T1B

Van wrote:Now they're talking about Barkley as being another Tebow like Jesus figure, playing guitar and building homes in South Africa for orphans.

Impossible. I heard Tebow out-shredded Vai the moment he picked up a Playskool battery operated geetar.

4th and 1, and Pete goes for it with a 23 yard plass play!

FUCK! The next play Bradford got tripped up and fumbled.

He was down. They gotta review that one.

Whew. They correctly overturned the call. Still USC ball.

Clausen really does look like Calvin, of Calvin & Hobbes.

Not good. 3rd and 12...

Nothing. McKnight isn't making his cuts quickly enough.

USC for another FG attempt. 37 yards is close to the limit of Congdon's range.

Good! 13-7 USC.

Little bit of a sloppy offensive game by USC so far, but still a big improvement vs their recent games. At least they're trying to throw the ball more than seven yards.

One other area of improvement is they've limited the penalties. They're not beginning each drive with a holding call.

Barkley has looked much better than Clausen so far, but that's simply not fair. Clausen's getting pressured like crazy, and Barkley's playing Nintendo.

Wow. Clausen is 3-10 for only 20 yards.

It's not his fucking fault though. People will need to realize that.

USC could use a turnover here to really put the pressure on ND.

Two nice plays by ND to begin this drive.

Add another one. Great pitch and catch between Clausen and Tate. Great timing, great delivery, in stride.

I love the way Clausen gets so pissed whenever ND has to call a time out. He always snaps that chin strap down. "Fuck!"

4th and 3 from the USC 39...

Big stop by the USC D. Good open field tackle.

So far the USC D has stymied the ND O, whose only points came as a result of that fake FG.

How has NBC STILL not shown a replay of that play, to show us how the guy was so open?

Oh, fuck. That was brutal. Freshman mistake. Barkley was getting sacked, and rather than just take the sack Barkley tried to dump it off to an offensive limeman, for an intentional grounding.

That was ugly.

McKnight did everything wrong there. Not only did he not get the 1st down but he even went out of bounds when he didn't have to, stopping the clock.

The punter just saved USC's bacon, scooping up a one-hopper, then booming the punt.

Halftime. 13-7.

Not too bad. USC is usually better after halftime, but they're only up six. Definitely still a ballgame.

Encouraging is how they're playing on D. ND did seem to manage a little bit there towards the end of the half. USC will need to keep that pressure up on Clausen, while continuing to contain the running game. I'd rather see them begin to commit some of the back seven to pressuring Clausen even more, taking my chances on giving up big runs. I don't think they'll be able to continue to get pressure with just a three or four man rush.

Discouraging is how their offense is inconsistent so far. Other than a few big plays they've looked a little disjointed. McKnight isn't reading his lanes very well. He's being overly tentative. The passing game is doing decently, relatively speaking, but it's still not sharp.

Also, USC has forced no turnovers. A Pick Six or a forced fumble deep in Domer territory could prove a back breaker, but they just aren't forcing turnovers.

The protection for Barkley has mostly been really good though.

This one still feels like a workmanlike USC win, but it's by no means settled yet. If ND creates the turnovers this could still go their way.

I still wanna know wtf happened on that fake FG??

Van wrote: I still wanna know wtf happened on that fake FG??

Dude, why do you keep going on about that fake? That's a common fake field goal play that teams have been running forever. The receiver runs to the sideline as if he's leaving the field, but stops just short of the sideline and lines up.

Your guys thought he was leaving the field and didn't send anyone out there.

It happens all the time.

They never showed it. They could've at least showed it.

4th and 1, and USC stuffs 'em cold.

Sorry Charlie.

"decided schematic advantage" with a terrible call.

Shoulda fake punted again.

listening to Pat Haden is awful. don't like the guy.

Even though he's only a freshman I love having a QB who can make a big throw on 3rd down. That was a major league throw, right on target. It's plays like that when I'm glad USC doesn't merely have an "athlete" playing QB, but an actual QB.

Terrell Pryor would've either ran for it and come up short, or thrown for it and missed. An accurately thrown ball always gets there faster than running feet.

Barkley is going to be a monster.

TD, USC. 20-7. Huge turnaround, holding ND on short yardage deep in USC territory, then turning around and marching for a long TD.

It's time for USC to begin paying lip service to defending the run. It's time to pin their ears back and simply assault Clausen.

Everson Griffin chases down Clausen for another sack, then he fucks it up by going all thug with his bad self for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with a flexing pose.

Fuck. I hate modern athletes.

irish need to get some points here

edit: look at that. nice play by Tate

Wow! ND completes a 45 yarder to Tate in between two defenders for a TD! That's the first passing TD USC's given up all season!

That's also the first long passing play for a TD USC's given up in years.

Helluva play, Tate. Big balls. Most guys don't make that catch, not there.

Well, you knew Clausen would make some plays. Gotta live with it and keep playing.

Oh, and thanks again for the penalty there, Everson. Fucking dick.

Well, THAT was a rather HUGE fucking play! 3rd and 1, and with a guy in his face Barkley completes a play action bomb for 60 yards!

Perfect throw.

better get your helmet back on Jimmy.

Van wrote:Well, THAT was a rather HUGE fucking play! 3rd and 1, and with a guy in his face Barkley completes a play action bomb for 60 yards!

Perfect throw.

Barkley is impressive. he's not all there yet but makes some *very nice* throws.

TD, Bradford! Helluva answer to that ND score.

Nice to see USC finally getting some big plays again. Then again, this is the ND D.

27-14 USC.

Barkley is coming into his own in this game. Dude is just fucking clutch, and really poised, for a freshman.

Any time a kicker kicks a kickoff out of bounds he should be shot. Shot, right there on the field. Drag him away, bring in someone else.

Goddammit.

Another sack to begin the drive sure helps though. Especially since nobody thugged up to draw a penalty afterwards.

Christ, but then there's a P.I. for an automatic 1st down, on a pass that wasn't going anywhere anyway.

USC's D-line is just whipping the shit out of ND's O-line.

That was unfortunate for the Irish, bumping into the punt returner like that. Ticky tack penalty.

USC's O-line is beating the shit out of the ND D-line just as badly as on the other side of the ball. Barkley has all day back there.

ND still isn't on USC's talent level where it matters: in the trenches. USC is just beating them up.

Jesus, ND cannot tackle Anthony McCoy!

How many yards does Barkley have so far?? He's gotta be pushing 300. McCoy has to have 150 just by himself.

Barkley has 352 yards already! LOL!!

ND has to get a stop here...

1st down...incomplete.

2nd down...they stopped McKnight. This is where USC misses Stafon Johnson.

3rd down...TD, McKnight.

34-14. Ballgame. ND still can't hang with USC yet. They're not strong enough up front.

Hey, woah! I just flipped channels, and Arkansas is leading Florida by 7, with eight minutes to go in the 4th!

ND not giving up though, with a scoring drive of their own. I missed the ND drive, as I briefly watched the Florida-Arky game. By the time I turned back to the USC game ND had the ball on the two, and Clausen bootlegged it in.

USC blocks the PAT. 34-20, USC.

USC simply needs one more score of any kind to put this one away.

Huge and very tough run by McKnight to get the drive started. Again, getting out from beneath the shadow of their own zone was key.

Barkley completes another easy 1st down pass, and USC is marching again...

Barkley's going to end up with an easy 400 yards here if USC needs to throw the ball at all the rest of the way.

c'mon Irish. gimme that back-door pick em cover.