After rewatching all 4 games I’ve noticed the DL not getting much penetration. Seems like if the OL gets their hands on them that SC can’t escape the block. I remember thinking that coming into this season SC should excel in the trenches (defensively speaking) because of the depth they have. I remember KU being highly touted as a great teacher but I’m not seeing it. Also what is the excuse for the offside penalties against WSU? I guess SC got spoiled with back to back studs in Leonard Williams and Rasheem Greene.

USC broke out of its routine a bit today and incorporated some different periods to prepare for Arizona's up-tempo offense. Here's the news:

There was one notable lineup change in today's practice, as true freshman CB Olaijah Griffin worked predominantly with the first team. It looks like he's going to make his first career start.

"I thought it was inconsistent on the left side," DC Clancy Pendergast said of the cornerback play in the Washington State game. "Too many explosive plays. ... There were some things that we needed to get cleaned up from that game and so we made the corrections and are moving on. It's a quick turnaround with a different offense."

Griffin has appeared in each game and has seen his role steadily increase. Today was the first practice in which he was clearly ahead of Isaiah Langley and Greg Johnson.

"I think he's a player that's really instinctive," Pendergast said of Griffin. "You saw that in fall camp. I can see him continue to grow as the season's gone on."

Naturally, Griffin is looking forward to the opportunity.

"My confidence is really up high right now," he said. "As long as I just keep working and get more reps with the ones I'm going to be even more confident."

He said the speed of the game hasn't been a particularly big adjustment for him thus far.

"It's something that Ive been doing all my life," Griffin said. "I've been working out with guys bigger than me, stronger than me, faster than me. And then going against these guys in practice is just making me play better, even in games."

Speaking of new starters, I asked Pendergast about safety Talanoa Hufanga and whether he's been surprised at all by how quickly he's produced after basically being thrown into a prominent role.

"A little bit," he said. "If he gets a full week of practice at one position, he's a guy that you rarely have to tell him something twice. So he's a very coachable kid, I think we'll all be glad that hes gongn to play this early as a true freshman on down the line. He's gaining a lot of valuable experience."

Pendergast then revealed that Hufanga and several other defensive players were less than 100 percent, health-wise, going into the Wazzu game.

I asked him about the peculiar ratio USC currently has -- 29 pass breakups without a single interception. He said

"Believe me, we talk about it a lot and maybe we're trying too hard," Pendergast said. "We stay out here, we throw balls. We talk about location of ball, location of reading the quarterback, location of receiver and location of down the field between the defensive player and the receiver. ...

"It's definitely something that we're not happy about, with the fumbles either."

***
Injuries:
DL Jay Tufele (illness) increased his workload.

OL Andrew Vorhees (sternum) returned to practice and split first-team reps with Alijah Vera-Tucker.

LB Porter Gustin (knee) remained limited. (Again, Helton said this is preventative.)

WR Josh Imatorbhebhe has started to take part in some periods this week after being out nearly two months with a high ankle sprain.

OT Jalen McKenzie (back) didn't practice.

TE Erik Krommenhoek was absent because of an exam

***

Cam Smith broke up a pair of passes from JT Daniels, one of which was picked off by Marvell Tell. Daniels also threw an interception to Jordan Iosefa. The passing offense was pretty off throughout practice.

Biggie Marshall had a pick-six versus the scout team.

Markese Stepp bowled over Talanoa Hufanga during a long run in 11-on-11.

In the final period of the day, Griffin was beaten on a long throw from Jack Sears to Jake Russell, who made a stupendous, one-handed diving grab. One play later, Sears was under pressure and forced a ball downfield that Griffin picked off.

We also have video interviews with Pendergast, Griffin and DL coach Kenechi Udeze.

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Wrote something tonight on freshman safety Talanoa Hufanga, who racked up 9 tackles and had a key pass break-up down the stretch of sealing that win Friday night. All in his first career start.

https://usc.rivals.com/news/freshman-safety-talanoa-hufanga-asserting-himself-early-in-usc-career

I called up old friend of the show and Wildcats beat writer Michael Lev of the Arizona Daily Star to discuss Saturday's game in Tucson this weekend.

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DC Clancy Pendergast discusses several areas of defense, CB Olaijah Griffin talks about being in line to make his first career start, and DL coach Kenechi Udeze discusses USC's pass rush struggles.

