Game #10 @ USC Trojans Discussion Thread

[azthrillhouse]

He is being coached by an outsourced kicking and punting coach who is not on the staff because Ragle is useless and knows nothing about kicking or punting. So, he isn't getting the best training nor treatment. ST isn't too important with RR unfortunately. He does both K and P so I think he might have a pretty good shot at one of them despite the circumstances.

Right or wrong, this is how pretty much every NCAA team handles K/P coaching. RR isn't unusual.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootbal ... ng-coaches

[azpenguin]

He is being coached by an outsourced kicking and punting coach who is not on the staff because Ragle is useless and knows nothing about kicking or punting. So, he isn't getting the best training nor treatment. ST isn't too important with RR unfortunately. He does both K and P so I think he might have a pretty good shot at one of them despite the circumstances.

Right or wrong, this is how pretty much every NCAA team handles K/P coaching. RR isn't unusual.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootbal ... ng-coaches

From the article:

Nine Power Five teams use a special teams coach who doesn't work with another position: South Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas State, Colorado, Washington State, Stanford and California.

It mentions the chief issue - staff sizes. Says most ST coaches might be good with one thing but not the rest of it and that's common through all of CFB. Skowron is not the best kicker we've had, but he's by far not the worst. (He may be the best onside kick guy I've ever seen. Always gives them a chance to get it.) Riggleman has been a solid punter.

[azgreg]

[ASUHATER!]

So Wilson went from probable last week to out this week

[azgreg]

So Wilson went from probable last week to out this week

Plus, wasn't his foot last week?

[Machina]

I guess we should not consider practice?

[dirtbags]

damn, i was hoping scoob would be healthy by this game

[Merkin]

So Wilson went from probable last week to out this week

Plus, wasn't his foot last week?

Scheer tweated last week it was his knee.

[azgreg]

So Wilson went from probable last week to out this week

Plus, wasn't his foot last week?

Scheer tweated last week it was his knee.

Yep. Last week it was listed as a knee.

Two weeks ago it was his foot.

[UAEebs86]

[Newportcat]

Thinking about the game tomorrow, I will be there and I kind of feel like I was just sentenced to 10 years in jail and am going to turn myself in tomorrow night in LA and will quickly realize I am sharing a cell with Bubba, a 350 lbs beast of a man who just told me he bought a new bottle of lotion from the commissary and is so excited to share a cell with me

With these injuries it could get really really ugly

[UALoco]

Is it possible that the team has officially taken their foot off the pedal? Meaning, the injured players are just going to try to get healthy and not come back even if they can play in order to play next year wether it be for UA, NFL, or other. Also, since it is possible we might have new coaching staff, the coaches and players have an understanding that the season is "done." It just seems to me that there isn't any fight and we aren't going to see any fight until the ASU game where we always try to step up for the Rivalry and the Seniors.

[Sid]

Thinking about the game tomorrow, I will be there and I kind of feel like I was just sentenced to 10 years in jail and am going to turn myself in tomorrow night in LA and will quickly realize I am sharing a cell with Bubba, a 350 lbs beast of a man who just told me he bought a new bottle of lotion from the commissary and is so excited to share a cell with me

With these injuries it could get really really ugly

Yep. heading up at 3pm with extremely low expectations.

[CalStateTempe]

Glad I decided against traveling to SoCal for the game.

[Alieberman]

Everyone is expecting a bloodbath which is why I think we are going to keep this game close.

[CalStateTempe]

It is a matchup against absent coaches.


Zing!

[azpenguin]

Thinking about the game tomorrow, I will be there and I kind of feel like I was just sentenced to 10 years in jail and am going to turn myself in tomorrow night in LA and will quickly realize I am sharing a cell with Bubba, a 350 lbs beast of a man who just told me he bought a new bottle of lotion from the commissary and is so excited to share a cell with me

Dude, you have some weird fantasies.

[FightWildcatsFight]

Can we save our shocking lights-out performance of the year for ASu please?

Just keep the next two games respectable and explode in Tempe in 2 weeks.

[azpenguin]

They missed on some plays and opportunities but they came to play tonight. They got some confidence and hopefully it'll carry over to Utah. The fact that they smacked Kessler around so much was good to see and if they can make Wilson hear footsteps like that good things will happen for the Cats.

