The game: The lack of parking spaces on Campus 3 1/2 hours before game time pointed to a big crowd. College football ...5 parachutist, Fireworks during the TMB rendition of the star spangled banner. The TMB disco-ing in semi-sync at the half (Gad!). The horse and song girls prancing , and the Torch lighting in the 4th quarter. Keith Rivers leading them out of the tunnel. I love college football! How good are the Red Wolves (AK State)? Well they are good against their division winning 17 games in the last 3 years. But they are now 0-11 versus Power 5 conferences in the last 6 years. However they were forecasted at #1 or #2 in the SBC and returned 15 of 22 starters including 9 on offense (lost 2 OL) which scored at 36.7 ppg in 2014. They also gave up 30.5ppg. USC beat those with 6 points given up, and 55 scored , putting them #2 on the first Sagarin computer ranking. Between true and redshirt Freshmen and transfers, USC had 23 players in their first USC game.
The crowd was 80K strong and enthusiastic. They declined in numbers after every score in the second half. Who starts a football game at 8:00PM? USC used 68 players (They usually had 50or less last year). AK State used 63 players. Note to the NCAA..."We're Back!!" BTW AKS played hard until the end. I think they are a plus .500 team again this year.
Offense: Wow...the OC calling plays , the players shuffled on field seamlessly and often. If you saw it on TV , the changes were made during your replay. And USC won the toss and said "We don't need no stinkin' deferring to the second half".
QB: We tend to take Kessler (73%, 12.4 YPC, 4 TDs, 0 Int.) for granted but he faced a different defense. AKS kept 7-10 men at the line of scrimmage before changing just before the snap. They also delayed blitzers and often blitzed 4 to 7 men in most plays. They overwhelmed USCs line and got 5 sacks in the first half for a loss of 35 yards. Kessler escaped two situations with completed passes while nearly in the grasp. Cody was great but missed two receivers by not putting more air under the ball, but connecting on 5 others of 13 yards or more.. Then Backup Max Browne (60%, 22 YPC, 0TDs, 0 Int.) came in at the 14:50 mark of Q4 and threw a 35 yard strike on his first play. His throws are effortless. Overall Grade: A-.
Receiving Game: AKS often paid the price for stacking the front. 9 different receivers caught passes (17 to WR, 2 to TE, 4 to RB). There were also two dropped passes. The TE actually was thrown to on 4-5 plays per my count and had 1 TD (McNamara). The key targets were Smith-Shuster (sounds like a publishing company) for 4rec- 89 yards and 1 TD, and Steven Mitchell for 4rec- 28 yards and 1 TD. Former QB Greene did an end around from the WR position and from a toss by Kessler hit RB Davis for an 18 yard completion. The receivers averaged 14 yards per catch. This is a deep pool of talent, even while missing Adoree Jackson. Overall Grade: A.
Running Game: This is a different Madden (12-106-1TD-8.8ypc).Noted as a power runner he also showed speed and deception on his breakaway 65 yard run and picked up a couple receptions for another 15 yards. His one fault appeared to be stringing along the line too long before cutting through a hole. Ronald Jones (6-86-1TD-14.eypc)., the new "Rojo"...welcome to LA. He's a straight up runner whose long legs churn, baby, churn. He takes one slide step and then jets N-S into the hole. He broke away for a 44 yard TD in simply outrunning the entire AKS team, Sark along the sideline, and his blockers. 'Cedric Ware (6-28-1TD-4.7 ypc). , the other of the "Two Boys from Texas" also performed well. And Dominic Davis had a run and 2 good looking receptions. Overall Grade: A.
Oline: They had 10 different OL players. There was only 1 false start penalty . And the running game had an 8.3 ypr (minus the sack yardage) and just 1 negative play of 3 yards. But then there were those 5 sacks. But with overloaded blitzing the sack opportunities were from a team that was #17 nationwide in sacks last year. USC will need to coordinate better on this. Overall Grade: C+.
