Answer Friday! (Part 2)
Big weekend for recruiting with three assistants out on the road and many others scouring Southern California.
Q: HANDICAPPED PARKING said:
Scott, can MB7 audibilize enough to help us yet, and can he go through his reads 1, 2 3 yet, even under normal pressure,and, in your opinion, is he much better now than in Sept.? Hope that's all one related question, in your kind judgment. Thank you for the forums.
A: He is able to audibilize. The problem is he still tries to force throws because he thinks his arm can do just about anything and sometimes he looks to the other side of the field and quickly throws without checking to see if the receiver is open. These are things that can easily be corrected. But I think the offense would have been better served to have him rollout more like in the San Jose State game, which reduces the risk for mistakes.
Q: scinsc5 said:
Can you estimate how many players on USC have insurance to protect against injury and lost future NFL money?
A: As far as I know, 3 players have policies including Taylor Mays, who obviously has a lot to protect with his expected high selection in the NFL draft. Not everyone does it. Winston Justice did not buy it his junior year despite being projected as a first-round pick before the season. Mark Sanchez had it last year. So did Brian Cushing.
curious as to what the premiums would have been on a policy for Fat-aluga...once the insurance company found out about all of his street brawling (i should say sucker punching) and dirty dancing antics, i believe they would likely deem selling him a policy to be "adverse selection".
I think Scott is right about Barkley. He is still making mistakes, and these are things that proper coaching can probably correct.
However, the deeper problem in USC's two blowout losses is that the whole philosophy of the team is that of a defensive coach. That goes into the gameplanning, playcalling, scheming, and day-to-day coaching. A team built around a defense mindset can be very successful with a dominating D, but it is a setup for disaster when the D plays poorly. In Barkley's case, he has been primarily coached to limit mistakes for months now. It's better to punt than turn it over. Then, he gets into the Oregon and Stanford games, and he needs to score every time. He isn't prepared or coached for that. The whole offense isn't prepared or built for that. At Ohio State, one of the toughest venues in the country, Barkley's job was to limit mistakes, which he mostly did, and to execute well in crunch time. He was successful for the very reason that he was coached and prepared for that type of situation...not the type of situation he faced against Oregon and Stanford.
The thing that sets this season apart from others is that Carroll has never coached a team that has been this unable to stop it's opposition (except maybe Texas, 2005). A team that has a places major emphasis on O of avoiding misakes is not well suited to winning these types of games. To end this skid, USC's D either has to get back to form, or the O needs to get a genuine aggressive scoring mentality. Both would be preferrable, but I'm not sure the O can get there with a defensive-minded coach running it's show.
Totally agree, Jag. PC is defense first. Win with defense. Be physical. Run and ball control. Limit offensive mistakes. And, this can be an effective strategy. This is Tressel-ball. Won't win many championships, but you'll always finish top 10.
But, having an explosive offense along with a stellar defense is an even more effective strategy. And, we had that in 2004! We have top offensive talent every season. PC has coached one of the greatest offensive teams of all-time. Yet, he stubbornly has molded the Trojans around his philosophy, and USC sits ranked at #61 in the nation in scoring offense, almost tied with Purdue.
Frkn Purdue people!
I know everyone's a critic when times look tough. Here's my question...Since Coach O left recruitng has been good but not great. Why not rehire Ed, fire Jethro (I have not see any dramatic improvement since his rehire), let Jeremy go back to the NFL, and hire Gus Malzahn to run the offense? Beat the bruins!
Through the Brice Butler touchdown pass at the start of the 3rd quarter last week, Matt had completed 16 of 21 passes. Sure he threw some picks late, but that's expected when you are down by 2 TDs and time us running out. Everyone, but Wolf, knew we had to pass. Barkley is doing just fine. This is a defensive issue. Wolf doesn't like him because Pete does.
B
I have listened to Jeremy Bates say weekin & weekout Barkley needs to just throw the ball away on plays that do not appear open. I hear Barkley weekin & weekout say I need to watch film to see what I am doing wrong and get better. These are two broken records.
AMEN..."B"
Brent, you fail to explain MB7s 2 TOs on the first two possessions that led to a 14-0 deficity. You also fail to explain MB7s pick six when SC was still in the game. Your explanation simply fails.
The fumble was all on Joe McKnight. McNair ripped his head off when he came to the sideline. Totally ignored the outside rush and Matt too a direct hit. The bubble screen was a bad pass - he's human. The pick six was, again, in a time when everybody knew we had to pass and Stanford was poaching.