We gave up, considering the fumble at the two yard line, 14 true points to a team that has only legitmately lost one game all year. We only have up 21 to a team that hasnt scored under twenty in like fifty years or something rediculus like that. I thought our offense let us down a heck of alot more than our defense did in the big games this year. You expect to win when you only let USC, Texas, and Oklahoma score in the low twenties, at least you better with the number nine offense in the country.
USC only scored 7 against UCLA. What was differant about UCLA's gameplan? Well, they blitzed and kept presure on USC. They didn't play scared. They didn't cover wide receivers with linebackers. They used nickel packages. Oh, and by the way, living out here I can tell you...UCLA gets none of the talent. They get all of the leftovers. Their defense was just coached better. If we would have had their gameplan we would have won that game because our offense score more than 7. There is a serious problem on the defensive side of the ball and until it is fixed we are screwed. Coz has to go!
oh and it was a home game (even though there were a lot of Usc fans there) and it's a huge rivalry. and UCLA gets real decent players, if they came here i know you'd be supportive, so the "leftovers" gets a...you guessed it :nanalama
For those of you who don’t know anything about Southern California sports (and that includes all of you), USC gets whomever they want from the local talent pool. The best high school programs out here are like a farm system for SC. Kids regularly go to USC from the City Section, Southern Section CIF, and Northern Section CIF. They have successfully “recruited” players from J.W. North in Riverside (Claiborne), Eisenhower High in Rialto (R.J. Soward), The “619” (Reggie Bush), Keyshawn Johnson from Downtown L.A., and EVERYBODY from Long Beach Poly… UCLA gets all the leftovers. I stand by the statement. The only kids who USC routinely loses in recruiting are the kids from the Catholic schools who choose Notre Dame (and puhleeezzzzzzz don’t be geeks and nit-pick, I realize these are broad generalizations).
Now, that being said, UCLA has improved this season, and the Defense that was absolute toast last year when they played USC, was able to hold SC to only one TD. They may have given up a lot of yards, but they still got the job done and they held USC to fewer points than UCLA’s offense scored (and by-the-way fewer points than our offense scored against USC) and that is how you win football games. Admittedly they have not fixed all of their problems on defense, but they fixed it enough to shut down USC. Now, that may seem like a simple formula, but many of you don’t understand it. My point, and it is as valid now as when I first stated it, is that the coaches for UCLA held USC in check. The players had to make the plays, but the coaching staff designed the game plan…and it worked. Many here who keep defending Coz want to use the NU/USC game as an example of good defense. UCLA has not looked that good against many teams they played this season, but they shut down USC. So Nebraska holding USC to ONLY 28 points, is not an example of good defense.
Oh and another by-the-way, I realize that USC doesn’t have the talent on offense that they had last season, but one of the big differences in the way UCLA handled them this year was THE COACH THAT DESIGNED THE GAME PLAN!!! You see, UCLA realized that when your defensive coordinator SUCKS, you need to fire him and get someone competent in there to take his place. That is the one thing we can learn from the baby Bruins about how to fix a problem.