Video Interviews

Here's what QB JT Daniels, offensive coordinator Tee Martin and QBs coach Bryan Ellis had to say about USC's multiple bad snaps last week. Daniels and Ellis mostly downplayed it, saying they expect center Toa Lobendahn to fix it moving forward.

Daniels:

"We were on silent count the two weeks before that, so going back to verbal, I guess there were just some issues there. It's nothing to be concerned with. There's two bad snaps in a game, that's very fixable."

Martin:

"Got to get better, just can't have it. They were making some hard verbal cadences themselves on defense, and a couple times they got penalized for it and a couple times they didn't. And I think it affected the snaps. And it's just hard. They've got the nose guard moving right in front of you, two or three D-linemen moving right in front of you. That was hard for him, but no, it's something that we've got to get better at -- the low and the high snaps. ... It's something that we addressed in the meetings. It's something that we addressed (Tuesday) in practice."

Ellis:

"Yeah, we've got to get better snaps. Toa's a great kid and a really good football player. He'll get it figured out. He'll get it right."

At least since Pete left...

The front page of ESPN online..."The Eliminator"...Who is already out of the playoff race? So they lead with USC being out....4 games into the season.

With a picture of J.T. flat on his back and a Longhorn...knocked down by #44 Breckyn Hager.

Sure would be great to see our guys out-physical the competition when it matters and be on top for once.

I caught up with RBs coach Tim Drevno after practice today and we discussed his role, among other things. I'll be writing more about USC's run game later in the week for the Tenfold. But I wanted to pass along a portion of the interview because I thought it might interest you.

When Drevno was hired, he was given the dual title of running backs coach/running game and pass protection coordinator. Naturally, we expected he would have a big hand in USC's offensive line schemes. Drevno sort of debunked that in our conversation today.

--on how he has felt about the O-line
"I've felt good. I'm here to coach the running backs and Coach Callaway coaches the offensive line. I've got a big job to do to coach the running backs. I know that Neil puts his-- Neil, I, Tee and Clay and everybody, it's a collaborative effort, putting our guys in the most successful situations, run and pass protections. We're right on task."

--on what his pass protection title means in terms of duties
"It's the collaboration in the room. Tee Martin makes the final say because he's the offensive coordinator, and ultimately Clay (Helton) can make the final say because he's the head football coach."

--on whether he's tried to install certain things
"I just give ideas, like everybody else in the room, and if it's a good idea and if Tee likes it, we'll use it. If he doesn't then oh well, it's check your ego at the door, and everybody's got great ideas. I'm just here to help us be successful. That's why I came here, because I love this school and I love these players and coaches, and I want to be successful."

--on his history coaching O-linemen and people being curious about his involvement there
"I get it. If I worried about what the O-line was doing, I wouldn't be productive coaching the running backs. My job is to coach the running backs every day to the best of my ability. Neil Callaway is the offensive line coach and I coach the running backs. I wasn't hired to do that."

Drevno, who works games from the coaches' box with Martin, also shared that Helton ultimately decides how the running backs are rotated.

USC, Ohio State and LSU are definite official visits, Ricks said. He could visit LSU again this weekend:

Ricks planning official visits

secondary is not creating turn overs and getting beat

On the same weekend USC's veteran wide receivers broke out with big games against Washington State, a couple former Trojan top targets continued to shine in the NFL.

Robert Woods and JuJu Smith-Schuster were two of the most productive receivers in the league this week, with Woods hauling in 10 catches for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns Sunday and Smith-Schuster going for 9 catches for 116 yards on Monday night.

Smith-Schuster is now third in the NFL in receiving yards with 356 through three games, trailing only New Orleans' Michael Thomas (398) and Tampa Bay's mike Evans (367). The former USC star has gone for at least 116 yards in all three games and is already more than a third of the way to eclipsing his rookie total (917).

Woods, meanwhile, matched a career-high with his 10 receptions, and this marked the third career 2-TD game for the sixth-year pro.

