The players have to motivate themselves too. Blame should be placed on everyone. But obviously there are other problems, and I think they miss Norm Chow more than they ever thought they would. The most astonishing thing last night was USC has to be the worst tackling team I have ever seen. I like that osu rb - he pounded the rock all night long without showboating and pretty much won the game by himself. true. and i was jk again obviously, bc he loves some usc.
err, sabbatical. I said it when he had 40 yards. jacquizz rodgers= heisman he's johnny rodgers son. maybe i made that last part up.
I think you got a big chunk of it right there. Despite so many weapons, they looked like a slow team and perhaps their plays just develop too slowly. The consistency with which they lose to dogs every year tells me that Pete has problems motivating his players in all situations, or he just can't get that many great recruits to gel. Following on that note is some less than stellar performance later in the NFL by many of their rb's and wr's, despite being the most heralded in the country. Either the ranking sites are way off, or they are not being developed correctly. Arguments that the Pac 10 is competitive every year is lame because these teams just never seem to make any consistent improvement. But they just are not scared of USC, and seem ready for them. All that together, tells me their are some coaching issues, whether it is Pete himself or his assistants. He has done well, but we are right to not be too impressed by their consecutive titles in such a sad conference. Clearly they should do this every year, and should do much better but continue to fall. Their glitter has worn of for me. No matter what happens this year, if I see these losers in the BCSCG this year, I probably won't watch it. And God help us when they are ranked Top 5 again next year.
Great point about the players in the NFL, that underscores the problem: USC, we are the annointed ones.
USC has multiple challenges. First, they don't have enough conference competition to keep them sharp and hungry. Second, they live smack in the middle of that celebrity worship culture over there - I'm sure it creates team morale (prima donna) problems constantly. Third, I think they've developed a bit of an entitlement mindset, just like their fan base. They believe their own press clippings. Fourth, is there such a thing as having too many five-stars on the roster? Seems to me that there's a competitive balance that keeps folks motivated without feeling threatened all the time. Fifth - Pete Carroll isn't as good with these young men as folks give him credit for. I'd be willing to bet that he doesn't do nearly as much to develop them as PEOPLE and TEAMMATES as many other coaches do, including Les Miles.
Right again Stace. Just look at the path we took and the teams we went through to get them both. Pretty freakin impressive. Or Lindell White?
