I’ll start off by saying that I was highly critical of the defense and the lack of next level talent along the defensive front 7 after the Arky State game. Most met my skepticism with resentment. Now that we had to bear witness to what we saw Saturday, there is no hiding from the facts. Simply put: we need more out of the seniors on defense and Wilcox.
What if this was the wakeup call that everyone needed?
Full disclosure, I’m not a Justin Wilcox fan. I think he’s in over his head at USC. His inability to game plan, make in-game adjustments and his lack of defensive creativity to overcome personnel shortcomings with schematics is alarming. All of this wasn’t evident to most while throttling the Idaho Vandals of the world. And for that matter, if USC gets a few more defensive stops Saturday, I think we win handily. The unintended consequences of that would likely have been that these blaring deficiencies would have been swept under the rug for another week.
If this isn’t the slap in the face the defensive staff needed to get the most out of the guys we have, it might be a rough season. There are no more excuses. We have THREE 6th year seniors that start on the defensive line and two more that are supposed to be leading the linebacking unit. Depth, lack of player development, too young, yada yada… those excuses don’t hold water. The fact is, every team on USC’s schedule would trade rosters in a second. While we may lack the NFL talent on defense we’ve become accustomed to at USC, we still have a roster filled with 4 and 5 star guys. It’s up to the staff to get the very most out of that talent.
This game vs ASU will be so very telling of what is ahead for USC both this season and beyond.
What if this was the wakeup call that everyone needed?
Full disclosure, I’m not a Justin Wilcox fan. I think he’s in over his head at USC. His inability to game plan, make in-game adjustments and his lack of defensive creativity to overcome personnel shortcomings with schematics is alarming. All of this wasn’t evident to most while throttling the Idaho Vandals of the world. And for that matter, if USC gets a few more defensive stops Saturday, I think we win handily. The unintended consequences of that would likely have been that these blaring deficiencies would have been swept under the rug for another week.
If this isn’t the slap in the face the defensive staff needed to get the most out of the guys we have, it might be a rough season. There are no more excuses. We have THREE 6th year seniors that start on the defensive line and two more that are supposed to be leading the linebacking unit. Depth, lack of player development, too young, yada yada… those excuses don’t hold water. The fact is, every team on USC’s schedule would trade rosters in a second. While we may lack the NFL talent on defense we’ve become accustomed to at USC, we still have a roster filled with 4 and 5 star guys. It’s up to the staff to get the very most out of that talent.
This game vs ASU will be so very telling of what is ahead for USC both this season and beyond.
