After missing practice for most of the week Mark Tyler had a pretty big game for USC last night against Arizona.
Tyler alluded that his strong game was because he had fresh legs because he didn't practice most of the week...we should be so lucky to have that kind of drive and determination. Even when Tyler tweaked his ankle again last night he wasn't out of the game for very long.
From the looks of it early in the week Tyler was hardly a sure thing to play let alone have the impact that he had last night...
Neither USC tailback Marc Tyler nor Trojans coach Lane Kiffin expected the junior from Oaks Christian High to turn into a workhorse Saturday night, especially with Tyler bothered by a sore ankle.
But Tyler gained a career-high 160 yards and perhaps more impressively, carried the ball 31 times.
"I wasn't thinking that going in," Kiffin said. "I wouldn't have been able to bet Marc gets 31 carries."
Tyler said he sensed it was his night around the second quarter, when he thought Arizona's defense started to fatigue.
Hard to argue with that all.
Good things happen when you least expected them!
Tyler has really come into his own this season and he has really showed some toughness the last two weeks...and he was thinking of transferring over the summer.
Tyler said he was in the zone...
"I felt like I was in the zone — I wanted the ball and that's what we needed," said Tyler, whose 31 carries were the most since Sultan McCullough ran the ball 39 times against California in 2002. "I felt like I was running north-south. To run the ball 31 times, that's crazy."
Yeap, he was a real workhorse last night.
This is the Marc Tyler that we have wanted to see for such a long time. After all the hype we heard when he committed to USC no one was really sure just how good he was with his constant injuries. It seems that he has overcome that...not getting injured but digging deep to overcome it.
That is ceratinly what we saw last night.
We still have a long way to go though. With three games left in the season now is not the time for Tyler to get too comfortable with a few solid games. Tyler knows this, a solid finish to the season solidifies him as the starter next season. Nothing is a given as you never know where the competition is coming from next.
This was a great performance by Tyler, no doubt but there is still work to do...