friend wrote:Observations from the Coliseum last night...
Observations :
1. I made a visit to the USC Campus before the game. I had no idea it was such a big tailgate spot. Pleasant but bland and no character to it, kind of reminded me of a big High School. Great place to meet Muffy and Thad in the Quad though...
2. USC Fans don't like Cal much. Had an 80 year old man on the elevator at the hotel boo me in my Cal T Shirt. This happened throughout the day, usually by short, fat guys wearing SC jersey's and smoking cigars.
3. The game was just waiting for someone to step up and take control if it, this was particularly true throughout the first half and even into the third quarter. Too bad we couldn't....
4. I was surprised that Carrol did not go for it on 4th and goal at the two on their first drive. On that drive USC ran the ball more effectively than any other time in the game. Both teams ran best in passing formations/situations.
5. The Jarrett fumble and Pimentel run back occured right in front of us. It sure looked like Jarrett took several steps after receiving the ball but I was never optimistic about it because while Pimentel was running for the TD I could see one of our wonderful Pac 10 Officials waving his arms over his head back at the spot of the fumble so I assumed it had been blown dead. I don't know what they would have done on the review had they decided that it was a catch and fumble, call it dead at the spot of the fumble but give Cal the ball? I still haven't seen a replay.
6. A Critical juncture of the game was in the first half when we scored, then held USC and forced a short punt out of bounds to the 50 or so. We had a great call on first down and a draw play for 9 yards by Lynch. Then we couldn't convert the first down in the next two plays. We really needed to go in for TD on that short field drive.
7. Critical juncture number two was the 55 yard field goal attempt. Made no sense and has been a pattern with JT who I love and appreciate. The thing that I don't get is he will risk giving the opponent good field position after a missed field goal but not by going for it on 4th down in enemy territory.
8. The defense played the game of the year and much better than I had expected. The D was good enough for us to win. Mebane had some huge plays, Pimentel as well and SQT was excellent. DeCoud guarded Jarrett quite often.
9. As I drove home I was critical of the offensive game plan but on reflection this morning it worked pretty well in the first half when we moved the ball fairly well and outgained them.
10. The keys were our inability to run for a yard on third and one and our inability to run in general when they had both safety's deep and only 7 in the box. Can't think of a time in the game when they had 8 in the box.
11. The deep safety's over our WR's really stifled our WR's and we had no answer. Would have liked to see some crossing patterns or wide receivers in the deep middle.
12. USC fans are weak front runnners. I was at the Tennessee game and the fans, atmosphere and crowd noise was exponentially greater than at SC. The only time SC made appreciable noise was after they went ahead.
13. The glass is half full.......... Cal has done remarkably well this year with an offensive line that cannot run block with any consistency and with no speed or pressure from the defensive ends, zero sacks again.
14. Glass is half empty...........I really hope that JT goes back and analyzes his game day decisions and lack of aggressiveness in general and grows from the experience. I remember a quote from JT's old coach and mentor, Jim Sweeney where he said that JT needs to be careful and watch his tendancy to get too conservative on game day
He had me at Muffy and Thad...too funny!
But he was spot on. That is so fuckin' USC. The SC bandwagoners who couldn't care less about football (except when USC is winning) give me crap when CAL doesn't win.
If you ever want to see an 80 year old yell "fuck you" to children look no further than the "university" of Southern California.
Back to the bandwagoners, they have 0 college football IQ. When I explain to them that Bush and Jarrett took extra benefits, they see no problem with it. So rediculous.
I loathe USC and their "fans."
