Miller Moss

USC vs. Rutgers/Washington: CommBro vs. Busyness

Posted on by commbro

-USC vs. Rutgers
October 25, 2024 at 8:01pm
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA: 63,404 (of 77,500)
Total Time: 3 hours 40 minutes

Washington vs. USC
November 2, 2024 at 4:40pm
Husky Stadium, Seattle, WA: 71,251 (of 70,138)
Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes

So if it wasn’t obvious, I missed last week due to the busyness of life. Don’t worry, I didn’t pull another midseason disappearing act…but I will be doing one megapost for both the Rutgers and Washington games. 

In other news, even Meta couldn’t keep me down. They tried to silence me!! LOL. 

My writing hasn’t been as good, but damn, that’s quite the roast to call it spam LOL

Somehow this is kind of amazing. My first hate mail and it’s by AI. It seems the “Misleading Stat of the Week” is far too controversial for Facebook. Who would’ve thought that I’d be censored before even getting to sell out?

Anyway, I was at a wedding the day of the Washington game so I must apologize for not getting a complete look at the game. However, due to my dedication to the craft, I was mostly definitely watching the game…

USC looked solid while breaking their 3 game losing streak with the win against Rutgers. They dragged themselves up from 16th in the conference to 13th and back to a .500 record. Then they lost their way back down to 15th and a losing record. 

USC remains winless in true road games (since LSU in Vegas counts as a neutral site…probably even closer to a home game considering the distance and time zone). They’ve also now guaranteed a losing conference record with the 5th conference loss. I’ll keep things short since at this point, by now we all kinda know what is going on. 

Good/Badisms

Good: Makai Lemon’s emergence as a receiving and returning threat in both games

Good: Zachariah Branch showing some improvement from his slump

Good: Woody Marks continuing to carry weight as an every down back

Good: The offense managed to score on all their first half possessions against Rutgers

Good: The defense managed to stop Rutgers on 4th down three times

Bad: Three interceptions thrown by Miller Moss against Washington, despite the offensive line blocking a bit better overall

Bad: Another game where they have the ball and the lead in the fourth quarter and manage to squander it

Bad: Failing to convert a 4th-and-1 at the goal line and also failing a 4th-and-4 in the red zone to basically end the game. 

Bad: Despite pretty much every one of their 11 drives ending in Husky territory and 4 trips to the red zone, they somehow only scored 3 touchdowns (one drive ended at the USC 45). 

Bad: Lincoln Riley trying to force 50 pass attempts against one of the statistical top passing defenses. I personally believe the stats are a bit inflated by the lack of very many decent quarterbacks they’ve gone up against this season, but they have a good passing defense nonetheless. 

CommBro Breaker

  • It’s the QB making poor throws! …Yes
  • It’s the o-line’s poor blocking! …Yes
  • It’s the receivers dropping the ball! …Yes
  • It’s the refs making weird calls! …Yes
  • It’s Lincoln Riley not adapting the offense to the personnel! …Yes
  • It’s the NIL not being there for the earlier recruiting classes! …You’re not going to believe it, also yes.

It’s a team game and there are a lot of factors that go into what happened. And just look at that, even with all those problems, they are so close to winning every single game. Yeah, it feels really bad to be losing half your games, but once at least some (or maybe even one) of those above things are fixed, this team could easily be 10, 11, or 12 wins next season. 

Whether we like it or not, Jayden Maiava will replace Miller Moss as the starter. And regardless of which subset of group(s) you personally would like to place the blame on, Maiava theoretically covers for the weakness of the offensive line. All we can hope for now is winning out, becoming bowl eligible, and carrying some experience and momentum into next year.

Czaplicki Tracker Week 8: Eddie remained at #3 last week, with the gap slightly widening. He’s averaging 49.3 yards per punt compared to FSU’s 49.6 and Baylor’s 51.1. Moss even helped him out by eating up one of the shorter punts on a pooch

Czaplicki Tracker Week 9: Czaplicki dropped down to #4 with a 48.5 yard average. The true depressing stat of this game.

A Stat of the Week: There’s been a lot of trash talk about the refs this season, but one thing’s for certain: USC has significantly less penalty yards per game than either of Riley’s USC seasons in the Pac-12.

USC vs. Maryland: 20% of the Time, It Works Every Time

Posted on by commbro

Maryland vs. USC
October 19, 2024 at 1:05 pm
SECU Stadium, Minneapolis, College Park, MD: 43,013 (of 51,802)
Total Time: 3 hours 51 minutes

Somehow we’re here sitting on 3 straight losses, 0 wins in October, 0 Big Ten road wins, and still 0 true road wins after losing to a team that was 0-3 in conference play. For whatever reason, the team can only play one solid half of football and then immediately start struggling in the opposite half to choke away the game in the final seconds.

But maybe we’re being too optimistic by saying it was a good half. The first touchdown they scored wasn’t even impressive. It came from what was initially a missed field goal, but an illegal substitution penalty by Maryland converted the 4th down for USC to eventually score the touchdown.

