Football

General football stuff.

USC vs. Alabama: Being Blunt

Posted on by commbro

Alabama vs. USC (Advocare Classic)
September 3, 2016 at 7:14pm
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX: 81,359
Total Time: 3 hours 19 minutes

We are nothing.

All the national championships, Heismans, and top ten recruiting classes couldn’t protect the Trojans from what just went down. Alabama made USC look like an FCS team in its worst loss in the past half century.

Even Fort Worth recognizes that the USC flag should be flown half-mast

Even Fort Worth recognizes that the USC flag should be flown half-mast

Not since John McKay’s 0-51 defeat against Notre Dame in 1966 have I ever seen a margin of loss that wide. The gulf is a sobering and succinct reminder of how far the team still has to go.

After suffering through sanctions and a head coaching situation as stable as North Korea’s economy, the team collapsed in primetime.That ended USC’s streak of 18 season opener wins and drops USC to 2-6 against Bama.

USC started out well enough. A deep pass on the second play to Darreus Rogers set up a long field goal. Matt Boormeester, in his first USC first goal attempt, barely bounced the ball off the upright and crossbar to give them the lead 2 minutes and 32 seconds into the game.

They led 3-0 for the next 19 minutes and 42 seconds. It was almost a good half of football (22:14 to be exact). Since that opening drive squeaker, the Trojans didn’t score for another 39 minutes and 54 seconds. More depressing than the contents of my refrigerator.

It was a far cry from that charmed first quarter when the defense held Alabama to zero points and 12 yards. We already mentioned the crazy field goal. There was also the safety blitz by Leon McQuay on 3rd-and-9 that de-cleated Blake Barnett and ended Alabama’s first drive.

Max Browne pulled out a 17-yard run from his bag of tricks on 3rd-and-10. Sure, they ended up failing a 4th down play, but it was okay: they forced a three-and-out for Bama. Even their impressive punter kicking coffin cornering it couldn’t phase USC. Tilbey bailed them out on his first kick as a Trojan, punting 52 yards.

Saban figured it wasn’t working and made the change at quarterback. USC spent a timeout in order to account for it. Turned out that was a sound decision because the call totally caused Jalen Hurtsto fumble during a zone read play. Magic.

By midway through the second quarter, whatever hocus pocus crap the Trojans took advantage of clearly subsided. Next time, put more quarters in the machine Clay (by the way, did you know you still need quarters for parking meters in Dallas? They don’t take credit card. How archaic is that?).

After USC’s fourth straight three-and-out, they kicked a shorter punt that was compounded on by a 15-yard penalty on the little freshie, Michael Pittman. That was a signal of the things to come.

I don't mean to be blunt, but is he signalling for a blunt?

I don’t mean to be blunt, but is the defensive coordinator signalling for a blunt?

Iman Marshall makes a key mistake during the drive. He turns around to look at the quarterback after shoving Ardarius Stewart out-of-bounds. That gave Stewart the separation he needed to catch the incoming pass for a touchdown. There was some controversy over this play, but, sorry, it was completely legal. Stewart did not go out-of-bounds on his own accord and managed to reestablish himself in the field of play before catching the pass. Even if Helton wanted to challenge it (illegal touching is one of the few penalty non-calls you can challenge), he burned all the timeouts for the half already. Obviously, 3-7 is not an insurmountable score differential, but the problems didn’t stop coming.

Next thing you know, Edoga is limping along to the sideline, followed shortly by Noah Jefferson from the defensive side. Losing a key guy like Jefferson on an already thin defensive line had immediate reprecussions. Damien Harris slips through that line for a 46-yard run. Only Adoree’ Jackson’s speed and strength of will prevented the touchdown. The silver lining is the defense recovered in the red zone, holding Bama to a field goal.

