Week Three AP

[al1tidr]

collegefootball.ap.org/poll


Oregon gets the only other first place vote....

[Walter]

Wow....Whoever thought that 4 Pac12 teams would be ranked and USC wouldn't be one of them?

Well, folks....IMO, USC made a gigantic step forward yesterday and will begin creeping up the polls as the season continues. Their D will keep them in most games, so it's all about the Oline pass-blocking and the QB. This is a hard stat to actually believe, but even with all the studs USC has had at RB, Tre Madden is the first RB since Marcus Allen 30 years ago to have 3 straight 100+ yard rushing days, so if the passing game can catch up, look out, folks.

[al1tidr]

Sept 15, 2013 12:44:07 GMT -5 Walter said:

Wow....Whoever thought that 4 Pac12 teams would be ranked and USC wouldn't be one of them?

Well, folks....IMO, USC made a gigantic step forward yesterday and will begin creeping up the polls as the season continues. Their D will keep them in most games, so it's all about the Oline pass-blocking and the QB. This is a hard stat to actually believe, but even with all the studs USC has had at RB, Tre Madden is the first RB since Marcus Allen 30 years ago to have 3 straight 100+ yard rushing days, so if the passing game can catch up, look out, folks.

Interesting....  Texas folks seem to want the 'Horns to lose so there's no doubt about Brown being fired. Not so for you and USCw fans regarding Lane? Imo y'all can do much better than him....

[Walter]

Sept 15, 2013 12:50:09 GMT -5 al1tidr said:

Sept 15, 2013 12:44:07 GMT -5 Walter said:

Wow....Whoever thought that 4 Pac12 teams would be ranked and USC wouldn't be one of them?

Well, folks....IMO, USC made a gigantic step forward yesterday and will begin creeping up the polls as the season continues. Their D will keep them in most games, so it's all about the Oline pass-blocking and the QB. This is a hard stat to actually believe, but even with all the studs USC has had at RB, Tre Madden is the first RB since Marcus Allen 30 years ago to have 3 straight 100+ yard rushing days, so if the passing game can catch up, look out, folks.

Interesting....  Texas folks seem to want the 'Horns to lose so there's no doubt about Brown being fired. Not so for you and USCw fans regarding Lane? Imo y'all can do much better than him....

There is a ton of "fire Kiffin" talk flying around here, but that doesn't mean I'd ever root for USC to lose....EVER.

FWIW, I am prone to give Kiffin all the rope he needs, what with him living in the doghouse the NCAA built for him. USC can't practice normally, every injury is like an injury and a half in terms of the impact on the team because there is so little depth...USC is far too expensive for any serious walk-ons to consider....It's a tough spot....So I'm happy with what he's done with the bad hand he's been dealt. Besides, the same folks that are yelling for Kiffin to be fired were also yellin' for the Dodgers manager Don Mattingly to get the ax back in June. Look how THAT turned out.....Fair weather fans, IMO.

As for 'could we do better'? We don't know what Kiffin can do...or not do...not really yet. A ridiculous season or two with Spaceman Al Davis, one year with UTn, (where he did far better than Fulmer did with essentially the same team) You don't know how good he is. I don't know. You don't like him, and frankly he's not what anyone would call a charmer outside of Layla and, apparently, high school recruits, but he's had stellar recruiting years and he's beginning to put a staff together that has some cohesiveness, which, as even Pete Carroll found out in his later years at SC as all his assistants left, is probably the hardest part of being a successful head coach.

So, I'm inclined to give it time. This team is very young, but I already see improvement week to week, and THAT is how I'm going to measure his ability as the season wears on. If they look as bad as they looked against Wazzu in November, then that tells me something. But based on yesterday, I doubt I'll see THAT team again this season, and that is Kiffin's doing if it turns out that way.

[al1tidr]

Sept 15, 2013 14:10:24 GMT -5 Walter said:

Sept 15, 2013 12:50:09 GMT -5 al1tidr said:

Interesting....  Texas folks seem to want the 'Horns to lose so there's no doubt about Brown being fired. Not so for you and USCw fans regarding Lane? Imo y'all can do much better than him....

There is a ton of "fire Kiffin" talk flying around here, but that doesn't mean I'd ever root for USC to lose....EVER.

FWIW, I am prone to give Kiffin all the rope he needs, what with him living in the doghouse the NCAA built for him. USC can't practice normally, every injury is like an injury and a half in terms of the impact on the team because there is so little depth...USC is far too expensive for any serious walk-ons to consider....It's a tough spot....So I'm happy with what he's done with the bad hand he's been dealt. Besides, the same folks that are yelling for Kiffin to be fired were also yellin' for the Dodgers manager Don Mattingly to get the ax back in June. Look how THAT turned out.....Fair weather fans, IMO.

As for 'could we do better'? We don't know what Kiffin can do...or not do...not really yet. A ridiculous season or two with Spaceman Al Davis, one year with UTn, (where he did far better than Fulmer did with essentially the same team) You don't know how good he is. I don't know. You don't like him, and frankly he's not what anyone would call a charmer outside of Layla and, apparently, high school recruits, but he's had stellar recruiting years and he's beginning to put a staff together that has some cohesiveness, which, as even Pete Carroll found out in his later years at SC as all his assistants left, is probably the hardest part of being a successful head coach.

So, I'm inclined to give it time. This team is young, but I already see improvement week to week, and THAT is how I'm going to measure his ability as the season wears on. If they look as bad as they looked against Wazzu in November, then that tells me something. But based on yesterday, I doubt I'll see THAT team again this season, and that is Kiffin's doing if it turns out that way.

