A look at Woody Marks' chase for 1,000 rushing yards, which hasn't been done at USC since Ronald Jones II in 2017!

Lincoln Riley said he didn't expect left guard Emmanuel Pregnon to play last week vs. Rutgers. Not only did he play but he finished the week with PFF's highest grade for any offensive guard nationally.

Jeff and I take a look back on Pregnon's clutch performance and his season overall.

Our Week 8 winner is @ Bed-NASH with a score of 0! Next best was @ trojan_a_1 with a score of 1.

Here are the updates standings through eight weeks. Remember, after Week 4 we drop each person’s two worst scores from the average provided they have participated all four weeks (or drop one score if a week has been missed). The bold scores are the scores that have been dropped.

Woody Marks has already set career-highs for rushing attempts and yards -- did you envision him as that kind of volume workhorse when you were pursuing him in the portal?

"The tape suggested that he definitely could be. He’d had a few issues early in his career staying healthy, so we tried to do our due diligence on that. That was definitely a big point of emphasis when he came in was just making sure that we were doing everything possible from a training perspective, from not just in the training room when you get hurt, but doing everything possible to keep your body in as good of a position [as possible], and that was really kind of challenge for all of us was you’ve got some injuries that happen that – listen they’re going to happen no matter, sometimes things happen in this game. And then, at times, there are things that happen that are preventative. You can try to swing the odds in your favor by the way you work, your professionalism, the quality of rest, how you take of your body, all of that. We really challenged him and our group on that. Because when you turn on the tape and watch the guys game, it felt like he could certainly be an every-down back and someone we’d have the chance to rely on throughout the season.

Do you expect Gino Quinones to petition for an extra year of eligibility?

"My understanding is he’s going to try to. He’s got a year left either way. He’s working to try to determine if that’s one or two. So we’ll see obviously how that unfolds. The second group, we’ve definitely been aided by Killian getting back. Losing him early in the season definitely factored into some things. We stayed pretty healthy with the first unit, so we haven’t had a ton of moving parts there. We’ve been fortunate that way. But you know, Killian has taken a lot of reps. Justin Taunauu has taken a lot of reps – we’ve been really pleased with his progress. Tobias Raymond has taken a lot of reps – also very pleased with his progress as well. I think he’s one of the more improved players on our entire roster. Amos has continued taking a lot of reps, and one of the guys that’s really stepped up is Kaleb Miller. We’ve been really proud of his development. He’s got a real chance here as time goes on, does some really good things. Banuelos has been out for a while, but had a chance to get him, Makai Saina, to get those guys out on the practice field in the last week to 10 days which has kind of bolstered the second unit some and certainly our scout teams as well. Honestly our depth there right now is probably as good as its been. Lolo is back off of injury as well. It’s probably the best it’s been since even before training camp. So in a good place there.

Will you carve out to time for players to go vote Tuesday?

"We will. We will. Fortunate for us, it hits on a bye week. So we’ll carve out time. I’m not a very political person, individually. But I want to not miss my opportunity or, maybe I guess, my responsibility to educate and create opportunities for the guys that certainly want to vote and that we don’t hold them back. And maybe the opposite – we help give them the ability to do it. That’s part of our job as educators and leaders to – don’t ever try to sway anybody on who they should vote for, if they should vote, but I do want them to be educated, be able to make that choice themselves and have the opportunity, for sure.

What has gone into using less tempo on offense this season?

"It’s been a little bit week to week. Some of that is based on how you want to try to attack opponents. Some of it is based on your personnel. And then I think the added benefit, maybe, of being the play caller and also the head coach is there’s an overall perspective to that too, right? The depth of your team, the matchups on all sides of the ball, and do you feel like from an overall perspective, not just offensively, does that figure in to how you think it best to give yourself an opportunity to win games. We’re definitely not against it. We haven’t done it as much this year. And that hasn’t all been offensive reasons. Some of it has just been matchups and some of the other things I mentioned. WE want to be able to have the ability to do it, but it certainly, just the way we’ve evolved, hasn’t been something we’ve learned on. But hopefully we can keep improving on it and do some good with it because it is a good weapon."

What’s personal philosophy on kinds of talent you want to acquire in pass-rush, and how are you personally invested in recruiting that?