I can keep going about the problems in the second half, but I don’t want to. I’ll sum up a few points and circle back to the big picture:

  • Jabari Ruffin ejected for being dumb (probably)
  • Max Browne pass deflected for pick six
  • Cornerback blitz leaves Ardarius Stewart wide open for a 71-yard touchdown.
  • Chris Tillbey fumbles a perfect snap
  • Who kept track after that

The overall key points (or at least the ones I remember after that mind-numbing experience):

  • USC still has the Sarkisian trademark of depending too heavily on explosive plays
    • USC also still depends on making people miss in space. Bama has disciplined tacklers so that doesn’t happen often.
  • USC tried to win with speed on the outside. Alabama’s defense is probably the fastest any Trojan has  seen in about ten years. The perimeter plays don’t really work on them.
  • Being unable to establish the run forced the OC to always call plays off his back foot
  • Offensive line was the biggest weak point of the game, allowing too much pressure even though Alabama rarely rushed more than the standard four. That’s a telltale sign that your team is being dominated
  • Quarterbacks displayed some of their old issues we’ve seen from practice
    • Browne tends to not lead receivers off well on routes across the middle (leads to things like pick six)
    • Darnold has problems meshing with running back on hand offs
  • USC lack of depth/experience
    • Example: Edoga allowed an unimpeded Jonathan Allen—All-SEC first teamer, 5th in the nation in sacks last year—to come off the edge and sack Browne from the blindside. Set up halfback screen on 3rd-and-long when Browne just skips the ball off the ground because the play was horribly compromised.Yet, it probably got even worse once Edoga left the game.
  • Alabama remained consistent throughout the game:
    • Rare, if not non-existent, breakdown in coverage
    • Superior special teams play
    • Capitalized on USC mistakes (USC failed to capitalize on Alabama errors)

No respectable City of Angles post will give you the bad without the good, or the good without the bad. So here are the positives I saw:

  • Leon McQuay continues where he left off from last season. He is a playmaker at safety. Appears to really study his film
  • Adoree’ made not one, but two touchdown-saving tackles. That demonstrated not only his insane athletic ability, but his inability to give up on a play or game. Also, he managed to keep Calvin Ridley in check on an island.
  • Noah Jefferson is young, but was a impact player at defensive tackle.
  • Max Browne showed a lot of poise and made smart decisions in his first start. I full expect great things out of him this season. I would not be surprised to see him bounce back and throw for three touchdowns against Utah State.

CommBro Breaker

What’s City of Angles without bad photoshops? Cheer up with this one:

I don't have words for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKMGVBZXXnM

I don’t have words for this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKMGVBZXXnM

Maybe defensive coordinator, Jeremy Pruitt gave all his players a hit of weed during half time to improve their performance. Disclaimer: This is a troll conspiracy theory, not an attempt at libel or defamation.

Misleading Stat of the Week: USC is worst in the nation (127 out of 127) with 2.9 yards per offensive play. That’s what week one against the #1 team feels like. The average will get pulled much higher as the season progresses.

Useless Stat of the Week: USC has almost as many punting yards (403) as Alabama’s total offense (465)

USC 2016 Depth Chart and Rankings

Posted on by commbro

The long awaited depth chart for the 2016 season has been released. The starting quarterback has been named for the season opener. That means it’s almost time for some real action to take place. Only two weeks to go!

If you’ve been keeping up with everything, nothing in the depth chart should come as too much of a surprise. If you haven’t, then it’ll be like Christmas for you. Enjoy!

Something of note is how many wide receiver positions have “OR” listed on them. It really show how deep the receiving corp is for this season. Hopefully the days of using walk-on receivers against Notre Dame are long behind us. It’s the kind of OR that should make you happy, unlike a Denny’s menu or QB battle. Sorry, didn’t mean to zing Kiffin twice.

I didn't mean it. We're still cool, right? Please just screw up one more game though.

I didn’t mean it. We’re still cool, right? Please just screw up one more game though.

But seriously, Denny’s…bacon OR sausage? I want both! I usually solve this by ordering two grand slams. Now how do I connect this back to the post to make it look like I know what I’m doing? Ah, yes. I like my stomach like my rosters: full.

With a return to a near full roster, depth at most positions, and no critical injuries to essential personnel it may seem like 2016 is the year for a good run. You can hope and dream that will happen—as I will—but it likely will not be the case. Even though the roster is near full, there is far too much youth on the team. Normally, there would be a better distribution of juniors and seniors across the roster, but the team is too heavily weighted towards underclassmen.

Out of the 30-some upperclassmen, quite a few do not have significant game experience or are specialty positions like long snapper and kicker. That leaves about 20 of the 85 scholarship players as upperclassmen with decent experience. This team may have some substantial growing pains early in the season.