Their third touchdown also required some assistance. The punt return and 15-yard personal foul penalty by Maryland had the offense set up at the Maryland 41-yard line. With only a minute left in the half, they could have run out of time had they not had such favorable field position.

On Maryland’s ensuing possession, USC sought to return the favor by giving them 15 yards on the unsportsmanlike penalty. Not be outdone, Maryland politely fumbled the ball on a perfectly fine snap just to take themselves out of field goal range and give up their possession.

Let’s not forget about Maryland’s missed field goal either. They converted two 4th-and-shorts (one by USC penalty), which set up a long field goal. Luckily, Maryland missed it.

And what the heck was that timeout at 1 second just to come back at kneel?

The second half was where things got ugly. Multiple times they had the ball and the ability to end the game with even a field goal, but kept struggling to put it away. The defense can only hold up so many times in a season when they’re constantly forced to be out on the field after another sub-25 yard drive (of which, an astounding 41% of the 83 drives qualify). That blocked field goal on 4th-and-1 allowing for a big return was nearly comical. Somehow they find a way to lose every game.

Are they getting to the point of learned helplessness? I wonder if they felt they were going to lose after that 2-point conversion was successful. Yes, the team may not have enough talent and depth, but when you’re in very favorable positions to win these one score leads in the 4th quarter, you have to win them…or at least not lose 80% of them. Even guessing on every single question on a standardized test should statistically net you better results than this.

Good/Badisms

Good: Perfect ball back shoulder placement in the end zone by Miller Moss and great catch by Kyron Hudson for the touchdown

Good: Perfect ball back shoulder placement in the end zone by Miller Moss and great catch one-handed catch by Ja’Kobi Lane for the touchdown

Bad: Lots of high throws by Moss, missing his receivers and the interception and 51-yard return that allowed Maryland an easy score

Good: Duce finally catching a pass in the 4th quarter and slammed it into the end zone

Good: The return of tight end, Lake McRee, showed some immediate impact with some key conversions on third down

Bad: Jaylin Smith against Maryland’s and the Big Ten’s statistical leader had some trouble, allowing long completions or committing PIs Good: Interception in the end zone on a 4th down that saved them from not only a touchdown, but forcing the offense to start inside the 20 again

Good/Bad: Kamari Ramsey batting a pass on 3rd-and-5 but then missing the open field tackle the very next play to allow a 4th down conversion

CommBro Breaker

Wish I had some better news, or optimistic outlook, but we may have to wait until next season for anything remotely worth seeing now that the ceiling is 9-4. Being able to finish with a better than last year would be nice. Losing so often really can’t help recruiting. It’s kind of weird place to be when your team could reasonably beat or lose to any team on the schedule and you wouldn’t be surprised.

Depressing Stat of the Week: USC is 16th place in the Big Ten right now. Right above 2-5 overall UCLA and 1-6 overall Purdue

Depressing Stat of the Week #2: Miller Moss is tied for 27th most interceptions in the nation out of the 396 QBs counted. He is tied for 3rd most in the Big Ten.

Uplifting Stat of the Week: Woody Marks has the 23rd most yards in the nation for running backs

Uplifting Stat of the Week #2: Quinten Joyner is averaging 9.09 yards per carry, which is 5th in the nation for running backs that have played in 75% of their team’s games.

Czaplicki Tracker Week 7: Eddie Czaplicki has fallen even further to #3 in average punt yards per game (49.4), with the FSU punter beating him by .03 yards per punt (49.43) for the #2 spot

Misleading Stat of the Week: USC has lost 100% of their games against Maryland…because this is the only one that they’ve ever played

USC vs. Penn State: All Tricks and Picks

Posted on by commbro

USC vs. #4 Penn State
October 12, 2024 at 12:40pm
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA: 75,250 (of 77,500)
Total Time: 3 hours 36 minutes

Here we are again with me writing about the third loss in four weeks. Not all losses are equal, though, and an overtime loss by a field goal to an undefeated #4 team is a heck of a lot better than a loss in regulation by a touchdown to an unranked 3-loss team. There are signs of improvement, but it’s not exactly a great place to be halfway through October. The Trojans are all but eliminated from playoff contention, barring some absolute improbable chaos of events. As much as I love to generate obscure stats, even I don’t want to do the math on this one.

In a strange turn of events, the Trojans played well in the first half and suffered in the second half. As a whole, we saw some growth: they ran the ball more when needed (to much success for both Woody Marks and Quinten Joyner), schemed some ways to neutralize the constant pressure for Miller Moss like moving the pocket and throwing some more screen passes to loosen up the pass rush. Yet, it was not enough to overcome some of the more disappointing parts.

There were plays almost as uninspired as my writing these days like run plays on 3rd and very long that was basically just settling for a field goal or trying to send the game to overtime instead of trying for field position for a field goal. And yet again we find a tight end giving a USC defense problems. This one player totaled more yards (221) than either the entire USC rushing (189) or passing (220) offense. This time, there’s no Grinch to blame.

