- I didn't have to rewatch the USC-UW game to know what went wrong: Steve Sarkisian and his staff were incapable of maintaining consistency and that inconsistency carried over to the way the players carried themselves. Last year we saw it manifest with multiple 4th quarter collapses but this year it seems like you never know what you're going to get at any point in the game, and against any given opponent. When they're clicking, no one can stop them; when they're not focused they're completely discombobulated and make the dumbest decisions; when they get down, their fears just overtake them and their performance collapses like a house of cards.
- The second after USC lost to Washington, many people were suggesting that Chip Kelly might be lured away to coach the Trojans, which of course means that just about everyone expected Sark to be out of a job at the end of the season, if not sooner, which brings me to the next item...
- Steve Sarkisian was placed on an indefinite leave of absence by AD Pat Haden. Apparently he'd shown up at work on Sunday and Haden did not think that he looked healthy. I believe this is what we call alcoholism, and the signs were there long before his crazed rant at a rally. I had wondered why Sark's eyes no longer looked normal (from his years under Pete Carroll); particularly, of late, Sark had glazed eyes and a weird stare while on camera. How he responded following his drunken rally rant, reminded me that the first step of recovering from an addiction, is to admit that you have a problem; Sark could bring himself to admit that he had a problem, instead blaming his actions on mixing meds with alcohol. Now that he's on indefinite leave, we now know when Sark will be fired: At the end of the season.
- As if to add an exclamation point to the PAC-12's upside-down season, Oregon lost at home to WSU -- it's third loss of the season, and certainly a very low point for Ducks fans. I thought that losing Mariota would be big, but not this huge. While USC's -- correctable -- problem is a lack of consistency, the Ducks seem to have serious problems on defense and a possibly insurmountable issue with a lack of talent at quarterback (aside from Vernon Adams who remains sidelined with a broken finger). Literally, the only two PAC-12 teams worse off than Oregon, are Colorado and Oregon State, and Oregon fans are wondering if their team will even make a bowl game this year. Just a reminder though: Even the best programs and coaches have down years.
- Seattle, oh my. How does a team go from 17 points up in the 4th quarter, to losing in overtime? Here are two reason: (1) Offensive line blocking on passing plays remained the worst in the NFL; (2) On defense, it seemed at times that members of the secondary weren't on the same page. The loss was especially disappointing because it took the shine away from Thomas Rawls' spectacular 169 yard rushing performance in the absence of Marshawn Lynch -- it was the second coming of Beast Mode.
Update:
Well of course that happened: Sark was fired. There is a lot of fault resting on Pat Haden's shoulders right now, as the Sark hire can be seen as the wrong choice at the wrong time for all of the wrong reasons, and given the opportunity to make the correct call, he punted following Sark's outburst at a preseason rally. Both decisions proved fateful, culminating in Sark's meltdown.
Right now Haden needs to focus on what meds Sark was taking. If Sark's meds were meant to treat any sort of depressive issues, Haden needs to immediately pick Sark up and deliver him to a treatment facility on USC's dime. If losing to his former team, Washington, triggered a meltdown, losing his job will be worse, and I don't mean more imbibing.
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