Defense- Pete Carroll promoted takeaways.. In his glory days of 2001-2005 that TO margin was from +16 to +21. Oregon had a +23 last year and averaged +16 in their last 5 years. One of the emphases offseason was to increase takeaways. Of the 4 turnovers, 2 were by interception, 1 was by a stripped fumble, and the other by knowing the rules (on that backward pass). This defense has many more playmakers and it showed: Four that deserve respect are Sua Cravens (6Tkl, Int-32 yd runback), Chris Hawkins (5Tkl, Int-20 yd runback, Fumble recovery), Osa Masina (4Tkl, Fumble recovery-46 yd runback TD), and Jabari Ruffin (4Tkl, Forced Fumble), But the whole team played well except for part of the third quarter. Overall Grades: D-Line and Linebackers=B-, secondary= B.
Special Teams- I thought the coverage and the runbacks, when available, were good. However others were less so....the Kickoffs - only 2 kicks were touchbacks ( both aided by penalties).. One KO went out of bounds. Albarado had a decent Punt average of 39 ypp. On EPs Wood made 7 of 8. But there was that unusual vault over the center which was offside and another that was "leaping" (using another body to gain height). As to vaulting I'm against it in any fashion. On the first kickoff Adoree vaulted a tackler and came down on his back/hip. He stayed in but later came up lame. I think this was connected to the leap and would advise against it . The risk is too high. . Overall Grade: C+
Coaching: Improvements-USC had 3 penalties for 25 yards, lots of players got in and out quickly, no turnovers. And they made an adjustment in play calling at the half to take AKS sacks down from 5 to none. A few trick plays were called to keep the guys loose. Sark got a quarters worth of time for Max Browne. Overall Grade: B
TV, Misc.-Getting the Midnight Special so, whereas other teams will get exposure like UCLA and "Chosen Rosen", USC got REM from missing viewers. And we got the lesser of the PAC12 channel announcing teams...They opened up with the Sark sobriety incident, repeated it later , and then made a dumb comment of why AKS took a timeout since the 2 minute warning approaches. Sorry but we aren't playing the pro game. .Overall Grades: D. Refs called a pretty good game, is it changing? Grade :B
Bottom line/Next game Forecast - This was by no means a top team but any time you win big, have minor injuries and get lots of guys involved its a good one. We can only hope that next week is more of the same...My Forecast..USC 62 Idaho 7.
The crowd was 80K strong and enthusiastic. They declined in numbers after every score in the second half. Who starts a football game at 8:00PM? USC used 68 players (They usually had 50or less last year). AK State used 63 players. Note to the NCAA..."We're Back!!" BTW AKS played hard until the end. I think they are a plus .500 team again this year.
Offense: Wow...the OC calling plays , the players shuffled on field seamlessly and often. If you saw it on TV , the changes were made during your replay. And USC won the toss and said "We don't need no stinkin' deferring to the second half".
QB: We tend to take Kessler (73%, 12.4 YPC, 4 TDs, 0 Int.) for granted but he faced a different defense. AKS kept 7-10 men at the line of scrimmage before changing just before the snap. They also delayed blitzers and often blitzed 4 to 7 men in most plays. They overwhelmed USCs line and got 5 sacks in the first half for a loss of 35 yards. Kessler escaped two situations with completed passes while nearly in the grasp. Cody was great but missed two receivers by not putting more air under the ball, but connecting on 5 others of 13 yards or more.. Then Backup Max Browne (60%, 22 YPC, 0TDs, 0 Int.) came in at the 14:50 mark of Q4 and threw a 35 yard strike on his first play. His throws are effortless. Overall Grade: A-.
