So the pattern seems to be open up 4-0

[Java]

Against cupcakes and a poor b10 team.  Create some alerts early on amid the plethora of inflated offensive stats.  Alerts meaning concerns.  Non competitive games being so for longer periods than necessary.  Big ten game being starters in and in doubt until late.

thennnnnnnnn. After going 4-0 going about .500 the rest of the way.   Ending at about 8-4.

that doesn’t digest well with me either.  But based on what we see so far it sure looks probable unless they hit that translate gear at home v Oregon.

Indiana.  Road

Ohio state home

Washington home

State Penn road

Oregon home.

look at those 5 and show me the victories   Uw?   Oregon?  Maybe   I’d say 50-50 on those   And Indiana and state Penn on the road?  Yeah   No   Ohio state is just on another level right now home or away

and the way the team played today.
wisconsin road

ucla road   Are 60-40% odds games.

 

[Daystalker]

What has USC done to deserve more than 8-4?  WR Recruiting is fine, NIL is plentiful, but what has the program done to deserve to get into the playoffs and win a NC?  This is a serious question.

[BigBalls]

USC is not a national championship team. Trust me , I know a championship team when I see one. I have watched my team win three of them and be on the cusp a couple of other times. Offensively and if the oline continues to improve yes. You saw us finish off the game running the ball yesterday. That wasn’t possible the last few years. Defensively, getting Stewart back will help but we are not dominating the trenches   , our linebackers are not great and our secondary is not good. Special teams gave up a momentum changing play.
Having said all that, let’s best Oregon!!!

[Java]

Well what more do you want?   I mean.  Recruiting is solid.   Offense puts up points.  Top recruiting class in nation last year and top facilities.

what more do you want them to do to exceeds 8-4?

btw they are not alone.  Right now imo the big ten has at least 4 paper tigers on the usc docket.  USC themselves.  UCLA.  State Penn and Washington.  All have proven zilch so far

[BigBalls]

We need a couple of more strong recruiting classes to build depth. The next two classes will put us back into contention. The class we are seeing on the field this year is an impact group

[Java]

Not to be negative but is it?  Yes it has some solid wr and with sims and Hines it appears that USC really loaded up on talent over two classes. I don’t know if the coaches knew that and that contributed to the departures of Robinson and branch. If I had to guess I would say that Robinson and branch post wanted substantial money to stay or maybe to keep their present NIL money the same and USC felt they had equal or better talent coming in at a cheaper price

 

moving beyond wide receiver I know it’s sacrilege to criticize Luke wafle at this point because at least he is on the field as opposed to Winfield. but he has 215 yard penalties in 4 games and I don’t believe he touched the quarterback once yesterday. USC got no pressure on the Rutgers quarterback

the game plan yesterday for Rutgers was to pick on USC safeties all day long  about 60% of the time it worked. about 20% of the time the defenders shut it down that would be Pierce and Brown  about 10% of the time the quarterback threw a bad pass or the receiver dropped it or there was miscommunication  and on at least two plays the strategy proved to disastrous by costing Rutgers 14 points on a 99 yard pick six.  and an interception in their own red zone that gave USC 7. I realize those are only two players, but that was 21 points and basically the difference in the game

 

I think the offensive line still has a hard time getting short yardage  I don’t think the secondary is as bad as people say you just notice because every time it passes completed we like blaming a safety or a cornerback. But clearly, number eight had his way yesterday

White shocked me was that USC came out of the locker room and dominated the Rutgers offense with their defense and as the game went on Hall of Fame Gary Patterson with systematically sliced and diced by a defensive oriented Rutgers head coach   I think if that game goes a fifth quarter the Trojans lose

As you know, I wrote my dismay, probably 17 minutes into the game, and I’m sure a lot of people dismissed it as dramatic  But in fact, at that moment, I was retrospectively being optimistic because the game was going to get worse and worse

[PasadenaTrojan]

Yes it’s called padding a schedule…it’s happened for decades

[Author]

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