Penn State busted out everything they could, with trick plays getting them the edge on several plays. They tried direct snaps to the tight end, double passes, using a snapper at the tackle spot as an eligible receiver, and maybe even some more that I may have forgotten. That’s not to say they weren’t picking up yards normally either. Penn State was able to exploit the seams between zones for some big gains to the tight end spot. Overall defensive performance: debatable—or baitable?

Not to be outdone, Lincoln Riley busted out his own trick plays. The first major one was a fake reverse for the first touchdown of the game. Somebody find the branch manager because Zachariah Branch has unfortunately been more useful as a decoy this season than a receiving or returning threat. What looked like a broken trick play still ended up being successful. Woody Marks was given the opportunity to set up the double pass, realized it was going to be blown up, and pulled it down to run for 21 yards. Between that and the “fumble” recovery from the defensive lineman, he has shown himself to be a ridiculously quick thinker and improviser.

The Penn State final drive in regulation saw two fourth down conversions with Drew Allar targeting cornerback John Humphrey’s side and completing both the 4th-and-7 and 4th-and-10 to Julian Fleming that ultimately tied up the game and put the pressure back on the Trojans. The 4th-and-10 was the most frustrating because the defensive lineman, Jamil Muhammad had his hands on Allar and just needed another moment for a sack. Depressing Stat of the Week: The USC defense is #122 in the nation in sacks per game (1) and have only 6 in total for the entire season so far. DSOTW #2: They’re also #120 in tackles for a loss per game (4).

And I’m quite aware I seem to have broken my own record again for late posts.

Good/Badisms

Good: Desman Stephans II, playing for his first meaningful snaps, getting not only an interception, but returned it 42 yards

Good: Easton Mascarenas-Arnold’s fingertip interception on the deflected pass

Bad: Miller Moss throwing too high, resulting in an interception and no field goal try as time was expiring in regulation

Bad: The missed 45-yard field goal that gave Penn State an easy shot to win in overtime

Good: Drew Allar, only threw 1 interception in 103 attempts this season prior to this game, but threw 3 against this USC defense, though one was just a last second heave for a shot at winning in regulation.

Good-ish (we’ll take what we can get): Red zone defense: only 2 touchdowns allowed on 6 red zone trips

Bad: A paltry 2 of 11 on third downs on the offensive side of the ball

Good: offensive PI on Penn State that forced them into a position to only take a field goal

CommBro Breaker

While the back half of the schedule is theoretically easier, the defense is now down two starters for the rest of the season: linebacker Eric Gentry and defensive end Anthony Lucas. This is on top of defensive lineman Bear Alexander deciding to sit out earlier in the season. In a defense that was already thin on depth, it will be interesting to see how D’Anton Lynn adjusts.

Uplifting Stat of the Week: USC is #6 in the nation in opponent third down conversion percentage (27.14%) and #1 in the Big Ten.

Czaplicki Tracker Week 6: Eddie Czaplicki has fallen back down to #2 in average punt yards per game (49.8) compared to Baylor’s Palmer Williams (52.2)

A Stat: Halfway through the season, the defense is allowing 13.6 points per game less than last season (#41 vs. #121), but are scoring 11.1 fewer points per game than last season (#52 vs. #3).

USC vs. Minnesota: That’s not very Lincoln of you and I am really disappointed

Posted on by commbro

Minnesota vs. #11 USC
October 5, 2024 at 4:40pm
Huntington Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN: 50,913 (of 50,805)
Total Time: 3 hours 16 minutes

Gophers can be a real problem for football. Back in high school, we used to play pickup football games on a field that was swiss-cheesed by a gopher. Tripping and injuries due to gopher holes was a common occurrence. Apparently Whac-a-Mole isn’t as easy as it looks. Complete tangent.

Y’all ever notice that some versions of this game make the “moles” look a lot more like gophers?

Maybe you’ve also noticed that the title is an amalgamation of recycled headlines, but then again, so are the criticisms. We’ve harped on this stuff all season:

  • slow first half starts
  • poor offensive line play in pass protection
  • Miller Moss being rushed and hit all the time
  • procedural penalties
  • receivers dropping balls at crucial moments
  • turnovers
  • red zone scoring issues

The weather wasn’t even cold or snowing. Yet, the offensive line continues to look like the Disney on Ice rendition, allowing the opposing defenses to consistently generate pressure with only 3-4 people on the pass rush. That leaves 8-9 people dropping into coverage, so on top of rushing poor Moss, he has to somehow get the ball out in a cluttered coverage to receivers that may just end up dropping it. This all took place after 2:00pm so they don’t even have that excuse. Turns out it’s not just the mornings that were getting to them, it’s just how they are. 

The defense, really feeling the absence of linebacker Eric Gentry, allowed the most points in a second half this year (14), compared to the previous high of 10 from the LSU game. Up to that point in the season, they had only allowed 17 points in second halves. Still, they did enough for the offense to win the game despite the turnovers and short possession times putting more pressure on them.

