USC Game Thread [Sat. Oct. 20th '07]

[GoshenGipper]

vs.

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[jonesman]

I will take a 2005 type game all over again. The thing that scares me is that USC is getting several key players back this week. Cushing, Maulauga and a couple others just in time for ND. I pray we avoid the slaughter.

 

[SoCalDomer]

I'm watching that four letter network College pregame show right now before the Friday night game. Sweet baby Lou picked us to win. Though he said Digger's pre-game pep talk didn't help much.

They also announced that Dirty Sanchez is starting.

 

[Epitome]

Lord please look over the guys in green tomorrow.

 

[IrishAlum1997]

I'm takin' all the credit for Dirty Sanchez. Not even a donation, a beer, a pacifier, nothin'.

Woe is me.

 

[Wham]

Lord, also keep in mind the travelers green with envy. And anyone within a 5 mile circle of me, especially if Notre Dame wins.

 

[johnnd05]

Let's beat these bastards. Gosh I hope Sharpley's got a couple of rabbits in his hat, and that Corwin's "D" is ready to lock down. Otherwise it's gonna be a long afternoon ...

 

[mlcspinner]

I feel the D will be fine it's up to the offense for once. We need drives longer than 4 plays. If we can do this we will WIN.

 

[loomis41973]

 

[johnnd05]

I feel the D will be fine it's up to the offense for once. We need drives longer than 4 plays. If we can do this we will WIN.

A big play or two would help. That's one way to move the ball when you can't do so consistently ...

 

[notredomer23]

If we cut down on three and outs, we will be fine. I dont even care if we get 1 first down then punt, just take time off the clock because I know our offense is capable with sharpley front and center and our defense would finally get a break.

 

[johnnd05]

(Via the Roundup.)


Trojans inspect playing field; continue to whine

<small><!-- by John --></small>I know I promised an injury update for today’s game, but this article in the LA Times was just too funny to let pass. So instead of the usual detailed breakdown (quick version: Aldridge won’t play, Grimes has reportedly looked a bit hobbled in practice, Wenger is back, no word that I’ve seen on Crum; and see here for the veritable litany of busted Trojans), I submit to you: The Victors, Two Years Later.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Most of USC’s players strolled casually onto the field at Notre Dame Stadium on Friday for the Trojans’ walk-through before today’s game against the Fighting Irish.

But Desmond Reed never broke stride as he sprinted to the far end zone on grass significantly shorter and more manicured than it was in 2005, when Reed suffered torn right knee ligaments and nerve damage while turning to field a ball on a kickoff return.

Reed said last year he thought the grass was grown long intentionally to slow down the Trojans and that it caused his injury.

“They actually cut it,” defensive line coach Dave Watson said.

Said Dennis Slutak, USC’s director of football operations: “You could actually hit a golf ball out of this.” [Ed: Apparently Slutak isn’t much of a golfer. Somebody want to get Ty Willingham on the phone to help him out?]
​

That’s right, folks. Two years after winning - WINNING!! - at Notre Dame stadium in a game that ended with a series of questionable calls and non-calls which Charlie Weis and (so far as I can recall) the rest of the Irish chose not to question, and after which Weis took his son into the SC locker room to congratulate the players and coaches on their victory, following which the Trojans won out the rest of the season on their way to the BCS national title game, their players and staff are STILL complaining about the length of the grass back on October 15, 2005.

Nor are their gripes limited to Irish fields of lore. Pete Carroll, for one, is already gearing up to make excuses for this year’s game:

… on Friday, after walking the field, Carroll said he was surprised it did not have a uniform feel.

“I don’t understand why it’s like that, I mean who plays here?” he said. “They sharing it with a local JC or something?”
​

It’s hard not to take this as evidence that either (1) Carroll can’t read or understand English, or (2) he’s a whiny scumbag who’s unwilling to respect what an opposing coach has to say about the state of his own playing field. Otherwise, the Poodle’s remarks might have taken account of this, from Weis’s Tuesday press conference:

… this is the Midwest, and we’re going to play five games in a row at home. That’s where we are right now. Now, fortunately this is only game two. But it isn’t like our grass grows like we’re living in the south. It is what it is. It’s patchy and it’s not the same as playing on Bermuda grass in the south. It isn’t like we were playing on field turf; I don’t think that would go over too well in Notre Dame tradition. It’s grass, it’s mid October, it’s not as perfect as it would be earlier in the year. That’s just the way it is.
​

That’s right, Petey. It’s SOUTH BEND FRICKING INDIANA. It’s either too hot or too cold about, oh, 257 days a year, and so the grass don’t grow quite like it does in sunny LA. And no, the only junior college the Irish are sharing their field with the one whose football team you coach. (Zing!)

