A meeting of the Trojan Round Table...

[Van]

...wherein the topic of discussion is:

"Provide the Remedy To What Ails USC At The Moment"

Here's what USC faces at the moment...

The Dark Clouds:

-The injuries are real, and they keep mounting.

-The excessive number of early entries into the NFL, which decimated our firepower, are real.

-The inexperienced talent we're trotting out there all over the field is real.

-The offensive coordinator is suffering from a severe case of the Marty Shottenheimer, with prominent Bill Callahan symptoms.

-The pass rush has become nonexistant.

-Not forcing enough turnovers.

-No quick strikes on offense. No explosiveness. No deep threats.

-No dominant running back. Nobody's stepped up and taken the job and ran with it. Chauncey's been decent, but nothing special.

The Silver Lining:

-Our home schedule is also real. Nebraska, Washington, Oregon, Cal and ND all have to come to the Coliseum this go around.

-One of our injured gamebreakers, Dwayne Jarrett, is coming back into the fold.

-JDB isn't beating us. He's looked solid, if unspectacular, which may very well be the fault of Lane Kiffin.

-JDB has been given time to pass. He's not getting killed. The pass protection is solid.

-Still playing with discipline. Despite the overabundance of youth USC still isn't beating themselves with excessive penalties and turnovers.

-The nation's longest regular season and home field winning streaks survive, even as we're struggling, which can only serve to help maintain the necessary pride and swagger. USC still isn't about to surrender those streaks, especially the home field streak, not without an all out fight.

-The talent level is still there, and it's maturing without losing.

-USC still controls their own destiny, in terms of receiving the second BCS title game invitation. A 12-0 USC team which concluded its season with a three game sweep of Cal, ND and UCLA will not be left out of the title game.

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So, let's get to it. Keeping in mind the various realities USC faces at the moment what can be done with what they have in order to run the regular season table?

From what I've seen so far, here's what I'd recommend...

-Force some "Shock & Awe" into our opponents. We have the talent. Unleash the fucking dogs of war and cry havoc on some bitches. Typically, USC's opponents go into the tank once they feel they're being crushed under the onslaught of USC's talent. Many times the game was effectively over by half time. In recent years USC has been able to accomplish this without having to take too many chances.

Well, no more, at least not this year. This team will have to start taking some chances. They won't be able to get away with Shottenheimer-ing it all season long. They will stumble somewhere, doing this. God help me for saying this, but yeah, it might very easily come against...Cal...in the Coliseum.

Fuck me. That would be too hard to take, seeing it all come crashing down at the hands of m2.

No. If we go down, it can't be with most of our rockets sitting there idling on the launch pad. It's time to start taking some chances. Let these guys build some energy, let the excitement take hold. Scare the fuck outta people.

Keep this in mind: Nobody USC is about to play has ever beaten USC. Nobody. Not one.

Use this. They will fold, once the familiar onslaught begins. It's all they know. It's what years of asskickings have trained them to expect. Nobody will fault them for it.

Gotta put it on 'em and give 'em that familiar feeling, and then it's all over.

Blitz. Often, and hard. I'm talking bringing the house, and not just on 3rd and 19. Scare some QBs, force some fumbles and some panicked throws leading to picks. Get the D riled up. Let 'em attack and use their athletic talent. It'll fire up both the defense and the offense.

Yeah, we'll give up some big plays. Considering our talent vs our opponents', I'm willing to risk it and make that trade. Knock the ball loose, make some QBs get happy feet.

Linebackers whooping and hollering as they run off the field to the strains of "Conquest" blaring throughout the old building. It's gotta start happening and it's only going to happen by going on the attack.

-Sixty minutes of attacking offense. Stay on the gas, once you're up. Quit going into a conservative shell.

-Get back to throwing the ball deep, right from the first whistle. Stretch the defense and open up space beneath the zone for the possession receivers and the backs coming out of the backfield to find more room. Ditch this ultra safe West Coast style offensive mindset that's allowing inferior opponents to hang around all game.

-Put the changes into practice immediately, during this easy stretch of the schedule. Get this shit ingrained in them to where it becomes habit by the Oregon game.

-Force them to watch endless film of the recent beatdowns their predecessors laid on UCLA and ND. That's what's expected of them. Look at the philosphy employed there to create those beatdowns. Drill it into their heads as to who they are, and why they're there at USC. No more flat performances. No more safe game plans. Go out and hit somebody every play, hard. Run by them. Run through them.

Talent, for days. Explode, and let the chips fall.

