Weird they would decide to fire a coach before the USC game….
we are usually their season.

I mean, have they watched our defense at all this year??

7 minutes- from 23:00 min mark to the 30:00 min mark. 👇

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Who is Bari Weiss 👇

SC 34
ugly 21

Beat that ass like a rented little brother!

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the game tomorrow. I want to go on record (with my sons hot take) as saying Aranda would NOT be a home run hire. Would the defense be better? Probably…couldn’t get worse. However, if he is not known as a home run recruiter he won’t attract the cream of the cream talent SC needs. Yes, you need to develop the players, but don’t tell me Georgia has a bunch of 3*’s they’re developing. Utah is the feel good story in terms of developing their players defensively, but they still haven’t won the big prize. We need a great recruiter who has a hard a$$ brand of defense. Furthermore, we believe the DC would be great to have a strong personality to balance out LR’s laid back demeanor. Please check me if I am wrong in a couple years.

Instead of beating a dead horse on the Oregon loss where many of the issues were the same as in previous defeats, Tajwar skewed a little more big-picture, over-arching with his critiques this week ...

Here is the early PFF data ...

OFFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS (GAME GRADES)

QB Caleb Williams -- 67 (90.7)
LT Jonah Monheim -- 67 (73.2)
LG Emmanuel Pregnon -- 67 (58.6)
C Justin Dedich -- 65 (62.2)
RG Mason Murphy -- 67 (51.0)
RT Jarrett Kingston -- 67 (62.9)
WR Tahj Washington -- 56 (67.9)
WR Brenden Rice -- 43 (83.2)
TE Lake McRee -- 41 (48.8)
RB MarShawn Lloyd -- 31 (66.7)
RB Austin Jones -- 31 (60.9)
WR Kyron Hudson -- 30 (61.9)
WR Zachariah Branch -- 28 (57.7)
WR Duce Robinson -- 25 (59.9)
WR Ja'Kobi Lane -- 20 (52.5)
WR Dorian Singer -- 17 (72.6)
WR Mario Williams -- 11 (57.9)
C Kilian O'Connor -- 2
TE Carson Tabaracci -- 1
TE Jude Wolfe -- 1

-This was Ja'Kobi Lane's fourth game played (San Jose State, Nevada and Stanford) and a season-high snaps, but he's probably done now so he can save his redshirt. He got 1 target Saturday (which was incomplete).
-Mario Williams' 11 snaps tied a season-low (Utah), as did his 1 target and 0 receptions.
-After playing a combined 21 snaps over the first six games after the bye, Duce Robinson has now logged 24 and 25 snaps the last two games.
-Brenden Rice had a team-high 10 targets (5 more than anyone else) but hauled in only 5 of them (for 81 yards and a TD).
-The only official drop PFF counted was by Zachariah Branch.
-Of MarShawn Lloyd's 37 rushing yards, 27 came after contact -- that speaks how little space there was to operate up front.
-Mason Murphy had an unsightly 24.4 pass-blocking grade. He allowed 5 pressures (0 sacks). The only good pass-blocking grade went to Jonah Monheim (80.0, 2 pressures allowed), while the others were average. Emmanuel Pregnon also allowed 5 pressures (0 sacks), Jarrett Kingston allowed 3 pressures (2 sacks), Justin Dedich allowed 2 pressures (1 sack).
-Caleb Williams was just 5 of 11 on passes of 10 or more yards downfield.
-This doesn't sound right, but PFF has Williams being under pressure on only 16 of his 38 dropbacks. I would have guessed 35/38.

DEFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS (GAME GRADES)

S Calen Bullock -- 71 (36.3)
S Max Williams -- 70 (55.4)
LB Mason Cobb -- 68 (56.3)
CB Prophet Brown -- 65 (56.9)
DT Bear Alexander -- 59 (64.3)
CB Domani Jackson -- 59 (57.0)
DE Solomon Byrd -- 50 (64.8)
RUSH Jamil Muhammad -- 47 (46.2)
LB Raesjon Davis -- 42 (58.5)
DT Tyrone Taleni -- 36 (70.4)
CB Christian Roland-Wallace -- 33 (64.2)
NK Tre'Quon Fegaans -- 38 (71.5)
DT Kyon Barrs -- 28 (52.7)
RUSH Romello Height -- 21 (48.0)
LB Shane Lee -- 21 (51.5)
DT Stanley Ta'ufo'ou -- 17 (49.5)
DE Jack Sullivan -- 12 (66.5)
LB Tackett Curtis -- 11 (65.2)
S Christian Pierce -- 11 (54.2)
CB Makai Lemon -- 11 (67.8)
RUSH Braylan Shelby -- 9 (61.2)
RUSH Anthony Lucas -- 9 (55.3)
DT Elijah Hughes -- 2
S Bryson Shaw -- 1