[azthrillhouse]

Awaiting my flight out of SNA, random thoughts without seeing TV feed or reading articles this morning.

Like:

• We came out with intensity and confidence when we had every excuse to go into a woe-is-us shell
  and
  when USC finally punched back, we counterpunched
  and
  RichRod did not accept a moral victory, still pissed (as he should be)
• Pressure on the QB - where the hell has that been all year?
• Two-back set - wasn't particularly effective, but nice to see the wrinkle
• Solomon & Randall on the field at the same time - same, hope we have some tricks up our sleeve still for ASU
• No Randall at QB - even though I had Randall in RAP, I think it's vitally important that we get Anu's mojo back - he is still going to be our best option next year, he needs to be able to play through his mistakes and (hopefully) learn from them
• Skowron - kept us in it
• USC Fans - extremely chill, other than the Scott Van Pelt looking d-bag that kept yapping at the Arizona section
• Song Girls - always

No Like:

• 4th Quarter Tackling - I know the guys were gassed, and we're thin, but...damn.
• Cayleb Jones - so much talent, but just doesn't have "it" when it counts.
• Skittish Anu - The light needs to come on for him ....he's great if he can make a quick read,and he's typically pretty good if the play goes to hell.....but in between, where he needs to make a second or third read....he doesn't seem to process info quickly enough and panics. I think the stat they ran in the Wazzu game about completion percentage based on how long after the snap the pass is thrown hit the nail on the head.
• Baker over Bradford - don't get that decision, OB needs more carries, especially in a game like this where you know it's unlikely we are going to be able to take it to the house against their speed
• The 4th down call - I would love to see a breakdown of our effectiveness in 4th & short in the RR era. We seem to go zone read exclusively & the QB never keeps. I can see where this could work if you snap it quickly but when we dither and the opposing coaching staff has the chance to signal a play, they stuff it every time.
• Tyrell Johnson's hamstring
• The poor Arizona fan that was too drunk to get his shoe back on
• RR 1-7 against LA.

This game feels like a rorschach test for an Arizona fan. If you're inclined to think that the program is on the right track but has just had a rough go of it this year w/ injuries etc., there was plenty of evidence for that point of view. If you think Anu is unsalvageable and the 3-3-5 sucks, you probably saw enough to validate your point of view.

I'm in the first camp, I think RR can get us to the promised land (if he stays, which I hope he does), but there needs to be some willingness to change our ways (and our staff), what's worked before is not going to continue to work, at least not well enough to get us to the next level.

[Merkin]

[*]The 4th down call - I would love to see a breakdown of our effectiveness in 4th & short in the RR era.

I have been thinking about the same thing last night and still again this morning. I know RR was going for the kill but that was the worst call of the night. Completely changed momentum.

[carolinacat]

I applaud RR for the 4th down try. The call might not have been right, but at least he pulled the trigger and went for it. As the game wore on, you could see USC was beginning to wear us down and that's when missed tackles happen.

Unless our QB or skill position play is far superior to USC (or UCLA for that matter), we aren't gonna win these games. How many guys on the UA starting roster would start for USC?

Our program is going to have its moments of success, but there's still too wide a gap on the trenches. We get beat up. Over sixty minutes, eventually the bigger, stronger team is going to make a big play (or two). To break through and get a win last night, we needed to get a big turnover to turn the momentum. We just don't have enough play makers to make that happen. I hope RR has some diamonds in the rough in recruiting, but it looks like we're stuck with the same bargain bin type players. Lots of heart but talent-wise they can't consistently outplay the LA schools.

I think Utah is due for loss. We handled them surprisingly well last year in Salt Lake, even with Anu out for the second half. How that happened I have no idea. Should be a good game.

Our mediocrity is easier to handle with ASU crapping the bed for three straight weeks

[Harvey Specter]

I have not seen it commented on elsewhere, but I thought Anu had more zip on the ball last night than I ever remember seeing... His armed looked considerably stronger than it has at any point in the past that I can recall.

My brother noticed the same thing.

[michcat]

I have not seen it commented on elsewhere, but I thought Anu had more zip on the ball last night than I ever remember seeing... His armed looked considerably stronger than it has at any point in the past that I can recall.