[GreginPG]

Nice.

I'll have to wait and address this later. It's back to work for moi.

I agree with some it. Disagree with some of it.

Lane Kiffin must die if he keeps this shit up.

Sark must work with JDB some more and get him to look off his receivers.

Anyway, catch ya later.

[SoCalTrjn]

Id like to see the Trojans use a little more of a cover 1 or cover 2 defense and teach these young corners to look back at the QB, too many balls are going right past a USC defender who isnt aware the ball is on the way til its by him.
When teams spread the field to get Cushing off the short end, have Brian put his hand down and let someone else cover the guy, the 3 man line isnt getting to the QB and Cushing isnt getting pressure from the other side of the hash marks.

Kiffin calling for passes on run downs and runs on pass downs is only going to catch teams off guard when they dont expect it. When you ALWAYS do the same thing, they will start to expect it and now you're just playing in to the defense. Mix it up Lane, see what happens.
Get the big guys running down hill, once the Trojans start eating up yardage on the ground, they call a pass play, which if it doesnt hit, now puts them at negative down and distance scenerios, let these big guys just keep pounding away. Once you get a 2nd and 1 or 2nd and 2 take a shot to keep them honest but when you have ran the ball from your 10 to their 45 and then on 1st and 2nd down you throw incompletions, that takes away the drives momentum, just stuff it down their throats.

Perhaps a little easier workouts during the week, competition is great and all but when you have had 24 guys hurt over the course of 5 weeks, attrition starts to take its toal.
Finish every play, I have seen players from other teams hitting right up to the whistle and playing as chippy as they can, lets see some Trojans knock fuckers on their ass 10 yards down field while the play is still going on.
JDB has been very workman like, very calm and consistent, thats what he needs to do, lets see someone else on the offensive side of the ball get hyped up, get those O linemen hyped up, the WR's hyped up and the TB's hyped up. Maybe it will take Booty throwing a big block on a play that Moody changes the field on, like Matt did his soph year vs Hawai'i on a play where Reggie cut back agianst the field, but something needs to give this offense an identity. They are Trojans, time to play like it

On the good side they are one of the few undefeated teams left, they have now played what is considered the toughest schedule of any team in the nation, and those these kids are young and inexperianced, they are great athletes. This team is also ranked #2 in both the Harris and Coaches Polls and are #1 in the Computer Rankings, they are the #1 team in the BCS right now inspite of all the turmoil and injuries

FIGHT ON

[Mikey]

Van, you really need to get a job.

[War Wagon]

Van, you really need to get a job.

What I was thinking.

Maybe Van had Columbus Day off?

Even so, I think I'd mow the grass or something.

[Van]

Van, you really need to get a better job.

Agreed.

But yeah, I always have Mondays off. Mondays for me are for guitar, motorcycle rides and talking shit about CF.

[Dinsdale]

Keep this in mind: Nobody USC is about to play has ever beaten USC. Nobody. Not one.

How about you change "not one" to "except for all of them"...you know, just for the sake of accuracy.

Cal? Coupla years ago? M2? Any of this ring a bell?

What the Trojans need is to just keep plugging their best talent into the holes, and keep practicing intensely and intelligently...and considering Carroll's track recors there, I'd say that's a given.

Either guys are going to regain health, or the new guys get more experienced. I don't think I'd be sweating it too much if I were USC fan. Too many weapons. Although I will say they don't look li8ke the wrecking machine of the last few seasons. Still getting it done.

[Van]

Keep this in mind: Nobody USC is about to play has ever beaten USC. Nobody. Not one.

How about you change "not one" to "except for all of them"...you know, just for the sake of accuracy.

Cal? Coupla years ago? M2? Any of this ring a bell?

I'm talking current players.

Not sure if any of Cal's '03 starters are still playing. Other than those possibles, nope, there's not a single player from any team on USC's schedule who's ever experienced a win over USC.

Guess I should've been more specific.

What the Trojans need is to just keep plugging their best talent into the holes, and keep practicing intensely and intelligently...and considering Carroll's track recors there, I'd say that's a given.

Either guys are going to regain health, or the new guys get more experienced. I don't think I'd be sweating it too much if I were USC fan. Too many weapons. Although I will say they don't look li8ke the wrecking machine of the last few seasons. Still getting it done.

Dunno 'bout you but I'm noticing a decidedly different bent on offense in the post Norm Chow Era. With Kiffin's full imprimatur the offense is becoming more and more conservative and less and less explosive.

