USC had not contain on the perimeter all night. Firsst drive. Last drive
Mobile QB have been and apparently always will be a problem for USC. Pete Carroll, Paul Hackett. Sloppy Seconds Sark. Licoln Riley. Doesn't matter. That qb didn't make mistakes. Last year Rice gae USC 3 pick 6's and 4 TO overall. None tonight. And even recovered an onside kick. Yet USC scored 56.
Expectations at USC are pretty high when you never are tied. Never trail. Scored 35 in the second half. 28 in the 3Q (nice adjustments) Win 56-28 and still find plenty to complain about.
Zachariah Branch is a star. Personality and play. Some Duck said "oh he'd be the third fastest player on Oregon" Well guess what: Saladin and Sultan Mc Cullough were the fastes players anywhere. And they sucked. This dude is taking a kick off back 96 yards and about 70 yards in, this guy is closing in fast . From behind. Like Branch is gonna be tackled and stripped. Wanna know what happened? Kid looks up and jumbotron, cuts right, SJSU eats grass, and Branch runs in the open lane the final 20 to paydirt. That was stunning. He had a couple really nice punt returns. This kid can break one every time he touches the ball. And torture you with his mouth when he's done. This is something. I want to say Adoree, but Adoree took a couple years to return one to the house. This kid took 45 minutes. Maybe R Jay. Maybe...gasp. Reggie. He poses, he preens. He even went over to the SJSU sideline when they did an onside kick the first time and yelled at them to kick to him, not to be b&^%hes and do it. he was at the presser, don't remember a freshman being at a presser. And he was smiling, laughing, loving it all.
Put Singer on one side, and put Branch on the other? Good lord, if Branch can run routes those are two guys who will be impossible to deal with. With Rice, Jackson, Washington, Hudson? Hope Brown and Lemon are ok with redshirting. Only so much slop in the trough.
USC calling timeout when they saw SJSU line up onside kick Then prep for it. Then lose the onside kick ANYWAY? Was one of the worst things I have seen in 30 years.
Tackett Curtis gives me a concussion just watching him. CTE 2040 sorry to say. But man that kid goes 100%. Matt Grootegood.
Domani Jackson aint all that. Doubt his uniform is even dirty Porbably has the same agent as Deion and Adoree.
Caleb got outplayed by the SJSU kid tonight because th SJSU kid wanted to win the game and gave it his all. Caleb wanted to win without getting hurt and it showed.
Dorian SInger needs to see the ball more.
Raleek Brown needs to find a new school fast. He only saw the field when Malachai Nelson did. Ow.
Miller Moss stares down his WR and needs more reps. Glad they let him throw. Huge moment when he scored for everyone. Popular kid.
Callen Bullock watched a great game. Guess is you're an AA you don't need to actually play back there. Perhaps Taylor Mays can go hang out with him next game. I hear Darnell Bing has a compleely clear catscan. Good for him. He never hit anyone either.
USC played a lot of players and put their first string D back in after the onside kick. That pissed Riley off. Thus all the timouts.
Caleb didn't hurt USC and that's why they won by 4 TD. Sam would take USC 4 steps forward and two or 3 steps back. Caleb was 3 steps forward and 0 back. He's just capable of more. His pouting and gesturing and frustration tonight showed. No clue what he was griping to the ref about after the sack. But my gripes were "roll the pocket,, runt he ball more, and dont stand back there for an hour waiting for the perfect throw. Count to 1 one thousand two one thousand and then go somewhere. Throw it or start moving. The spin moves. Excessively staying inthe pocket. His OL did well. He didn't. Miller Moss threw into more tight windows. 2. Than Caleb did all night. Not sure it was smart for Miller to throw them, but experience is good. For Caleb? Throwing into a tight window on 3rd down might now be such a bad idea.
Traveler ran in the 4th quarter. Unusual.
Excalators did not work at bookstore. Neither did the elevator. Paper towels out in bathroom before the game even started. Bad look on game day for campus. Refreshment lines werent bad. Those bacon wrapped hotdog cart guys are charging $8 now. Used to be $5 in the good old days 5-10 years ago. Inflation sucks. Thanks Brandon.
Lot to learn about USC still. New world when they win by 28, score 56. Do it with no TO but still grumble about how much improvement needs to be made.
The refs missed TWO calls on the one onside kick, and BOTH were replayed. One guy blocked before the ball went ten yards, and the defender fell on the ball before it went ten yards. Were they Pac12 refs? They gave us like 4 defensive holding calls, no helmet to helmet on Zach on a punt return, it was right out in the open, and I don't think SJSU had a single flag(non that I can recall). It's going to be a long last season with those refs.
Jaylin Smith is a problem in the defensive bakcfield, more than Bullock. Always a step behind, missing plays. Grinch fave maybe. Domani often seems like he's near the receiver, great speed, but not making plays yet.
OL needs to gel. I see why Pregnon lost his starting job, what seemed like a forgone conclusion. He was the #1 OL in the portal, wow, how'd that happen? He's the first to a trough, what a fatty. It proves we don't promise a starting job to top portal guys.
The on side kick was a terrible call by the officials...even the telecasters didn't know how they could make that call. Video clearly showed SJSU blocked the trojan where the ball was headed before it went 10 yards...CLR was pissed and went off on the officials so they looked at the replay which clearly showed it was illegal and still wouldn't change their bad call...should be enough to convince any fan that those guys are not only bad but definitely have a hard on for USC
Good points. CW really does look for a homerun play every time. Just no internal shot clock. That will drive a HC/OC fanbase crazy. Against a great D that will get you killed.
Fair point on Sam vs CW re: less mistakes. Very true with yet he still gets alot of the same highlight plays. But yeah Sam never saw a window he couldnt open. Fing fearless. Still is. It cracks me up.
Singer is a stud. Singer and Branch is a nice 1-2 punch.
Disagree on Bullock. He made two great plays to start the game. Especially his goal line stand against a big RB. That was awesome. Best physical type play Ive ever seen him make. Another early play he flew to the ball. Great quicks.