An Immortal Team of Mortal Men

USC @ Washington

carson — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:23:47 +0000

Defensive tackle, Averell Sicer’s roughing the passer penalty on third down, was one of the key plays in Washington’s last drive that enabled them to hit the last second field goal. Last year, Spicer was guilty of two infractions that led to scores by Oregon State in its 27-21 upset win over USC. In that game he was removed, following his second infraction.

Poor clock management deprived USC of a field goal at the end of the first half. Jordan Congdon made a field goal that would have given the Trojans the lead, but time had expired.

The Trojans miss David Buehler, who kicked off, kicked field goals and extra points last year. Jacob Harfman, a transfer from Mt. San Antonio College is handling the kickoffs this year. So far in three games, he has only kicked three balls into the end zone and none against Washington. His short kicks have enabled Trojan opponents to return the ball to the 25 to 30 yard line instead of starting on the 20 yard line. Buehler also has a stronger leg than Congdon.

USC @ Ohio State

carson — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:22:43 +0000

Punter, Bill O’Malley’s kicking leaves a lot to be desired. He cost USC a safety against Ohio State when he could not catch long snapper, Cooper Stehenson’s snap from center. His punting gave Ohio State good field position most of the day. Fortunately, the defense performed well. If Ohio State had won, one of its MVPs would have been its punter who kept USC deep in its territory with his long high punts that were not returned

USC attends the 9th annual high school football recruiting camp in Honolulu

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:21:15 +0000

The ninth annual camp for highly regarded Polynesian high school football players was held in Honolulu. This camp is a three- day event by invitation only for both players and coaches. This year more than 300 high school players were in attendance. These players were coached by coaches from twenty colleges. Several of these players are NCAA Division 1 prospects. Assistant football coaches from Washington, UCLA, Oregon and Oregon State were in attendance at this event. Absent, after a number of years of participating, was USC.

Ohio State and Cal expected to be the toughest games this year

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:05:26 +0000

Some USC coaches believe the games against Ohio State and California, which are road games could be their toughest games this year. The coaches do not know how the team will react playing before a hostile crowd of 105,000 at Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State lost more than 25 players from last year’s team including Beanie Wells their best leading rusher and Brian Robiskie their best receiver. A year ago, the coaches privately were confident that they could shut Ohio State down. Sophomore Terrelle Pryor, with a full year of experience, should take a quantum jump in performance. If USC’s defense performs up to its potential, USC should be capable of defeating the Buckeyes.

Although Cal had a strong running game and a good defense, they were weak at the quarterback position last year. The starting quarterback will be Kevin Riley who in his first two years, has only been average at best. Without a strong passing game, it seems that Cal will have a difficult time defeating USC. I believe Oregon could be USC’s toughest game since the game will be played at Oregon, and they have a powerful offense. The Trojans have lost to Oregon schools on their turf for three consecutive years.