Here's the full list of how USC's pros fared this weekend (only those who accumulated stats listed):

-Robert Woods, Los Angeles Rams: 10 catches for 104 yards and 2 TDs, 3 rushes for 13 yards
-JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pittsburgh Steelers: 9 catches for 116 yards
-Sam Darnold, New York Jets: 15 of 31 passing for 169 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs
-Javorius Allen, Baltimore Ravens: 6 carries for 7 yards, 1 TD, 3 catches for 19 yards, 1 TD (**That's 4 total TDs through three games)
-Rhett Ellison, New York Giants: 3 catches for 39 yards and a TD
-Nelson Agholor, Philadelphia Eagles: 4 catches for 24 yards
-Tre Madden, Seattle Seahawks: 1 carry for 2 yards

-Nick Perry, Green Bay Packers: 4 solo tackles, 3 assisted tackles
-Jurrell Casey, Tennessee Titans: 3 solo tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble
-T.J. McDonald, Miami Dolphins: 3 solo tackles, 4 assisted tackles
-Antwaun Woods, Dallas Cowboys: 1 solo tackle, 3 assisted tackles
-Clay Matthews, Green Bay Packers: 1 solo tackle, 1 assisted tackle, 1 dubious roughing-the-passer penalty
-Nickell Robey-Coleman, Los Angeles Rams: 2 solo tackles, 1 assisted tackle
-Frostee Rucker, Oakland Raiders: 1 solo tackle, 2 assisted tackles
-Devon Kennard, Detroit Lions: 1 solo tackle
-Malcolm Smith, San Francisco 49ers: 1 solo tackle
-Rasheem Green, Seattle Seahawks: 1 solo tackle
-Adoree' Jackson, Tennessee Titans: 1 punt return for 6 yards

Former USC defensive standout and Minnesota Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen was hospitalized after an incident at a hotel over the weekend. The ESPN story.

Bryce Young was phenomenal especially late leading the game-winning drive; Bru McCoy was tremendous as well:

https://n.rivals.com/news/breaking-down-mater-dei-img-showdown

USC was back in full pads to begin its practice prep for Arizona. I hadn't been here as much the past two weeks because of circumstances at home. I did notice practice to be livelier and more competitive than it was leading up to Stanford. But I was surprised they didn't close out with a 11-on-11 period between the respective first teams. Maybe it was time to break some routines.

Here's the news:

LB Porter Gustin was held out. Coach Clay Helton said it was preventative for his knee.

DT Jay Tufele didn't practice because he was ill. He's expected to return Wednesday.

OL Andrew Vorhees (sternum contusion) was limited. Alijah Vera-Tucker assumed his first-team reps.

WR Velus Jones is being monitored for a possible elbow injury

WR Amon-Ra St. Brown was limited because of an AC shoulder sprain. He lined up in the slot some when he was in there.

LB Wole Betiku did some running on the side. We hadn't seen that activity from him. I fully expect that he'll redshirt, but you hope this means he's progressing well.

OL Jalen McKenzie took some reps with the first team at right tackle.

TB Aca'Cedric Ware looked healthy running the ball. He told me Friday night he would be fine.

Marvell Tell (Jack Sears), Ajene Harris (JT Daniels) and Isaiah Langley (walk-on Brandon Perdue) each had interceptions.

Helton was asked about the tight ends' lack of involvement in the passing game and he said part of is because of the coverages USC is facing, noting that they've gotten a lot of one-high coverage so the ball is being thrown more to the perimeter. The tight ends account for just six of 85 receptions through four games.

"I know the ball hasn't found them," Helton said. "We carry a plan each and every week for the tight ends."

In USC's defense, I wouldn't be targeting any of the tight ends more than I would Amon-Ra St. Brown, Michael Pittman or Tyler Vaughns. Throwing to the tight ends for the sake of throwing to them isn’t the answer. None have established themselves as a threat in the passing game. But the Trojans of course need to keep defenses honest and utilize them better, particularly Josh Falo, who's been limited by injury this month.

USC hasn't been working the middle of the field much altogether. The loss of Deontay Burnett has hurt perhaps more than anticipated.

***
I jotted down most of the 1-on-1 reps between the linemen.
Brett Neilon stops Marlon Tuipulotu
Jacob Daniel beats Liam Jimmons
Connor Murphy beats Clayton Bradley
AVT stops Jacob Lichtenstein
Justin Dedich stops Brandon Pili
Chris Brown stops Trevor Trout
Eli'Jah Winston beats Bernard Schirmer
Lichtenstein beats Jordan Austin
Toa Lobendahn stops Pili
Austin Jackson stops Hunter Echols
Juliano Flaaniko beats Jalen McKenzie
AVT stops Tuipulotu
Neilon stops Jimmons
Dedich stops Jimmons
Winston beats Schirmer
McKenzie and Neilon stopped D-linemen on the scout team that I wasn't able to make out, and Bradley was beaten by a DL on the scout team.