-Pretty telling that the first game after Alex Grinch is gone, Bryson Shaw plays only 1 snap despite the struggles Max Williams and Calen Bullock had. Shaw hadn't played fewer than 16 snaps in any other game this season.
-The 28 snaps were a season-high for Tre'Quon Fegans, who played 14 last week and 5 at Cal.
-Makai Lemon has not switched positions permanently, but he was needed at CB with the Ceyair Wright and Jacobe Covington out.
-Prophet Brown had played just 60 snaps all season before playing 65 Saturday. He gave up just 1 reception for 16 yards on 3 targets.
-Raesjon Davis' 42 snaps were his second-most this season (60 vs. Nevada). He hadn't played since the Utah game. He finished with 4 tackles.
-USC had just 3 pressures, per PFF. That's hard to comprehend. Solomon Byrd had 2 and Bear Alexander had the other. The pass rush has gone off a cliff the last month.
-Mason Cobb had 5 missed tackles, Calen Bullock had 2 and Tackett Curtis, Standley Ta'ufo'ou and Domani Jackson had 1 each.
-Christian Roland-Wallace was only targeted twice, giving up 2 receptions for 89 yards. Domani Jackson was targeted twice, giving up 2 receptions for 70 yards. Not a good day for the cornerbacks.

If such things interest you …

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I don’t play the “look at his gloves!” game. It’s all for attention and rarely means anything. But, there ya have it.

A closer look at UCLA ahead of tomorrow:

Some pretty crazy defensive stats for the Bruins, like how they've allowed only one 300-yard passer all season and have held 7/10 teams under 100 rushing yards, including some extreme totals.

Our deep dive on the matchup:

Apparently had surgery on his wrist. I wonder if we see him in a Trojan uniform again. Hope so.

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Lots of thoughts here ...

The latest:

... on balancing life, academics, and football.


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A new occupation is not a great prospect, but it’s the only one.​

Let that reality sink in…

Trump’s deranged Veterans Day speech attacking his political opponents and any person who disagrees with him was par for the course. Yes, it was deranged. It was also carefully calculated.

Calling his enemies “vermin” is the true evolution of the man who descended the escalator in 2015. Everyone in the pro-democracy movement needs to be aware of it.

It was intentional. And stolen straight from Hitler and Mussolini and other fascist dictators. We can’t let the media normalize or dismiss it. We must call it what it is.

It’s all a part of his attempt to dehumanize and delegitimize opposition in this country. It’s a step further than what we saw from him when he first took office in 2017. Any last moderate Republican, Democrats, the court system – his message in 2024 is to “other” us. It’s to splinter the fabric of our country in two and tear down our democracy with it.

That’s why this descent into Nazi rhetoric is intentional. He knows that injecting our politics with that level of vitriol is the only way back to power.

It doesn’t just stop at Trump. Look at the men he’s surrounding himself with. Bannon and the rest of the alt-right mob are planning for a wholesale demolition of our country’s civil service. Yes, the non-political public servants who keep our government running fall into the “vermin” category too. Anyone not on bended knee to Dear Leader is vermin.

The parallels between this latest stage of Trump and Hitler don’t stop there.

As Republican primaries take place early next year, Trump will be sitting in courtrooms up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Much like Adolf Hitler during his trial following the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, Trump will use these trials to draw our collective attention back to him.

In doing so, he’ll demonize the prosecutors and the judges. And he’ll do it because he knows that the deeper he digs into the chaos matrix, the greater chance he has at taking back the White House. And the media is going to essentially shrug their shoulders and say “oh, look at that Trump again!” – treating him like a novelty toy instead of the most dangerous threat to democracy we’ve faced. Even worse, they’re probably going to try to both-sides and find something controversial or some measure of scandal from President Biden. Do not buy the “both candidates have the threat of impeachment” BS.

