PAC 12 Thread v6.0

[TheLonestarDUCK]

Who gets fired first Helton or Lake?

 

[Wamu]

@DJ

Congrats to your Bruins on the big win last night.

 

[socaljim242]

Some observations from yesterday.

USC - Did what they were supposed to do. They beat a solid G5 team by 23. I really liked what I saw from the defense. It's a bit early and it was still a G5 team, but it was the best the defense has looked in a while. Slovis was solid, the receivers were good and the running backs ran pretty well. I'm still not liking the o-line. The only drive where they impressed me was the last drive of the game. The rest of the game, they were average to below average. Also, this team still has to learn to finish drives. It could have/should have been 21-0 at halftime.

UCLA - They could be a problem. Especially if DTR plays like he did yesterday instead of how he played vs. Hawaii. I don't want to read too much into it because LSU was playing their first game and has been dealing with being displaced by Hurricane Ida...but this was the closest they've come to looking like a Chip Kelly team since they hired him.

Oregon - Fresno is a solid team like San Jose and they have a history of taking down ranked teams, so this isn't exactly like they struggled against some cupcake. But they also shouldn't be having a G5 come that close to beating them. Especially at Autzen. Some of it may have been them staying fairly vanilla, not wanting to give tOSU much film. But I also can't imagine that what they did see exactly struck fear in them.

Washington - Montana? Seriously? This is why you don't schedule FSC teams. Nothing to gain, lots to lose.

The talent at USC is all over the place except at O line but I'm still giving them a slight pass with freshmen Rt and LF tackles . The running game is garbage. Half of them are a snap to Slovis where he looks at the defense then he turns to his left or right where he hands the ball off to a RB whos standing still while any defensive player whos gotten past the line hits him before he gets his second step. Its just horrible play design and looks nothing like what a USC running play has ever looked prior to this OC. As much talent they have at the QB and receivers positions they can't get a push on third and one or two to save their life. When you can't do it against SJS I'm worried this will haunt them again.
The defense looked good but I'm worried about losing Nick Figueroa for any length of time. He's probably their most consistent defender from last year.

 

[DJ]

@DJ

Congrats to your Bruins on the big win last night.

I am a pretty optimistic fan but I took LSU -3....LOL

 

[trojanfan12]

The talent at USC is all over the place except at O line but I'm still giving them a slight pass with freshmen Rt and LF tackles .

Yeah, and they did put together a nice drive at the end where it actually looked a little like a USC offensive line. It seemed like the freshmen started to figure things out a little throughout the game. They even overcame a penalty to get a touchdown on that final drive.

Which reminds me, I forget to mention in my post...they only had 4 penalties yesterday. If that's not the fewest penalties they've had in a game in about 5 years, it's not far off. If they can just stay around that number all year, that alone will be huge. How many games have we seen them lose or at least struggle because they kept killing their own drives or extending opponents drives because of penalties over the past few years?

I thought the running backs were good, but you're right, the game plan is too basic. They did run for 160 yards after averaging 97 last year. But against better more talented teams, that basic running game is not gonna cut it. The offense is always behind the defense as far as development this early, so hopefully there's more to it and they just don't have it all installed yet.

I really think running some plays from under center would help too. Not only does it give them the QB sneak...but the running back is actually running when he gets the ball. lol

 

[michaeljordan_fan]

Which reminds me, I forget to mention in my post...they only had 4 penalties yesterday. If that's not the fewest penalties they've had in a game in about 5 years, it's not far off. If they can just stay around that number all year, that alone will be huge. How many games have we seen them lose or at least struggle because they kept killing their own drives or extending opponents drives because of penalties over the past few years?

There's no need to commit holding penalties against a physically inferior team.

 

[trojanfan12]

There's no need to commit holding penalties against a physically inferior team.

That's never stopped them before.

 

[michaeljordan_fan]

That's never stopped them before.

Fair enough. If they are successful at limiting penalties against say, Notre Dame...I'll be more impressed.

 

[trojanfan12]

Fair enough. If they are successful at limiting penalties against say, Notre Dame...I'll be more impressed.

Me too. Also, they don't limit themselves to mere holding penalties. They also like to throw in some false starts, face masks, etc.

Hell, they'll get a taunting penalty if it'll help someone extend a drive. lol

 

[Duckboy33]

UCLA looks good. DTR and Charbonnet are fun to watch

UCLA looks to be the best team in the PAC IMO. They dominated the LOS vs. LSU

 

[socaljim242]

Yeah, and they did put together a nice drive at the end where it actually looked a little like a USC offensive line. It seemed like the freshmen started to figure things out a little throughout the game. They even overcame a penalty to get a touchdown on that final drive.

Which reminds me, I forget to mention in my post...they only had 4 penalties yesterday. If that's not the fewest penalties they've had in a game in about 5 years, it's not far off. If they can just stay around that number all year, that alone will be huge. How many games have we seen them lose or at least struggle because they kept killing their own drives or extending opponents drives because of penalties over the past few years?

I thought the running backs were good, but you're right, the game plan is too basic. They did run for 160 yards after averaging 97 last year. But against better more talented teams, that basic running game is not gonna cut it. The offense is always behind the defense as far as development this early, so hopefully there's more to it and they just don't have it all installed yet.

