It's hard to believe, but in the first series of the second half, USC marched down the field in three plays and 46 seconds to score a touchdown and take the lead, 21-20. Ahem...then ASU marched back up the field in 21 seconds in two plays to take back the lead with their own TD.
Before the third quarter was over, ASU had four TDs in the pocket and a 27 point lead.
That's not to say that the USC defense didn't have some positive moments -- true freshman Su'a Craven's interception comes to mind. And on offense, fullback Soma Vainuku looked good in run blocking as he always does, and more importantly he didn't drop a pass. Also, redshirt freshman Tre Madden and true freshman Justin Thomas were unbelievable, the former with 128 yards rushing and the latter with 122. By virtue of attrition -- see negatives below -- Victor Blackwell got his opportunity to play and looked solid; he also looked like a tight end, with his big frame.
On the negative side, De'Von Fluornoy was out of the game, and Marqise Lee suffered an injury that left him on crutches. In the fourth quarter, USC had just TWO wide receivers on scholarship, available -- Nelson Agholor and Victor Blackwell -- to which, we must give the NCAA credit for ensuring that USC football athletes would physically suffer for the sins of one player who long ago left the program (just 56 scholarship players made the trip down to Tempe.) Why just this past week, three scholarship players were done for the season from injuries.
I don't want to end on a negative note, so I think it's worth pointing out that the USC offense actually scored 41 points -- something no one thought they'd be able to do. Sure, people are calling for Kiffin's head after this nasty loss, but they weren't playing conservative, they didn't quit, and frankly half the blame goes to the defense that mysteriously disappeared. Oh dammit, that was negative, wasn't it?
Okay, one more positive aspect: They have two weeks to heal and recover from the loss to ASU.
Hopefully AD Pat Haden and the Prez find some balls and fire off a lawsuit against the NCAA.
Spoke too soon. They found their balls alright: AD Pat Haden "relieved" Lane Kiffin of his head coaching duties after 5 games into the season. "Relieved" is an odd word to use ... is Haden planning on keeping Kiffin on as offensive coordinator?
I guess we'll find out Sunday afternoon what's going on -- who's taking over.
Sept. 29, 2013
Lane Kiffin has been relieved of his duties as USC's head football coach, Trojan athletic director Pat Haden announced early today (Sept. 29).
Haden informed Kiffin of his termination upon the team charter's arrival back in Los Angeles early Sunday morning following USC's 62-41 loss at Arizona State
Kiffin's Trojans have lost 7 of their past 11 games. USC is 3-2 this year and has lost both of its Pac-12 games. His overall record in 4 years at USC is 28-15.
Haden will hold a press conference at USC on Sunday afternoon at a time and place to be announced.
ESPN's Shelley Smith says that, contrary to the press release, Kiffin was let go on the flight back home. Ouch. She also said that recruits were "dropping off like crazy". I don't know about that, though. A third of the top recruits haven't made verbal commitments, which is unlike previous years.
Update 2: Here's the presser announcing that Kiffin is gone, and introducing Ed Orgeron as the interim head coach. Some have suggested that the decision came during the disastrous third quarter at ASU, where the Sun Devils scored 28 straight points and the team looked like they were in shock. I can believe that.
On the positive side, USC has two weeks to adjust to the change.
No comments:
Post a Comment