Coming into the game, the Trojans were favored by an almost unheard of
margin-34.5 points. Remember, this is against the Washington Huskies,
the last Pac-10 Football Team to win a national title other than USC.
Since the final score was 38 to 0, the Trojans actually covered the
spread. However, what happened between the onset of the game and the
final whistle was hardly what I expected, but it was what conerned me to
some extent prior to the game. After watching this game on television,
I could hardly believe what the highlights of the night seemed to be.
First, the announcers were colorful, insightful and outright funny. To
hear Barry Thomkins tell Petros Papadakis about the Mishigus on the
Washington team was priceless, especially since it was obvious that few,
including Petros recognized the ethnic expression that more or less
translates into "odd idiosyncracies or schtick", so to speak. Then, to
watch an entire game and come away thinking that a Matt Cassell slant
pass for a completion to John Walker, an interception by Keith Rivers
accompanied by an awesome touchdown saving tackle by Casey Paus, the guy
who threw the pic to begin with and a highlight film run by 4th string
tailback Desmond Reed were some of the most memorable plays of the
game is simply weird. Yet, despite the fact that SC demolished the
hapless Huskies, and despite the incredible display by the USC Defense,
something seemed out of sorts, at least to my friend Terry and me who
watched the game. Obviously, the end justified all the means. USC
demonstrated that even on a night when all cylinders were not clicking
offensively, this team is undefeated and still number one in the Pac-10
and number one in the United States.
So what really went on tonight and what does it mean? First, I think the
first half of the game pointed out a couple of important concepts.
First, no matter how good a coaching staff is, and no matter how
talented and focused a team tries to be, it is unlikely that a team can
be sky high and on its game all the time. After just completing a sweep
of three previously undefeated teams, namely Stanford, Cal and ASU, the
Trojans were due for a letdown. Pete Carroll and staff did everything
possible to avoid it, but the offense was simply off its game for the
most part in the first half. Many fans have become spoiled and we seem
to expect Matt Leinart to be nearly perfect, especially when he has
time. Such was not the case tonight, especially in the first half.
This time, Matt was simply human. Many, if not most quarterbacks across
the nation would be thrilled with the following stats; 24 for 43 for
217 yards and 2TDs with only one interception. Those were Matt's numbers
tonight, yet he never seemed really comfortable out there. In this
game, he missed some open receivers, he got sacked a number of times and
he just did not look like he was totally "into it" whatever that really
means. This game also showed that although talent usually wins out in
the end so long as it is associated with a reasonable effort, emotion
and heart are still very important and they can go a long way towards
achieving one's goals in a football game. The Washington Huskie Defense
seemed to play way over its head in the first half and that unit did its
very best to keep the game from getting out of hand very early . The
outmanned Huskies seemed to just want it more in the first half, but
they received no help from their Offense and they eventually just wore down.
As I write an opinion each week, it is becoming increasingly obvious
that this team simply finds ways to win no matter what. Tonight,
despite the fact that the USC offense was not awesome, the defensive
effort was a true masterpiece and it was fun to watch. The Huskie
offense managed to net only 113 yards for the total game and the Huskies
were shut out for the first time since 1981. No matter what Washington
tried to do, they failed. The USC defense was focused, fast, quick,
deep and simply too much for Washington. A truly masterful option team
might be able to give SC a run for its money, but not this Washington
team. One almost felt sorry for Isaiah Stanback as he tried to run the
option against this athletic group of Trojans. Please note that I said
almost. For those USC fans with pretty good memories and who are old
enough to remember, it was not that long ago that the National Champion
Huskies really slaughtered the Trojans up in Seattle. That Huskie
Defense, led by Steve Entman and D'Marco Farr repeatedly clobbered one
Todd Marinovich and they showed no mercy whatsoever. Thus, as the saying
goes, Payback is a -----! You get the message. Anyway, this SC
defense is beginning to remind me of that Huskie Unit, at least in terms
of providing dominating performances. Lest we forget, this defense has
recently held the high scoring California Bears to a sesason low 17
points, they shutdown ASU and held them to 7 points and now they
blanked the Huskies. Some may disagree, but even without Kenechi Udeze
and Will Poole, this defense seems to be a better unit than last year's
edition. If statistics mean anything, they also support my assertion.
I realize that I have implied that the offense was less than dominating
tonight and I really believe that is an accurate description. Yet, when
all was said and done, the Trojans ended up with 453 yards which is
hardly an insignificant number. As one reveiws the actual game, it is
almost startling to realize that 13 different recievers caught passes
from either Matt Leinart or Matt Cassell and the Trojans gained some 256
yards through the air. Similarly, the Trojans managed 197 yards on the
ground. So how does this translate into a less than stellar offensive
performance and have my expectations (as well as those of many others)
simply become so absurd that nothing short of perfection will
suffice?? I guess each reader can judge for himself. Simply put, the
relatively unimpressive performance in the first half seemed to cloud
the total picture and after watching a nearly perfect offensive display
in the first half against a talented ASU team, I have to believe some
expectations have, in fact, become unrealistic. Obviously, by the end
of this game, the Trojans had put things together and they were
manhandling the Huskies and this game was never really in doubt.
