10 angles from an ugly night in Corvallis...
(Note: If you would like to watch Lane Kiffin's post-game press conference in its entirety, you can see it at USCTrojans.com.)
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(Note: If you would like to watch Lane Kiffin's post-game press conference in its entirety, you can see it at USCTrojans.com.)
- The streak continues. The Trojans have now lost their last five games in the state of Oregon and last three at Reser Stadium. "They always get up for SC," Lane Kiffin tried to explain the Beavers' success against his program. "Somehow, someway, we ended up exactly like we always do up here, down by 20 in the first half."
- The small picture lead of the night was that the offense played their worst game of the season. "I'm really shocked by the outcome of this game," Kiffin said. "Obviously, our offense was terrible today." After two dominant performances, the offensive line bore the brunt of the blame. They allowed four sacks, 43 negative rush yards and several holding penalties. "Hopefully, we'll go back to playing how we did the last couple of weeks," said Kiffin, who had no answers for why the group struggled.
- In the grand scheme, Matt Barkley's ankle injury is the biggest story. "If I hadn't worn my knee brace, my knee would've been blown out," said Barkley about getting rolled up on. The QB will rehab hard in the hope that he can make a miraculous recovery in time for Notre Dame or at least UCLA, but the odds are stacked against him. "I know how to bounce back and you just gotta stay positive and be there for my team regardless of if I'm going to play or not and be that leader that they need."
- In his stead, Mitch Mustain took his most meaningful snaps since his freshman year at Arkansas. Despite all the time off, he had no time to ease back in. "You can't put a guy in a much worse situation," Kiffin said. While he missed some throws, his composure was impressive. After a TD drive, he briefly brought life back into the sideline. "A comeback is always a good story," said Mustain. "It's always fun, but it just didn't swing our way."
- Patience paid off tonight for C.J. Gable as well. The fifth-year senior has mostly been out of the running back rotation this season, but he provided the lone spark for a frigid offense tonight. "I'm just happy that I got the opportunity and that they had the belief in me, so I just went out there and did what I had to do," said Gable, who averaged 5.7 yards per carry. "Hopefully, they give me more opportunities these last two games to finish it out and help this team get wins."
- He might just get more chances with Marc Tyler's ankle injury acting up, which forced him out of the contest for most of the second half. Chris Galippo was knocked out early with a concussion and Tyron Smith missed the end of the game with a knee injury. All three players expect to play Saturday against Notre Dame.
- All week, we harped on the turnover margin statistic on the blog. Not only did the Trojans finish -2 for the game (now -8 in the last three trips), Barkley threw a killer pick-six on the second offensive drive. "That play happens and you have the feeling of 'Here we go again,'" said Kiffin, who called a conservative gameplan early to avoid the big mistake. "I'm sure everybody had that feeling. It's what we were trying to guard against so much."
- The defense tried to answer back with turnovers, but the Beavers just don't give it up. "It was a difficult task," said DT Jurrell Casey about prying the ball from Jacquizz Rodgers, who has still never fumbled in a regular season college game. "A couple times we did strip at the ball, but Jacquizz held on tight." Wes Horton had a strip-sack and they almost had two interceptions, but Oregon State still has just seven turnovers on the season, a nation's best.
- While we are giving credit to the Beavers, DT Stephen Paea is the real deal. He spent the night in USC's backfield despite constant double teams. "He did a good job," said Casey about his counterpart. "I watched him the whole night and he played a hell of a game. He shut our offense down." Paea finished with a sack, 2.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. You'll hear his name called early in the next NFL Draft.
- The Trojans won't return to Corvallis until 2015 or 2016, so they have plenty of time to ponder the question, how do you beat these guys in Reser Stadium? "I have no idea," Kiffin admitted. "Coach [Carroll] didn't figure it out and I don't have it figured out." This was by far the toughest road environment of the season with a raucous crowd and icy temperatures.
- Here is the current quarterback of the Trojans, Mitch Mustain...
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I'm tired of hearing that the Beaver/ducks "out played us" excuse. The fact is, you beat yourself everytime with poor tackling, turnovers, and blown assignments, you correct these things and you have a great chance of winning. SC has just as good of players as any team in the nation, but they need the motivation and confidence to take them to another level, and they don't get that with this coaching staff.
The Quacks and Beavs haven't "out played us", they OUT COACHED us. "Loosing in Oregon" is a stupid excuse - we watched Leinhart and Bush dismantle the Quacks in Eugene in 2005, and at Reser in the Fog Bowl in 2006, with good game plan and time management - just two of the winning ingredients that are sorely missing this year. We all saw MORE mis-tackles, MORE dumb LAME Kiffin calls on 3rd and 4th downs, and MORE ill-prepared defenses that still can't fill the right gaps. The ONLY thing going in the right direction is our special teams play. SC has talented, young players that are ready to rise to the next level - what they need is the COACHING expertise to do so.
Could someone please tell Mitch to spit out his gum before doing an on-camera press conference?!
The performance was pathetic. OSU has no 4 or 5 star recruits and blows us off the ball every time we play there. I was there in 06, when we were ranks 2nd and we were blown off the ball all the time. I watched Andrew Luck today and Matt Barkley isn't in his league. I just don't see the arm strength and pocket presence. We have a bunch of 5 star recruits who just can't play....Ausberry, Barkley, Bradford etc. I used to live in Eugene and it's like being in prison...Corvallis is worse
The guy running sound obviously isn't listening to the interview, because you can barely hear the Mustain let alone the questions from the reporters. This is true for Kiffin's post game interviews as well.
You also need to repeat the questions from the audience, because you cannot tell what they're asking.
Sounds like some of the fair weather, bandwagon fans above should find another team to root for. We had our chances in the 1st half, didn't execute, then gave the Beavs huge momentum w/ the pick 6. Have an ounce of dignity and give credit to the Beavs for lighting it up.
I hope that Matt heals quickly, but I for one, am thrilled at the possibility of watching Mitch, CJ and Allen finish out the season and enhance their legacies.
Considering injuries, loss of 10 scholarships, new coaching, 41% of the top of the depth chart listings are freshman and sophmores. I don't loose faith. Every one who is complaining will be eating crow in a couple of years. I support these kids.
Oh where were all you fans that left early in the Oregon game. You have the balls to criticize. But I stay to the end win or loose I support the program.
I was in Corvallis for this one...it was tough, but I stayed until the there were triple zeros on the scoreboard in the 4th quarter. Still proud as ever to be a Trojan! All the people second-guessing the players and the coaches are ridiculous. Most of us cannot even begin to understand the complexity of a game-plan for a game. Anyone can say "we shoulda" looking back on a bad game. Considering the circumstances, we should proud of our Trojans this season, with two big games left. Fight on!!