Speaking of early in the season, the Trojans play all the preseason ranked teams at the beginning and end of the season. Schedule order can matter a lot in whether or not a team succeeds or fails during a season.

USC’s bye week precedes a Thursday game against Cal. Prepare your butt for traffic that night. That’s pretty good timing because the team will get an extra 2 days to recover and prepare for Oregon and a long string of ranked teams until the very end. Who knows though—these rankings can and will fluctuate a lot before it’s all over.

Date Team AP Rank Coaches Rank
09/03/16 Alabama 1 1
09/10/16 Utah State UR UR
09/17/16 Stanford 8 7
09/23/16 Utah 28* 28*
10/01/16 Arizona State UR UR
10/08/16 Colorado UR UR
10/15/16 Arizona UR 46*
10/27/16 California UR UR
11/05/16 Oregon 24 22
11/12/16 Washington 14 18
11/19/16 UCLA 16 24
11/26/16 Notre Dame 10 9
N/A USC 20 17
*Not in top 25 but receiving votes

CommBro Breaker

Order has been returned, and power has been restored to the House of M. Sam Darnold’s biggest mistake in the quarterback competition was not changing his name to Mam Darnold or something. I hope you have a name change petition on your clipboard this season, Darnold.

My advice to fans that are fathers: better pick the right name for your kid if you hope for them to be a starting quarterback at USC.

USC Fall Camp 2016 Report 2 of -1

Posted on by commbro

Monday’s practice at the Coliseum marked the final of the 5pm Fall Camp practices. That also means I won’t be able to attend and report on anymore of these. I’ll try to make the best of our short time together. Just kidding, I’m not going to mince words much this time. You’ll just have to wait until there’s more stuff I can write about.

The team came out in full pads and looked sluggish. During one on one drills, defenders had sloppy tackles. Daniel Imatorbhebhe absolutely embarrased one guy with his jukes and cuts. I’m not sure if he even managed to touch Imatorbhebhe. His burning cuts always look impressive. Hopefully he’ll get more consistent with his catches though.

The defense managed to redeem themselves a bit in 11 on 11 red zone drills. For the most part, they were stopping a fairly stagnant offense. They denied an offense for a substantial period. Eventually, both Max Browne and Sam Darnold were able to get a touchdown apiece. Before they could, though, Quinton Powell was heckling them from the sideline. Funny and all for practice, but I hope it doesn’t bleed into taunting penalties in live games…

…because they got enough penalties on their own. So many flags for false starts and other assorted garbage. It feels a little weird to see that many yellow flags fly during a glorified practice. Basically, the team did not look game-ready. Luckily, it’s practice number five and they have a lot of time to get their crap together. They’re going to need it because—in case you forgot—Alabama is up next. And they’re sure as hell not going to be in Texas to compare US News rankings or GPAs.

CommBro Breaker

Even if they did just show up to compare GPAs, y’all still may lose.

Useless Stat of the Day: University of Alabama’s acceptance rate is 51%. USC’s is 16.5%. They even beat us at that. Wait…Yup, the numbers check out. 51 > 16.5. Trust me, I was a Comm major.

Don't worry, I got you another sweet picture. It's totally not just the previous one reversed.

Don’t worry, I got you another sweet picture to distract you from my mathematics. It’s totally not just the previous one reversed.

USC Fall Camp 2016 Report 1 of 0

Posted on by commbro

City of Angles and CommBro bring you firsthand information hot from the second fall camp practice. I got there late and left early though. Life obligations and stuff, y’know? That’s basically the same reason I dropped off the face of the Earth for a while. And sadly, that’s why I’ll probably only get to attend one more fall camp practice before the actual season starts.

It wasn’t an extended gag from the Finding Dory post carrying on over the past month, in case you were wondering. Sorry folks, didn’t mean for that much silence.

With these unfortunate circumstances, I have to ease myself back into this whole blogging thing. I mean, how hard can it be to barf onto your keyboard? Even your friendly neighborhood cat can do that. Even though we’re less than a month away from the big showdown against Alabama in the season opener, I find myself constantly trying to say “spring practice” instead of “fall camp practice.” Yup, don’t see any problems here. Don’t worry, I am so on top of this that I even managed to sneak in a picture despite the camera ban.

Some people call me a photoshopper. I consider myself a prankster.

I didn’t Photoshop, okay? Some people call me a liar. I consider myself a prankster.

