USC Preview
by John Berkowitz on Jun 11, 2009 1:39 PM PDT
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The good news is this is our third straight home game to start the season. The bad news is it is USC and they should be ranked in the top ten when we suit up to play them. Washington has a history of playing well against the Trojans even when USC has superior talent. I expect that coach Sarkisian will have his guys ready for what looks to be the toughest game on the schedule. Make no mistake about it...this is a big game for the new UW coaching staff.
USC has superior talent and depth at almost every single position in comparison to Washington. It will take a major miracle for UW to pull off the upset. Miracles do happen...just ask Stanford and Oregon State who have been a major thorn in the side of the mighty Trojans over the last few years.
USC returns nine starters on offense and that includes the entire offensive line. The absence of quarterback Mark Sanchez and wide receiver Patrick Turner are big losses, but getting back the entire offensive line, a slew of talented rushers and more than enough receivers should be enough to make another run at a conference title and a possible BCS championship game.
Stafon Johnson, Joe McKnight and C.J. Gable are all back at RB. Not one of those players stole the show, but the three combined for nearly 2,000 rushing yards and 19 trips to the end zone. The receiving corps has plenty of talent led by Damian Williams, Ronald Johnson. Stanley Havili is a bruising FB who is also a receiving threat in the Trojan tradition coming out of the backfield.
The big question is just who replaces Matt Sanchez?
Mitch Mustain would be the logical choice, but sophomore Aaron Corp was named the starter after the spring game and he has a good chance to stick. When you factor in all the quality playmakers USC has at their disposal, any quarterback should be very successful. Matt Barkley is another guy they will take a look at in the fall but the sure bet is he redshirts.
On defense the Trojans are rebuilding with only three starters returning. The good news for USC is that all world safety Taylor Mays decided to forego the NFL draft and return for his senior season. DE Everson Griffen returns to rush the passer. Griffen was impressive this spring as the veteran offensive line seemed almost powerless to stop him from getting into the backfield.
The defensive backfield will be led at the safety positon by Mays, and Will Harris, who started five of the final six games in place of the injured and now departed Kevin Ellison. Kevin Thomas, who started twice and played regularly as part of a three-corner rotation and Shareece Wright, who began 2008 as a starter before suffering a season-ending neck injury should be the starting cornerbacks. Josh Pinkard who is returning from injuries has the potential to be one of the corners on the coast when healthy.
The 6'4", 220 linebacker Michael Morgan has the size and athleticism to big things for the Trojans. He showed some flashes of what he can do on the field last year getting 22 tackles (five for a loss), a sack plus a fumble recovery. Malcolm Smith is another LB whose time has come to emerge who will compete to start on the weakside. Chris Gallipo who the coaches admire for his leaderships abilities should anchor the middle. Jordan Campbell is another guy to keep an eye on who could emerge as a starter this fall.
Three of the four starters on USC's 2008 defensive line are headed to the NFL. The one holdover DE Everson Griffen should join them next year. Wes Horton, Malik Jackson, Christian Topou, Derek Simmons, Nick Perry, and Armond Armstead will fight it out for the three open positions.
Consensus
USC will be picked to win the conference again and as usual they are always a threat to run the gauntlet and challenge for a national championship. Most think this won't be the Trojans year because of the loss of Sanchez, and eight defenders. OC Steve Sarkisian and DC Nick Holt are also big losses even though the Trojan faithful are ignoring it. The loss of two experienced coordinators will hurt early in the season.
Early Prediction
Washington will be improved and coming off a confidence building win against Idaho. USC will focus on knocking Jake Locker out of the game. We all know that the key to a productive Washington offense is Jake Locker. Without him in there the Huskies will flounder. Sarkisian's goal all spring has been to get Locker to win more with his arm than his legs. A healthy Locker gives the Huskies a good chance to compete in any game they play.
Getting the Trojans early as they are working out the kinks is probably a good thing for the Huskies. UW historically plays well against Troy and expect Sarkisian to have his charges fired up for this one.
I have to go with USC by 17 points in this one. I think the Huskies will have success moving the ball against a rebuilding Trojan defense but offensively USC should be light years ahead of UW with a veteran offensive line returning.
Anything can happen and that is why they play the game. A terrible Stanford team beat these guys a couple of years ago and it can happen again.
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usc 's competitive
juices will be flowing for this game.
the ol must protect jake.
definately an uphill battle.
but you have the two coordinators that knew how to beat each other or at least keep each other off balance on our side.
we could have some wrinkles that may be new to pc.
gonna be a great chess match and what a sport weekend.
friday skyline vs. oaks christian.
saturday udub vs. trojams.
later that nite sounders vs. barcelona.
Twill be interesting to see if Pete
decides to show up his young upstart former assistants and pound us. What will be even more interesting if the NCAA announces the sanctions (if any) on USC about 1 week before the season starts. College ball is emotion, and timing of distractions can play a major role. I hope USC gets slammed by the NCAA, but in light of Bamas light penalties, (vacating victories YGBSM where are the loss of schollies or bowl bans?) I still have serious doubts the NCAA will man up and hammer USC.