***
We have video interviews with Helton, Tee Martin, Bryan Ellis, JT Daniels, Michael Pittman and Vavae Malepeai. I also did a short write-up on RBs coach Tim Drevno. I know there've been questions as to what his role is exactly, and he offered some clarification on that in our convo today. I found some of his answers surprising.

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There were some really interesting perspectives offered Tuesday by Bryan Ellis, JT Daniels and Michael Pittman about the young QB and what it means for him and the offense moving forward.

https://usc.rivals.com/news/qb-jt-daniels-feeling-and-looking-more-in-command-of-usc-offense

Clay Helton, Tee Martin, Bryan Ellis, JT Daniels, Michael Pittman, Vavae Malepeai ...

https://usc.rivals.com/news/video-interviews-after-usc-practice-tuesday

2017 vs. 2018:

• Total Offense: 484 ypg/376 ypg
• Rushing Offense: 185 ypg/110 ypg
• Passing Efficiency: 146.7/125.2
• Scoring Offense: 32.6 / 24.8
• Total Defense: 396 ypg/394 ypg
• Rushing Defense: 159 ypg/ 180 ypg
• Passing Yds allowed: 237 ypg/ 215 ypg
• Scoring Defense: 26.1/27.8
• 3rd down conversion %: 41.1% / 42.1%
• Red Zone offense: 72.9% / 86.7%

Not much surprising. The obvious difference on offense last year - Sam Darnold. But very disappointing 2018 rushing stats - unexpected, given the experience of offensive line this year. What makes it worse this year is that the offense has had to lean on a True Freshman QB given the mediocre/unreliable rushing performance.

The defensive performance this year is surprisingly about the same as last year. Not great.

Holy Phack.

Now this is a well coached team. We have had better classes every year and we stink.
Oregon is schooling the shit out of the Trees

Guess this what good coaching does with lesser athletes?

The game: In 2008 I went to Pullman in full USC gear. Pete Carroll was the coach and a WSU fan next to me in the stadium says "Don't hurt us!" I didn’t, but USC won 69-0. Those days are gone. And they since have given us trouble. WSU HC Mike Leach, is called the Pirate for his trickery, and his coming to town "shivered me timbers" with fright. He called this team his best at WSU and his 5th year senior transfer QB backed that talk up with his precision passing. He hit 71% in this game and is Number 1 in percentage in the country. He's good..A smallish crowd of 52,421 late arriving (and nighthawks before leaving). Their spirit is alive. Still, who thought a Friday night game in LA was a good idea?

Key play(s) The game had 6 lead changes but the key plays IMO stopped WSU from a winning TD or tying FG--- 1st-10 at USC 25- pass incomplete to Bell, QB hurry by Malik Dorton. 2nd-10 RB Williams rushes for 4 yards (Tackle Cam Smith). 3rd-6 at USC 21 RB Williams rushed ( to outguess USC) for no gain to the USC21 (Tackle: by Rector and Smith). 4th-6 Mazza had a field goal attempt of 38 yards BLOCKED by Tufele and recovered by USC As an aside, Coach Helton skyed vertically on the Blocked FG to his own personal high height approximated at 4 inches…. but the chains were called out and it was officially only 3 1/2 inches. J/K

Offense:HC Helton is now 29-12 (.707) overall, 22-6 (.785) in conference . He is undefeated at Home, 18 -0 overall and 13-0 vs.P12.The team had 31 pass plays and 26 run plays, 5 of those runs were the entirety of the plays in the 1st drive leading to the TD and 75 yards. USC added more passing as WSU got ahead. USC averaged only 3.6 yards per carry (including sacks and bad snap for a total of 37 yards, nearly a game killer). and averaged a high 14.2 yards on pass receptions. USC had 5 big plays above 20 yards (Runs by Carr-50 yards, and Melepeai-22 y, plus Receptions by Vaughns-44 y, St. Brown -30 y -TD, and Pitman- 22 y). The team came back and scored their last 24 points in 32 plays, while holding WSU to 12 points.

QB: Grade: B. JT took some big steps forward. His arm strength and accuracy are fine. His detriment is inexperience, and that sometimes affects our expectations. 5th year WSU QB Minshew is cool under pressure and directs the offense. JT just has more ups and downs. The latter being sacks, dropping of footballs or handling bad snaps, missed handoffs, or interceptions (none today, but, close on 2). It's that way until he gets the experience. JT did throw away a pass. recovered from some unexpected events, and had an encouraging game. 65% completions, 0 ints. and 3 nice TDs. He could find another word for "Sucks" when getting interviewed. We used that in medieval times.LOL.