At first, it seemed like quarterback hopeful Sam Darnold was sharing in my suffering on post-Spring transitions. Just when it looked like the other hopeful, Max Browne, was starting to get some separation and yank the starting job away, Darnold rallies and Browne stumbles. I am really starting to see why Coach Helton wanted to keep the competition going into Spring. I still don’t like it—but I understand it.

What I can understand and like is how Helton handled the little tussle that took place during the practice. Two players got into it in the right corner of the end zone, resulting in a serving of up-downs for the entire team as punishment. Or are they down-ups? Which came first: the up or the down? The chicken or the egg. Classic questions.

CommBro Breaker

I have long pondered the latter question and found myself in a deeper quandary. In either case, where did the rooster come from? Were they parallel pairs, both originating from eggs or fully formed? Maybe one started as an egg, the other fully grown. These dangerous ideas must be what drove men of old into book burnings. Absolute nonsense.

/CommBro Breaker

Their little up-down session will hopefully lead to a more disciplined team. That has been an area of weakness for the past several years. Life with the Pac-12 officials is difficult enough. Why encourage them with free unsportsmanlike conduct penalties? Make them invent penalties to fuel fan outrage instead. All part of that fun of a gameday.

Anyway, much like the first practice, they went with helmets and no pads so nothing too crazy happened. The highlights were Browne throwing a long touchdown pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster in the right corner of the end zone. It was one of those impossible grabs.

Darnold wouldn’t be upstaged, so he threw one to the same spot into the hands of Josh Imatorbhebhe. It was one of those well thrown floaters that no DB would be able to reach. But yeah, all the action was in the right corner of the end zone.

That’s all I got this time. Like I told you, I’m getting back into the swing of things. Stay tuned for more posts leading up to the match on September 3.

USC and Stevie Tu’ikolovatu

Posted on by commbro

Normally, I wouldn’t write about a single transfer. There may come a day when I’m not bored during the offseason. But it is not this day. This day we write.

If you didn’t catch that reference, I am showing that I’m bored enough to have gone through the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions. Onto better things:

Stevie Tu’ikolovatu. The Silas Redd of defensive tackles.

  • Decent player? Check.
  • Thin at the position? Check.
  • Instant eligibility? Check.

You’ve seen the defensive line’s struggles last year. The beauty of football is that a single man can elevate the entire team. A good DT can draw a double-team from the offensive linemen. That frees up rush lanes for the defensive ends and outside linebackers, giving the opposing quarterback more pressure. More pressure means more mistakes for the defensive backs and linebackers to capitalize on. The better the defense works, the more chances the offense will have to get the ball. More chances equals more points. This is a slippery slope I can support. Can Tu’ikolovatu be that man—that difference maker?

Maybe. Did you just read this far for a maybe? Yes, but I think he has a good shot. Close the case! The esteemed City of Angles has given their stamp of approval!

/facetious (because /sarcasm is too mainstream).

Despite not being a starter with the Utah Utes, Stevie Tu’ikolovatu can be a huge asset to the team. Utah has had a stout defense, particular at the defensive line position group. Tu’ikolovatu has contributed to that—even against USC at some points. As noted, USC needs experience along the defensive line and Tu’ikolovatu brings that factor. In fact, he is a bit more experienced than most college players…at least in life.

The guy is actually 24, going on 25. Somehow, he managed to save some eligibility. He started at Utah in 2009 and redshirted that season. He then went on an LDS mission, returning in 2013 just to sit out with a foot injury. He actively played two seasons, rotating in for 2014 and 2015. After Utah happily invested time and energy into this player, USC swoops in to reap the benefits.

In this post-sanction reality, the logistics behind transferring and scholarships are always some of the first concerns that come up. Yet here I am answering that last. This is not breaking NCAA rules because graduate transfers are allowed to play immediately after transferring. The transfer cannot be restricted as long as they pursue a graduate degree not offered by the first school (which can easily be finagled). But what about scholarships?

USC is back up to the full 85 total scholarship player allowance, but they still have a bit until they hit that cap. So that’s not a problem. The Trojans have used up the 25 initial scholarships for the 2016 class, though. That brings us to the famed blue shirting, the latest and greatest term in a long line of the colorful college football terminology. Don’t worry, there are still less than the combinations for Oregon uniforms.