And yes, we can all harp on the refs again, but we can only complain about that so much. It’s not like the Pac-12 was any better with that though. Unless it’s super egregious, it usually is not looked upon well to blame refs for a loss. But if we’re going to talk about refs, did everyone see how the Gophers head coach, P.J. Fleck, gave one of the refs a nice little shove?

Do you think he wears that sweater/tie combo to make up for the fact that his name is the acronym for pajamas?

Seems suspect to me. Anyway, enough about that.

It’s year three under Lincoln Riley and it should have been better than this by now. He’s a better coach than this, but really has not shown it in many ways. That being said…

CommBro Breaker

…the Helton comparisons are really just wacko. Has everyone already forgotten how bad that really was? Do people really think they should be pulling the plug that quickly? How many truly elite coaches are even out there? One that wins against everyone they’re supposed to, never gets upset, or makes weird decisions. By the criteria that are being expected, not even the successful—or all-time greats—would qualify. 

Jim Harbaugh took like 6 years before his first win against their chief rival, Ohio State. His tenure included some random upsets, a 3-7 bowl record (including a 5 bowl losing streak before making the playoffs to extend it to 0-7), losing to unranked Michigan State (their closest UCLA equivalent) at home more than once, some mediocre seasons, and even a losing season. He eventually took them to the playoffs a few times, and even won a national championship (albeit controversially). Y’all would’ve wanted his ass fired

Then there was Kalen DeBoer, where many were ready to anoint him as the second-coming of Nick Saban post-Georgia win…right until he leads them to the upset land against unranked 2-2 Vanderbilt on the road. Even with the Georgia win, they very nearly squandered a 28 point lead.

If Nick Saban himself were the coach, we still wouldn’t be free from the delusion. He’d be criticized for hiring Sark as offensive coordinator or any of the upsets they suffered. He’d be roasted alive for the kick six, allowing their rival to win off of an ill-advised 57-yard field goal attempt. Saban had to argue to get 1 second back on the clock in order to make the attempt that was returned for a touchdown rather than opt for overtime. That decision lost 100% cost them the spot in the final BCS national championship game.

And all of these guys started with far better rosters than the aforementioned Helton stiffed Lincoln Riley with. Let’s have some perspective here, huh? No one is immune to bone-headed decisions and Riley has already made huge strides on defense. He deserves more time to prove whether or not he’s got what it takes here, especially when the NIL landscape seems to shift faster than the rules of an elementary school basketball game 30 seconds before recess ends. It might just be frustrating in the meantime. 

Uplifting Stat of the Week: Eddie Czaplicki has retaken his rightful spot at #1 in the nation in average yards per punt.

Uplifting/Depressing Stat of the Week: Despite being #28 in the nation in scoring defense (18.4 ppg), they are #108 in sacks per game (1.2 per game) and #105 in tackles for a loss (4.6 per game)

Conspiracy Continuation Stat of the Week: Miller Moss completed only 9 passes to different receivers, even if you include both the interceptions. It’s a sad week now that the streak is finally broken

Good/Badisms

Good: Woody Mark’s one-handed catch and run for a first down out of bounds to bail out Moss from what would’ve been a costly sack or incompletion and help set up Michael Lantz for his field goal.

Good: Michael Lantz sinking a career-long 54-yard field goal to tie the game at the half despite the false start setting them back after the Minnesota timeout negated the 49-yarder he made. Whew, that was long-winded. Oh yeah, and it was windy when he kicked it.

Good: Woody Marks able to take the direct snap for a touchdown

Bad: We’ve gone over most if it, but I can toss in a few more.

Bad: Missed field goal by Lantz on the first possession

Bad: Moss throwing into double coverage to Duce that led to an interception

Bad: The OL allowing Moss to be hit as he threw, resulting in an interception 

 

USC vs. Wisconsin: I’m not worried, just disappointed

Posted on by commbro

#13 USC vs. Wisconsin
September 28, 2024 at 12:40pm
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA: 74,118 (of 77,500)
Total Time: 3 hours 27 minutes

Exploiting people’s innate desire to do the opposite of what they’re told

Another week comes and goes, and USC does well enough to keep their Big Ten title and playoff hopes alive. It was their second home game, the second team they played without a real QB, and another game where they rely on dominating in the second half to try to make up for the shaky first. You’d think after the loss last week, they would clean things up and come out more motivated. At no point was I worried that USC was going to lose, but definitely expected better.

Instead, they found themselves down double digits at the end of the first half yet again. While Wisconsin is not a cellar dweller, they’ve had their struggles on offense. Even after accumulating some more long plays this past game, they are #109 in passes of 10+ yards and #123 in overall plays of 10+ yards.

Granted, both last week and this week, they made significant efforts in the second half that brought them back into the game. Maybe we just have to come to accept that they are an after 2:00 PM team. (If that’s actually true, then they will have some struggles against #7 Penn State in two weeks with another 12:30pm kickoff). 

