Highlights from our coach and player interviews following USC's rout of Idaho ...
Steve Sarkisian
--He was much happier with what he saw from Cody Kessler.
“I thought Cody was better tonight, much better tonight than he was last week. I thought he was really decisive in his reads, I thought he was really accurate. I love the fact that we threw the ball deep and he put more air on the ball and allowed (JuJu Smith-Schuster) to run under it and go catch it. Where last week, I thought the ball was a little bit flat and we overthrew a couple of our deep balls. I thought his accuracy down the field was much better. I thought he was decisive in his decision making. We had a couple of drops in there as well, so his accuracy was good. Just thought he had a better week of practice with his feet, in turn it let him play better.”
--The offensive line was also much improved.
“I thought the protection for Cody was drastically improved. I thought we moved the line of scrimmage in the run game. The backs can make the offensive line right too, those guys were all running. They all did their job when they got in there, it was great to have Justin Davis back. We wanted to get him the ball early. But Ronald Jones continues to impress, Dominic Davis, all those guys. I thought the offensive line was vastly improved, I thought the communication was much better. We didn’t have any communication breakdowns, the guys were together, on point. In turn, the protection was better and the run game was just cleaner than it was a week ago.”
--Having five tailbacks available, compared to two last year, makes a big difference.
“Well, it was tricky (last year). The part of it is, it's throughout the week, when you only have two, it’s Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as well, it’s, How do you take care of those two guys to make sure they’re ready to go on Saturday? I think now with five guys, these guys practice really hard, they’re running hard in team run and 9-on-7 and team periods. So when the game comes, I don’t think they know any different. I just think when they get the ball, they don’t have change speeds, they don’t have to try to speed up now to run the runs, that’s the tempo they’ve ran at all week. And I thought all the guys showed that tonight. They were really decisive in their decision making running the ball, they put their foot in the ground, they got north and south much better than a week ago when I thought we danced a little bit at times and got lateral. I thought our guys really got north and south and ran the ball with a little more conviction than a week ago.”
--Sarkisian can't say at this point whether the dynamic Ronald Jones II reminds him of anyone.
“I don’t know yet. Give me a little more time. He’s a unique guy, he’s very explosive. But then he has the ability in the open field to open his stride up and he turns into almost, he goes from an explosive, one-cut guy in tight quarters, to open-up-his-stride, almost like a 200-meter runner in the open field. He’s unique to me that way. He’s longer than you think, too. You get around him, Ronald’s got good height, he’s got long arms, long legs, so I don’t know yet. It’ll be interesting to continue to watch him. I think he only has 16 carries now in two games, but there’s a lot there. It’s unfortunate he had the one run called back, but he made amends for it with another long run to get down to the 1 and then punch it in in tight quarters there. He’s a unique guy. I’m excited he’s on our team and I get to watch him here for the next few years.”
JuJu Smith-Schuster
--After another blowout, he expects the team to have a better practice than it did last Tuesday.
“That’s something I want to preach on so much about. We have to come out strong. It’s always tough in the first practice, it’s hot, we’re in full gear, we’re coming off the weekend. So I think we have to come out strong and I want to be on my guys really tough.”
--He said he's noticing more accountability from his teammates.
“Everybody wants to be great. You have to be the best at your craft and it also comes with your brother, the person behind you. You have to know that when you go down, your brother is going to step up and play for you. That’s when coach says we platoon and that’s platooning from the linebackers to D-line to secondary to quarterbacks to running backs, and that’s what we do.”
--He personally feels like it's his responsibility to be one of the best players on the team.
“When we talk about leadership, there’s so many ways people can show leadership. It can be vocal or it can be a person that makes plays. We have so many great players on our team who are both. And I think for me, it's more of a vocal person (who) also make plays when your number is called. And I think tonight I did that.”
--There was a reason he was a bit chippy with Idaho players on certain plays.
“It’s just one of those games that’s like, whatever you put on film, that’s your resume. When Stanford watches the film I want them to know I’m not playing around. I’m going after you every play, even if I don’t get the ball, even if it’s a run play, I’m going after you. That’s what I showed.”
Justin Davis
--His performance Saturday was redeeming on a personal level.
