Why USC should be worried

[GOLDENISTHYTATE]

At the beginning of this recruiting season, USC had commitments from (per Rivals) the #1 TE,#1 QB, and #1 ATH. They also had secured commitments from four of the top 50 WR's in nation. I began to think that things were beginning to go back to normal and that USC was putting their clamps down again. Not to say their class this year isn't absolutely impressive, but there are now chinks being revealed in their armor. We stole Evans from them and almost stole Moore. Starling is yet to send in his LOI for what is rumored to be a change of heart for the Irish. They really wanted Wood and he was the 2nd commit of this current class. They absolutely wanted Teo and we all know where he is going.

Now move on to Rick Neuheisel and UCLA and the similar damage they did to USC's class. They stole the #1 TE, Morrell Pressley, away and that athlete is already enrolled. Xavier Sua'Filo, #3 OT in nation, was considered to be leaning heavily to the Trojans but he picked the Bruins as well. Tonight, Randall Carroll, the #4 ATH in the country who had been committed to the Trojans since the beginning of his junior year, sent his LOI to the Bruins and not USC.

Throw in ASU, Cal, and the apparent stunning recruiting powers of Jim Harbaugh and Stanford, and you now have what will be a major headache for Pete Carroll and his staff in the years to come. If UCLA and we continue to take players away from the kingdom of Troy, things look good for both schools in the years to come, and as long as USC isn't doing well, I wish success for anyone else who is. (Michigan, Boston College, Michigan St, Florida, and Miami excluded)

 

[irishmarine]

golden that was a good post especially for being only your 5th. welcome to the board and heres to the next great year of incredible recruiting by charlie and co

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

At the beginning of this recruiting season,...

Nice

 

[fitz_bu47]

If everybody starts making it a little harder on the old Poodle, maybe he would go back to the NFL sooner...that would make me very happy.

 

[GOLDENISTHYTATE]

Thanks IrishMarine. I have been on this site for over a year but for some reason, the signing of Teo and my extreme confidence that ND is on the way back to where it should be motivated me to become a little bit more active on these boards.

 

[phork]

Believe me, when you are 10 deep at every position, when your 5th deep could start on our team, when you are 82-5, or whatever record he has in the last 7 years, you sleep really well at night time.

 

[NDboy15]

Believe me, when you are 10 deep at every position, when your 5th deep could start on our team, when you are 82-5, or whatever record he has in the last 7 years, you sleep really well at night time.

Yeah, I agree.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but if I'm Pete Carroll, I'm sleeping easy tonight.

This way even backfire and make Carroll work harder at recruiting, but I hope not.

 

[fortwayne_nd]

With all of the hullabaloo over Manti's mad skills, does that include him taking over playcalling from Chuck?

1) run up the middle,
2) throw it up to Tate or Floyd,
3) throw the screen pass,
4) punt.

Man, am I ever thankful for Tate and Floyd! ND always has at least a puncher's chance with those two wideouts.

 

[phork]

Manti might be our next starting RB !

Run
Deep Fade to __________ (Pick Tate or Floyd)
Run into the middle
Fake Punt (Penalized)
Punt
(All in 48 seconds total)
Defense on the field for 42 minutes per game

 

[Aerosmith777]

I have to come down on the side of the guys who think USC still has nothing to worry about. All that's happened is a couple of top prospects decided they wanted to go somewhere else, and about 4 or 5 other guys decided they'd rather have a chance to start somewhere than be the 5th option at their position on USC's depth chart.

Te'o coming here is truly great recruiting. Starling would be very nice. But all of it combined is still not enough to make me think USC's lost a step, not when they can lose that many battles you mentioned and still have the class they did this year....

 

[wakeuptheechoes]

I don't want Pete Carroll to go anywhere, I don't want us to beat USC because they weren't as good as they were last year. I want us to beat them when they are at there best. USC is not only on the schedule because they are a rivalry, but because they are tough. Notre Dame does not take the easy schedule because of the character they have. That character means having the courage to play the best, and hopefully beat the best. I want USC to always be tough when we play them, or else it really means nothing. I hope their recruiting classes remain strong, this way there will be no excuses when we start to beat them on a regular basis again.

I would like however for the schools to stop giving USC a warm weather game when they come to Indiana. It should always be the second to last game for USC regardless of where the game is played.

 

[DirtySecret]

. Notre Dame does not take the easy schedule because of the character they have. That character means having the courage to play the best, and hopefully beat the best.