The highlight of the issues this week are special teams struggles. Letting a punt roll all the way to the 1 yard line (along with allowing that 74-yard punt also meant letting these fools catch up to our homie Czaplicki’s punt average) really hurt the offense. Longer drives give more opportunities for mistakes—like those of the turnover variety. It took 10 plays just to get to midfield and, sure enough, the drive ended in an interception. Then there was the muffed punt, which of course led directly to a turnover on the very next punt return play. Hard to get going when the special teams continually creates negatively impactful plays like that. Average start for drives was at 24.83 for USC while Wisconsin’s was 34.75…basically a free first down of difference per drive.

Maybe next year he can use the offseason to focus on improving the special teams like he did with the defense this past offseason. To be fair though, long snapper, Hank Pepper, capitalized off of Wisconsin’s own muffed punts by securing it. That beats out what most long snappers will do over an entire season.

Sorry, this is going to be a short and uncomprehensive post. It’s already Friday and I’m barely getting this out the door. At least I’m not to the point of feeding everything through Chat GPT yet.

Good/Badisms

Good: Stopping Wisconsin on 4th down on two separate occasions, especially during the third quarter on 4th-and-1 when Wisconsin still had the lead

Bad: Undisciplined play by the offensive line like the false start on 4th-and-1 that forced a field goal try instead of going for it.

Bad: The jump by the OL that didn’t end in a penalty or lost yardage, but still negated potential free play since the defense was offsides

Good: Ja’Kobi Lane and Duce Robinson making some contested receptions for touchdowns

Good: Holding Wisconsin to 0 points in the second half

Bad: Big Ten referees don’t seem to really call holding. Coming from the Pac-12, where every minor thing gets called, seems like USC is not adjusting well. Maybe the solution is for the coaches to tell them to hold until it’s called. Stop playing Pac-12 ball and start playing Big Ten ball

Good: Dominating in time of possession (40:07 to 19:53) after trailing in TOP in the first half. Nationally, USC is #16 in time of possession per game (32:40.50)

Good: Mason Cobb grabbing the interception off a double deflection and running it back for a touchdown despite having to dodge everyone for 55-yards coming from the middle of the field 

Good/Bad: Miller Moss’ runs, one for a first down and one for a touchdown. However, it was looking like he got a concussion on the touchdown run. That’s kind of the risk you run when you run your QB.

Bad: Turning over the ball three times is going to lose you the game against a tougher opponent.

Bad: Being reminded that this video exists:

If you understand this, it means you lived in a very specific time period

It’d take looking back through about 10 years of internet history to understand it…kind of like how you’d have to look back about 10 years since Wisconsin fielded good teams. 

CommBro Breaker

I went the whole post without talking about Alex Grinch and his appearance at the Coliseum and this is the extent of what I’ll say. Much like the Utah State game, maybe it was a chance for catharsis in an indirect way.

Uplifting Stat of the Week: USC is #11 nationally in opponent 3rd down conversion percentage (26.53%)

Depressing Stat of the Week: USC is perfectly balanced on turnovers, losing 6 and gaining 6. 

Corrected Stat of the Week: I had some readers correct me on my recordkeeping from the past week. They argued that Miller Moss has continued to complete passes to 10 different receivers in every game as a starter and that there is no correlation between his secret to victory. The tenth receiver in both cases are Michigan and Wisconsin defensive backs that intercepted Moss’ passes. The 5 game streak apparently continues like clockwork.

USC vs. Michigan: That’s Not Very Lincoln of You

Posted on by commbro

#18 Michigan vs. #11 USC
September 21, 2024 at 12:40pm
Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, MI: 110,702 (of 109,901)
Total Time: 3 hours 35 minutes

CommBro Breaker

The real CommBro Breaker of the week was that Miller Moss completed passes to only nine receivers this game. Apparently his power is only activated when that 10th receiver catches the ball. Not only have we figured out the exact reason USC lost, we have uncovered the mystery of the conspiracy. I can now safely end this post.

 

 

 

 

 

No, of course that wasn’t actually the end. No matter how much I wish I could end it that quickly with how little time I have, I could never do that. I’d rather not post anything at all (a habit I got too comfortable with the past five years) then make a joke of a post like that, but I digress…

USC took on its first conference game as a Big Ten member and it had to be on the road against the defending National Champs. It wasn’t any regular road game either, as the Big House boasts the largest official capacity in all of the United States—and their reported attendance numbers were even higher than that. Luckily, the Trojans an entire bye week to prepare for the game, but it really didn’t look like they took advantage of it.

The offense didn’t just come out looking flat, but the offensive line spent a good amount of time flat on the ground. So much so, they substituted players in the second half and proceeded to…spend slightly less time on the floor. Tack on the receivers dropping passes again, they had Miller Moss feeling more harassed than a sea turtle hatchling crossing the beach.

