Sunday, October 5, 2014

USC snatches defeat from the jaws of victory against ASU.

How bad was USC's loss to ASU?  It could go down as the worst (most embarrassing) defeat in USC history.  Let me give you the rundown.

ASU, with 3:02 left in the game and zero timeouts available, needed two scores to win.  In two possessions, the Sun Devils had five plays -- all passing -- and went 3 for 5 with gains of 73, 26 and 46 yards, with two touchdowns.  Total time of possession for those two scoring drives: 42 seconds.  And they didn't even recover their onside kick between the two scores!

The kick in the groin: Even though ASU was relying on a backup kicker, on the final play of the game with 7 seconds left and the ball on USC's 46, USC's defensive coordinator, Justin Wilcox, initially had the defense line up for a short pass and a long field goal.  He then changed the call, but only half of the players got the change.  That failure led to ASU's successful Hail Mary.

USC's coaching, particularly on defense, had an epic collapse.

But there's always the next game, right?  Wrong!

USC's next opponent is Arizona, in Tuscon -- a team that just beat Oregon up in Autzen and is now ranked 10th in the AP poll.  The last time USC played against a spread-option team was in Chestnut Hill against Boston College (a lousy team whose only wins aside from USC, were against Maine and UMass), and the defense could not figure out how to defend the option.

By the way, Ed Orgeron and Clancy Pendergast are not coaching right now.

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