Weekly Musings - Stanford Edition

I don't really know what to say.  I shouldn't be typing my musings on the night of the game - too emotional.  I am not going to watch the Tivo, but from where I sat the refereeing was once again so atrocious that I am essentially speechless.  But regardless, we fought are asses off and I feel that we deserved to win.  But somehow it just wasn't enough at the end of the day.  I don't drink so I don't really have a way to forget about it, but I hate this feeling more than anything in the world.I have lot to say about the game, but I guess what first needs to be said is that the primary difference between a Trojan and anyone else I have ever met in this football conference is that we "fight on".  The season is not over - this injustice of a game is behind us - and now we have to bounce.  I don't know what happens from here, and the feeling is as bad as it gets, but we can and will fight on.  It is time to get Colorado, and then Washington, and then Oregon, and then UCLA.  One game at a time.  And then when these fantastic kids are completely and totally screwed out of going to a bowl game again for absolutely no reason whatsoever, it will be time for us to get ready for next year.  But first, Colorado.It will take me going to MMQB to see the footage Kiffin shows us to know if we got as screwed as I think we did at the end of regulation.  Whether Woods was out of bounds or not, we had called a timeout.  I don't know if our kicker makes that kick, but he made one of the same length in the first half, and we deserved that shot.  I will talk in a moment about a few other turning point bad calls (or no calls).- If you had told me that our offense was going to suffer through that many dropped balls in the first half, AND suffer through Matt's pick, and yet only be down 10-6 at halftime, I would have never believed it.- Bottom line: It was just an impressive defensive effort in the first half.  We got to the quarterback, we made plays, and we covered their ball catchers in the open spots on the field.  A couple missed tackles, yes, but we made Luck look very pedestrian in the first half.  In the second half Luck did a better job of finding some open receivers, but our defense was impressive overall for the third week in a row.  Luck is just pretty good, and as he showed after his pick-six play that almost gave the game to the Trojans, he is quite resilient.  His poise from the 3-minute mark in regulation through all 3 overtimes was impressive.- Robert Woods was so aggressively and blatantly interfered with the end-zone on the drive in the first quarter where we first had to settle for a field goal, I was dumbfounded.  It proved to be the play of the game, as the Trojans having to take a field goal there instead a touchdown is why the game went to Overtime.- But his dropped ball for a touchdown on the first drive of the game, and his drop on the slant late in the second quarter (also headed to the end zone), were shocking (and disappointing).- Without a running game, it is hard to play football.  And with Tyler out and Stanford successful at suffocating McNeal, we had a really hard time finding an offensive rythym in the first half.  But when McNeal got going in the second half it was a very different story.  The offense was versatile, multi-dimensional, explosive, and fun.  Stanford's secondary could not play with our receivers, and Barkley was precise and effective.- Kiffin's decision to kick the field goal near the end of the second quarter (and our kicker's decision to make it) was first class coaching.  We didn't make a stupid play with a 4th and 8; we didn't give them the ball back with time to do anything; and we got three points out of it.- The defense not only got a few great stops in the first half, but got several in a three and out.  The defense could not get the stops we needed late in the game, but they are significantly improved since the Arizona game.- Robert Woods' block for Curtis McNeal on the breakaway run to start the second half was a thing of beauty!- USC recovered the fumble when we hit Andrew Luck on that third down in our best three and out stop of the game!!  But the refs did differently ...- We scored two touchdowns before the ten minute mark of the third quarter ...  The Coliseum was on fire.  But we let them back in.- Our D had them at 3rd and 12 just a minute later with a long field and then within two minutes they had scored.  I can't think of anything in football I hate more than giving up a 3rd down conversion over 10 yards.- Though I guess one thing I hate almost as much is seeing a 60 yard trick play run against us - especially one that Stanford has already run twice (successfully) this season- Still trying to understand why Stanford went wildcat and kept the ball out of Luck's hands on their most important offensive play of the night.  Hayes Pullard made the hit of the night, and we kept the Farm to a field goal after giving them the ball on the 30-yard line.- I don't know what to say about the personal foul on TJ at the end of the game that let Stanford tie it up.  We had them 3rd and 6 midfield, and TJ's hit had nothing to do with the guy missing the ball.  So on one hand, we leave them with a 4th and 6 to hopefully lose the game if it doesn't happen.  On the other hand, the rule is nonsense - utter nonsense.  But then on the other hand, it is the new rule.  But on the other other other hand, how do you coach them not to play football???  It was not a dirty hit, and safeties are supposed to hit open receivers - hard.  I can understand why they threw the flag, but it was a bad call.- I also need to understand what happened that a holding call resulted in a 2nd and 7, because it seems to me to make no sense.- About the Kiffin-haters: I think one thing that is important for us people who actually love USC, who value this university, who bleed Cardinal and Gold, who want to see us win, and who hope to see the coaches succeed, is this: The Kiffin haters on this board are not driven by a difference of opinion in football ideology; they are driven by a psychological and sociological impediment that has made the very possibility of joy and peace and rationality in their lives impossible. 99% of the time they are simply despondent in their professional lives, but it could often be a serious problem in their personal lives too. They don't deserve to be excused - they are a wart on the face of Troy - but they do deserve to be ignored. They know nothing other than the temporary relief the incessant bitching and hating and whining brings them. Ignore these poor disenfranchised degenerates. Perhaps a break will come their way someday and they can join the ranks of civil and grown-up discourse. Until that time, they are oxygen thieves - oxygen thieves who need a hug (and a job)*****- It was so much fun to have ESPN and College Gameday out at the Coliseum.  The idea that USC football is entering a period of prolonged irrelevance is not one that the rest of the country seems to have yet grabbed on to, just a few self-interested haters.  But the morning was filled with a lot of energy, and there is no better back-drop for the Gameday crew than the peristyle entrance to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.- Prior to this weekend Navy had beaten Notre Dame four out of five years, a fact that perfectly summarizes the state of Notre Dame football.- It is beyond absurd the way that ESPN makes mountains out of molehills.  Barkley and Gallipo responded to a specific question about a specific thing (Notre Dame not using their timeouts for seven straight minutes allowing USC to win uncontested).  If a little thing came off worse than it was intended, fine, but the drama these people create out of NOTHING is just unbelievable.- It does sound like some serious issues are brewing at Notre Dame.  There are divisions in the locker room between the Weis recruits and the Kelly recruits.  Kelly has publicly ripped his own players.  The team is sloppy.  I think Notre Dame is a generational punishment for the premature firing of Ty Willingham.  The coaching carousel is the kiss of death in college football.  Holtz left in 1996 (I still don't understand why).  Bob Davie was ineffective, though did last five years.  They didn't give Ty enough time, but he did the unthinkable - he went 0-3 against USC losing by a combined 93 points.  From there they went into the utterly catastrophic Charlie Weis years, and of course now Kelly. Five coaches in fourteen years is the definition of a coaching carousel, and I recommend avoiding it like the plague.- Ahhh yes, the annual time of the year when we start talking about computer rankings and who could leapfrog who and whose schedule and points indicate what and blah blah blah - anything other than what every other sport on the planet does: Use win-loss records and then a playoff.  I HATE the BcS.- If Alabama and LSU were in different divisions in the SEC conference, could it be theoretically possible that LSU and Alabama would be playing each other for the fictitious BcSaaaaa championship this year, and it would be their THIRD game against each other?- How bad is Cal, seriously?Onward and forward Trojans. We are on our way back.