Running Game: Grade: B-. The "3 Amigos" (of runners) became the 'deadly duo' minus Ware (1 run for -5 yards). Carr (77 yards-9.6 ypc) had that impressive 50 yard run and 1 first down. Malepeai (78 yards-6.0 ypc) had a solid game with both running TDs and 4 first downs, including the last dagger into WSU chances. Vavae hits the line hard and breaks through that first tackle attempt with full speed. He was tackled for a single loss of (-2 yards) in his 13 attempts.

Receiving Game:Grade: A-. Much more synergy between JT and his corps. Vaughns (1 TD of 9 yards and 3 FDs) was the main target with 7 receptions and the best catch, soaring over his defender for his longest catch (21 yards) in a 3rd and 9 on that last USC score. Michael Pittman had the most yards and 2 first downs on his 50 yard (TD) and 22 yard catches. Velus Jones caught 2 for 48 (long of 44) for 2 first downs. And St Brown had 2 for 38 yards with a 30 yard TD and 2 first downs. Sidney had a 12 yarder. In addition Carr caught 2 and. Ware had one. The TE was targeted for 2 passes, one of which resulted in a pass interference call. Overall the receivers beat the WSU defense and it resulted in 4 PI calls and 3 holds. That moved the sticks bybout 90 yards..

Oline: Grade B-. They were great in the first drive 5 runs for 75 yards and run blocking was good overall. They gave up 2 sacks and 4 other tackles for loss. The bad snaps (3 of them hurt a lot) but that’s an item between the OC and QB and it needs resolving. It cost them on drives. The 3rd down conversions were 3-9 but 9 chances isn't that many. The team just played very well on first and second downs. Some of the 3rd downs were 3-32, 3-18, 3-9, 3-8. They actually made 3 of the last 4 third down conversions.

Defense: Grade B. This unit was kind of schizophrenic. In the first half plus first drive (35 minutes, the defense allowed 30 points and 296 yards. In the last 25 minutes it was 9 points and 139 yards. Quite a difference Part of this was new defense formations and coverage. But a large part may have been Porter Gustin, jailed in the locker room from last week's "Targeting" call. He apparently was a caged animal and showed that with an offside's on his first play. But he did add an attack element that was missing (and nearly committed another targeting!). His numbers were 3 solo tackles 1 assist and the only sack where he shrugged off a defending blocker to catch Minshew from behind. I think they are assessing the damage he might have done to the locker-room in the first half. LOL. WSU did score one TD early in the second half which made it 5 straight scoring plays. But they scored the one TD after that in 5 drives. And WSU may be one dimensional but does it well just as Army is , and they took Oklahoma to OT.

Special Teams: Grade: B- With the exception of Punting, which still is erratic, Brown who suffered an ACL injury last year adequately replaced McGrath who did the same this year. And the return runs by the Kickoff team gave USC decent starting position, especially in the second half. And of course the game changing FGA block against a kicker who had a 50 yard FG earlier. Now, about that punting again!

Miscellaneous- Their baaaccckk….the PAC12 refs of course. A total of 19 penalties and 183 yards or almost 10 yards per penalty. No small 5 yard potatoes for them. Uh-uh. And will someone please define a consistent Targeting penalty. Gustin got creamed for last week second half and this week's first half for what was mostly a shoulder hit and this time the WSU player took 2 steps to nail a kneeling JT Daniels, and was considered not with force. Maybe wireless PSI gauges are needed in helmets from now on to override the ref. And isn't replay meant to correct judgments, not agree with bad ref calls like that denial of a TD for USC at the end of the 1H?

Bottom line - It's a win . It’s a conference win against an undefeated team. It’s a comeback win from 14 points down. It’s a team effort. Some of these have to be good …right? Next week it's at Arizona , a 2-2 team that waxed a Big Sky team Southern Utah (0-4), beat Oregon State (1-3) team handily, and then lost a close one to BYU (3-1) and was knocked around by Houston (3-1). They averaged scoring 41 ppg and giving up 34 ppg last year so far they are more like 30 ppg on both ends. USC beat them 49-35 last year. My Forecast" USC 35 UA 24..

what a great job Ryan and Adam are doing. They have stepped it up big time. The journalism is starkly different right now compared to before. Thanks you guys for making this site supremely better than any other site in which I have heard of their content or lack of...keep it up. Really enjoying the articles. I am married to a journalist. It’s a helluva lot of work and she isn’t compensated nearly enough for the stellar job she does. Thanks again.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/vikings-griffen-leave-team-concerned-well-being-033715776--spt.html

Hopefully this isn't as bad as what it appears to be. I think we've seen these situations go south and get ugly. In any case, l hope he gets it together for the sake of his family.