Miller Moss after every change of possession

Outside of three blown plays, the defense did decently (runs of 53 yards, 41 yards, 63 yards, which total to about half Michigan’s total yards). Two were due to poor positioning and one due to poor tackling. In the end, that’s pure copium though. Michigan scored as a result of those three plays and gave them enough to win the game. Besides, is it really a brag to allow a one-dimensional team run for 290 yards? Don’t get me wrong, being the first year of this defensive turnaround, the change is still impressive, but there are still things for them to work on.

Even the bright spots had some blemishes. Halfway through the third quarter, Michigan still had not managed to score (or really move the ball) that half, but Moss helped them along with an interception on the perimeter. The quick pick six to put the Wolverines up two scores again. Woody Marks decides to take the ball down to the 2-yard line with a 65-yard run, which the offensive line botched with a false start. Costly when the offense had to fight for every yard. The ensuing crucial 3rd down play resulted in a sack/fumble that was very nearly returned for a game-clinching touchdown. Woody Marks saved the day again with not only stopping the defensive lineman from scoring, but doing a clean strip and recovery that looked straight out of a video game. The double possession change even reset it to first down. It’s sad that’s what it took to finally score.

Then towards the end of the game, on the second to last USC drive, they picked the wrong time to dip back into all their problems: poor OL play leading to rushed (incomplete) passes, false starts, and, ultimately, a 3-and-out. The outcomes likely would’ve been better if they kneeled it three times. At least they would’ve burned more time and put more pressure on Michigan to throw with under 3 minutes to go.

The officiating was also subject to some criticism. There were definitely a few obvious missed facemask penalties, horse collar tackle, delay of game on 4th-and-1 that allowed a conversion, and some no-calls that might’ve even led to the injuries. They were egregious enough that the broadcast commentators made mention of several. In a game this close, every bit matters, and those very well could have been difference makers. You could argue they should have just played better and it wouldn’t have mattered. But of course we have to point it out.

Given the total penalty yardage for both sides in the game was 57 yards, the refs probably just let everything play out—Or we can claim our favorite thing here: CONSPIRACY. One of the refs, Chris Coyte, is actually a Pac-12 transplant. HMMM.

Good/Badisms

Good: Blocking the PAT after Moss’ pick six could have been huge, since a field goal at any point could have sent this game to overtime. It also provided a morale boost after a rough play

Bad: That being said, not being to drive down the field at the end to get into field goal range and taking a sack just outside of field goal range at the end of the first half could have gotten that aforementioned overtime.

Bad: Despite the blocked PAT, there were still some errors with special teams (too many people on the field, too few people, etc.)

Bad: Continued red zone scoring issues. USC currently sits at #77 (of 134) on red zone touchdown percentage

Good: Eric Gentry forcing and recovering the Donovan Edwards fumble that set up the go-ahead score. He also led the team in total tackles (12), tackles for a loss (3), and tied on sacks (1).

Bad: 8 tackles for a loss, 4 sacks, and a countless number of QB hits and pressures allowed by the offense.

Bad: Not being able to pick up a first down until the second quarter.

Push: Woody Marks got his second 100-yard rushing game in a row, and fourth of his career. More than half the yards came from that one run though.

Good: The USC defense impressively held Michigan to a 4th down from 1st and 6 at the goal line. If only they were able to finish that last play (or get the holding call, if you want to argue that).

Good: The #4s on both sides of the ball were extremely impactful. Woody Marks for the aforementioned reasons, and Easton Mascarenas-Arnold with some key tackles that weren’t flashy, but were crucial open field tackles that stopped first downs in the first half.

Really Bad: I didn’t proofread this time…like at all

Double CommBro Breaker

Somehow a Lincoln Riley team became a lower scoring, defensive team. While the whole team has things to improve on (including Riley’s own decision-making), a consistent offensive line would instantly make this a playoff team without any other changes.

Uplifting (?) Stat of the Week: Czaplicki has cemented his spot at #1 average yards per punt, more than an entire 2 yards per punt higher than the #2.

Uplifting Stat of the Week #2: While they allowed 3 big plays this game, the USC defense sits #13 nationally in allowing plays of 10+ yards

Semi-misleading Stat of the Week: The USC offense had an astounding 9 drives of four plays or less. Only semi-misleading because most of them were bad, but it’s inflated by two and three play touchdown drives.

Useless Stat of the Week: On that crazy fumble off of fumble drive, it went 6 plays for 66 yards. Are you superstitious?

USC vs. Utah State:

Posted on by commbro

#13 USC vs. Utah State (Home Opener)
September 7, 2024 at 8:10pm
Los Angeles, CA: 68,110 (of 77,500)
Total Time: 3 hours 27 minutes

On a week where many top 25 teams either fell or struggled against far less talented competition, the Trojans didn’t fall victim to the classic “trap game” scenario—a G5 team on a short week, sandwiched between two ranked matchups. Instead, they shut out the first opponent since 2011’s famous 50-0 season closer against UCLA. It’s always a good feeling when your team is playing third-stringers in the second quarter, doing mass substitutions by the third quarter, and still managing to score over 40 points.

