jkm, the stolen pifwafwi
9/21/2009, 01:34 PM
one of the more interesting things about USC has always been how polished they are in early season games and how prepared they are in bowl games.
they are one of the few schools that i've ever seen that can put a true/rs freshman out on the field who has a grasp of a good chunk of their offense.
they have very, very few missed assignments on defense early in the season. this isn't a recent phenomenon either, i remember being wowed by the defensive preparation going back to 2000ish in those early games against kstate (where the scores were like 3-0 and 6-3). kstate was clearly the better team, but USC was always in position.
basically they start strong, are up and down through the season based on injuries, and then finish strong in the bowl game. i didn't get to watch as much of the game as i wanted (as i was watching OU), but i saw locker take advantage of mayes replacement several times.
i hate using the NFL as a comparison, but it isn't as if their overall talent level is leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else. they have several that are flat out monsters, but it isn't as many as miami had. their overall talent level may be top 5 in the country, but it isn't as if it there is this astronomical gap between where they are and where a top 10 team might be.
anyway, a hypothesis - based on the NCAA recruiting violations by kiffin and sarkisian in their first week on the job, i have to wonder if petey hasn't been dipping into a different well. one that would provide much, much more benefit than recruiting violations.
what if he were actually taking his starters and doing monitored coaching sessions with them during voluntary "meetings"? what if instead of 45 hours worth of practice time in the spring, they were actually at 90? what if during the summer they were running self-directed skelly drills for 3 days and coaching monitored for 2 days? and what if, sarkisian did the same thing and just stung petey with it?
they are one of the few schools that i've ever seen that can put a true/rs freshman out on the field who has a grasp of a good chunk of their offense.
they have very, very few missed assignments on defense early in the season. this isn't a recent phenomenon either, i remember being wowed by the defensive preparation going back to 2000ish in those early games against kstate (where the scores were like 3-0 and 6-3). kstate was clearly the better team, but USC was always in position.
basically they start strong, are up and down through the season based on injuries, and then finish strong in the bowl game. i didn't get to watch as much of the game as i wanted (as i was watching OU), but i saw locker take advantage of mayes replacement several times.
i hate using the NFL as a comparison, but it isn't as if their overall talent level is leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else. they have several that are flat out monsters, but it isn't as many as miami had. their overall talent level may be top 5 in the country, but it isn't as if it there is this astronomical gap between where they are and where a top 10 team might be.
anyway, a hypothesis - based on the NCAA recruiting violations by kiffin and sarkisian in their first week on the job, i have to wonder if petey hasn't been dipping into a different well. one that would provide much, much more benefit than recruiting violations.
what if he were actually taking his starters and doing monitored coaching sessions with them during voluntary "meetings"? what if instead of 45 hours worth of practice time in the spring, they were actually at 90? what if during the summer they were running self-directed skelly drills for 3 days and coaching monitored for 2 days? and what if, sarkisian did the same thing and just stung petey with it?