“Well, I think, yeah, I think – when you talk about rushing the passer, there’s a lot of different ways to get there, right. I think the first thing people think of is you think of, like, maybe the really athletic edge guys that can win with speed or can win those one-on-ones against tackles on the edges. Which, that’s, that’s definitely, it’s a viable part. I mean, I think that’s one for us that as we look ahead, we feel like we need a few more of those guys on this roster. The majority of guys that we have on the roster are either young and have some of that edge ability like we saw last week, and most of our older guys, those skillsets are a little bit varying – and so, I know we want to have a few more of those skillsets. And certainly, the more impactful thing I’ve always felt is when you’ve got a guy that can rush the passer from the interior. Because then it’s not, obviously the sacks and all that are great, but when you start pushing that pocket or creating pressure up the middle as opposed to around the edges, I mean it’s – neither make it easy on the quarterback, but any quarterback would rather have edge pressure than something he can’t step up into or maybe have the ability to escape and scramble. And so, continuing to develop our interior bodies to not only be stout against the run but to be able to win, to push the pocket and affect the quarterback, and from an interior standpoint.

"In terms of recruiting, yeah, I mean, I think – I mean, listen, we recruit every position hard. I don’t know there’s any position that we spend more time recruiting on than guys on the defensive front, because we know obviously how important they are to any football team. And again, when you’re talking about a complete remake on the D-line in every way possible, that’s, that’s one of those things that – we’ve obviously made progress this year in a lot of ways, but that’s, like I told you guys when we first, we hired this defensive staff and we brought Coach Lynn in, his system, we brought Henny in, I mean, it’s a change in every way that you can change. And so, not just installing the system, not just putting the weight on some of the guys and some of the philosophical changes from a training standpoint within the program, but certainly it’s going to be continuing to add those body types on the edge and on the interior. And they’re always – you could argue, one of the toughest, if not the toughest position to recruit. Because there’s not many great ones, and they’re typically in high demand. Now, we’re really excited about the ones that we have committed, and hoping to add a couple more, and then obviously we’ll see how the portal plays out when that window opens up.”

We're four and a half weeks out from (early) National Signing Day (Dec. 4-6), which was moved up this year. Matt and I are putting together a primer on where things stand and evaluating the class as is, which we'll have ready for you early next week. Today, I asked Lincoln how many more guys he planned to add to the class:

"In terms of numbers for the class, definitely, there’s definitely an addition or two I think left, potentially on the offensive and defensive fronts. And then, obviously, we’ll see when the portal opens and all that happens with this year’s roster, there’s certainly, that could fluctuate a little bit, but we’re certainly pretty close to the end there.”

We get D’Anton Lynn, KAM FOUNTAIN for the first time, Sam Greene and Elijah Hughes.

I’ll also have Taj’s First-and-10 up tonight — but probably after the Dodgers game. Want to catch what I can of that after we wrap here.

At least in recruiting, USC was a winner:

I certainly was. Kid almost never went down with the first contact, always ran giving 110% each and every carry. Reminded me of Skattebo from Arizona St. All heart. Love watching guys like that play

as they won 4 out of the last 5 East Lake Cups. Very similar “track” to where the NCAA’s we be held in the spring. They beat LSU!

At least we can compete in women’s Golf!!

He has a visit back to USC set for the Notre Dame game. Rivals' Sam Spiegelman gives his thoughts on where things stand.

Offensive snap counts (52 total snaps):

QB Miller Moss 46, LT Elijah Paige 46, C Jonah Monheim 46, RG Alani Noa 46, RT Mason Murphy 46, LG Emmanuel Pregnon 42, RB Woody Marks 33, WR Zachariah Branch 27, TE Lake McRee 27, WR Duce Robinson 26, WR Ja'Kobi Lane 25, WR Kyron Hudson 24, WR Kyle Ford 23, WR Makai Lemon 20, RB Quinten Joyner 16, WR Jay Fair 14, TE Kade Eldridge 12, RT Tobias Raymond 10, TE Walker Lyons 8, LT Justin Tauanuu 6, RG Kaylon Miller 6, LG Amos Talalele 6, C Kilian O'Connor 6, QB Jayden Maiava 6, RB Bryan Jackson 2, WR Josiah Zamora 2, RB A'Marion Peterson 1.