Uncharacteristically, SC turned the ball over twice, but they caused
three Washington turnovers so in the end, SC still won the battle with a
net result of plus one.
How about the offensive line? At times, the line again looked less than
dominating and they had some trouble handling pressure, at least early
on. To be fair, in this game, sometimes it appeared that Matt Leinart
simply held on to the ball too long and he could not pick up his
recievers in time or he did not scramble out of trouble as well as he
has at other times. On the other hand, when SC resorted to what the
announcers called zone blocks to allow LenDale to pick his hole and go,
they did look quite effective. It was also somewhat worrisome when John
Drake went out with some type of foot-ankle injury and he was seen being
taken away on a cart. The first replacement for Drake at left guard was
Jeff Byers. I tried to watch closely, and even when John was out and
Jeff was in, the Oline did not seem to lose any obvious effectiveness.
Byers looks much much smaller than JD, but he also looks like he has
quicker feet and he seems to use speed and technique to compensate for
his lack of size. I am still not sure how big Jeff really is, but he
looks noticeably smaller than most of the other Offensive Linemen that
SC had out there. It was also interesting to note that as the game
progressed further, Jeff Byers moved over to center and Travis Watkins
came in and took over at left guard. Late in the game it was nice to
see that the second string offensive line was able to generate some
offense against the Huskie defense, albeit a tired Huskie Defense.
There were a couple of other interesting facets of this game worth
mentioning. I could not help but wonder why in the world Matt Leinart
and Reggie Bush were still in the game early in the fourth quarter with
SC up by a score of 31-0. I realize that there are some who might
question how anyone would dare question anything about the game
management of a coaching staff as fine as SC's, but what the heck?? I
still think the risk of injury outweighed any potential benefit of
having Reggie, Matt and even LenDale in the game when the outcome was
not in doubt. I also figured that the subs also go hard in
practice and they could use any and all game day experience that they
can get. As it is, many subs got very valuable playing minutes for most
of the third quarter and it is obvious that this is one talented team.
Just imagine how some of the opponents feel when they think to
themselves, ah great Grootegoed is out of the game! Well, boy are they
in for a huge surprise. Out went Matt and in came a guy who is bigger,
faster and more athletic-Keith Rivers. Out went Tatupu and in came a
bigger guy in Osacr Lua. Out went Dallas Sartz and in came the human
destroyer-Thomas Williams, He hit some guy so hard I thought the Huskie
was split in two. I also could not help but note that Terrell Thomas
got some pretty good minutes and for a while, the corners of the future,
namely TT (Terrell Thomas) and Eric Wright were in there at the same
time. They actually looked quite effective as a cornerback duo.
Similarly Josh Pinkard got some minutes and he is another very talented
kid that receivers and runners will learn to avoid whenever possible. I
also think that it is worth mentioning that as a group, the USC
receivers continue to improve and impress. They have relatively few
drops and they are making some really pretty catches. It was so nice
to see Jason Mitchell get wide open for the first touchdown of his
Trojan Career and oh how sweet it is to see Fred Davis and John Walker
get into the picture. Watching that freight train also known as
Dominique Byrd is also a treat that never gets tiring.
The special teams were once again a real plus. Although Killeen missed a
long field goal, he hit another and he did not allow any kick off
returns of note. He simply booms the ball like few I have seen before.
Tom Malone punted 3 times for a 48.3 yard average and the SC punt cover
teams have not allowed any long returns as of late. Meanwhile, SC did a
pretty good job fielding punts and they did not turn the ball over on
any kicks. Once again Killeen made all his extra points and one would
have to look back some distance to see SC teams special team
functioning on a consistently higher level than these units.
USC is now 7 and 0 and the Trojans hit the road for two big tests. Next
up is Washington State. On paper, this should be a Trojan Victory,
especially since the Cougars are without their starting quarterback.
However, as we all know, winning games up there in Pullman has not been
easy as of late and that is one game that can be greatly affected by
rain and the weather in general. Oh how well I remember a game up there
when it was very cold and very wet and rainy on a day that it was
anything but fun to play those guys. When playing there the weather and
the turf can be as much of a factor as the opposing team itself. The
somewhat lackluster first half offensive performance will no doubt make
Pete Carroll and staff's job a bit easier this week. I think it will now
be all that much easier to get the kids' attention. This team is still
in position to do something very special indeed. The talent is in place,
but there can be no major letdowns and everything has to fall into
place. At this time I am not sure how badly John Drake might be
hurting. Based on what happened last season when he was lost, he is not
an easy guy to replace, but as at any other position, if this kid is not
able to play, another talented Trojan will simply have to step up to the
plate. After all, that is the Trojan Way.