Pete
Count on Pete to want to administer a pounding.
Count on Sark and company to want to do the same.
Count on Pete to hold most of the cards going in to this one.
I am hearing that USC will be penalized sometime in August and it will result in a minor bowl ban and forfeits on the football side. On the basketball side it will be more serious.
Pete's going to want this win for one reason
To shutoff the pipeline Sark and Holt are building from So Cal to Seattle. Carroll can’t afford to be in an annual recruiting battle with Sark and Holt. Carroll is going to want to pound us and it is up to Sark, Holt, and the Huskies to pound back.
This will be a statement game for Carroll and USC. To Washington it will be a measurement game to see where we are in terms of becoming Pac 10 champions again and how far we need to go.
I just hope the game doesn’t turn ugly, i.e. fights. Carroll is going to insist on punching us in the mouth. We’ve got to sustain that punch and then come back and punch back. This is something we didn’t do under TW. When we took the punch we had a glass jaw and limped away. We’ve got to stand up and say “we are Washington and we aren’t taking anymore of your shit!”
“Punch” as in coach speak.
All I saw was purple
USC will always have the pick of the litter
Washington will never out recruit USC consistently even if Paul Hackett returns as Trojan head coach.
Don James…maybe…and I mean maybe…had one or two recruiting classes that were better than USC in 17 years as a head coach.
What sets Pete Carroll apart is that even though he can get almost anyone he wants he seldom makes an evaluation mistake. The other thing that sets him apart is that he has proven to be able to develop these kids when they hit campus.
When USC has someone like Pete Carroll or John McKay as head coach they are very difficult to beat. Guys like that don’t make mistakes or beat themselves.
by John Berkowitz on Jun 13, 2009 1:57 PM PDT up reply actions
U$C will have a down year
At Ohio State is a loss for the Trojans. New starting QB, they will have all sorts of timing problems with routes. SC will turn to the running game which should be solid, but not effective enough to get a win in Columbus, OH.
I see USC being a run first and often offensive team this year. They will want to control the clock with a full throttle running game that just eats up clocks. Another reason is because of a rebuilt defense. A young inexperienced defense is not going to be able to keep control of the game for lengthy periods, but a sound running game at their disposal could.
The key to beating USC this season is to jump out to a quick lead and to not take your foot off the gas. An inexperienced QB won’t have what it takes to lead his team to a come from behind victory. With bad news coming in August, 2 key coordinators gone, bringing in a new QB, and a rebuilt defense- I suggest that Pete will have his worst season at Troy since his first season. I’m counting 4 losses this year for Tommy Trojan. It’s not looking good for Traveler.
All I saw was purple
At Ohio State is a loss for the Trojans. New starting QB, they will have all sorts of timing problems with routes.
I believe people said some similar things when some kid named Matt Leinart was starting for the first time on the road at Auburn. That turned out pretty well.
http://www.spartyandfriends.com/
Speed
USC has way too much speed for Ohio State. This is just going to be another example of how slow the Big Ten is, USC will have their way with the Buckeyes.
"Bow Down to Washington"
"Kick the tires and light the fires!"
But they had Norm Chow
A loaded offense and spectacular defense. Throwing Leinart out there is like saying the 49ers would fall apart because the Niners went to Steve Young instead of Joe Montana- the team was still loaded dude.
This SC team has a lot of flaws. Lost 2 key coordinators, in August their fate is sealed by the NCAA, and the defense is being rebuilt. Oh and did I not mention earlier that the Trojans are seeking to fill their QB spot?
This team is going to have to hope that their runnning game is effective to control a game. Entire O line comes back along with some gifted RBs.
All I saw was purple
...
The defense is not being rebuilt, it’s being reloaded. Honestly, if you think that a Pete Carroll defense will be anything less than stellar then you haven’t been watching college football for the past seven years or so.
The QB spot is filled by Aaron Corp.
Having holes isn’t a problem when you’re USC because you have blue chips waiting to fill them.
http://www.spartyandfriends.com/
Reloaded is so cliche'
SC has to replace 9 starters on defense. Granted their No.2s are pretty dam good, don’t worry I agree.
But when you have to replace 9 starters on one side of the ball it is considered rebuilding. Reloading would be like replacing 4 or 5 starters. But 9? You do the math, that means only 2 defenders are back and one is a safety.
Just because kids have stars behind them when they are recruited doesn’t guarrentee you success. These kids are loaded w/ stars behind their names, but great defense begins when defensive chemistry is there. They will be hard-pressed to have enough defesnive chemistry this early on. Knowing your assignment and knowing your teammates assignment- that way you have everything bottled up, can’t happen when you are bringing in 9 newbies.
By late season SC’s defense will be rolling and in high gear, but early on and if they catch the injury bug in the meat of the season, they will suffer defensively.
Dude I watch college football religiously! Friday nights? I can’t sleep because all I have on the brain is college football saturday Bud. I need theropy!
All I saw was purple
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