Yeah, sure, it’s “just” Utah State, but a shutout against anyone, especially in the current day college football should be cause for celebration. I’ll probably spend 90% of this post emphasizing that. There’s a reason it hasn’t happened in 13 years. This was actually the first time a Lincoln Riley coached team has shut out against FBS opponent (other non-FBS shutouts include FCS teams Missouri State in 2020, Western Carolina in 2021 when Riley was at Oklahoma). Just take a look at the last couple of similar tier games from Riley’s past two years at USC.

TeamPoints ScoredYear
Rice142022
Fresno State172022
San Jose State282023
Nevada142023

None of these teams scored less than two touchdowns. The hard part when you’re blowing apart another team that badly is that your backups need to come in and continue carrying the shutout. A simple field goal kick could end that, much like the 19-3 score USC ended with against Utah in 2013. Since we’re on the topic, let’s think about the kickers for a second.

If you ever thought that placekickers don’t really ever get to do much, know that Utah State kicker, Elliott Nimrod, had even less than what you’d expect. He almost had the minimum amount of kicking done in a legal game of football. After the opening kickoff, he disappeared for nearly 59 game minutes before they trotted him back out to attempt a 53-yard field goal. In real time, that’s probably like 3 hours and 20 minutes—enough time for him to run to the locker room, complete two full REM cycles or the entire theatrical release of The Return of the King and still have time to warm up before that final kick. That’s participation prize level of play. In comparison, the USC kicker, Michael Lantz, had to kick 17 times (9 kickoffs, 6 PATs, 2 field goals), which is more times than Woody Marks ran the ball and only 1 less than the number of passes completed by Aggie quarterback, Bryson Barnes. Maybe that name sounds familiar to you…

If it doesn’t, Bryson Barnes, is the name of the Utah backup quarterback that (in)famously came off the bench to beat USC in 2023. The big storyline was that he was a pig farmer prior to playing at Utah. He transferred to Utah State in the offseason and was probably hoping for a repeat experience. Instead, the only thing repeated is the familiarity of the dirt of being a pig farmer, as the USC defense picked up its first three sacks of the season. Now that Utah is no longer on the schedule, perhaps this will provide the team some measure of revenge (or if you want to approach in a healthier way: catharsis).

Good/Badisms

Good: Receivers blocking, tight ends blocking and….even the starting QB blocking. It helps spring bigger plays and shows the cohesiveness of the team culture

Good: Redshirt freshman tight end, Kade Eldridge, dragging a man across the first down line

Good: The defense holding Utah State to 101 yards in the first half and the subs holding them to even less in the second half (89 yards).

Good: In the waning moments of the second quarter, causing Utah State to burn 3 timeouts just to throw an interception

Bad: The heat, the lighting problems, and a sad reality that the torch was almost left unlit for the fourth quarter.

Good: Backup quarterback, Jayden Maiava, out there playing backyard football against the Aggies.

Bad: Injuries and poor OL depth, leading to playing a walk-on center

Good/Bad: Former QB Matt Barkley getting so hyped that he headbutted someone…that had a helmet on and started bleeding

Good: When the team is running so well, they put the third string running back in during the second quarter. At one point, both Quinten Joyner and Woody Marks averaged over 10 yards per carry.

Bad: Receivers dropping some easy passes that would have been touchdowns.

Bad: The fumble by Lake McRee…although it was a very good punch by the defender

Good: The USC defense only allowed 2 out of 11 third down conversions and 0 out of 2 fourth down conversions

Good/“Bad”: USC’s first and only punt wasn’t until the 4th quarter—which ruined Czaplicki’s average punt yardage since it was a short field. His previous 55.3 ypp, would have been good for #2 in the nation. After it dropped to 50.25 ypp, he now sits at 5th.

Good: Seeing eight banners for the retired numbers of Heisman trophy winners.

CommBro Breaker

In case you’re wondering whether the blank subtitle was a mistake, it isn’t. The blank space exists as a way to sandwich the post in a meta reference to shutouts (and find another way to sneak in a sandwich reference as a call back to all such references I snuck into my grad school speeches).

Conspiracy Watch Stat #3: For the third game in a row, Miller Moss has completed passes to 10 different receivers. What is he trying to tell us? Is #10 Kyron Hudson his favorite receiver? Is he going to win Heismans #9 and #10 for USC? TELL ME

Ridiculous Stat of the Week #1: USC has only had to punt an average of two times per game, which is tied for #9 in the nation.

Ridiculous Stat of the Week #2: For the second week in a row, the old Pac-12 teams only had one loss (11-1 last week, 10-1 this week).

Interesting Stat of the Week: USC is #14 in the nation in opponent penalty yards per game (81.5)

USC vs. LSU: Battle of LA Schools

Posted on by commbro

#13 Louisiana State University vs. #23 USC
September 1, 2024 at 4:44pm
Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV: 63,969 (of 65,000)
Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes

On a sweltering normal temperature day in Vegas, the marketing team for the Modelo Vegas Kickoff Classic would have you believe this was the beach vs. bayou showdown.