Former head coach Steve (not to be confused with Stevie) Sarkisian used it a few times and Helton continues that trend. Basically, a player starts as a walk-on, but then are “magically” bestowed a scholarship for the hard work after fall camp.

CommBro Breaker171

And wow, look at that. I just fluffed up a piece about one player transferring into a 500+ word thing. The offseason is as magical as blue shirt scholarships.

By the way, I’m really not that bored. It just fit the narrative, so I ran with it. But anyway. who’s ready for Alabama?

Oh, I guess you can have some stats because I usually throw some into the CommBro Breaker:

Year Total Tackles Solo Tackles Assisted Tackles Tackles for Loss Sacks Passes Broken Up Fumble Recovery Ints TD
2015 28 15 13 6 2 2 1 0 1
2014 8 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0

He arrives with a touchdown under his belt! How exciting.

USC-NFL 2016: The Daft and the Draft

Posted on by commbro

As I was churning out this piece, I realized that it has been just over a year since I made the first post on City of Angles. My first football related post was about the NFL Draft in 2015.

Can you believe it’s already been an entire year?—And  somehow you’re still reading? WOW. Unless you just started reading. Come, pull up a chair. Don’t let me scare you away.

At the close of the seventh round, USC still leads the nation (and world?!) in most NFL draft picks from any single school. The “official” count is at 496, but we all know it’s actually 497 because of Bush (hint: we’re not talking about Jeb).

It’ll easily hit 500 after the 2017 draft. With guys like Zach Banner graduating and Adoree’ and JuJu eligible, There’s no way it won’t happen. After all, USC and Michigan are the only schools to have a player taken in every draft since 1939.

Ohio State had a buttload of draft picks and made significant strides to catch up the record. However, they’re still a long way off at third place (430). Notre Dame is the bigger danger at 493.

Before I get into all this other stuff look at all the results below:

Su’a Cravens Washington Redskins Round 2 Pick 22 53 Overall
Max Tuerk San Diego Chargers Round 3 Pick 31 66 Overall
Cody Kessler Cleveland Browns Round 3 Pick 31 93 Overall
Kevon Seymor Buffalo Bills Round 6 Pick 43 218 Overall
Soma Vainuku Houston Texans Undrafted Free Agent
Claude Pelon New York Jets Undrafted Free Agent
Antwuan Woods Tennessee Titans Undrafted Free Agent
Tre Madden Seattle Seahawks Undrafted Free Agent
Anthony Sarao Indianapolis Colts Undrafted Free Agent
Delvon Simmons Indianapolis Colts Undrafted Free Agent
Greg Townsend Jr. Oakland Raiders Undrafted Free Agent

And in case you’re interested in players that transferred away:

Former USC running back Amir Carlisle (transferred to Notre Dame) signed as an undrafted free agent to the Arizona Cardinals

Former USC quarterback Max Wittek (transferred to Hawaii) signed as an undrafted free agent to the Jacksonville Jaguars

CommBro Breaker

I’m going to preface this argument with this: I’m happy for Cody Kessler. I wish him as long and as successful of an NFL career as he wants. I’m glad he’s about to get a multi-million dollar contract.

Since we’ve gotten that out of the way, time for the honest opinion (angle) of one man. I don’t think he should have gone in the third round. It’s just another opportunity for naysayers of the world to say “oh look, another USC quarterback bust in the NFL.” Maybe they say it because they hate SC. Maybe they say it because they want to look like they know something. Or why not both? No matter what, it seems like a lose-lose-lose…except maybe for the Kessler bank account and agent.

I don’t think the Cleveland Browns are exactly the shining paragons of drafting quarterbacks well. Or of very much, actually. Kessler is unlikely to receive the support he needs to be successful at this program. Perhaps RGIII will fail in the system, then Kessler goes in throwing 6 touchdown passes like old times. You would see a post here saying, “I was wrong.” Until then, stay tuned.

For reference, Kessler was drafted higher than his predecessor, Matt Barkley (Round 4, Pick 1, 98 Overall). I think most would agree that Barkley was better than Kessler. The 2013 draft wasn’t exactly a deep year at quarterback either. The first one off the board was Florida State’s EJ Manuel at pick #16. Then Geno Smith (WVU) and Mike Glennon (NC State).

