Ten days, 14 players and nearly 5,000 words later, we have hit No. 1 on our countdown of the 15 Trojans to watch in spring practice. But wait. There’s more. Starting Thursday, we’ll begin our position-by-position preview of spring football, including three questions (and answers) for each spot. And remember, you can follow the USC blog on Twitter at... more »
Thirteen down, two to go. The countdown of the 15 USC players to watch in spring practice is nearly complete. For Nos. 3-15, see below. For No. 1, check back in a couple of hours. NO. 2 — RB ALLEN BRADFORD Profile: 5-11, 235, redshirt senior 2009 stats: 13 games, 115 carries, 668 yards, 5.8-yard avg., 8 TDs Why... more »
Taking a look at what to watch for as teams head into spring practices, officially ringing the bell on preparations for the 2010 season. Arizona Spring practice starts: March 5 Spring game: April 10 What to watch: The new coordinators: The Wildcats lost two outstanding coordinators -- Sonny Dykes on offense and Mark Stoops on defense -- and decided... more »
Here are some notes and analyses from our preliminary two-deep depth chart posted on Tuesday, again keeping in mind that it's still January and the season is still more than seven months away):Officially, if the depth chart remains as is, USC will have 11 returning starters in 2010, plus four other starters who have previous starting experience. The offensive... more »
For those of you who missed the USC-BC game or would like to watch it again, TrojanWire has you covered.
OFFENSE:
Despite missing 3 starters on offense (RB Joe McKnight, TE Anthony McCoy, and OL Tyron Smith), the Trojans did not miss a beat. Matt Barkley had one of his best performances this season, throwing for 350 yards, 2 touchdown passes, and 1 interception. Damian Williams had a career-high performance, 12 catches for 189 yards. The NFL is calling for Williams, but USC fans are calling for one more year.
DEFENSE:
The defense played tough. Jurrell Casey had a monster performance and Shareece Wright's return was welcomed and a positive impact. Wright had an interception and great pass coverage the whole night.
For those of you who missed the USC-BC game or would like to watch it again, TrojanWire has you covered.
OFFENSE:
Despite missing 3 starters on offense (RB Joe McKnight, TE Anthony McCoy, and OL Tyron Smith), the Trojans did not miss a beat. Matt Barkley had one of his best performances this season, throwing for 350 yards, 2 touchdown passes, and 1 interception. Damian Williams had a career-high performance, 12 catches for 189 yards. The NFL is calling for Williams, but USC fans are calling for one more year.
DEFENSE:
The defense played tough. Jurrell Casey had a monster performance and Shareece Wright's return was welcomed and a positive impact. Wright had an interception and great pass coverage the whole night.
The Trojans ended their season on a high note with a 24-13 victory over Boston College on a cold and rainy night in San Francisco. The disciplined performance (only 6 penalties for 36 yards) while shutting out Boston College in the second half provides the Trojans the positive energy they need going into the offseason.
Here’s a quick review to the keys of the game:
Avoid Complacency: One thing Pete Carroll tends to do very well is have his teams ready to play in bowl games even when the game seems like a disappointment. Despite playing in a lower tier bowl, the Trojans played with positive enthusiasm and the coaches had the team well prepared. The team seemed to grow up a little bit by avoiding unnecessary celebratory penalties and battled through mid-game adversity, especially Matt Barkley.
Stuff RB Montel Harris early: Though Montel Harris had a great second quarter, the Trojans stopped him in his tracks in the first quarter and were able to take a 14-0 lead.
Fortunately, he fumbled near the goal line in the 3rd quarter which allowed USC to maintain the lead and eventually open up a two score advantage forcing Boston College to turn to its erratic passing offense.
Confuse the BC Quarterback: 25 year-old True Freshman Quarterback Dave Shiniskie continued to struggle against a defense focused on speed. He was 14-33 with 1 TD and 1 INT. Against Virginia Tech, North Carolina and USC, Shiniskie was 27-64 with 2 TD’s and 7 interceptions. Once Boston College had to throw the ball to try and win the game, USC hurried him into quite a few bad throws and should have ended up with 3 interceptions.
Open up the offense while running Bradford 20-25 times: Despite throwing two interceptions, this was a very good performance for Barkley coming off a very tough November. Throwing for 350 yards and two touchdowns clearly solidifies him as one of the leaders heading into the offseason. Damian Williams was the focal point of the offense with 12 catches for 189 yards, however play caller Jeremy Bates did a good job of spreading the ball all over the field as Stanley Havili, Ronald Johnson and Alan Bradford (17 carries) got plenty of touches. Havili, Johnson, Bradford and Barkley provide a great base for the offense to build on next season.