Complete turnaround from last year, playing like a stud this year

I finally had a chance to look at the depth chart USC released Sunday night and there really isn't one notable change on it. (Here is the official depth chart.)

I don't expect any significant lineup shuffling this Friday, though I haven't been able to attend practice this week to monitor such things. Anyway, I was curious to know if there are particular changes you guys would make -- beyond starting Amon-Ra St. Brown and Stephen Carr?

"I grew up passionately hating USC. My dad, who was/is my biggest role model and inspiration, was born in Washington and was a diehard UW Husky fan. We hated everything about USC, I couldn’t tell you about any of their players from those years, but could talk about Mark Brunell, Napoleon Kaufman, the Huard brothers, etc., all day. It wasn’t until around the year 2000 that I was blessed with the opportunity to visit the USC campus and be recruited by them. I was offered scholarships to many schools, including The University of Washington, but I fell in love with everything USC and there was no chance I was going anywhere else. I was a Trojan and to this day nothing has ever felt more right. My whole family switched their allegiance, we are all part of the Trojan Family. Those who know me know what a USC homer I am. I love this university, the football program, the alumni, as much as anyone. When I started a company, I named it Trojan Solar, that is how important USC is to me.

Saying all that, TODAY WAS THE FIRST TIME IS ALMOST 20 YEARS I FOUND MYSELF ROOTING AGAINST USC, and I know I wasn’t alone. It is hard to watch what is happening to our cherished program, and I feel there needs to be changes that won’t happen until we hit “rock bottom”. We won the Rose Bowl two years ago, we won the conference last year, but we didn’t look like USC during any of it, and frankly, it isn’t good enough. I understand if that happened at UCLA they would be giving their coach a lifetime contract and probably building him a statue, but with the talent we have had and being USC that is not enough. So, in here lies the dilemma.

I have met and had conversations with our Head Coach in the past and he is incredible man. He is absolutely the clique coach description, “A Leader of Men”, and it shows every year. We get down, have a bad game, he is “fighting” for his job, and the players, who clearly love him, rally and come together. The problem is, this happens after we are out of contention for anything meaningful. It is probably going to happen again this year. I was in Austin, I was there tonight, we look awful. We were an embarrassing 4.5 point favorites against WSU at home and couldn’t even cover, but we got the win. The Pac 12 South is so weak there is a good chance we will win it again and who knows, play well in one game and win the Pac 12 championship. How can you fire a coach or any staff after back to back conference championships? This is what I am most scared of. Give me one really bad season, so we can move on and really have a chance.

FIGHT ON and Beat The Wildcats!!!"

Opening statement ...
"Good one for our football team, an important conference win against a team that I believe will challenge for the North division. Offensively, we talked about starting fast and having to finish in the fourth quarter, and they were team that had come out against their other opponents and had put up 38 points themselves to only 2 for their opponents [in first quarters]. So to be able to come out for the second week in a row and take the opening drive down and score in the fashion that we did was really good to see. It was good to see our efficiency in the red zone also, from finishing both running the ball and throwing the ball. I thought the chemistry in the red zone between the quarterback and the wide receivers really took a step forward. I was very happy with the execution right before half of our two-minute offense. That's the first time we've really been in that situation, and I thought the quarterback handled it extremely well and it turned out to be a critical drive in the game to be able to put points up. I thought his poise and his decision making were excellent, and his management at the end of that, on the last two throws giving us two plays, making decisive decisions and still to have time remaining on the clock was critical.

"Finally, the greatest pleasure of a coach is to be able to finish a game, and that was a team that we knew had the ability to score a lot of points at any time and we needed to win the fourth quarter. And to win the fourth quarter 15-6, plus end the game running the ball and not letting our defense back out there is how you want to finish.