By the way, since that 2013 draft, the Browns have gone through nine starting quarterbacks. Whoever starts in 2016 will be #10.

USC Spring Game 2016

Posted on by commbro

USC vs. USC vs. USC (USC Spring Game)
April 16, 2016 at 3:00pm
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: 23,000 (of 93,607 [As if they were going to pack out a spring game. This isn’t the Midwest])
Total Time: Approximately 1 hours 50 minutes

New coaches, new quarterback, and new athletic director make for an interesting spring. Too bad the annual “spring game” was anything but. There were a lot of 9 on 7 drills, situational plays, and just plain practice stuff during another hot day in Southern California’s eternal summer.

Eventually, they got to the good stuff with 11 on 11 and even live tackling. The only ones exempt to the hits were the four quarterbacks participating. It may not have been awe-inspiring, but we saw a few good things. For one, the vertical passing game is back and totally in style. Both Browne and Darnold completed some long passes.

Early on in the 11-on-11, Browne connected with Darreus for a large gain, but it was still iffy. Take a watch below:

Browne underthrew the deep pass, big time, but still completed it to Darreus Rogers. The three DBs present not only allowed the catch, they allowed Rogers to take the remaining 20-ish yards into the endzone. The ball traveled approximately 50 yards in the air—42 from the line of scrimmage. The added run made brought the play to 64 yards and a touchdown. Could’ve been worse, I guess. In the end, both Darnold and Browne’s stats look impressive:

Max Browne
7-of-11
114 yards
3 TD

Sam Darnold
6-of-7
63 yards
2 TD

The City of Angles advanced eye test alghorithm has deduced the following ranking of the four:

  1. Max Browne
  2. Sam Darnold
  3. Jalen Greene
  4. Matt Fink

Receivers dropping a copious amount of passes was still a thing. Luckily, they redeemed themselves a bit later on in the “game.”

The offensive line did decently in pass blocking, but allowed a few tackles for loss in the run game. Despite that, the running backs were the most consistent position group throughout.

Going back to the DBs, they clearly need some more work. They took some bad angles in the open field, and mistimed jumps. Those guys had some good pass breakups, though. Give them credit for that.

Towards the end of the day, Clay Helton gave blind longsnapper, Jake Olsen, a chance to snap the ball. He got a lot of cheers and applause for his two snaps.

CommBro Breaker

Once again, we find ourselves waiting to find out who they name as the quarterback starter. City of Angles has a great hot take. For today’s troll lineup, Max Browne should be the starting quarterback followed by Matt Fink in two years. Why? It’s quite simple. They must continue the legacy of the House of M. The QB starters that played a majority share of the season dating back to 1998 are as follows:

  1. Mike Van Raaphorst
  2. Carson Palmer
  3. Matt Leinart
  4. John David Booty
  5. Mark Sanchez
  6. Matt Barkley
  7. Cody Kessler

The House of M had some interruptions, but could’ve completed a dream of five in a row, as seen below. Instead, Cody CommBro Breaker Kessler came in and denied Max Wittek’s rightful place in the pantheon of USC quarterbacks with an M first name.

  1. Mark Sanchez
  2. Matt Barkley
  3. Max Wittek
  4. Max Browne
  5. Matt Fink

Look at the beautiful alliteration that was destroyed. Thanks Kessler.

Disclaimer: Clicking the random links strewn throughout the post should increase your understanding and viewing enjoyment.

USC Spring Football Midterm Report 2016

Posted on by commbro

In case you're checking, yes, this isn't a recent photo. They didn't let us take pictures so this is from a 2012 spring practice.

In case you’re checking, yes, this isn’t a recent photo. They didn’t let us take pictures so this is from a 2012 spring practice.

We’re at about the halfway point in spring practice with the closing up on practice #7.The total of 14 practices culminate in the annual Spring Game on April 16.

Sadly, I’ve only been able to attend about two practices so far and I’ve mostly been watching the offense…but I’ll give you what I got. Yeah. You know that thing they say about “Don’t quit your day job“? Well, for your information, if I actually quit my day job, I’d be able to do more and write a better report. Kind of a catch-22 situation.

