Hanging with a bunch of Cal grads at a bachelor party this weekend. Go Beavers. Sign up with BetUS... they've got our game.
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USC (-11.5) over Arizona St
Which NCAA athlete makes Legarrette Blount look like Mother Teresa? Her name is Elizabet Lambert, and she used to play soccer for the New Mexico Lobos. That is until she went all ape-sh!t on some opposing BYU player's ass. Watch out fellas, when this girl talks dirty it's with a sledge hammer to your face.
]]>In the past, one could review the game and say the Trojans were just unlucky or if they played with a little more discipline they would have won. Not this time. If anything, the amount of injuries the Trojans suffered on the defensive side of the ball is a clear indication of how manhandled they were by the Oregon offense.
Saturday's game against Arizona State will provide great insight into the psyche of both the coaching staff and the players. Was the Oregon game just a set of unfortunate circumstances they can easily put behind them and continue Pete Carroll's perfect November record and put themselves in contention for a BCS bowl game? Will the Trojans fight though injury issues like they have in years past and put together a great performance or will the shaken confidence of a defense that has given up over 1500 yards of offense in 3 games lead to a debacle in Tempe?
Arizona State is not going to make it easy on the Trojans. They are led by the best defense in the Pac-10 and are fighting for Head Coach Dennis Erickson's job. This is also the second of back-to-back road games for the Trojans which are always tough.
However, this is a game the Trojans should win and be able to gain some confidence and swagger back on the defensive side of the ball. ASU has one of the worst offenses in the Pac-10 and doesn't possess a game-breaker close to the ability of Jacquizz Rogers, James Rogers or LaMichael James.
Keys to the game...
1-Trojans need to pass to set up the run: Cal Quarterback Kevin Riley threw for 351 yards last week in a narrow 23-21 victory over ASU. ASU does a great job of applying pressure and making it difficult to run with one of the best run defense's in the country. The Trojans should come out throwing the ball to send an early message to ASU's secondary which is susceptible to mid-range throws.
Once ASU's defense is worried about the pass, the Trojans should have success running the ball with McKnight and especially Bradford provided his knee is okay. Bradford fits the mold of Stanford tailback Toby Gerhart who ran for 125 yards against ASU.
More keys after the jump plus an injury update...
]]> 2- Protect Matt Barkley: ASU has a variety of blitz packages that can be confusing to opposing quarterbacks. The offensive line and running back/full-back have to pick up the blitz which will give time to Barkley for the mid-level throws.3- Keep it simple defensively and stop the run: ASU runs a weird offense that combines elements of the spread with a pro-style offense. Some coaches have commented that they don't have a true identity on offense which is leading to the problems they are having. USC needs to play a solid base defense with occasional blitzes that should rattle the ASU quarterback who is not very mobile.
4- Take advantage of ASU's undisciplined play: ASU has a few hot-heads (LB Burfict being one of them) and is penalized regularly. The Trojans need to take advantage of this and not get caught up in the way ASU plays.
5- Win the Turnover battle- Unless USC has truly gone from the best defense in the Pac-10 to the worst, ASU will need some costly SC turnovers to win the game.
Quick Injury Update:
*Tight End Anthony McCoy is out for the second week in a row and did not make the trip.
*Linebacker Malcolm Smith also out and did not make the trip.
*Linebacker Jarvis Jones is most likely out for the game with a sprained neck.
*Defensive Lineman Everson Griffen (Turf toe) and Nick Perry (knee) are questionable but should play.
*Fullback Stanley Havili should play.
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This is nothing new, but we came across these renderings on architectural firm RTKL's site.
RTKL made its name in sports by helping HOK Sport (now Populous) fit Camden Yards into inner-city Baltimore in the early 1990s, but since 1999 they've been cooking up the master plans behind LA LIVE, which reaches its completion in early 2010 with the opening of a 54-story building that houses a JW Marriott Hotel, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel, The Ritz-Carlton Residences and a 14-screen Regal Cinemas.