Now, you might think that Reed’s gripe is a bit more legitimate, given the seriousness of the injury he suffered against the Irish two years ago. But if you did think that, then you’d be failing to take into account the excellent detective work that the guys at the IRT did before last year’s SC game:

How many of these pundits have actually gone back to watch the play which ended Reed’s season? Not many. If they did, they would clearly see that this was a player way out of position in the first place. It is our assertion that the grass was not the culprit here, but a player out of position.

Now, with the help of photographic evidence obtained through NBC we can reconstruct the play and prove that Reed is to blame for the injury. Not the grass.

This is the first screenshot from the kickoff where Reed was injured. This is the first moment the Reed enters the screen. He is the cut off figure on the right hand side of the photo near Notre Dame’s 14 yard line.

Here is Reed running back to field the kickoff between the 8 and 9 yard lines.

At the five yard line Reed makes a weird turn to try and field the ball flying over his head. This is where he goes down.

Here is Reed laying on the 2 yard line as the ball sails over his head.

Clearly, if Reed was positioned to field the kick-off on the goal line, there would be no discussion of tall grass and Weis’ desire to injure and maim opposing players.
​

You make the call. Here at the Roundup, though, the company position is that the Trojans are a bunch of whiny bitches, and they’re going to get their asses handed to them this afternoon, no matter what the field may look like.

Go Irish, dammit.

 

[goldenlid]

The grass in 05 ND had to play in it to so I don't understand why it would slow SC down and not ND. If it was cut close then CW would have been accused of turning the game into a football game on ice. Can someone anyone tell why they think it would slow them down but not ND. Pete is just being a baby he coached in the NFL and knows that sometimes this is how it is and that is why alot of teams are going to field turf(look at the Pats grass last year when they played the Jets it was mud so they put in turf for the next game).

 

[SoCalDomer]

I was watching that Especially Stupid Prognosticators Network before the Penn st/Indiand game this morning.

I don't think I realised how unintelligent Lee Corso is. The commercials with him are a little funny, but he does less intelligent analysis than Mark May. He kept saying things like, look at the stats... blah blah blah. Stats can mean very little, that's not analysis. It seems as though he doesn't work monday through thursday, catches up on the scores and stats for the season, and shows up on Saturday.

And I'm not talking about his comments on ND, that's the same mullarkey he throws out for everyone.

 

[SoCalDomer]

Nor are their gripes limited to Irish fields of lore. Pete Carroll, for one, is already gearing up to make excuses for this year’s game:

… on Friday, after walking the field, Carroll said he was surprised it did not have a uniform feel.

“I don’t understand why it’s like that, I mean who plays here?” he said. “They sharing it with a local JC or something?”
​

What a classless moron. What I want to know is why we don't run a screen pass towards their sideline and have two lineman continue through the sideline and knock the Poodle on his vagina.

The grass in 05 ND had to play in it to so I don't understand why it would slow SC down and not ND. If it was cut close then CW would have been accused of turning the game into a football game on ice. Can someone anyone tell why they think it would slow them down but not ND.

I agree with you. If a team is faster than you and if longer grass slows them down, it would slow you down equally. Not only would it be senseless for ND to do this, it would be stupid for anyone to accuse them of doing it.​

 

[SoCalDomer]

Given how classless this school is, I want to know why we keep agreeing to play them in early to mid-October @ ND, but we play them in mid to late-Nov @ FUSC. I know its the weather, but I'm sure someone can make some Reggie "we were only behind a year's worth of rent" Bush type connections and score some fur coats for all the prissy boys who've never been in weather colder than 70 degrees.

 

[goldandblue]

To hell with the grass in 05' Let's beat these bastards today!

 

[johnnd05]

Alright, let's beat these smug a-holes! See you all at halftime ...

 

[ACamp1900]

let them beat themselves all day... that's a good start

 

[irish9331]

Am I the only one who thought they were going to nail Bruton with a penalty on that one?

 

[Epitome]

I've seen enough bad throws. Bring in Clausen

 

[IrishGuard93]

Pathetic !!!!!!!!!!

 

[Junkhead]

We could have beaten now #3 BC and preseason #1 USC if we had ANY kind of offense. Its a different kind of frustration from the early games.

 

[King Rhabuf]

Ugh, our offense

 

[Epitome]

How many times is he going to miss a wide open reciever

 

[NDOM]

Sharpley looks terrible. Bring back Clausen and see what the kid can do. He cant be any worse than Evan right now.

 

[goldenlid]

I feel bad for the defense.

 

[King Rhabuf]

We could have beaten now #3 BC and preseason #1 USC if we had ANY kind of offense. Its a different kind of frustration from the early games.

I agree. The defense is awesome. Pathetic offense though.

 

[NDFan4Life]

There doesn't seem to be any enthusiasm. You'd expect a team that's playing their arch-rival would show some kind of life. They're playing like they just don't care. I doubt Clausen can resuscitate this team today.

 

[NDOM]

I agree. The defense is awesome. Pathetic offense though.

WHAT OFFENSE?