I really think running some plays from under center would help too. Not only does it give them the QB sneak...but the running back is actually running when he gets the ball. lol

I tried to be as optimistic as I could and yes I know they won and beat the spread but it would be one thing if they scored 30 with the starters in the first half and looked good and started putting in second stringers and the game got sloppy. They had to actually play hard to get those scores in the third and fourth quarters against SJS. I've watched too much football to see that and not be worried. SJS had one receiver who was close to all of the USC ones as far as talent. They had one back that was decent. And they were still close in the third quarter. I was high on Grahm Harell when he got here but it's one thing to not have the running game going smooth. I never expected an great running game with him , just decent.The passing wasn't that great. How he can't scheme plays to get those WRs open against those DBs was frustrating. The talent on the USC side was so much better you should have been able to tell the SJS players what the play call was and USC should have still been able to do well. The only thing I can hope for is they used a very vanilla offensive scheme and they will open it up now. What sucks is Helton doesn't get part of whats killing him is his teams play down to the level of teams they should manhandle. To me it looks likes he's just happy to win a game like that. A great coach would be pissed off after that game. He probably slept good. USC fans didn't

 

[socaljim242]

That's never stopped them before.

LOL. That's true.

 

[socaljim242]

Yeah, and they did put together a nice drive at the end where it actually looked a little like a USC offensive line. It seemed like the freshmen started to figure things out a little throughout the game. They even overcame a penalty to get a touchdown on that final drive.

Which reminds me, I forget to mention in my post...they only had 4 penalties yesterday. If that's not the fewest penalties they've had in a game in about 5 years, it's not far off. If they can just stay around that number all year, that alone will be huge. How many games have we seen them lose or at least struggle because they kept killing their own drives or extending opponents drives because of penalties over the past few years?

I thought the running backs were good, but you're right, the game plan is too basic. They did run for 160 yards after averaging 97 last year. But against better more talented teams, that basic running game is not gonna cut it. The offense is always behind the defense as far as development this early, so hopefully there's more to it and they just don't have it all installed yet.

I really think running some plays from under center would help too. Not only does it give them the QB sneak...but the running back is actually running when he gets the ball. lol

I watched Clay Helton for a while during the third and fourth quarters and it was not reassuring. The best I can describe it is the look and actions of a pet owner at a dog park helplessly watching his dog bite other dogs and shit a few times. lol.

 

[trojanfan12]

I tried to be as optimistic as I could and yes I know they won and beat the spread but it would be one thing if they scored 30 with the starters in the first half and looked good and started putting in second stringers and the game got sloppy. They had to actually play hard to get those scores in the third and fourth quarters against SJS. I've watched too much football to see that and not be worried. SJS had one receiver who was close to all of the USC ones as far as talent. They had one back that was decent. And they were still close in the third quarter. I was high on Grahm Harell when he got here but it's one thing to not have the running game going smooth. I never expected an great running game with him , just decent.The passing wasn't that great. How he can't scheme plays to get those WRs open against those DBs was frustrating. The talent on the USC side was so much better you should have been able to tell the SJS players what the play call was and USC should have still been able to do well. The only thing I can hope for is they used a very vanilla offensive scheme and they will open it up now. What sucks is Helton doesn't get part of whats killing him is his teams play down to the level of teams they should manhandle. To me it looks likes he's just happy to win a game like that. A great coach would be pissed off after that game. He probably slept good. USC fans didn't

Yeah, but you also have to consider that SJS were MWC champs last year and they returned quite a few players. They also already played a game and to knock their rust off. So, while this was a team that USC should have (and ultimately did) handle...they weren't exactly some cupcake.

I think we'll know a little more after next weeks game. Stanford doesn't look like they're going to be very good this year, but at least it's a P5 school, so that should make USC go deeper into the playbook (hopefully there is a "deeper" lol) and we can see if they're still installing stuff or if this is what we're getting.

I'm looking at this almost like a "one off" type of season. They will either finally put everything together and we can go forward with Helton...or he will be gone. I don't see him keeping his job by replacing a coordinator this time. About the only thing that can save him is if some Covid variant fucks everything up again. lol

 

[Vitamike]

UCLA looks good. DTR and Charbonnet are fun to watch

Yeah, if Dorian continues to play the way he did vs LSU, I may need to stop referring to him as TRD.

And I just love this Charbonnet kid's play!

If he continues gaining yards after contact like he has in his first two with UCLA, he will continue an upward trajectory as an NFL prospect.

He is just not an easy tackle, and looks to punish a bit before going down.

 

[Duckboy33]

PAC 12 Power Rankings so far:

1. UCLA

2. USC
3. Utah
4. Arizona State
5. Oregon

6. Colorado
7. California
8. Washington
9. Arizona

10. Oregon State
11. Stanford
12. Washington State

 

[michaeljordan_fan]

PAC 12 Power Rankings so far:

1. UCLA

2. USC
3. Utah
4. Arizona State
5. Oregon

6. Colorado
7. California
8. Washington
9. Arizona

10. Oregon State
11. Stanford
12. Washington State

Not sure how you could have Washington above Arizona/Oregon St.

 

[Duckboy33]

Not sure how you could have Washington above Arizona/Oregon St.

They are still very good on the defensive end. Offensively they have problems but they also won't play that badly on offense every week. There's a reason the Michigan spread is still in single digits. It wouldn't be single digits vs. Arizona or OSU IMO

 

[michaeljordan_fan]

They are still very good on the defensive end. Offensively they have problems but they also won't play that badly on offense every week. There's a reason the Michigan spread is still in single digits. It wouldn't be single digits vs. Arizona or OSU IMO

I thought power rankings were based on performance.

 

[WABLTY]

I have a feeling the Beavs will be feisty. I think they're a little low.

I think you could shuffle up the top 5 teams listed and shrug your shoulders, though clearly UCLA has the best credentials right now.

Also got a weird hunch that sometime around mid season, Stanford is going to remember what they're about and give someone a bad time.

This feels like a cannibal year. We're all going to eat each other. I don't think anyone's getting out better than 10-2.