"It was so gratifying because I hurt myself in training camp , I came back for a couple practices and then I got hurt again. Just to come out here felt great, not miss a step and score a couple touchdowns, there’s no better feeling than that."
--He said he’s close to 100 percent but still feels some lingering pain in the rib when he’s hit in the wrong spot.
"I’m pretty close to it. I’ll be 100 percent, I can tell you that."
--After missing so many practices and watching the other tailbacks excel, he grew concerned about his role.
"I can’t lie, it’s always gong to be in the back of my head. But that’s the reason I came to ‘SC. I know theyre going to make me a better player than I would myself. Just seeing them go, scoring touchdowns, that’ll make me want to do better. And me scoring a touchdowns will make them want to do better. It’s that friendly competition that’s going to make us very good in the future. …
"I got to be truthful, I was down at some points. But I just knew to stick to my practice methods, to come every day ready to work like it’s my last. And that worked out, it worked out today.”
--He ran with a chip on his shoulder.
I wanted to get in the end one so bad, just to make myself feel that I’m back, tat Im ready, just to get my confidence level up. It just felt great to get those touchdowns today.
--USC still isn't satisfied with its first two games.
"But the thing about it, we can be so much better than this. We got so much talent. I know JuJu had 10 catches or whatever, but we still got Steven Mitchell in the bag, we got Darreus Rogers. We can put on a way better show than this and I think it’s going to come out in the future."
Toa Lobendahn
--The offensive line felt it needed to play better in all aspects after last week and thus had a sense of pride over not allowing a sack to Idaho and for how USC ran the ball.
“I thought we had a great week of preparation. Giving up no sacks this time, last week we thought it was a big point that we gave up five. We weren’t going to let that happen again this week. We just wanted to make it a point to get our running game going also. This week we were pounding it and making that a priority.”
--Multiple players said Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s practices were among the hardest they’ve experienced.
“We’re working for a bigger purpose, we’re trying to make it to the championships. We can’t be letting off in these upcoming weeks.”
--Stanford is expected to provide USC with its first real test.
“It’s always a great battle with them and I can’t wait to get out here next week.”
Steve Sarkisian
--He was much happier with what he saw from Cody Kessler.
“I thought Cody was better tonight, much better tonight than he was last week. I thought he was really decisive in his reads, I thought he was really accurate. I love the fact that we threw the ball deep and he put more air on the ball and allowed (JuJu Smith-Schuster) to run under it and go catch it. Where last week, I thought the ball was a little bit flat and we overthrew a couple of our deep balls. I thought his accuracy down the field was much better. I thought he was decisive in his decision making. We had a couple of drops in there as well, so his accuracy was good. Just thought he had a better week of practice with his feet, in turn it let him play better.”
--The offensive line was also much improved.
“I thought the protection for Cody was drastically improved. I thought we moved the line of scrimmage in the run game. The backs can make the offensive line right too, those guys were all running. They all did their job when they got in there, it was great to have Justin Davis back. We wanted to get him the ball early. But Ronald Jones continues to impress, Dominic Davis, all those guys. I thought the offensive line was vastly improved, I thought the communication was much better. We didn’t have any communication breakdowns, the guys were together, on point. In turn, the protection was better and the run game was just cleaner than it was a week ago.”
--Having five tailbacks available, compared to two last year, makes a big difference.
“Well, it was tricky (last year). The part of it is, it's throughout the week, when you only have two, it’s Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as well, it’s, How do you take care of those two guys to make sure they’re ready to go on Saturday? I think now with five guys, these guys practice really hard, they’re running hard in team run and 9-on-7 and team periods. So when the game comes, I don’t think they know any different. I just think when they get the ball, they don’t have change speeds, they don’t have to try to speed up now to run the runs, that’s the tempo they’ve ran at all week. And I thought all the guys showed that tonight. They were really decisive in their decision making running the ball, they put their foot in the ground, they got north and south much better than a week ago when I thought we danced a little bit at times and got lateral. I thought our guys really got north and south and ran the ball with a little more conviction than a week ago.”
--Sarkisian can't say at this point whether the dynamic Ronald Jones II reminds him of anyone.