That's not going to get it done. It's neutering the offense, the fact of which is putting too much stress on the defense.

That does worry me.

[socal]

Nice touch with the nuclear winter, Vanmvscal. No matter how much you chickenhawk behind a keyboard, it ain't nothin' but lipstick on a pig. U of Washington and Ty had a shot late in the Coliseum. That tells you all you need to know.

[Van]

Yep. It tells me I have reason to worry, every game.

It tells me Kiffin is failing.

[Vito Corleone]

-Force some "Shock & Awe" into our opponents. We have the talent. Unleash the fucking dogs of war and cry havoc on some bitches.

How long have you been waiting to use that line?

[Van]

It just came to me right then and there, as I was getting myself all fired up and such!

[PSUFAN]

Question for Van, or maybe Jimmy...

What's the capacity of the Coliseum? My great-uncle went to USC in the 40s, and he tells me that they used to have crowd of over 120K to watch games. Is that possible now? Do they have that many seats? It looks to me as if they have a lot of the stands blocked off.

[Van]

I believe the capacity for CF games there is now in the 70K range.

Yeah, before they reconfigured the stadium there used to be a 100K plus seating capacity. The way the stadium is situated though the peristyle end of the stadium is a LONG way away from the field so they decided to block off that whole section.

Meds can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe this decision coincided with USC's fifteen year "nap", during which time there really was no need for such an enormous and inconvenient seating capacity.

Growing up and watching USC games in the '70s, the whole place was full. It was always 90K plus. It was absolutely beautiful for the USC-UCLA game, back when both teams called the Coliseum home. Both teams wore their home unis (the only such situation I'm aware of in CF) and the stadium was fairly well split down the middle with a red section and a blue section.

Too bad UCLA moved to the Rose Bowl. That move ended one of the three or four best spectacles in all of CF...

[PSUFAN]

Wikipedia:

When the Coliseum opened in 1922, it was already the largest stadium in Los Angeles with a capacity of 76,000. However, with the arrival of the Olympics only 10 years later, the stadium was expanded to 101,574 and the now-signature torch was added.

For many years the Coliseum was capable of seating over 100,000 spectators, and the capacity for the 1984 Olympics configuration was approximately 90,500. Subsequently, many seats — and the running track — were removed to appease Raiders owner Al Davis, partially in order to make the venue more easily sold out so that his team's game could appear live on L.A. television, which is forbidden by NFL rules unless a game is already sold out at least 72 hours prior to its scheduled kickoff. Some of the removed seats, which were primarily in the end zone, were replaced with new bleachers far closer to the end lines of the playing field. (The combination of the stadium's large, relatively shallow design, along with the presence of the track between the playing field and the stands, meant that some of the former end zone seats were essentially away from the field by the equivalent in length to another football field.)

However, with Davis' Raiders now long gone, and the need for repairs after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, some of the changes that he had demanded were reversed, and the current configuration is somewhat similar to that used for the 1984 Olympics. USC's regular alternating home games with rivals UCLA and Notre Dame attract a capacity 92,000 person crowd each year. The current official capacity of the Coliseum is 92,516.

[SoCalTrjn]

lil over 92k since the Raiders revamped it.
It held about 70k for the Raiders after they tarped all the seats

[Van]

Okay, so the 70K number I remember is a holdover from the Raider days.

90k now, with the tarps removed and the peristyle end blocked off? That ain't bad then.

Cool.

Weird configuration though, regardless. Like your link described, the field isn't in the middle of the bowl. It's way off center and closer to the closed end of the bowl. Way too much empty space (a whole second field's worth?? Wow...) behind the other end zone.

It's a dinosaur of a stadium but at least it's...tradition. Not enough traditional anything left in modern corporate American sports...

[SoCalTrjn]

the field is not in the center of the bowl because the bowl was built around a 1/4 mile track. Before the Raiders reconfigured the field, it was closer to the center of the stadium which meant that both ends were farther away from the field than the closed end is now.

I remember when the tunnel walls on the press box side used to have a big UCLA Bruins mural painted on it and the other wall had USC Trojans painted on it and USC was on the Press Box Sideline for home games. The Track made it seem like you were far away from the field even if you were in the 10th-20th row. The Raiders lowered the stadium floor 20 or so feet and built in another 15 to 20 rows of seats but tarped off half the stadium for Raider games. Id like to see them enclose the Parastyle end of the Stadium, leaving the Parastyle and flame standing but now as part of a beer garden or park area accessable without entering the stadium.