USC Instant Analysis

I genuinely don't know how to feel. That could have been a lot worse... or a whole lot better. Feels like one big missed opportunity...

Goats:
(1) Cally, Norvell, and anyone else involved in calling the offensive plays. Power-I, between-the-tackles, sweep-left, etc. can only work so many times against a team as talented as SC. I kept thinking they were trying to set up play-action to take advantage of the Trojans' aggressiveness and team speed but that just never happened. I thought it made sense to play conservatively at the end of the 1st half. Coming out after the half with the same conservative play-calling made no sense AT ALL. The I-backs moved the football fairly well at times, but no threat of the deep ball (or ANY ball!) allowed the USC LB's to read the blocking scheme and fill the gaps. What's the point of shifting so much to create personnel mismatches just to pound it up the middle?  So, so, SO frustrating to watch.

(2) The secondary. We knew this was a weakness, but I was not expecting this. It would be understandable if Jones and Grixby lost a lot of jump-balls or were outmuscled once in a while. But they were out of position, consistently too deep on short-yardage situations and bit on almost every juke and double move. With the exception of USC's 3-and-out to start the 2nd half, the secondary just didn't show up. I don't know if it was a scheme problem or a performance problem. It was just problematic.

Lambs:
(1) The D-line played about as well as I could have hoped. They got some pressure in spurts. Cryer and Suh seemed to always be in the backfield. Until the fourth quarter it didn't seem like SC's ground attack did much of anything. Credit the front four and McKeon for that.

(2) Greg Austin. He pulled on a lot of the successful running plays and had the key block on Taylor's touchdown. If/When Mann comes back, I feel a bit more confident running the ball between the hashes than I did last season.

(3) Brandon Rigoni. I just love the way he covers punts and kickoffs.

Defining Moments:
(1) Lucky's fumble. Killed any kind of momentum we may have had coming out after the half. Forced a 3-and-out only to give it back in our own end. That's when I knew this probably wasn't our night.

(2) USC's 6-minute TD drive to start the 4th. That's how ball-control is done.

Burning Questions:
(1) It's time to start asking about Callahan's ability to prepare for "the big game." I have absolute faith in his ability to X-and-O against anybody, BUT he seems unwilling to trust his playmakers when the game is on the line. Herian had one catch? Did we hear from Nate Swift?  Moreover, no one on the offense seemed to have fire or confidence. Remember C.Ross in the Alamo Bowl? Where was that sense of urgency?

(2) How do we patch up the secondary? If tonight looked bad, what's gonna happen when Mack Brown and Colt McCoy spread 'em five wide in October? Has anyone seen Mizzou's offense yet this year? Yikes.

(3) What's up with the Big 12? ISU loses to Iowa close. Colorado falls to ASU. Oklahoma goes down at Oregon. TCU blanks the Tech offense. Baylor loses to Wazzu. The Manginos lose in OT to Toledo. A&M is in a fight with Army? Seriously! At this point I think any conference loss counts as a bad loss. This is not good.

(4) Are we still a top-25 team? Probably, but just barely.

(5) Does Lee Corso sleep in a white padded room? Trying to get pre-game comments from Traveler may have been the dumbest thing I've ever seen him do (and I NEVER miss College GameDay).

News and Notes:
(1) Chris Leak and Urban Meyer are for real. So is Erik Ainge. Best game of the weekend.
(2) SEC West football is really boring to watch.
(3) Verne Lundquist is to Brent Musburger as Tom Osborne is to Gerry Faust.
(4) Pac-10 officials can't measure ten yards. Exhibit 1-A: Oregon's onside kick.
(5) Chuck Amato should be out after this year (lost by 20 to Southern Miss the week after losing to Akron).
(6) Tommy Bowden owns Bobby's soul.
(7) Larry Coker may be too old for this.
(8) I can't stand Bobby Petrino, but UL will challenge West Virginia. Dammit.
(9) Apparently no one likes the new clock rules. If they affect everyone equally, what's the problem?
(10) Finally, as a Creighton grad, I took immense pleasure in watching Notre Dame fall HARD! Brady Quinn is nothing special. Charlie Weiss isn't great (yet). Maybe now I won't have to hear about the golden dome and touchdown Jesus every five minutes. Good riddance!

My top five:

1. Ohio State
   
2. Auburn
   
3. USC
   
4. West Virginia
   
5. Michigan