Washington State is going to beat USC this weekend.
- Thread starter Bodizephax
- Start date
SC is hurting. No contact practices this week. Helton: soft. His teams will always be soft. He is just too nice a guy. Week after week teams with less talent get SC into a struggle. So far, it has been super Sam to the rescue. CB, depth and injuries will get them sooner or sooner. They may not be on probation any longer, but they have not recovered from it’s impact on the roster.
I agree with you brother I hope they are undefeated when the Irish meet them
I kind of have the same feeling. I hope USC wins, but they could easily go down.
Said before that USC comes across as very confident, and seems to play to the level of their competition. They'll get their butts spanked with this tendency, but hope they continue to be undefeated until they leave South Bend in a month. Washington State is clearly the kind of team that can give USC more than they can handle if they go up there not ready to play. I
I'm concerned SC could be 5-2 and having a circle the wagons mentality by the time they get to ND. Don't underestimate Utah on October 14. And they have a mighty fine defense. But then again, I live in SOCAL. been telling every SC fan that they are way overrated because a QB is one player. He had a couple gaping holes in his game that were not clearly visible due to an excellent OL and WR last year. They are now rearing their head weekly.
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I wouldn't be surprised if we lost Friday or were 5-2 when we played you. Iy would be too bad if true. With Stanford already having two loses and probably a loss to Washington it will be hard for you to get a bounce.
Born in Indiana. I like the Irish, every game but one.
Beach, I really enjoy your posts here; and of course the rest of us love to talk about the SC game. That said, I think you could have given Holtz a run for his money when it comes to poor mouthing your team. USC is loaded with talent, and they are scary good when motivated in big games. They simply are not motivated when playing the likes of the Cal bears, and so they are sloppy and win on talent, not execution. In big games, talent and execution come to the fore and they are formidable. Hope like hell they are not 5-2, because if they are, they'll be the most talented 5-2 team we'll play this year.
Maybe. I look at a team in terms of how well thy play compared to their ability to play. It is my experience that few teams are good enough to under-perform and win. Of particular concern is out coaches' failure to adjust during the game. We can beat bad or average teams, but not good ones IMO.
I basically agree about your coaching after watching them play three games now: Texas and Stanford and Cal. I guess where we differ is my belief that they are very capable of beating good teams if they show up mentally ready and motivated, which I believe they will be for the ND game, regardless of our record. If they don't come to play this week, they very well might lose. My bet is they come to play and show well, at least on the offensive side.
Hope you are right. If we have the right game plan going in, we can win. If not, we just stick with it.
Maybe a different take on some of the issues discussed about SC. Texas was surprisingly motivated to win and played their best game to date. Herman's a damn good coach, he has the athletes, and he had that team ready. Winning that game was huge. I suspect Texas will be a force in just a very little time.
The O line is struggling but periodically get it together. We lost a couple of Sunday players off the line. As the season progresses we'll see them improve. RoJo was out last week. As talented as Stephen Carr clearly is...he's not RoJo. He's back this week along with Ced Ware.
The WRs are young. They're still learning how to run their routes and get separation.
Defense is good as long as Smith and Nwosu are healthy.
No byes this year leading up to ND. Hopefully SC arrives healthy.
The pirate is no joke and Falk is the real deal. WSU in Pullman is definitely scary. I like our chances with our RBs back and healthy.
The O line is struggling but periodically get it together. We lost a couple of Sunday players off the line. As the season progresses we'll see them improve. RoJo was out last week. As talented as Stephen Carr clearly is...he's not RoJo. He's back this week along with Ced Ware.
The WRs are young. They're still learning how to run their routes and get separation.
Defense is good as long as Smith and Nwosu are healthy.
No byes this year leading up to ND. Hopefully SC arrives healthy.
The pirate is no joke and Falk is the real deal. WSU in Pullman is definitely scary. I like our chances with our RBs back and healthy.
The fact that USC comes to South Bend without Adoree Jackson and Juju Smith puts a big smile on my face.
And frown on mine. We have a breakout WR or two, but Helton is choosing to go with three possession receivers. Really dumb and lets defense play compact and with single coverage a lot. It's like giving the D an extra player.
However part of Adoree's success against you was poor coaching. No one kicks to Adoree but Kelly did, and IIRC he ran two back. You'd think he would at least changed after the first one. Aslo when he goes in on O you focus on him. He only played three about three plays a game and Kelly didn't/. I think he ran outside for a TD or near TD. If Kelly had just treated him like every other coach you might have saved 3 TDs.
Our season was already in the dumpster by the SC game, and Kelly threw caution to the wind and called the game like a Mississippi gambler. I think he felt that a win would salvage the season with the alumni, and possibly save his job, but stubbornly giving Adoree opportunities was not the right bet. Our guys actually played a damn good game that day, but you wouldn't know it by the score. Adoree just sucked the air out of the fan base with his performance that day.
Let's, not get ahead of ourselves boys. I'm taking this season 1 game at a time. My focus is ND beating Miami of Ohio. I'll worry about SC when we play them.
Yeah, and if you think we are sooooo good we can't possibly lose to UNC in Chapel Hill, you are delusional.
Be easy on Beach -- he is one of the few posters from another school that actually adds value here -- he usually has good insights on USC that many of us don't.
Welcome to the ND board where USC is never far from our minds. Always nice to have a visitor to our board post pertinent commentary, as Beach always does. Thanks for sharing.
I appreciate the courtesy I always receive here. I also don't mind give and take. Most here keep such back and forth above the junior high level, which is unusual for a football board. Other than one poster who I think has now been banned, I have never felt anyone treated me unfairly. ND fans have a reputation for hospitality to fans visiting their stadium. IMO it extends to here.
Born Indianapolis, lived for a time in Lebanon. Moved to Michigan but visited my grandpa at Lake Ridinger(sp?) for many years. Still have family in Indianapolis.
Watching college game day, and they were kinda hard in them.
The QB was interviewed,band he was very humble
If SC was to win this game soundly it should build enough confidence to roll into the Utah/ ND stretch. Missing Washington seems like a break.
The QB was interviewed,band he was very humble
If SC was to win this game soundly it should build enough confidence to roll into the Utah/ ND stretch. Missing Washington seems like a break.
We, if we win enough games we will play them in the Pac-12 championship. Not playing UW or Oregon (usually) is a break.
For those who bet. Our top linemen caught a staff infection and will not play. Two other key backups also surprisingly out.
I'm not sure what to make of USC this year. They are undefeated, but yet don't seem to be in steady control of games. I think if ND had gotten just 2 more points and beaten Georgia, we'd look at ND as being a more dangerous team than SC.
Still early though. Both teams could be awesome or both teams could be greatly overrated.
Still early though. Both teams could be awesome or both teams could be greatly overrated.
Pretty good summary of SC. Talented team that under performs due to poor coaching.
Beach, Helton obviously has a good record and his permanetnhire was surprising at the time. Coaches usually own underperforming teams, and you've been clear that you think coaching and poor or no in game adjustments have contributed to your team's underperforming. Just curious, is this a widespread view and something being talked about a lot down your way; or does the fact you are undefeated override any concerns?
