Legends Channel

John Robinson's Blog About USC

USC is starting to look like the team we all thought that they would be this year.  The Master Coaches Poll has had them ranked at No. 6 for three straight weeks, which is higher than any other poll.

SC is suddenly getting about eight starters back that have been missing. They have suffered from a phenomenal amount of injuries, having five defensive starters out early in the season.  To me, they have had a hard time figuring out who they are.  Over the past few years, they have been a team that ran a wide open offense that tried to throw the ball all over the field.  But this team is starting to understand that this year, they are just not the same as they have been and should try to win on defense.

I think that their defense might be able to get them back in the driver's seat in the Pac-10, but Oregon has one of those offenses that makes you think, "Wow!  They're faster than everybody!"  The fifth-ranked Ducks aren't a great defensive team, but they are tough to beat if they can get you in a shootout.

To win games, the Trojans should be running the football and playing great defense, but they have been slow to recognize the personality of their team.  It seems to me that in the Pac-10, you have to take an oath that says you will to try to score 40 points and throw the ball 40 times per game.  I don't think anybody wants to play that physical style of football that is played in the SEC week in and week out, but if the Trojans decide to do so, they will find themselves right back in the hunt, not only for the Pac-10 championship, but in the national title hunt as well.

The feeling around the country is that USC has been taking teams lightly and become complacent.  I don't agree at all.  I don't think the team has played with indifference, they have just had a frightening amount of injuries.  The SC defense has about five players that could be first round picks in the NFL Draft, but they have been out for the past three or four weeks (such as Brian Cushing and Hershel Dennis). 

John David Booty has been hurt as well, and Mark Sanchez has taken over at quarterback.  He's a good player, certainly one of the best high school quarterbacks coming out of Southern California in years.  He is starting to look like he can manage the team, which will be a difficult task on the road in Eugene. Oregon is a very difficult place to play, and it's about time for the rain to start.  I think they have a faucet up there that they turn on about this time of year that should be running until April.  It will be tough for SC because some of their kids from may not have ever seen rain before.

This game should be a great one to watch and will probably decide the Pac-10 champ.  So, sit back and enjoy another wild weekend of college football.

>>>>> See Master Coach Don James' thoughts on USC - Oregon game <<<<<

Legendary Iowa Coach Hayden Fry blogs about USF - Rutgers outcome

South Florida's Cinderella story appears to have ended.  They had a great start, beating Auburn on the road and knocking off a Top 5 West Virginia team for the second year in a row, but they came up a little short at Rutgers.  Coach Jim Leavitt was on my staff as a Graduate Assistant at Iowa.  He is a heck of a coach and has done a fantastic job in building that program from scratch.  I may have taught him some things along the way, but he taught me something too...  Do not run wind sprints with your players!

Jim is a wild man on the sidelines and he still does conditioning drills with his players after practice.  And if you saw the game last night, he ran a few sprints to get ready to coach the game.  The only thing my metal knees are good for anymore is when I go to the airport everybody dives under the table when I go through security.  I've been using about a quart per day of WD-40 to get these knees of mine going.

I think that Coach Leavitt's team lost last night for a couple of reasons.  They committed too many penalties in key situations and they got outplayed in the specialty teams.  South Florida was not helped either by the short week of preparation.  Both teams played on Saturday, but the Bulls had to travel all the way up the east coast on Wednesday and lost a day of practice.

Rutgers' running back Ray Rice is a truly outstanding player.  South Florida has a tough defense, and that was just the second time in the last 15 games that a running back gained over 100 yards against them. Rice was the last player to gain over 100 yards on the Bulls when he gained 202 yards last year, followed up by 181 yards on 39 carries last night.

I thought Matt Grothe played well for South Florida, but the play calling really hurt his cause.  They could not pick up the blitzes and he continued to get sacked for big losses.  I think USF should have used the short passing game.  Rutgers blitzed on every play and an occasional screen or dump off pass to the tight end would have kept the Knights honest.  You have to give Rutgers credit because they played a very smart game and knocked off another Top 5 team on a Thursday night in Piscataway.

The specialty teams were really the difference for Rutgers.  Ito made 3 of his 4 field goals for Rutgers, including a 51-yarder and Alvorado missed one for USF and had another attempt blocked.  Early in the first half, Coach Schiano rolled the dice and faked a punt that eventually led to a field goal.  The three points proved to be the difference in the 30-27 win.  Schiano also dialed up a fake field goal.  The holder, DePaola got up out of his stance and threw a strike to Kevin Brock for a touchdown.  The pass dropped right over the top of the defender and that tight end made a heck of a catch on his way to the end zone.

I am really proud of Greg Schiano for using trick plays the way he did.  They were always base plays for me, because I though it was easy to catch the opponent sleeping.  I have been watching all of these triple overtime games like LSU-Kentucky, Nevada-Boise State and others that could have been decided much earlier.  All a coach has to do is fake a field goal on an extra point try and the game would be over.  I give Schiano credit for having the confidence in his team to execute the trick plays.

Master Coaches Poll Blog - by Gene Stallings

This is the first installment of the Master Coaches Poll Blog. I am one of seventeen Master Coaches, starting our third season, that make up the panel of voters on the Master Coaches Poll.

The other day I asked my son, Johnny, who is his all-time favorite coach at Alabama.  Well, he didn’t pick his daddy… he said Nick Saban.  That just proves Coach Saban is doing a great job getting the Bama fans behind his program … even in our household! 

Coming into the game against Georgia this past weekend, Coach Saban had Alabama playing with a lot of confidence. Against Arkansas, the Tide pulled off their first 4th quarter come from behind victory in five years. One of the main reasons for achieving the 4th quarter comeback is Alabama has some guys who are playing good football …. wide receiver DJ Hall and running back Terry Grant. DJ, who had 3 receptions for 46 yards against the Dawgs is the type of kid that can turn a bad play into a good one. He’s got blazing speed and can be a gamebreaker. Grant is the real deal, a really outstanding player. Against the Bulldog defense, he had 80 yards on just 11 carries for a 7.3 yd average.

Georgia allowed Alabama to hang around with some penalties and missed field goals, but made one more play than Alabama did. The Georgia receivers dropped passes time after time, but Bama could not complete a long pass. The Tide managed to hang around with stingy defense when they needed it and kicked a field goal on the first possession of overtime. Their lead wouldn’t last long though, because Matthew Stafford threw an absolutely perfect pass to Mikey Henderson on their first play and Georgia got a huge SEC win.

If you’re going to look at one statistic that will determine the outcome of a game, I would look at 3rd down effectiveness. Georgia converted 3rd downs 9 out of 16 times and Alabama converted just 3 of 15 times on 3rd down. Alabama seemed to get 6 or 7 yards on first down throughout the game, and then they would try to air it out. When my teams were ineffective on 3rd down, I would just run the ball on 2nd and short to get the first down.

The Alabama offense will definitely have to improve their 3rd down effectiveness and big play ability against a Florida State defense that had the week off to re-energize. FSU has struggled on both sides of the ball this year and is not playing with much confidence, so the Seminoles will search for anything to give them a spark. I’m speaking at the Quarterback Club in Tallahassee this week, so maybe that will provide some motivation. All kidding aside, it should be a great match-up for college football. Coach Bobby Bowden, an old friend, matching wits against Coach Saban. The game will be on a neutral field, but is being played in Jacksonville, Florida, so that could favor Florida State.

   >>>>  Download the Master Coaches Poll Q&A eBook for more information.