Mustain loses the edge
by Paragon SC on Apr 18, 2008 4:51 AM PDT
in USC Football
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PrintI noted earlier this week that the timing of naming Mark Sanchez the starting QB for the upcoming season surprised me; it really wasn't a surprise to anyone given the amount of reps with the first team that Sanchez was named the starter just how it was done. As expected, it took some of the wind out of his sails.
"It takes a little bit of that edge away," Mustain said. It does (affect you) a little bit."
Maybe that is one reason he was critical of his performance Thursday.
"We sucked today," Mustain said. "We didn't execute. We made a lot of mistakes."
Mustain was unsure what Tuesday's announcement Sanchez would start meant exactly and whether it prevented him for winning the job in the fall. His meeting with Carroll cleared up some of those concerns.
"It was him just kind of explaining his thoughts or his reasoning," Mustain said. "I don't think it's a surprise decision they made."
For the first time in a few seasons a real battle for the starting job was set and we all wanted to see what these two players could do under that pressure. As I also noted earlier I wasn't sure just how open the competition was as you could see early on that it was stacked heavily against Mustain.
This was one of my key concerns with naming the starter so soon. Yes, it is up to the player to keep their wits about them and continue to compete at the highest level possible. But I saw no benefit to naming Sanchez the starter before spring practice ended, keep these two guessing even if it's a foregone conclusion. Keep the door open that way they keep fighting out.
Sure, Mustain still has a chance to start once training camp starts in August, Sanchez isn't out of the woods yet as he still needs to build a rapport with the O line and there are still some questions there. I just hoped that Carroll and Sarkisian would have waited. More on the O line later.
I'm disappointed that Mustain lost some of the edge but I am not surprised either, lets hope he kicks himself in the ass and has a strong finish to spring ball.
More to come...
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Compare and contrast
Like you, I think it's a good idea to keep the official announcement under wraps, if only to keep the two main guys working hard. The problem with announcing so early is the starter might get a bit lazy while the loser will lose the hunger.
Of course, for Cal this whole thing is also helped by the fact that Longshore is injured, so there is no way he can be named starter without actually doing anything.
But all in all, I have to believe that PC has a reason for doing this. It would be way out of character for this to be some sort of mental mistake. He's simply too good a coach to have this kind of brain fart.
Go Bears!
Kick Longshore to the curb
The life of Riley
The kid is elusive, has a good arm, seems like he has a good leadership quality, and is a competitor. He's just a bit raw, and JT does seem to like Longshore's work ethic. But, like you guys, I have faith that my coach knows what he's doing and will make the right call when the time comes.
Yea
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