5 Thoughts for November 21, 2015 (mostly about football)

1. Netflix: Just one day after it was made available and I've finished streaming Jessica Jones. If you're a Doctor Who fan, David Tennant plays a role that will freak you out and confuse you. There is a precedent for this sort of character: Sylar from the TV show, Heroes. The show's writing seemingly follows the same flaw as OITNB, where the protagonist -- Jessica Jones -- is so deeply flawed and continues to make the same errors, that I have difficulty having empathy for Jones. But at the end, just as it seems like she's yet again failed herself and everyone around her, she shows that she hasn't repeated her errors.
2. USC Trojans defense: Every media pundit said Monte Kiffin was a brilliant defensive coordinator. His first year at USC, the defense allowed 400 ypg; his second year they gave up 375 ypg; his third and final year they averaged 394 ypg. Every media pundit said that Justin Wilcox was a bright, young defensive coordinator. His first year USC's defense allowed 407 ypg; after the Oregon game, the defense has now allowed an average of 403 ypg through 11 games this season. Meanwhile, his sole year between Monte and Justin, Clancy Pendergast's defense averaged 335 ypg. I'm tired of talking about how bad Wilcox's defenses are; I just wish sports pundits would quit gushing about Justin Wilcox.
3. Justin Wilcox: No really, people, stop talking about how brilliant he is as a defensive coordinator. In his first season at UW, they averaged 357 ypg; in his second season they got worse, averaging 389 ypg. In three games against Oregon, Wilcox's defenses have allowed 52 (2012), 45 (2013) and now 48 (2015) points. You know, maybe Oregon should hire Wilcox. Wilcox's 3-4 scheme was supposed to help the defense out with greater team speed, and yet the defense looked like it was always 5+ yards behind the play, if they were even near the play; so bad was Wilcox's defense, that it broke the record for most passing TDs allowed, ever, at USC. I'm not saying that USC should have beaten Oregon -- Oregon's a very good team, now that Vernon Adams is healthy -- but USC shouldn't be blown out this badly; had Oregon not taken the foot off the pedal, the score would have been 52 - 28.
4. Clay Helton: With that embarrassing loss in Eugene, many people think that Helton's chances of getting hired by the Trojans, has been diminished. Seeing how poorly the special teams performed yet again, and how slow the team started against Arizona, Colorado and Oregon, it just doesn't seem like his chances are good. But UCLA beat Utah, setting up a winner-take-all game at the Coliseum next weekend between USC and UCLA. Winning the next two games would mean a trip to the Rose Bowl...wait, who are we kidding? Wilcox is still the DC, so naturally his defense will make the true freshman Josh Rosen look like a Heisman candidate and Helton will be gone at the end of the season.
5. John Hancock Center: What a cursed building. When it was first built its windows blew out due to the air pressure. Years ago when I was in Chicago, high winds knocked around a loose scaffolding platform, breaking windows, dropping onto the ground and killing several people. In 2011 there was a transformer fire on the 75th floor. Today there was a fire halfway up the tower resulting in some minor casualties. That's a terrible fate for any building.