Receiving Game: AKS often paid the price for stacking the front. 9 different receivers caught passes (17 to WR, 2 to TE, 4 to RB). There were also two dropped passes. The TE actually was thrown to on 4-5 plays per my count and had 1 TD (McNamara). The key targets were Smith-Shuster (sounds like a publishing company) for 4rec- 89 yards and 1 TD, and Steven Mitchell for 4rec- 28 yards and 1 TD. Former QB Greene did an end around from the WR position and from a toss by Kessler hit RB Davis for an 18 yard completion. The receivers averaged 14 yards per catch. This is a deep pool of talent, even while missing Adoree Jackson. Overall Grade: A.
Running Game: This is a different Madden (12-106-1TD-8.8ypc).Noted as a power runner he also showed speed and deception on his breakaway 65 yard run and picked up a couple receptions for another 15 yards. His one fault appeared to be stringing along the line too long before cutting through a hole. Ronald Jones (6-86-1TD-14.eypc)., the new "Rojo"...welcome to LA. He's a straight up runner whose long legs churn, baby, churn. He takes one slide step and then jets N-S into the hole. He broke away for a 44 yard TD in simply outrunning the entire AKS team, Sark along the sideline, and his blockers. 'Cedric Ware (6-28-1TD-4.7 ypc). , the other of the "Two Boys from Texas" also performed well. And Dominic Davis had a run and 2 good looking receptions. Overall Grade: A.
Oline: They had 10 different OL players. There was only 1 false start penalty . And the running game had an 8.3 ypr (minus the sack yardage) and just 1 negative play of 3 yards. But then there were those 5 sacks. But with overloaded blitzing the sack opportunities were from a team that was #17 nationwide in sacks last year. USC will need to coordinate better on this. Overall Grade: C+.
Defense- Pete Carroll promoted takeaways.. In his glory days of 2001-2005 that TO margin was from +16 to +21. Oregon had a +23 last year and averaged +16 in their last 5 years. One of the emphases offseason was to increase takeaways. Of the 4 turnovers, 2 were by interception, 1 was by a stripped fumble, and the other by knowing the rules (on that backward pass). This defense has many more playmakers and it showed: Four that deserve respect are Sua Cravens (6Tkl, Int-32 yd runback), Chris Hawkins (5Tkl, Int-20 yd runback, Fumble recovery), Osa Masina (4Tkl, Fumble recovery-46 yd runback TD), and Jabari Ruffin (4Tkl, Forced Fumble), But the whole team played well except for part of the third quarter. Overall Grades: D-Line and Linebackers=B-, secondary= B.
Special Teams- I thought the coverage and the runbacks, when available, were good. However others were less so....the Kickoffs - only 2 kicks were touchbacks ( both aided by penalties).. One KO went out of bounds. Albarado had a decent Punt average of 39 ypp. On EPs Wood made 7 of 8. But there was that unusual vault over the center which was offside and another that was "leaping" (using another body to gain height). As to vaulting I'm against it in any fashion. On the first kickoff Adoree vaulted a tackler and came down on his back/hip. He stayed in but later came up lame. I think this was connected to the leap and would advise against it . The risk is too high. . Overall Grade: C+
Coaching: Improvements-USC had 3 penalties for 25 yards, lots of players got in and out quickly, no turnovers. And they made an adjustment in play calling at the half to take AKS sacks down from 5 to none. A few trick plays were called to keep the guys loose. Sark got a quarters worth of time for Max Browne. Overall Grade: B
TV, Misc.-Getting the Midnight Special so, whereas other teams will get exposure like UCLA and "Chosen Rosen", USC got REM from missing viewers. And we got the lesser of the PAC12 channel announcing teams...They opened up with the Sark sobriety incident, repeated it later , and then made a dumb comment of why AKS took a timeout since the 2 minute warning approaches. Sorry but we aren't playing the pro game. .Overall Grades: D. Refs called a pretty good game, is it changing? Grade :B
Bottom line/Next game Forecast - This was by no means a top team but any time you win big, have minor injuries and get lots of guys involved its a good one. We can only hope that next week is more of the same...My Forecast..USC 62 Idaho 7.
Last edited:
