Defensive Woes continue to Haunt USC
by Paragon SC on Oct 4, 2010 7:01 AM PDT
in USC Football
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PrintWe can debate forever the decision to call a pass play on 3rd and 4 late in the 4th quarter on Saturday night but the real reason USC lost on Saturday was because USC gave 500+ yards of offense against UW.
That is about the only way you are going to lose a game where you score 31 points.
Depth continues to be an issue.
Losing Malik Jackson on the defensive line and Byron Moore at safety has put USC in a position to play inexperienced players longer than the coaching staff would like. Depth is depth even if its not the best...giving your starters some rest keeps them from getting gassed at the end of the game like we saw on Saturday night.
This kind of says it all...
They led the Washington Huskies by two points with two minutes remaining. They had pinned the Huskies back on their own 23-yard line. It was fourth down and 11.
And then it was over, but not like you'd think, Washington driving 61 yards in 10 plays, ending with a game-winning, clock-killing 32-yard field goal by Erik Folk to give Washington a 32-31 victory.
Think about that for a moment...
10 plays for 61 yards in last two minutes. Talk about bleeding a defense.
They were gassed...giving up 400+ yards before that 10 play drive.
Of course the secondary really hurt us with their soft coverage, bad tackling and blown coverage.
Shareece Wright offers up some thoughts on the defenses issues in this video from ESPN...
The fact is the players are having a tough time grasping all of the subtleties of Monte Kiffin's Tampa 2 defense.
When you consider that the team only gets 20 hours of prep per week it is easy to see that it is going to take a lot time to make things click.
The Tampa 2 also is not the defense of choice to stop the spread.
I find the unwillingness to adjust chilling. The personnel that we have right now is not grasping it and we have a number of teams on the schedule coming up that play the spread...is it going to be more of the same?
Going back to the 3rd and 4 for just a moment, here is Kiffin's rationalization on the play call...
With USC leading, 31-29, late in the fourth quarter, the Trojans faced third and four at Washington's 23-yard line.
Rather than trying another running play — tailback Allen Bradford had carried on five consecutive plays — Kiffin called for a pass. Matt Barkley's pass to tight end Jordan Cameron fell incomplete, stopping the clock.
Kiffin said he opted for the pass because the Trojans had produced six yards rushing in the previous two plays and "it was not a situation where I thought it was four-down territory."
Added the coach: "If you kick the field goal there, now they've got to go score a touchdown."
I understand the logic but running the ball also takes time off the clock and even it gets you 3 yards closer (if you don't convert the 1st down) who knows how the kick attempt turns out. So then its on Barkley...that pass didn't fall incomplete, if I remember correctly it sailed over Cameron's head. A pass falling incomplete was Leinart's pass to Brandon Hancock in the Title game against Texas on the fateful 4th and 2 drive.
Barkley for all of his improvement needs work on his finesse. There are times when you need to rocket the ball in and there are others where you need a little touch...Kind of like net play in a tennis match...
There really isn't much more to say. I think it gets worse before it gets better because I don't see Monte adjusting.
The question is will that demoralize the team further?
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Does anyone know why Loco is missing in action
Wow the SEC is sooooooooooooo Bullshit
by so.cal.native1952 on Oct 4, 2010 7:58 AM PDT reply actions
he's trying to calm down?
"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea"
Well I hope he is alright
Wow the SEC is sooooooooooooo Bullshit
by so.cal.native1952 on Oct 4, 2010 9:34 AM PDT up reply actions
NO "D"... NO "W"
The key to winning in just about any sport is… defense. Right now despite a cadre of defensive gurus on the coaching staff the Trojans seem completely lost in this area. If the guys don’t get it and coaching staff can’t fix it… this season… the first of many,.. will be lost as well.
trojanWar
It's the NFL mentality
I find the unwillingness to adjust chilling. The personnel that we have right now is not grasping it and we have a number of teams on the schedule coming up that play the spread…is it going to be more of the same?
Yes. Lane and Monte are not going to adjust. That is the NFL way. Just like when Andy Reid was going to start Kolb over Vick until common sense set in, just like last last when Mike Martz insisted on those 7 to 9 steps drops even though the Bears O-Line was playing the Matador Pass Protection scheme. You go with your system until you are fired.
I understand that attitude for the NFL, because the talent is more or less evenly spread out, teams choose players with specific skills that translate to the specific system used, and any deviation for a system created in the spring fall camp with cause complete break-down mid-season.
In college, it is all about adjustments. You really have no idea what a kid can or can’t do when you are recruiting them as 17 year-old high school students. You go with the talent you have. You just can’t bring them into the program then cut them loose if you don’t like how they panned out, unless you are the SEC and you force players to take medical scholarships, because the Pac-10 does not permit oversigning and frowns on medical scholarships.
The best coaches adjust to the talent. Mack Brown has run three diffferent offenses depending on his talent, a more pro-style for Simms, an heavy run-option with VY and a more of a spread for McCoy, and if Garrett is any good Texas will figure out a style best suited for him.
Oregon changed offenses to take advantage of their best assets, their track program. Even the Weasel and Norm had left their traditional pro-style attack behind and gone to the Pistol.
But Monte will run the Tampa-2 even as UO gains 20 yard per carry. It’s going to be a long season, and perhaps a long three or four seasons.
Talking about Barkley is like talking about Locker in that they share the same problems.
They both CHOKE when they have to much time to think, they great at reaction throws or movement. It takes a couple of years for a player to learn not to choke or it could take forever, thats why PCs experiment went badly last year and is still in the early fazes today. Now the Defense was basically ruined by letting Brennan C become recruiting coordinator and now shows it, the last thing you want is a kid doing a mans job. Unfortunately USC AD (mikey g) didn’t step in and tell PC no on Brennan, it would be like Weasie having Jerry N do the same.
USC— IS WHAT THEY ARE NOW FOR 2 MORE YEARS—PCs and BCs BS
Wow the SEC is sooooooooooooo Bullshit
by so.cal.native1952 on Oct 4, 2010 11:05 AM PDT reply actions
Reason for Optimism?
First off, we do not exclusively run the T-2, 4-3. Against UW, we played nickel quite a bit and played some 3-4 using Galippo at elephant in place of Horton. The T-2, 4-3 is just one scheme in the playbook:
Everyone thinks that we play cover-2 every friggin’ snap," Barry said. "Tampa-2 is a part of our package and we play man, we blitz, we 3-4 under. Obviously we have had great success with it, but it is just a small part of our package. It has been adapted to the college football game. There are teams every week that we watch on tape that play our version of Tampa-2 so everyone’s doing it. -Coach Barry
Ok, that sounds good from Coach Barry. But, clearly the T-2 mentality seems to be our philosophy. A soft zone? Devon Kennard’s speed at Mike specifically so that he can run backward to play deep zone? Pete Carroll was a T-2 protege, but Pete seemed to blitz a hell of a lot more and I never remember Rey Rey turning his back to the line and running deep into coverage. Anyway, here is the only quote that I could find from Monte after the game:
They’re still just learning the basics. – Monte Kiffin, post-game UW Sat night
Holy hell, it’s game 5, and they are STILL LEARNING THE BASICS?!? For the love of god, perhaps this scheme is simply too complicated for the personnel if they have not learned it yet.
And yet, there is reason for optimism.
Kiffin oversaw a similar transformation at Tennessee in 2009. The Volunteers defense struggled in early-season games against Ohio and Auburn. But they improved markedly in a subsequent stretch against Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. The Vols limited the eventual champion Crimson Tide to a season-low 12 points and finished the season 12th in pass defense and 22nd in total defense. -OCR
Indeed, Monte’s defense held Bama to 256 yds and 12 points, and Florida’s Tebow-charged offense to 323 yds and 23 points predominantly using a Cover 4 scheme. So, if the Vols picked up Monte’s schemes successfully last season, then why can’t the Trojans pick up Monte’s schemes this season? Or, can Monte not adjust to a league full of spread schemes? Or, perhaps the USC defensive personnel pales in comparison to the Vols D last season?
I don’t have an answer, but I haven’t given up on this defense just yet.
You can't put sanctions on the fkn endzone! Death to the NCAA!
Tennessee Had Eric Berry
And Dan Williams, two players taken in the first round.
This 2010 defense has maybe Casey as a late second round pick (If he goes this year), and that’s it.
Don't forget
This defense was pretty bad last year — and we have lost key players. I’m not happy with the effort either, but you cannot expect a miracle — I’d just like to see some improvement.
Tell Barry I know a zone when I see one and if they are playing Man he must be a woman.
The dude is just stupid and maybe he should go coach a HS team somewhere, what a waste of money anybody could do better.
Wow the SEC is sooooooooooooo Bullshit
by so.cal.native1952 on Oct 4, 2010 2:42 PM PDT reply actions
The play call on 3rd and 4
It’s easy to debate it both ways until you’re blue in the face, and there are valid arguments on both sides, but to me, Kiffin made the right call. Cameron was open, and if Barkley puts the right touch on the ball, the game is likely over (barring a turnover).
These two things also play into it:
Bradford had carried on five consecutive plays
and
Kiffin said he opted for the pass because the Trojans had produced six yards rushing in the previous two plays
The dude had ran for over 200 yards….we kept saying the defense was gassed, but you don’t think maybe Bradford’s legs were maybe feeling a little heavy? And the alternative to Bradford is what, putting Tyler in the Wild Tirebiter? Are you really trusting that play to gain 4 yards? It was no sure thing to run the ball, except to take time off of the clock (which wasn’t a huge factor down the stretch for UW).
The result was a 40 yard FG attempt – it’s pretty well documented that this is on the cusp of Houston’s range. If we don’t get the first down, maybe we cut it to a 37 yard attempt and he makes it (he did hit the post, so maybe the few yards would have made the difference). However, what if UW stacks the box and sends you for a 1 yard loss – now you’ve just decreased your dicey odds with Houston and there’s no way you consider going for it on 4th. Lane was also right to call for the FG attempt, because if it had snuck just 1 yard left, Locker needs a TD drive rather than a FG one, which is a significantly larger amount of pressure.
A play action throw to the TE on 3rd and short should have worked. It’s unfortunate that the execution wasn’t there, but I don’t think you can question that play call as a singular reason (or even the 4th or 5th most important reason) we lost that game.
In fact, the realization that one of (if not the) premier football program of the past decade does not have a placekicker that can make a kick outside of 40 yards is mind boggling, to say the least. Even with scholarship restrictions, we seriously need to put a high priority on getting a reliable kicker; otherwise, we’ve already seen what a liability it is (and will continue to be). I think most regular members here were doubting Houston’s ability to make it before he even lined up for the kick – that’s definitely not a good sign. What could be so bad about Harfman? We certainly know he has the leg; can his accuracy be much worse?
That’s all I have the heart to get worked up over for now – rant over.
a few weeks after baxter joined the staff
We signed a top kicker and a top long snapper (yeah, a long snapper) to schollies. So hopefully this will improve.
"I have a commanding voice." - Ed Orgeron
by RabbitSC on Oct 4, 2010 8:43 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
+1 FO99
Totally agree with you. On Kiff’s post-game chat on ripsit.com tonight, he even says that Bradford missed some runs late in the game because he was fatigued and stopping his feet. The play call was perfect, but the book, and would have worked 95% of the time. Barkley will make those plays as a Jr and Sr. He BETTER make those plays then!
You can't put sanctions on the fkn endzone! Death to the NCAA!
The offense is evolving and maturing...
…into a strong run-first unit, but the defense is not only not improving it’s still lacking in fundamentals like: tackling, positioning ( not overcommitting ), reads and poor overall footwork – which lends its woes to all of the above. I keep seeing linebackers out of position and as a result trying to tackle a player that has just passed them ( arm tackles ) with the ball or guys not wrapping up when faced with a open field situation. FUNDAMENTALS ARE KEY!
has to be more...
to it than what I see. I see a better than average offense and a underpreforming defense. But the D must be a perfect storm of bad to ply like this. Talent, depth and scheme all make this a fail. There has to be a bigger picture cause I can’t believe the coaches don’t see it. I must defer to them and the players. I do believe in Lane as the right man for this job at this time. He wants to win more than any of us. He also bleeds cardinal and gold at a time when the collective college football world including the pac ten or twelve the whatever the hell it is wants to jump on SC and shit on them. This learning curve will be painful but I hope I can look back at this and say “oh I get it!” We need to stick to this team, it’s players and coaches right now. Any played can walk away, some with no penalties. The coaches can quit and they will get snatched up like that. But they are here and trying like hell to get us fans somehow to be proud of. So we can question what’s happening cause it sucks to lose like this, sucks to lose at all. But let’s buy the tickets and shirts and root these kid on. I will be there for the cal game and maybe some more game if work let’s me. Things could change faster than we think. Let’s trust the coaches. A few feet and we are 5-0. I want this to work out. F the haters and Fight On!
by USC_Fire on Oct 4, 2010 11:42 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
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