My brother noticed the same thing.

I honestly think that he is finally getting over the effect of his concussion. He looked much sharper last night.

[azthrillhouse]

[*]The 4th down call - I would love to see a breakdown of our effectiveness in 4th & short in the RR era.

I have been thinking about the same thing last night and still again this morning. I know RR was going for the kill but that was the worst call of the night. Completely changed momentum.

I had no issue with the concept of going for it - our defense was wearing down, living on borrowed time - keeping the ball and driving for another score at that point would have probably put the game away.
My issue is with the execution - you have a banged-up o-line against a big and talented front 7 that has pretty much prevented you from running all game, and you have no proven back that can grind out the tough yards....so you run up the middle?

Maybe it was a read and Anu made the wrong read, but it's still on the coaching staff to put us in a better position to succeed in that situation. Throw a fricking slant.

[Sid]

I have not seen it commented on elsewhere, but I thought Anu had more zip on the ball last night than I ever remember seeing... His armed looked considerably stronger than it has at any point in the past that I can recall.

My brother noticed the same thing.

Anu was slinging it. Other observations from my seats (tunnel 5) at the game: No one on this team has given up, our boys were freaking fired up! Juju is a punk. Always in the ear of our secondary, was hopeful someone would step on his right hand to shut that clown up. Great player, but he is a assclown! We sat in aisle 20 and in the front row a small section of non sc alumni were dedicated to screaming at our D-Line the entire game. Classless LA Raider fan is the best way to describe these knuckle heads. I enjoyed harmless banter with the real alumni in our row, they kept asking what team made the trip up to UW? Most were pissed they lost money betting on sc as they assumed they would easily cover the spread.

Skowran is a little pit bull, love this kids passion as he will not backdown to anyone. Keep it up brother, I dig it!

The crowd was yelling for Helton to feed the rock to the Predator. I think this kid is the next Reggie Bush, you could just feel that this would be our demise. We did a Hell of a job containing him imho the 1st half, but we just don't have the players to contain a player with his special gifts all night.

I think we can beat the Utes with this kind of effort is my takeaway. I also believe we would've escaped with a win had Nick & Scooby played. Props to the new kids filling in on the O-line as I thought they did a admirable job going against that monsterous D-line all night.

Time to go out and punch the Utes is the freaking throat!

Bear Down

[Carcassdragger]

I have not seen it commented on elsewhere, but I thought Anu had more zip on the ball last night than I ever remember seeing... His armed looked considerably stronger than it has at any point in the past that I can recall.

My brother noticed the same thing.

Anu was slinging it. Other observations from my seats (tunnel 5) at the game: No one on this team has given up, our boys were freaking fired up! Juju is a punk. Always in the ear of our secondary, was hopeful someone would step on his right hand to shut that clown up. Great player, but he is a assclown! We sat in aisle 20 and in the front row a small section of non sc alumni were dedicated to screaming at our D-Line the entire game. Classless LA Raider fan is the best way to describe these knuckle heads. I enjoyed harmless banter with the real alumni in our row, they kept asking what team made the trip up to UW? Most were pissed they lost money betting on sc as they assumed they would easily cover the spread.

Skowran is a little pit bull, love this kids passion as he will not backdown to anyone. Keep it up brother, I dig it!

The crowd was yelling for Helton to feed the rock to the Predator. I think this kid is the next Reggie Bush, you could just feel that this would be our demise. We did a Hell of a job containing him imho the 1st half, but we just don't have the players to contain a player with his special gifts all night.

I think we can beat the Utes with this kind of effort is my takeaway. I also believe we would've escaped with a win had Nick & Scooby played. Props to the new kids filling in on the O-line as I thought they did a admirable job going against that monsterous D-line all night.

Time to go out and punch the Utes is the freaking throat!

Bear Down

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! Great post!

[azgreg]

Look who's #5.

http://sportstvratings.com/michigan-sta ... 2015/3925/" target="_blank

[UAEebs86]

Look who's #5.

http://sportstvratings.com/michigan-sta ... 2015/3925/" target="_blank

That's cable only. The LSU-Alabama game isn't on there, for example (CBS).