Since we’re on the topic, “catch-22” seems to be what Max Browne is trying out with the team. Zing! It’s one thing to try to spread the ball out amongst all your receivers, but passing to all the defenders isn’t exactly a winning formula. Okay, now that’s out of my system. But seriously, while I want Browne to win the starting quarterback job, he hasn’t done very well both Saturdays I was in attendance. The first time, he threw three interceptions, which was slightly offset by the two touchdowns. At the Coliseum this past Saturday, he only threw two near interceptions. Those were dropped by the defenders. However, he wasn’t able to complete very many passes either.

Maybe I’m the problem. Once is just life, twice makes a pattern. If I stop going to spring practices, maybe Browne will do better. Nah, forget that. I’m not the superstitious type. Let’s just cross our fingers that this isn’t a microcosm of the entire team. Wait…

Anyway, the offensive line, while improved in some areas, certainly don’t look good with the snap. A majority of them were high, wasting precious time fielding them. If that doesn’t get fixed, it’ll get real nasty in games—unless someone can pull one of these off:

The difference is we don’t have a Super Bowl winning scrambler at QB. We should sooner look for the return of Toa Lobendahn or Khaliel Rodgers. Nico Falah did decently filling in as a third-string center the past season, but his snaps haven’t impressed this spring.

There have also been quite a few drops by receivers, when either Browne or Sam Darnold have been leading the team. On the flip side, newcomer Josh Imatorbhebhe runs some of the sickest routes. His cuts are extremely crisp. I feel sorry for the DB that has to cover him—as long as he improves his focus while watching.

Lastly, Justin Davis has looked solid and consistent. He runs with authority and picked up some large gains on the ground. Ronald Jones also continues to excite. Based on the running backs’ performances during fall 2015 and this spring, I am not at all worried about this group.

CommBro Breaker

I wish I had more to report on the defense since we have a “new” defensive coordinator and all. At least I know those corners are doing their jobs!

USC Football: Info Dump

Posted on by commbro

Yeah, so I’ve been slacking in the football department lately. The past few weeks have been slightly eventful and I sure as heck wasn’t talking about the Super Bowl. National Signing Day, Pat Haden’s announced retirement, even the NFL combine were each more individually interesting than that six turnover AFL-NFL championship game. Maybe it’s because I’m bitter that the Seahawks didn’t make it three straight appearances to the “Big Game” (which, incidentally, makes me think of Cal vs. Stanford more than anything). Okay, that’s really just my opinion. Either way, you get a USC football info dump.

We’ll go one by one on each topic. I’ll make it brief because who has the attention span for long posts? I sure don’t!

Recruiting class

A highly ranked recruiting class to be sure. It’s a slight dip from what we’re used to, but hey, given the circumstances, I’ll take it.

Scout #11 overall, Avg.3.90 stars (tied #1)
Rivals #8 overall, Avg. 3.75 stars (tied #3)
247 sports #8 overall
ESPN #11 overall

They got some people for positions of need and tied for highest star ranking on Scout.com (not that stars are that accruate of predictors of sucess).

miniCommBro Breaker

We got Jack Jones!!! Now we won’t even need to pipe music through the speakers during practice.

He may have aged a bit...

He may have aged a bit…

Pat Haden

It’s been quite a ride for Pat Haden since he entered as the athletic directory in 2010. He had been a trustee of the university basically from when I was born until stepping down to take the AD role. Since then the football team has been:

2010: 8-5
2011: 10-2
2012: 7-6
2013: 10-4
2014: 9-4
2015: 8-6

If you looked purely at records, you might believe they languished a bit under Haden’s watch, but in reality, it was something worse: wasted potential. In virtually every game, the Trojans had a shot (or more) of beating their opponent. Sometimes they would follow through and win. Other times they would fall comically short.Haden can’t and shouldn’t take all the blame for it.

He’s made a lot of decisions that left people scratching their heads. Some have left people outraged.

None of them were made within a vacuum. He answers to the president, board of trustees, the Pac-12 conference, and, yes, even the NCAA. No, I’m not being an apologist. I’m just saying not to be unduly harsh on him. We are looking at all of this in hindsight and without pressure. Yes, he’s made bad decisions, but those shouldn’t completely define him. It would take some combination of naivety or patent dishonesty to make his decisions out to be so single-faceted.

His administration should be remembered for exactly what it is: a mixed legacy.

NFL Combine
CommBro Breaker

I’ll talk about it after the USC Pro Day so I can lump it all together. Try not to feel too cheated.