MVP’s for USC:
**Damian Williams: Unfortunately for USC fans this was probably the last game that Williams will play at USC. His performance in the Emerald Bowl solidified him as one of the top WR’s in the country and a probable 1st round draft pick in this year’s draft.
**Stanley Havili: The best fullback in the country showed why some think he would be drafted in the late 1st round if he decided to go pro. Fortunately, Havili will stay at USC next season and he should get at least 10-15 touches a game next season.
**Shareece Wright: I predicted he would have a pick and not only did he have a pick but he clearly upgraded the defensive backfield. He is a special player that could earn All-American honors next year.
The Skinny’s keys to the off-season and insider observations on the program will be out later this week.
A focused Trojan effort should lead the Trojans to a victory over a Boston College team that plays a conservative pro-style offense, fitting right into what USC defends against the best. The Trojans also possess offensive speed, even without RB Joe McKnight and Tight End Anthony McCoy that Boston College has yet to see this year.
However, getting the Trojans to play focused and passionate in a normal bowl game will be a tall order for Coach Carroll.
Keys to the Game:
Avoid Complacency: Since 2002, the Trojans have been playing in BCS bowls so it is a foreign concept for the Trojan players to be participating in a lower tier bowl to finish the season. Typically, teams in this situation do not play with the focus and passion that is required to beat an opponent who is looking forward to knocking off a top tier program. With four losses including two where they were soundly beaten, the Trojans cannot think for a second that a pedestrian effort will win this game. Couple that with the loss of four big contributors due to academics or NCAA investigation (McCoy, Spicer, Smith and McKnight), Troy has no room for error.
On the flip side, a focused effort should result in a victory to help wash away some of the disappointment of the season.
Stuff RB Montel Harris early: Boston College Running Back Montel Harris has rushed for 1,355 yards this season and accounts for about 70% of BC’s offense when they win. He is a strong straight ahead runner who also possesses good break away speed. When Harris is running well, especially early, it allows BC to play it safe in the passing game and avoid turnovers. It will be interesting to see how SC fares against Harris. BC runs a very simple offense with uncomplicated blocking schemes which should play right into the Trojans hands. Against similar schemes this year, the Trojans were successful stopping the run but those teams didn’t possess a back like Harris.
It will be bad news for the Trojans If Harris runs the ball around 30 times and rushes for over 150 yards. . .
Confuse the BC Quarterback: 25 year-old freshman Quarterback Dave Shiniskie has had a solid year for BC throwing for 1,831 yards with 14 touchdown passes in a run happy offense. However, he has also thrown 13 interceptions and played awful against teams that mixed things up defensively and possessed team speed like the Trojans. Against Virginia Tech and North Carolina, both games that BC fell behind early and had to throw, Shiniskie was 13 for 31 with 6 interceptions and only 1 td pass. He ended up being pulled in the second half of both games. He does not do a good job of throwing the ball away against pressure and will literally throw it up for grabs at times. The BC coaches have been working with him on just taking the sack or throwing it out of bounds but the Trojans should still get opportunities at multiple interceptions if they contain the running game.
*Offensive keys to the game, players to watch and a little inside the locker room info after the break
Josh Pinkard's career as a Trojan comes to an unfortunate end with yet another ACL injury. Pinkard sustained the injury landing awkwardly on his left knee after getting beat by Arizona wide receiver Juron Criner, who scored the Wildcats' game-winning touchdown. Despite all this, he has been a solid cornerback and safety these past 2 seasons. While this injury is unfortunate, any negative impact it has to the defense should be offset by the return of Shareece Wright, now academically eligible and assumed the best cornerback on the team. Wright will likely play against Boston College in the Emerald Bowl.
Notable plays from Josh Pinkard's (6th year) senior season at USC.
So, the team is back at it this week as they go into bowl prep. A couple of interesting story lines are taking shape as the season comes to a close. I noted yesterday that Safety Josh Pinkard is out for the Emerald Bowl because of a knee injury. That makes things very interesting as Pete Carroll will now... more »
Slick Rick, what were you thinking? Here are my thoughts on Week 14: The hot post-game talk has been about Jeremy Bates/Pete Carroll's decision to drop a bomb on the Bruins after Slick Rick called a useless time-out late in the game. All I gotta say is, if you take a jab, especially when it's in a RIVALRY game... more »
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