That’s the only way Trump wins, by letting his Hitlerian rhetoric go unanswered and to let the unfettered chaos machine that is MAGA steamroll everything.

But there’s good news. We know what the pro-democracy coalition needs to do beat him: Make the case for the future - for why Joe Biden is the president we need in this time, and remind voters the choice they’re making: A country calmed by a steady hand, or a world inflamed by a man only running for president to keep himself out of prison.

Just got back from a great several days out in the wilds. Anchored outside, coming in today. So glad to see nothing has changed; hair-on-fire has not abated. I will resume the fight for democracy later on today, but fist, let me end with this:

Trump quoting Hitler is not accidental and not coincidental

Trump’s deranged Veterans Day speech attacking his political opponents and any person who disagrees with him was par for the course. Yes, it was deranged. It was also carefully calculated.

Calling his enemies “vermin” is the true evolution of the man who descended the escalator in 2015. Everyone in the pro-democracy movement needs to be aware of it.

It was intentional. And stolen straight from Hitler and Mussolini and other fascist dictators. We can’t let the media normalize or dismiss it. We must call it what it is.

It’s all a part of his attempt to dehumanize and delegitimize opposition in this country. It’s a step further than what we saw from him when he first took office in 2017. Any last moderate Republican, Democrats, the court system – his message in 2024 is to “other” us. It’s to splinter the fabric of our country in two and tear down our democracy with it.

That’s why this descent into Nazi rhetoric is intentional. He knows that injecting our politics with that level of vitriol is the only way back to power.

It doesn’t just stop at Trump. Look at the men he’s surrounding himself with. Bannon and the rest of the alt-right mob are planning for a wholesale demolition of our country’s civil service. Yes, the non-political public servants who keep our government running fall into the “vermin” category too. Anyone not on bended knee to Dear Leader is vermin.

The parallels between this latest stage of Trump and Hitler don’t stop there.

As Republican primaries take place early next year, Trump will be sitting in courtrooms up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Much like Adolf Hitler during his trial following the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, Trump will use these trials to draw our collective attention back to him.

In doing so, he’ll demonize the prosecutors and the judges. And he’ll do it because he knows that the deeper he digs into the chaos matrix, the greater chance he has at taking back the White House. And the media is going to essentially shrug their shoulders and say “oh, look at that Trump again!” – treating him like a novelty toy instead of the most dangerous threat to democracy we’ve faced. Even worse, they’re probably going to try to both-sides and find something controversial or some measure of scandal from President Biden. Do not buy the “both candidates have the threat of impeachment” BS.

That’s the only way Trump wins, by letting his Hitlerian rhetoric go unanswered and to let the unfettered chaos machine that is MAGA steamroll everything.

But there’s good news. We know what the pro-democracy coalition needs to do beat him: Make the case for the future - for why Joe Biden is the president we need in this time, and remind voters the choice they’re making: A country calmed by a steady hand, or a world inflamed by a man only running for president to keep himself out of prison.

Ramaswamy Confronted on Air Over Bogus Biden Bribe Claim​

CALLED OUT

Dan Ladden-Hall​

News Correspondent
Published Nov. 09, 2023 6:29AM EST

CNN​

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday found himself in yet another interview in which his relationship with facts came under fire. Speaking to CNN anchor Dana Bash in Miami after the third GOP debate in the 2024 race, Ramaswamy first floated the idea that the Democratic Party isn’t being “honest” about who its “nominee is gonna be,” adding that “we all quietly acknowledge it’s very unlikely to be Joe Biden.”

He then went on to say he’d “called out the Hunter Biden corruption from Ukraine and the $5 million bribe, and I will continue to do that.”

Bash pointed out that CNN had earlier done a fact-check on the supposed bribe, explaining to Ramaswamy: “You’re making an allegation where there’s no evidence to back that up.”

The GOP hopeful went on to claim there’s “a lot of circumstantial evidence and testimonial evidence to suggest it” and vowed to continue calling out corruption in both parties.

“But you just admitted there’s no evidence,” Bash replied.

Why the CIA No Longer Works—and How to Fix It​

Charles S. Faddis​

The following is adapted from a talk delivered at Hillsdale College on October 3, 2023, during a conference on “U.S. Intelligence: History and Controversies.”

