USC's offense looked anemic with first time starter Aaron Corp at the helm. The USC defense does a pretty good job.
I can't say I am really surprised with today's performance. And I am not going to get upset over it. SC did not do what they were supposed to do to win this game.
Simple as that...
Here is the Box Score.
This was not about USC going through a letdown after an emotional win. This wasn't about Sarkisian teaching his mentor a lesson. This was about a team that just seems that they are not as good as we have expected them to be.
Lets talk about Aaron Corp first.
Lets be honest...Aaron Corp is not the guy to lead this team. I do not care that it is his first start Barkley went through the same thing last week, he came through. It is clear that Corp has the talent but he has had three years in the system and he did not instill confidence in the offense the way Barkley did last week. Barkley is not perfect either but he at least got us the win and that is ll that matters...
I am not interested in hearing that PC did not do Corp any favors by making his decision as to who would start at the last minute. If Corp wants to be the starter he should be ready to go at all times. Heck, he got all of the first snaps during the week what more could he want. he looked tentative and forced a good number of his throws into coverage and he finally paid for it when UW picked him off to stop another drive deep in UW territory. I am puzzled as to why Bates and Morton didnt call more bootlegs or any play action plays. I can't possibly know what they are thinking but I am not smart enough to second guess them but I am curious as to why we didn't see more of that.
SC was running the ball pretty good in the first quarter only to go away from it...I don't know why? They were getting chunks of yards and the O line was generating some nice push but there were also some times when the O line was getting pushed back on their heels.
I can't explain it...all that talent and all those expectations but guys were just not executing.
A minimum of 4 potential scoring drives...3 lost to turnovers one to poor clock management at the end of the first half. even on the plays where SC recovered their own fumble I found myself just shaking my head. I have no idea how these guys lost focus in not protecting the ball...
The defensive front played a great game I really could not be happier in their over all performance. The secondary on the other hand looked lost without Taylor Mays and Sarkisian and Holt took advantage of the soft zone coverage that let UW hang around in the first half.
In the second half showed that SC just could not get things going. UW just had the momentum and even though the defense kept them form scoring any TD's UW did get a FG mid-way in the 4th Qtr.
SC finally responded with a nice drive that also resulted in a field goal of their own. They had some nice runs on that drive but they could not punch it in inside the UW 10-yard line.
UW moves the ball down the field for the FG as time runs out and the rest is history...
i just can't get upset over it because I saw this coming. I was primed for it.
I mean its not like we haven't been through it before so we will regroup and get back at it