Wasn't a very fun game to go to, even in the VIP sections :tongue2:
The wheels have obviously come off, alongside a very strong Pac-10 that I would argue is possibly the deepest conference this year as far as good teams go.
I think a big part of why USC generally only loses to Pac-10 teams is that we play them year-in and year-out, every one of them, and we haven't changed our scheme since Carroll got here. And once one team figures out a flaw, everybody does.
This year our defense is just flat-out poor. Losing our defensive coordinator this year I think has made a big difference, and it's showing in the lackluster play of the new guys who have been needed to step up due to tons of injuries and they haven't been able to. We apparently cannot stop the run against good running teams this year.
The offense is a shell of its former self... our best red-zone back is out for the season (Stafon), our best WR (Damian Williams) was out and will be, I'd expect for a while, with a high ankle sprain. Anthony McCoy was back this week but isn't at 100% and says his ankle injury still "hurts like hell." Havili finally came back for this game. But especially with a true freshman QB, consistency and timing is everything... and with so much rotation among the guys, it's been hard for Barkley to establish a rhythm lately. So the offense has become fairly predictable as well.
I think there are serious coaching problems.. I'm not going to be insane and say to get rid of Pete, but his assistants leave a lot to be desired. All of the guys that made this program what it has been (besides Pete) have left. Chow is at UCLA, Kiffin and Orgeron over at Tennessee (and hey, their D seems pretty good), and now Sarkisian and Holt up at Washington. The turnover in staff and, yes, the several NFL veteran guys from last year, has finally caught up with the team.
It was a pretty sad thought, my dad asked me at half how much I thought we'd lose by, and I said 30 points. Stanford's offense was running all over us and we simply had no answer for it, so it was like Oregon Pt. 2.
How crazy it is, looking back now, that USC was maybe the 4th best Pac-10 team this year, and still beat the Big Ten team that is going to the Rose Bowl. I definitely wouldn't have predicted this sort of outcome after that :tongue2:
Oh well. I guess all the big streaks have to come to an end sometime. I hope the team can rebuild and get some better coaching and come back a lot stronger next year.
