analysis of this would lead me to conclude that if they can only account for 7 points in two quarters of play against a severely outmatched defensive secondary, then we can expect the Nebraska game to be at best a blowout and and worst a shootout or defensive trench war. With their top defensive player wheeled off in the first half apparently with a knee injury, what will this mean on Sept. 15? That I leave to you.

 

Yes, USC too (wonderful, unstoppable USC) is shaking off a bit of rust. But it seems to me there may be a kink in the works. If this is all the Condoms can account for against Idaho, then perhaps, just perhaps now, it is evidence that this touted team is just a weeeeee overrated. Time will tell (and a murderous road schedule).

 

For now, the Wake game, but as for this Unstoppable, Indestructable, Ferocious Immortal SC defense, I think a line from 300 best expresses my optimism. "Immortals...we'll put their name to the test."

 

And USC must be razed to the ground.

[captain obvious]

The stats are indeed encouraging, but USC seems to play up/down to their competition every week. They have squeaked out so many 4th quarter wins in Pac-10 play in the last 4 or 5 seasons that I find it hard to believe that they are so worshipped.

 

I feel like NU will win this game. It's in memorial stadium, we finally have the horses and guns to fight them, the defense is going to be much more steady in preventing big plays, and IT'S IN MEMORIAL STADIUM.

[huskerguy]

They didn't look good, but they didn't show a lot because why would they.

 

Still I agree that this team showed its ability to get beat whether its us, Cal, Oregon, etc...

 

Also one of their starting LBs who was one of the better players on the Defense got carted off the field. He was #10 I believe.

[skersfan]

That would be Kushing.

 

I don't think they really attacked Idaho. Pete Carrol and their coach are very close friends. Pete got the game for them and I think the job. They were not going to run up the score. I do not believe the starters played that long either. I kept switching back and forth and saw different running backs all the time. They do have a pretty good WR that I had not heard of before. Hazelwood I think is his name. Spectacular catch in the endzone. And Booty appearded deadly accurate. Our corners will be tested no question.

 

They do not expect their starting center back for Nebraska, but the freshman replacement played great according to Booty.

 

Nothing can be told about their game, and really nothing from our game. Both played below their level.

 

It will be hard to tell what they have until the game is over. They do have quite a few injuries, because their defense is hurting them, and regulary. The defense is suposedly the best Coach Carrol has ever had or he thinks it will be.

[Hunter94]

look, this was their first game of the season as well. here is the bottom line for us.......unless our damn receivers can catch the ball, they will jam the middle and we will not be able to run effectively against them at all. in fact, i can almost guarantee you they will make us beat them with the pass, that will be their strategy.

 

for us to win we will have to have a mix of 60/40 (run/pass) at a minimum. as long as they jam the front line, we will struggle moving the ball (they will also be all over Lucky as a receiver in the flat) .

 

if i was cally, i would come out gunning the ball down field, as this will be a game we will have to use the pass to set up the run. write it down.

[HuskerT]

I watched the whole game and although I know they played it pretty close to the vest, but I also didn't see the world beaters that everybody's been talking about. To me they looked very fast on D and offensively they were able to push Idaho around up front, much like we did to Nevada. Booty didn't look good at all! He misfired on a lot of passes and again was bailed out by a few great catches by the wide receivers. IMO this team is very beatable and not only will they lose this year, but they might lose a couple of times. (Nebraska, Cal & UCLA) Cal looked really good!

[OmahaPlaya]

USC wasn't going to show much so I'm not surprised.

[TrojanAlum]

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!

[HuskerT]

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!

 

Nice post, very objective! I'm hoping for a great game in Lincoln.

[TrojanAlum]

p.s. USC did not schedule Idaho, they were essentially forced to take the game. Originally, we were suppose to play Colorado State in Colorado, we played a game against them in 2001 and this year we were suppose to finish off by playing in Colorado. Once Colorado State cancelled last minute, we were stuck taking Idaho.

 

If you want all of the inside information on USC, I suggest this site: http://www.insidesocal.com/usc/ (basically USC version of Huskerboard).

 

I want to warn you however, there are a lot haters and just plain idiots who post on this site.

[MCAT800]

I don't care if Idaho took USC to the final gun. USC will show up ready to play ball Sept 15th.

[HuskerT]

I don't care if Idaho took USC to the final gun. USC will show up ready to play ball Sept 15th.

 

I'm afraid you're right, but I think the huskers will ready too.

[husker rob]

p.s. USC did not schedule Idaho, they were essentially forced to take the game. Originally, we were suppose to play Colorado State in Colorado, we played a game against them in 2001 and this year we were suppose to finish off by playing in Colorado. Once Colorado State cancelled last minute, we were stuck taking Idaho.

 

If you want all of the inside information on USC, I suggest this site: http://www.insidesocal.com/usc/ (basically USC version of Huskerboard).

 

I want to warn you however, there are a lot haters and just plain idiots who post on this site.

thanks for posting here. we here at huskerboard enjoy having fans from other teams come in and give opposing insight and discuss football.

 

we have a few tools who post here also and try and take what they have to say with a grain of salt.

 

i will be going to the game in Lincoln and the atmosphere is going to be crazy.

 

good luck to you and your team and i look forward to a good game in Lincoln, with the Huskers coming up on top.

[Hunter94]

p.s. USC did not schedule Idaho, they were essentially forced to take the game. Originally, we were suppose to play Colorado State in Colorado, we played a game against them in 2001 and this year we were suppose to finish off by playing in Colorado. Once Colorado State cancelled last minute, we were stuck taking Idaho.

 

If you want all of the inside information on USC, I suggest this site: http://www.insidesocal.com/usc/ (basically USC version of Huskerboard).

 

I want to warn you however, there are a lot haters and just plain idiots who post on this site.

 

 

thanks for the info and welcome to the board. hopefully it will be a competitive game for both teams and entertaining as well.

[HUSKER 37]

p.s. USC did not schedule Idaho, they were essentially forced to take the game. Originally, we were suppose to play Colorado State in Colorado, we played a game against them in 2001 and this year we were suppose to finish off by playing in Colorado. Once Colorado State cancelled last minute, we were stuck taking Idaho.

 

If you want all of the inside information on USC, I suggest this site: http://www.insidesocal.com/usc/ (basically USC version of Huskerboard).

 

I want to warn you however, there are a lot haters and just plain idiots who post on this site.

 

THanks for the links..Maybe I can then put positions to the names you mentioned in prev. post..

 

These are Pre-season games to these ex-NFL coaches.

No way to guage anything from them...Except the ability of the receivers to catch balls

 

Hopefully, we'll improve more between the 1st and third games and USC wil just get v e r y rusty.

(I say in my hypnotic mind control voice).