Highest-graded offensive players:

1. WR Makai Lemon 89.9
2. LG Emmanuel Pregnon 82.2
3. RT Mason Murphy 79.3
4. LT Elijah Paige 75.3
5. QB Miller Moss 71.9
6. C Jonah Monheim 71.2
7. RB Woody Marks 70.8
8. RG Alani Noa 68.9
9. WR Jay Fair 68.4
10. TE Walker Lyons 68.2

Stats and notes:

-Miller Moss attempted only one pass of more than 20 yards in the air (an incompletion), taking this season-long trend to another level. He attempted only 7 passes of at least 10 air yards while 11 of his passes were behind the line of scrimmage.
-USC allowed only 5 pressures -- Jonah Monheim 2, Alani Noa 2, Elijah Paige 1 -- and no sacks.
-Woody Marks rushed for 94 yards, but averaged only 2.47 yards after contact per attempt while creating 3 missed tackles. Quinten Joyner got just 3 carries (for 14 yards) and averaged 3.67 yards after contact per attempt.
-Makai Lemon led the Trojans in passing targets with 6 (4 catches for 134 yards), followed by 5 for Marks (5 catches for 48 yards), 5 for Kyle Ford (4 catches for 44 yards), 3 for Ja'Kobi Lane (2 catches for 18 yards), 2 for Zachariah Branch (2 catches for 26 yards) and 1 each for Duce Robinson, Quinten Joyner, Kyron Hudson, Lake McRee and Jay Fair. Lemon had the only dropped pass.
-Robinson was only on the field for 9 passing snaps

Defensive data coming ...

We got Lincoln Riley, Miller Moss, Emmanuel Pregnon, Makai Lemon, Kyle Ford, Woody Marks and Jonah Monheim.

Some really good interviews today.

Uploading now.

On the injured DBs, Riley said none are long-term but he also wasn't sure how many would be back this week -- he was vague. I'll get the full quote for you.

Marcelles Williams is still out with injury.

Election Interference: 2020 Election was Rigged

In 2020, Americans were targets of an influence operation carried out by current and former US intelligence officials​

Here's what Lincoln Riley said today:

On DT Nate Clifton:

"He’s definitely got a shot to go this week. He unfortunately wasn’t able to finish the game. I thought our guys came in and stepped in and did a really good job in his absence. Obviously would love to have him, but we’re going to try to progress him here throughout the week, and hopefully having the extra day with the short week will pay dividends."

On the DBs (Jaylin Smith, Jacobe Covington, Kamari Ramsey, Greedy Vance and Marcelles Williams):

"Marcelles isn’t available right now. Nothing crazy. But he’s not available. The rest of the guys, obviously didn’t have them last week. I don’t believe any of them are out long term. I don’t know that there’s any of them that you would say today are full-go, no-doubt are going to play. But I do think they’re all progressing in a very positive way. Hopeful to get, obviously we’ll take any number we can – (tractor crashes) – I don’t think, I don’t know that we’ll get all of them back, but obviously when you have that many at one position, getting anybody would be very, very helpful.

I know ultimately that's what you were looking for. What did you think of the performance?

The guys did a good job. They did. We responded. We responded well. We really wanted to get off to a fast start and we were obviously able to do that in the game, build up a lead and then obviously did a good job in the second half closing the door, being able to extend it and finish the game off the good things on all three sides. I thought we handled, they're one of the best punt block teams in the country, so I thought we handled that, which was definitely a key to the game. I thought that the physicality that program is known for, we wanted to be able to match and exceed that. I thought our guys, in large part, did that and then we didn't beat ourselves a lot, which is again, that's a team and a coach that typically prey on that and so I thought the guys took the keys and the emphasis points for the week. They really did it well. I thought we played a really physical game, a very complete game and yeah, obviously proud to get the win and obviously excited for that to be able to jumpstart us here for this back half

Tell us about Makai Lemon's role?

Yeah, the kickoff return was a big play and we decided that we were going to try to split that up. We've obviously been putting a whole lot on Zach there and so wanted to split that up and Lemon did a good job. He hit the first one pretty good. We were actually one block away from popping the first one and then he just did a great job seeing that the backside was over pursuing and it was just a good heads up, just natural play and he made a great move and we had some great effort and obviously that turned into a big one and offensively he had some big plays. The ball found him a little bit and sometimes it does and he was open, he made some competitive plays, obviously some big plays after the catch and those are some of those big plays that when you make those and now all of a sudden you don't have to go execute seven or eight or nine or 10 plays in a row to go score. It takes so much pressure off your offense and I think we saw the opposite defensively. We gave up a few too many third downs, but the thing that we did, we were really stingy in the red zone and we didn't give up a ton of huge explosives so we made Rutgers kind of earn every bit of it. So that was definitely key to the game, our ability to be explosive offensively and do a pretty good job against it defensively.