“I don’t know yet. Give me a little more time. He’s a unique guy, he’s very explosive. But then he has the ability in the open field to open his stride up and he turns into almost, he goes from an explosive, one-cut guy in tight quarters, to open-up-his-stride, almost like a 200-meter runner in the open field. He’s unique to me that way. He’s longer than you think, too. You get around him, Ronald’s got good height, he’s got long arms, long legs, so I don’t know yet. It’ll be interesting to continue to watch him. I think he only has 16 carries now in two games, but there’s a lot there. It’s unfortunate he had the one run called back, but he made amends for it with another long run to get down to the 1 and then punch it in in tight quarters there. He’s a unique guy. I’m excited he’s on our team and I get to watch him here for the next few years.”
JuJu Smith-Schuster
--After another blowout, he expects the team to have a better practice than it did last Tuesday.
“That’s something I want to preach on so much about. We have to come out strong. It’s always tough in the first practice, it’s hot, we’re in full gear, we’re coming off the weekend. So I think we have to come out strong and I want to be on my guys really tough.”
--He said he's noticing more accountability from his teammates.
“Everybody wants to be great. You have to be the best at your craft and it also comes with your brother, the person behind you. You have to know that when you go down, your brother is going to step up and play for you. That’s when coach says we platoon and that’s platooning from the linebackers to D-line to secondary to quarterbacks to running backs, and that’s what we do.”
--He personally feels like it's his responsibility to be one of the best players on the team.
“When we talk about leadership, there’s so many ways people can show leadership. It can be vocal or it can be a person that makes plays. We have so many great players on our team who are both. And I think for me, it's more of a vocal person (who) also make plays when your number is called. And I think tonight I did that.”
--There was a reason he was a bit chippy with Idaho players on certain plays.
“It’s just one of those games that’s like, whatever you put on film, that’s your resume. When Stanford watches the film I want them to know I’m not playing around. I’m going after you every play, even if I don’t get the ball, even if it’s a run play, I’m going after you. That’s what I showed.”
Justin Davis
--His performance Saturday was redeeming on a personal level.
"It was so gratifying because I hurt myself in training camp , I came back for a couple practices and then I got hurt again. Just to come out here felt great, not miss a step and score a couple touchdowns, there’s no better feeling than that."
--He said he’s close to 100 percent but still feels some lingering pain in the rib when he’s hit in the wrong spot.
"I’m pretty close to it. I’ll be 100 percent, I can tell you that."
--After missing so many practices and watching the other tailbacks excel, he grew concerned about his role.
"I can’t lie, it’s always gong to be in the back of my head. But that’s the reason I came to ‘SC. I know theyre going to make me a better player than I would myself. Just seeing them go, scoring touchdowns, that’ll make me want to do better. And me scoring a touchdowns will make them want to do better. It’s that friendly competition that’s going to make us very good in the future. …
"I got to be truthful, I was down at some points. But I just knew to stick to my practice methods, to come every day ready to work like it’s my last. And that worked out, it worked out today.”
--He ran with a chip on his shoulder.
I wanted to get in the end one so bad, just to make myself feel that I’m back, tat Im ready, just to get my confidence level up. It just felt great to get those touchdowns today.
--USC still isn't satisfied with its first two games.
"But the thing about it, we can be so much better than this. We got so much talent. I know JuJu had 10 catches or whatever, but we still got Steven Mitchell in the bag, we got Darreus Rogers. We can put on a way better show than this and I think it’s going to come out in the future."
Toa Lobendahn
--The offensive line felt it needed to play better in all aspects after last week and thus had a sense of pride over not allowing a sack to Idaho and for how USC ran the ball.
“I thought we had a great week of preparation. Giving up no sacks this time, last week we thought it was a big point that we gave up five. We weren’t going to let that happen again this week. We just wanted to make it a point to get our running game going also. This week we were pounding it and making that a priority.”
--Multiple players said Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s practices were among the hardest they’ve experienced.
“We’re working for a bigger purpose, we’re trying to make it to the championships. We can’t be letting off in these upcoming weeks.”
--Stanford is expected to provide USC with its first real test.
“It’s always a great battle with them and I can’t wait to get out here next week.”