Instead, they had a really huge missed opportunity in not calling it LA vs LA. But for the fans, the true matchup was Miller vs. Modelo, as they stumbled drunk to and from the Strip. The game also boasted a record crowd, which, statistically, also probably means record number of drunks in attendance. However, I was unable to find evidence to support that claim. Apparently they don’t keep track of important stats like we do here at City of Angles. And there are none more important than the pettiness of proving people wrong.

Lincoln Riley had become the target for a lot of hate in recent years. Some of the common ones were some form of:

  • Left OU because he was scared of playing against SEC teams
  • Begged to back out of the LSU game
  • Can’t play defense
  • Needs transfer QBs that were developed by someone else

It really only took one game to shut all of those up. Maybe LSU collapses somewhere down the road or maybe they were pretenders all along, but you can’t honestly tell me that the defense of last year wouldn’t have let this LSU team score 40. The LSU offensive line returned four starters, with two that are projected to be top 10 draft picks. These were the same four that blocked for 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels. Regardless of how you cut it, this was a convincing victory against a tough SEC opponent that could’ve easily been lost by a mediocre team.

This B1G-SEC matchup proved that USC was always being held back by the Pac-12…even though there really hasn’t been time for the change in conference to make a material difference in the program. This is basically equivalent to Chuck E. Cheese going by Pasqually’s Pizza & Wings on food delivery apps. They had quality, but the brand had a poor image that they needed to get rid of. I just wish we didn’t have to get rid of all the traditions and good parts of the Pac in order to get rid of the (numerous) bad parts.

Speaking of bad parts, this game was not without them. The sketchiest part was when LSU scored their first touchdown of the second half to take the lead. This was followed by: a botched reverse that resulted in a fumble (luckily, an attentive offensive lineman was there to recover it again), a false start, which all ultimately led to a three-and-out. It seemed like the team was on the verge of an implosion. With the still lopsided time of possession, the defense had every excuse and reputation of collapsing. They held out not just once, but with a three-and-out of their own the second time. The offense not only squandered it the first opportunity, but managed to burn two timeouts in what we all knew would be a very close game. Being able to rely on the defense to only give up 3 points on those last three to four drives (does the final 4 second drive count?) was a huge difference maker.

Good/Badisms

  • GOOD: Punter, Eddie Czaplicki, averaging 55.3 yards per punt (#3 in the nation)
  • GOOD: The coverage team able to limit a punt return to 1 yard despite the 57 yard kick
  • GOOD: A very casual sub-two minute drive, capped off by the former SEC running back, Woody Marks, scoring the go-ahead touchdown
  • GOOD: H-backs showing springing big plays, like the aforementioned touchdown run. You all know how much a like fullback usage, but H-back is close enough
  • GOOD: Miller Moss in his two total starts, had to throw under duress into tight coverage against top 15 teams yet managed to throw 370 yards a game and only one total interception. His quick thinking and ability to release the ball quickly and accurately, earned him Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.
  • GOOD: Defense able to make lots of open field tackles, limiting potentially large plays
  • BEST: Kyron Hudson’s amazing catch making the ESPN Sports Center Top 10…as the top play
  • BAD: Offense centering the ball for a short field goal try in the middle, which was missed. Could have been costly in such a close game
  • BAD: No offensive rhythm at the beginning, which made them grow dependent on explosive chunk plays to score
  • BAD: Offense wasn’t able to establish run game early on
  • “BAD”: Zachariah Branch getting tackled by the kicker on the big kickoff return. Remember when Baxter told Robert Woods “never let the kicker stop you“? Joking though, that was a great play.
  • GOOD/BAD: Bad is a player getting hit in the head. Good is Kyron hanging on to a 20-yard pass to get an additional 14 yards tacked on by penalty, a free time out, and ejection of their redshirt junior starting safety.
  • GOOD/BAD: Good is me making a post again after 2 years. Or maybe that’s bad LOL. Bad is I make absolutely no guarantees for consistency during this season. I will publish as my schedule allows. Or, again, maybe that’s good.

CommBro Breaker

“Here’s to the ones who dream
Foolish as they may seem”:
Notre Dame-Texas A&M
Georgia-Clemson
USC-LSU

Kudos to all these teams taking on tough matchups in their first game despite it being historically more beneficial to play a cupcake to bolster their playoff chances, especially in the expanded 12-team playoff format.

Misleading Stat of the Week #1: USC is undefeated against SEC teams in the ’20s (both the 1920s and 2020s combined!). They have literally only played LSU in those two decades.

Obscure Stat of the Week: In both starts. Miller Moss has completed passes to exactly 10 receivers, with none getting 100 or more yards. There must be some conspiracy theory we can contrive from this.

Misleading Stat of the Week #2: The defense has allowed 18 plays of 10+ yards, which is 114th in the nation. Luckily allowing some larger plays doesn’t necessarily equate to allowing points