"Definitely, I thought Cam Smith and John Houston played really well. Before the game, coverages that we knew we were going to play included a lot of drop-8 and drop-9. We knew the linebackers were going to have to make tackles and try to make them go the long way, and you look up at both of them and they had 22 tackles combined. Also, I was really pleased with the young safety in Talanoa [Hufanga]. In his first start, it wasn't perfect, but I thought that for his start he played extremely well. It was great to get Porter [Gustin] back in the second half and provided the availability to get the quarterback off his spot. Clancy [Pendergast] went to a lot more four-man front, four-man rush, five-man rush in the second half, and I thought that deterred the quarterback's spot a little bit and helped us down the stretch. You know, the area [needing] improvement for me defensively would be the money downs. We were 10 of 19 on the night, which extended the drives as well as time of possession.

"Special teams-wise, I thought it took a step forward. I thought for the second week in a row Coach Baxter provided us an unbelievable scheme to block a kick. Versus Texas it was a punt, and versus Washington State we knew we had the opportunity to get a field goal block and it just happened to come at the most critical time with the exact guy we thought we'd get it -- which was Jay Tufele. So excellently schemed and really terrific execution. I thought our punt team also improved, which was great to see -- getting over a 38-yard average net -- and out kickoff coverage unit continued to shine and Alex Stadthaus continues to do a tremendous job for us on touchbacks."

On injuries ...
"Injury-wise, really had one injury coming out of the game, pulled a young man out and that was Velus Jones with an elbow injury. He's listed day-to-day. We'll see where he's at on Tuesday."

On Talanoa Hufanga earning the start and his performance ...
"Going into Week 4, going through a training camp, now being in Week 4, I think he's picked up the defense a lot better. He had a couple missed assignments, but over the majority of it probably 95 percent efficient in his decision-making and being in the right place. And then just getting the ball down -- I think he's doing a great job of making plays, making pass break-ups. He made a huge one on Friday night as well as coming up and getting the ball on the ground. He really didn't have a missed tackle all night."

On whether Aca'Cedric Ware's knee was the reason for his limited snaps Friday ...
"He did not practice on Tuesday and Wednesday and was really limited. Felt better Thursday, felt OK Friday. Just, I know it's been plaguing him for a couple weeks, and it's a came that the other two kids had really practiced well during the week and looked good and gave them an opportunity. And [for Ware], just a limited role. Hoping that he'll be full-go for this week, but it's been something that's been nagging him. I just didn't want to get into a game and him not be absolutely 100 percent. And being him, he was great -- 'Hey Coach, I'm ready if you need me. Ready to make a play if needed.' And he always is. But it was good to be able to let the other two roll. They did a great job."

On whether he was satisfied with the defense overall ...
"The thing that I thought hurt us is what I said early on was the money downs, and that was third and fourth downs. You know, on the night on third and fourth downs we were 10 of 19 on those downs, which is over 50 percent. You to be 30 percent or less. That extended drives, and I thought really extended the time of possession for the game. Probably the one critique, and it's happened to everybody -- they've done a really good job -- that quarterback is a tremendous football player. Very accurate, very decisive and he just gets the ball out extremely quickly. To have over 50 passes on the night and get one sack, you want to try to get more pressure to him to get him off his spot. I was hoping for a couple more sacks in that game. We didn't get them. And on the money downs we can do better than 10 of 19."

On what needs to happen to generate more pressure on the QB ...
"If you see the majority of his passes, the [majority] were 10 yards or less. And sometimes you bring pressure and it's still getting off quick, dumping it off to the back. If you looked at that game, their leading receiver was the back. He tied for the lead in receptions, and every time you thought you were going to get to the quarterback he did a great job of decision making, saying 'You know what, I know I'm hot here, I've got to get rid of it.' And credit to Clancy, he kept on bringing pressures to try to get to him, mixing it up, but the quarterback was extremely efficient."

Part 1 of 2 ..

Thats what we’ve become. That Tom Malone thread is gross. Come on guys we can disagree and not be asses about it. This isn’t Clay’s fault. Or the pumpers fault. Or the doomers fault. Or anyone in between. Maybe a little Tee Matin’s. No, no, not even him.

This is the USC administration’s fault. The same back slapping, group thinking, myopic and insular people that have nearly brought the university to its knees on many fronts. They enabled one of their own, Pat Haden, to make horrible decisIons, then cemented those horrible decisions by not providing the coaches they hired (who were all poor decisions) the tools in which they would need to be successful.

Don’t get mad at each other. Or even Clay, though I think his time has come and gone to prove he can do this job, if you want to be upset or address it with someone, take it up with the usc brass.