Back to the LA Coliseum... besides the NFL logos we can't help but see how this would be a drastic improvement to our Trojan sanctuary.
First there is respect for the original structure. The oversize jumbotrons plopped atop the Peristyle have been removed and replaced with jumbotrons exhibiting a more modern screen. The Miller Lite game clock removed to bare the Olympic rings. AT&T, Muscle Milk, and other garbage banners hanging from the colonnade are non-existent.
The roof canopy can provide shade to those in the bleeders and channel the awesomeness that is the noise of 93,607 down onto the field. Works for those fuckers up in Oregon.
The luxury boxes, eh... it's not really college football. But Ohio State's Horseshoe is a magnificent stadium. And it has suites and does a great job of balancing the modern with the classical, specifically the outer facade with the modern interior. Additionally, luxury boxes could open the way to bring booze back to the Coliseum. There's already booze at events that rent out the space below the Peristyle and just like the Founders Room at Galen Center, money would buy access to influence. And everyone lucky enough to know someone could go there at halftime and get back under the influence.
One more image of the improved Coliseum after the jump.
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Only bummer is the new stair design prevents us from doing this.
]]>With Allen Bradford and Joe McKnight nursing knee injuries, the coaching staff had no choice but to turn to Gable, last season’s starter and this season’s odd man out.
Gable made some nifty runs and drew praise afterward from Trojans coach Pete Carroll.
“C.J.’s ready to go,” Carroll said. “He’s been waiting. He’s done a great job being patient about it. It’s been hard for him so far, but he’ll jump to the call whenever he gets the chance. He’s a great team player for us.
“I don’t mind him being frustrated. I think he should be because of the kind of guy he is and the kind of competitor he is. But I think he’s dealt with it very well. He worked on the service team for us when we needed him. I think he’s been just right. I hope he gets the chance to jump in and play some more in really critical situations, because he can answer that call. He’s done it for years, and I know he can do it now.”
Corp doesn’t have the same wealth of experience, only bad experiences from what was supposed to be his breakout season. He did not land on the scout team by demotion but by default: Usual scout-team QB Garrett Green was needed to play wide receiver, another area hit hard by the injury bug.
With all due respect to Green — among the best athletes on the team — I can’t help but wonder if the swifter, more elusive Corp wouldn’t have better prepared USC’s defense for Jeremiah Masoli.
It was just three months ago that Corp and O’Dowd were the starting QB and center. Injuries derailed both, but O’Dowd seems to be on the comeback trail. I saw him pulling on outside running plays and looking quicker and niftier than he has in weeks.
“He’s looking stronger,” Carroll said. “He needed a break. We piled it on him, and he was willing to stay in there and keep battling. But we had such a good alternative with Jeff (Byers) and with Butch (Lewis) going that I think it was the right thing to do in long haul for Kris. I think it was pretty clear that it helped us.”
More from the USC blog:
Post from: USC
]]> Originally posted by Michael Lev, staff writer from USC, ReBlogged by rory on Nov 4, 2009 at 08:42 AM ]]>
If you don't know Rick Reilly (he's kind of a big deal), he is the guy that used to write those one page columns on the last page of every Sports Illustrated. He is no longer with SI and is now at ESPN where he recently wrote a piece about Matt Barkley. You can click here to check it out.
Not your typical frosh [ESPN]
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For four out of seven weeks of this NFL season, a USC rookie has won the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week award. Mark Sanchez won the award three times and Clay Mattews won in week 6. This week Brian Cushing is nominated. Cushing had 10 tackles, one sack and an interception last week vs. the Bills. Houston defeated Buffalo 31-10.
To vote for Brian Cushing click here.
]]>"We messed it up," Carroll said. "We probably tried too hard. Our guys, mentally, were bottled up with the stuff we were doing. We tried to scheme too much. We made mistakes that we normally wouldn't make, and we didn't play the way we normally play. It was just a disastrous outcome."
After Oregon scored 47 points and gained 613 yards, Carroll said the plan USC used is "going in the can."