That's a joke, right! Notre Dame hasn't had a tough schedule sense, what, 2002!! The schedule has been dumb down a lot which more than half the fault belongs to Kevin White.

 

[nthurman]

I know we have a bye the week before the sc game this year. How does USC have so many bye weeks in a year. Every time they have a big game they have a bye week before they play.

 

[wakeuptheechoes]

I am dead serious. The teams that you find on the schedule that by the way is made in advance and there is no way to know where the may be ranked when you play them. It is not uncommon to find the following teams on the schedule in fact it is likely you will find most of them.

USC
Washington
UCLA
Michigan
Tennesee
Michigan State
Penn State
BYU
Boston College

Even the weaker teams:
Purdue
Navy
Air Force
Stanford

I would put these teams up against the likes of many smaller schools teams that you will find on the schedules of a lot of NCAA powerhouses. True, Michigan, Washington, Tennesee have not been as good as you would expect over the last couple of years, but how do you know that in advance? You actually make my point, you disrespect their schedule because the teams have not been very good. When we beat them, it is kind of a hollow victory, just like SC would be if they had a 4-6 record when we played them.
Scheduling can sometimes be a crapshoot. To try to enhance you schedule you try to pick teams that are usually good.

 

[Irishkid23]

wakeuptheechoes said:

I would like however for the schools to stop giving USC a warm weather game when they come to Indiana. It should always be the second to last game for USC regardless of where the game is played.[/QUOTE]

I agree 100%. U$C always gets the warmer climate game. But after ND has a month and one half of colder weather, we get warm weather @ U$C. I believe the climate change does affect our players because they are not used to the heat.

 

[DirtySecret]

Poodle Pete is feeling the heat..

After last year, Pete Carroll felt like schools negatively recruited against USC for a year to kids who committed early. So if there are commitments, some might remain silent for awhile. A few will go public, but others will be under the radar because USC does not want 10-12 kids out there committed.

Love the excuse, Pete. No school negatively recruited against you. How can you negatively recruit against a program who has been elite for years? He flat out got lazy thinking recruits like Vontaze Burfict(ASU), Randall Carroll(UCLA), Morrell Presley(UCLA), and Manti Te'o(ND) would just flock to USC when he gave them an offer. He got out worked, plain and simple!

I surely hopes he goes the route of keeping everything hush, hush, like FSU did in the late 90s with their recruiting. We all know how that worked out for FSU, mediocrity!

Be very, very quiet: Pete Carroll is hunting blue chips - Dr. Saturday - NCAA Football - Rivals.com

 

[mooneytostle]

Poodle Pete is feeling the heat..



Love the excuse, Pete. No school negatively recruited against you. How can you negatively recruit against a program who has been elite for years? He flat out got lazy thinking recruits like Vontaze Burfict(ASU), Randall Carroll(UCLA), Morrell Presley(UCLA), and Manti Te'o(ND) would just flock to USC when he gave them an offer. He got out worked, plain and simple!

I surely hopes he goes the route of keeping everything hush, hush, like FSU did in the late 90s with their recruiting. We all know how that worked out for FSU, mediocrity!

Be very, very quiet: Pete Carroll is hunting blue chips - Dr. Saturday - NCAA Football - Rivals.com

schools can (and did) negatively recruit against USC by emphasizing how much talent is already on the roster and that great players go there and sometimes never see the field. Notre Dame has been able to offer early playing time as a perk during the past couple of seasons....something that rarely happens at USC.

 

[DirtySecret]

schools can (and did) negatively recruit against USC by emphasizing how much talent is already on the roster and that great players go there and sometimes never see the field.

How can a walk-on get a starting spot? I don't think pointing out how much depth a team has is really going to hurt them that much in recruiting. If that the case and it changes a recruits mind, to me, that says he's not competive enough to compete for the starting spot. On top of it, UCLA is going through a rebuild year which they can offer playing time.

 

[wakeuptheechoes]

DirtySecret Wrote:

If that the case and it changes a recruits mind, to me, that says he's not competive enough to compete for the starting spot.

My son is a 6-2, 315lb Sophomore Offensive Tackle in HS. I have always told him where he goes is his choice. But I will also tell him that going and starting your Sophomore year for an average school might be better that starting your Senior Year at a great school. Especially, if he had a good sophomore season, good junior season, and got hurt and missed some games his Senior year. Typically game time reps make you better, the more you can get early the better off you will usually be. I could see how that could be used against USC.