We need the CIA, but we also need to recognize the uncomfortable reality that the CIA is not performing at the level we require. It is not keeping us safe. It must be repaired, and it must be repaired quickly.

The CIA was created after World War II with one overriding primary mission—to prevent a reoccurrence of what happened at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. We were never going to allow an enemy to surprise us on that scale again. We were never going to find ourselves blind regarding a threat of that magnitude and immediacy. We would be forewarned and forearmed.

Then came 9/11. Members of Al Qaeda hijacked four airliners. They crashed three of them into their targets. They were prevented from succeeding with the fourth only by the heroism of the brave American passengers.

Al Qaeda was not some unknown entity. It had been around for years. Osama Bin Laden had threatened to attack us on our own soil for years. Al Qaeda had blown up two of our embassies in East Africa. Al Qaeda had almost sunk the USS Cole in Yemen. Al Qaeda had tried once before to take down the World Trade Center.

Yet we had not a single source inside that organization capable of warning us of the 9/11 attacks that would kill almost 3,000 Americans.

On May 2, 2011, U.S. special operations personnel attacked a compound in Pakistan and killed the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. That operation in and of itself was clearly a success. But the fact that it took us almost ten years after 9/11 to find and kill Bin Laden should give us pause.

Bin Laden fully understood the technical capabilities of American intelligence. After his escape from Afghanistan, he established himself in a compound with no internet service. He had no cell phone. He communicated with his organization via a courier system and dealt with those couriers face to face. There were no emails, text messages, or phone calls for us to intercept.

Finding Bin Laden meant getting a source inside Al Qaeda at a level high enough to know his physical location. It took almost a decade for the CIA, with all its resources, to acquire such a source, even though this was probably the CIA’s single highest priority.

To sustain the alliance between leftists and Islamists, something had to give. And that something was Jews.

Jews Get Kicked Out of the Progressive Club​

https://saturdaytradition.com/iowa-...back-in-2024-nfl-draft-class-by-espn-analyst/

Chargers need this guy to shore up their pass defense!

U.S. corporate titans applaud Chinese leader, though some are disappointed by lack of plans to boost business ties​

1. Disgraceful
2. Morally bankrupt
3. Sell outs
4. $$$$

No specific injury updates -- then again, nobody asked. I wanted to ask about this potentially being Caleb's last game, so I got that in first and tried to get back in the queue and it never came back around, as usual.

Lots of general stuff today, not much noteworthy.

Here's the transcript:

How much have you thought about the potential of this being your last game with Caleb Williams, and to what extent have you all talked about the bowl decision?

"I haven't thought about that that much. Just kind of in the moment, in the moment here for the opportunity. We haven't had any specific discussions towards it. Obviously, with the setup of the staff we obviously spend a lot of time together, so we've both just stayed hyper-focused on trying to do our jobs and be at our best and try to help us win a rivalry game this week. So honestly, it's just kind of been business as normal this week and trying to get a good plan together against a really good defense and try to be ready to go play. So, yeah, we'll have obviously plenty of time for all those discussions with the way that the schedule laid out for Caleb and other players on this team. One of the advantages for us right now is we're going to have a little bit more time here with the bye week as well that's a little bit unusual but can certainly be to our advantage, so we'll have that at the appropriate time."

Can you give any insight into what you're looking for in the team's next defensive coordinator?

"I get the question. I mean, I think there's a lot of depth to that answer. I think the advantage now being here for almost two full years now is getting a feel for what we have, what we have been able to accomplish, the progress we've made and then certainly taking a look at the areas where we've all got to be better and finding the right fit in terms of that position. I think there's a lot more clarity now. You come into this job and you know there's a lot of great things about it, you know there's going to be challenges, just like any other job, and you sometimes don't know what all those are until you get boots on the ground and you go through it. And I think now having been through it and knowing where we're at, I definitely have a lot more clarity on it, but yeah, I really want to keep the focus right now on this (UCLA). I just do. It's an important game, it's a rivalry game, it's really important to our roster, to our seniors, obviously it's important to this city. And so I've been trying to do that with my time, and again, knowing that we've got a -- not that we're going to drag our feet but we've got a little bit of time for this to work with, and we've got to make that our advantage and it will be an advantage. So, the short answer is I have a lot more clarity on it, but right now I want to keep the focus on this weekend."