How'd you evaluate your quarterback's performance on Friday?

He played well. He did. You're spot on. He was, I thought, very in control. I thought the whole line did a good job of making him feel comfortable. We were able to get multiple parts of the offense going in large part due to the way that those guys played and yeah, he did. He made good decisions or was really no ball. That was even close to turnover range. Gave our guys chances to make plays. Obviously had a couple big plays with his feet, which was great to see as well. So no it was he came back and played extremely well.

Question about having a WR1

Not necessarily. I mean I think just that you've got enough good skill sets in the room that you feel like you have some advantages on the field that you can go tap into and that you can go put people in a position where they've got to make some tough decisions defensively. And so I honestly like it how we have it with this group where a lot of guys have stepped up, a lot of guys have had big games. I think we're a pretty multiple group to defend. It's not like you can go defend us and just zero in on one guy. That makes it a lot tougher and yeah, sometimes that's just the way that these games go, but I think never complaining about having an alpha, but when you've got a good complete room, I feel like we're really starting to become, that can be even tougher to defend

What was the mindset going into those series after Rutgers scored in the third quarter?

Yeah, the guys did a good job. I mean, again, there was really no panic on the sideline when we gave up the score. We did a good job going out there and rallying, like you said, coming and getting that explosive play right off the bat in that series. I agree that was definitely one of the more important points of the game. You got to be able to go respond and you're correct. Obviously punching that one in getting the stop and really grabbing hold the momentum and really never letting go of the rest of the game was absolutely the key.

In your offense, how important is it to have a guy like Woody back there, especially alongside Miller who's in his first year as a starting quarterback?

Very important, very important. He has been, I've said it a lot, he is been one of our most steady players throughout the year. You see the versatility that this guy brings to the table and he just doesn't have many bad days. He doesn't have many bad practices, he doesn't have a lot of bad plays and games and that's one of the first things we talk about with our teams or when new players come into our program is to win. You got to first learn how not to lose because so many people just beat themselves by not being ready or not being consistent or not having the right mindset or not working hard all the time. And Woody, he's such a steady player and he's such a steady worker and teammate that his game mirrors that. And as you know, you guys have seen, I mean the best players, we've said it on this show, the best players don't make all the highlight plays. Those are just players that are capable of making great plays. Great players are the ones that are steady and they're accountable and they just do it over and over in their mistakes. One don't happen very often and typically they're not the type of mistakes that kill you and it's a really good category to put Woody in.

How important from a bigger picture sense are the young defensive pass rush to develop?

It's important for this year. It'll be important as time goes on. I think we've felt like that some of the more gifted pass rushers that we have right now are some of the younger guys, but those guys have to earn through trust and the way they work and the way they prepare to go get those snaps and have those opportunities. And I think you're seeing some guys like Sam Greene and Kam Fountain and guys like that on our practice field have shown that they can rush the passer that there's a lot more to play in that position and a lot more to the trust of you being out there and having those opportunities. So they've been developing behind the scenes, those guys have been working hard. It's fun to kind of see them get out there and start to cut loose and play and gain steam and confidence. I put Devan Thompkins in that mix as well. These guys have got the ability to make some plays that really impact our defense and our team in a positive way and they're starting to become more consistent and learn what we do so that their mistakes conversely don't really hurt us. And so it's fun to see the evolution of those guys.

What is today??

Demented and SAD we lost to both these crappy squads…..
hard to believe, but this is who we are now.

Jimbo Riley & Future Purdue

USC was in position to win. That is the HC job. Put his team in position to win.

The players need to execute at the end of the day.

If Moss hit the 6'6" Duece Robinson on the slant and not over throw him, USC either scores a TD or is in position to kick a game winning field Goal.

Moss is trash and USC will never reach it's potential while he is QB.

I didn't realize that.

Looks like he has been a bit of a grease fire.

I always love Kyle Ford's honesty and candor. This was a good interview and insight into how he deals with the frustration of not having the role he expected when he returned to USC.


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Gorney spotlights several two-team recruiting battles involving USC:

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Last one is Bryson Shaw, YouTube won’t let me edit the title at the moment