This photo from the LA Times sort of captures the essence of yesterday’s game. This was the worst SC loss I’ve seen in decades. In the fourth quarter, before I left, the defense had quit. They just wanted to get the game over. The offense wasn’t much better. Barkley was throwing foolish passes and fumbled when he shouldn’t have. Joe McKnight took off on a great run but was caught from behind by a Stanford D back. As a Times writer pointed out, that would not have happened with Reggie Bush.
What has happened ? First, I think Carroll has lost too many assistant coaches. I don’t know why; maybe they are not paid enough; maybe he is not the easiest guy to work for.
Whatever it is, he is in trouble.
The defense played poorly, even the stars. On one completed touchdown pass, Taylor Mays was way out of position. If I know this, the coaches must know it.
I have been struck at how the SC team is losing to teams with shorter players. They have not been recruited, I suspect, because their physical attributes did not fit some template for an SC player. They are not tall enough, for one thing. Look at Oregon State. The Rogers brothers are both short; very short. The Oregon quarterback, Masoli, is short. The conventional wisdom is that short quarterbacks cannot see over tall linemen. If so, why did 6-3 Barkley throw three interceptions ? Stanford running back Gerhart is short and slow. Well, that’s what they said. Reality seems to be different.
I think the season is over for SC. They will be lucky to beat UCLA and very lucky to beat Arizona. This is the year that the PAC 10 teams get even for all those years when SC was dominant.