Fighton247 Board

The teams that beat Oregon have big, physical, penetrating defensive lines. I think we have issues in the middle, and beating them twice will be very difficult.

Great point about the importance of depth playing in the Pac 12. The pace of the games and the # of plays is exhausting.

The good news is if you put together a list of most improved players this spring on the USC football team several of those players will be providing depth.

Drew McCallister,Demetrius Wright, Anthony Brown and Brian Bauchum all had great springs. And that is just in the secondary. Anthony Sarao had a good spring. And Scott Starr, who could still be in HS, showed he may get some playing time.

There are going to be some surprises by players who were injured during the spring and a few of this year's recruits will shine.

I agree with both of you guys about the importance of depth.

Especially vs a team like the Ducks, keeping those guys fresh is a huge key.

USC needs to have a good third and fourth defensive ends to help give the starters a rest. I hope Marquis Simmons and Will Andrews help the linebackers. The no tackling worries me since some of the young players will be playing against spread teams for the first time.

I think Utah will have a great defense. Star Lotulelei is the best defensive player in the conference. He dominates. I think Utah is the one team that can slow down an offense due to their defense. Oregon is not playing Utah this year or that would be a great game to watch.

Stanford and Oregon will have good defenses. Stanford will add Aziz Shittu and Noor Davis to the great defense they have.

The two teams I think will have good defenses are California and Washington. Justin Wilcox will improve Washington's defense. I think Shaquille Thompson will be great this season.

I think the defenses in the Pac 12 will be great this season. If USC can develop good back ups I think the the defense will be great. I think Gerald Bowman and Kevon Seymour could probably play this year on the defense and make an impact. The coaches will probably redshirt Gerald Bowman and Kevon Seymour to save their eligibility.

I think the new kick off rules will help USC. The field position will help the defense. The special teams has struggled with kick off returns and the rules will help the team.

Good observations.

Fast is one thing. Playing fast is what you want to see. And I'm hoping USC is going to do just that. Marvin Sanders was an incredible, "get" for USC. He is aggressive and a good teacher. Having Sanders join Monte Kiffin, who is now in his 3rd season in the Pac 12, and Orgeron, who is an old hand, rounds out the defensive coaching staff. The third time could be the charm for Monte Kiffin.

Orgeron is pushing for even more pressure on the QB, and Sanders has the CBs making much more aggressive moves to the football. No more bend and break defense. It's bend and break the opposing offense.

USC has recruited and put together the kind of defense that they think fits well against Pac 12 offenses. Tavai and Woods at NT could be greater than the sum of their parts, because the compliment each other very well. Tavai can really move, and Woods will not be moved. So you can use them as down and distance demands.

When I do the math and add up what's on the depth chart and add it to the coaching staff, I think we are going to see a defense that is greater than the sum of it's parts.

Tony Burnett was catching on fast at LB. He is fast and a sure tackler. And he as tough as anyone on the Trojan team. I know he was a track athlete, but he has the mindset of a track on a tank.

You have to be prepared to beat Oregon. You can get players healthy during the time you prepare for a bowl. And you have to practice against what Oregon is doing. What's hard is trying to simulate what Oregon does in practice. The Ducks bring players in in rapid fire. The Ducks practice like a rolling ball of butcher knives.

The Ducks made mistakes for three quarters against USC, but still could have tied the game with time running out. The can now murder you with STs and De'Anthony Thomas.
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I'm glad the changed the KO rule. Did you see Hedari kicking from the 35 yard line at the huddle. He was booming the ball out of the end zone. Albarado had a good punting spring. We may see him on long punts and Negrete on short punts. Although Negrete has a very strong leg.

You do want starters back who have played against Oregon. USC has depth that has also seen them as well. USC will need to be physically prepared. by the time the Trojans play Oregon their QB will have plenty of experience.

This is the year to chase the Ducks off the Coliseum lawn.

I think we need to handle DAT on Special Teams the same way we handled DeSean Jackson

Which was, DON"T KICK TO HIM

EVER

I would not be surprised to see USC handle Oregon like they did in 08. Or 06. A 55-20 kind of game would not surprise me in the least.

...Nor would it surprise me if USC only plays Oregon once in 2012. I don't think USC will be the only game Oregon puts in their loss column.

Worst call in the game was the intentional grounding call against Barkley when his WR broke the wrong way

Yeah I had forgotten about that horrifyingly stupid call.

I think it's a tie between that and calling DAT's catch a TD when he was two feet out of bounds and the ref was staring at him from 10 feet away.