What do you hope to learn about the defense and defensive staff this week?

"Yeah, I expect us to take a major step forward this weekend, I do. Plain and simple. I expect it, Brian, Shaun, our defensive staff expect it, our players expect it. We said at the beginning of the week we have to make Week 2 of this group and this staff setup, we've got to make this an advantage for us. We've got to make the fact that guys at the front of the room are different, a few of the things we've done schematically are different. We've changed a few things in terms of how we've practiced -- nothing drastic -- but all of that is less new now. And I think that and being hopeful, don't have a ton of clarity just yet, but certainly being hopeful that we've got a few more bodies available. And even the guys that were available last week, we feel like we've made a little bit of progress in terms of those guys just being healthier and more physically ready to play at a high level. So you know, you're certainly pushing that the combination of all that would lead to an improved performance this week.

"And that's been the expectation of every single person in the room, and we kind of laid those out Monday with the guys and they've accepted it. It certainly feels tighter, it certainly feels cleaner throughout the week, less new, but we've got to go put it on the field Saturday."

As it pertains to the defensive staff moving forward, how much is continuity valued?

"This setup, there are some advantages. You get to see some of these guys a little bit in different roles. As you evaluate things going forward, there can be some advantage to that. In terms of the staff going forward, the first piece is going to be once this game is over, hiring a coordinator. I think after that, then you start to build it. There are advantages for continuity of course. I’ve spoken about those for a long time. But it’s gotta be, not just the right individual people, but the right combination of people. Once you get the right combination of people, people in the correct spots, and you start to gain momentum and make progress, that’s where the continuity can be an advantage. But it’s got to be right. So our first job and first priority will be getting the right people, the right combination of people, whether that’s people here, people coming from a different spot, and then certainly any continuity that could provide is fantastic. Hopefully it provides a lot of continuity going forward."

What can you learn from UCLA's one-year turaround defensively?

"Yeah, they've done a really nice job. They’ve played to their strengths.. The first thing you see they’ve done, they really built an outstanding front. There’s a lot of experience on that front. They got that added boost, when Latu made the decision to come back. You have a guy who’s going to be a high-round draft pick make the decision to come back – was already going to be, I think, a good front anyways. But looked like that was a pretty big boost for them. You’ve got guys that played well, they’ve been smart schematically. Looking from the outside in, looks like they’ve stayed pretty healthy, had a consistent lineup throughout the year. And so yeah, it’s come together for them. They’ve done a good job. I think the answer is – you look across college football, whether it’s UCLA, there have been plenty of examples of when you can turn things around and grab some momentum, and you get some of the right pieces on board, both from a staff and a player perspective, that you can make really major gains quickly. It’s very possible. Maybe more doable now than ever. And so yeah, I think that’s the takeaway. There’s certainly small things you can look at, in terms of what they’ve done, and certainly take that into account in terms of you’re decision making. But it can be done. This game has been and always will be a game of momentum, both in-game and even at times of broader perspective. Being able to capture that and maintain it is probably the biggest takeaway and the biggest thing in terms of being excited going forward. Because I don’t – I feel like we’re a few key tweaks away, both coaching-wise, personnel-wise, all that, from being one of those personnel groups that’s able to gain momentum like the UCLA defense has this year."

With no HS QB in this commitment class, does that signifiy that you intend to take a transfer QB?

"Lot of things left to transpire there. I don’t know that I’m in a position to say, yes, we will go after a portal quarterback. And don’t know that I’m in a position to say that we wouldn’t either. There’s a lot left to transpire. We’ve got a guy in our room that’s going to have to make a decision about whether he wants to enter the draft or not. We have a couple of quarterbacks in the room that have developed in our program, but you always know this day and age, especially at that position, you never can assume anything. There’s 10 different combinations of what can happen here. So I think you’re always ready to be able to react to it and having a plan ready, so that when this happens or that happens, you kind of know what your next step is. There’s still opportunity to sign somebody in high school. There’s an opportunity to grab a transfer. And there’s certainly an opportunity that we may not make any moves and stand pat where we’re at. Gotta see how it unfolds here over the next several weeks and be ready because there’s a lot of different things that can happen."