Fair enough. I really have not been as vocal of an anti-Kiffin guy as most have. I just have never seen him win anything anywhere that he's been, but if USC fans like him then that's all that matters. I will say that imo he really showed his worth last season before sanctions really took hold. 

[Walter]

Sept 15, 2013 14:28:20 GMT -5 al1tidr said:

Sept 15, 2013 14:10:24 GMT -5 Walter said:

There is a ton of "fire Kiffin" talk flying around here, but that doesn't mean I'd ever root for USC to lose....EVER.

FWIW, I am prone to give Kiffin all the rope he needs, what with him living in the doghouse the NCAA built for him. USC can't practice normally, every injury is like an injury and a half in terms of the impact on the team because there is so little depth...USC is far too expensive for any serious walk-ons to consider....It's a tough spot....So I'm happy with what he's done with the bad hand he's been dealt. Besides, the same folks that are yelling for Kiffin to be fired were also yellin' for the Dodgers manager Don Mattingly to get the ax back in June. Look how THAT turned out.....Fair weather fans, IMO.

As for 'could we do better'? We don't know what Kiffin can do...or not do...not really yet. A ridiculous season or two with Spaceman Al Davis, one year with UTn, (where he did far better than Fulmer did with essentially the same team) You don't know how good he is. I don't know. You don't like him, and frankly he's not what anyone would call a charmer outside of Layla and, apparently, high school recruits, but he's had stellar recruiting years and he's beginning to put a staff together that has some cohesiveness, which, as even Pete Carroll found out in his later years at SC as all his assistants left, is probably the hardest part of being a successful head coach.

So, I'm inclined to give it time. This team is young, but I already see improvement week to week, and THAT is how I'm going to measure his ability as the season wears on. If they look as bad as they looked against Wazzu in November, then that tells me something. But based on yesterday, I doubt I'll see THAT team again this season, and that is Kiffin's doing if it turns out that way.

Fair enough. I really have not been as vocal of an anti-Kiffin guy as most have. I just have never seen him win anything anywhere that he's been, but if USC fans like him then that's all that matters. I will say that imo he really showed his worth last season before sanctions really took hold. 

IMO, last season can be almost totally chalked up to Kiffin thinking his father was a great college coach. The USC D was an unmitigated disaster, and Monte Kiffin is the blame for it. He was too old and set in his ways to understand that he had glorified high school kids instead of All-Pro 10 year veterans. We went through the same experiment with pro offensive guru Paul Hackett trying to teach an overly intricate West Coast Offense to those same kids, and it didn't work then either. Now we've got a DC that understands how much the kids can hold in their heads and the same disasterous D with even LESS overall talent is playing lights out.

[al1tidr]

Walt>>>>
"IMO, last season can be almost totally chalked up to Kiffin thinking his father was a great college coach. The USC D was an unmitigated disaster, and Monte Kiffin is the blame for it. He was too old and set in his ways to understand that he had glorified high school kids instead of All-Pro 10 year veterans. We went through the same experiment with pro offensive guru Paul Hackett trying to teach an overly intricate West Coast Offense to those same kids, and it didn't work then either. Now we've got a DC that understands how much the kids can hold in their heads and the same disasterous D with even LESS overall talent is playing lights out."

Well it's the head coach's job to hire the right assistants and/or make changes mid-season if needed. That's still on Kiffin imo, although I understand the difficulty involved with firing a family member. Still.....

[Walter]

Sept 15, 2013 14:42:19 GMT -5 al1tidr said:

Walt>>>>
"IMO, last season can be almost totally chalked up to Kiffin thinking his father was a great college coach. The USC D was an unmitigated disaster, and Monte Kiffin is the blame for it. He was too old and set in his ways to understand that he had glorified high school kids instead of All-Pro 10 year veterans. We went through the same experiment with pro offensive guru Paul Hackett trying to teach an overly intricate West Coast Offense to those same kids, and it didn't work then either. Now we've got a DC that understands how much the kids can hold in their heads and the same disasterous D with even LESS overall talent is playing lights out."

Well it's the head coach's job to hire the right assistants and/or make changes mid-season if needed. That's still on Kiffin imo, although I understand the difficulty involved with firing a family member. Still.....

Agreed. Family loyalty got in the way of being the head coach. Totally agree.
That IS on Kiffin. But to his credit...he then fired his father, (or perhaps dad walked away...we won't ever know), and hired a new DC.
If he had not done that and the D was again stinking it up, I'd be calling for his Kiffin's head right now too.

[al1tidr]

Sept 15, 2013 15:06:20 GMT -5 Walter said:

Sept 15, 2013 14:42:19 GMT -5 al1tidr said:

Walt>>>>
"IMO, last season can be almost totally chalked up to Kiffin thinking his father was a great college coach. The USC D was an unmitigated disaster, and Monte Kiffin is the blame for it. He was too old and set in his ways to understand that he had glorified high school kids instead of All-Pro 10 year veterans. We went through the same experiment with pro offensive guru Paul Hackett trying to teach an overly intricate West Coast Offense to those same kids, and it didn't work then either. Now we've got a DC that understands how much the kids can hold in their heads and the same disasterous D with even LESS overall talent is playing lights out."

Well it's the head coach's job to hire the right assistants and/or make changes mid-season if needed. That's still on Kiffin imo, although I understand the difficulty involved with firing a family member. Still.....

Agreed. Family loyalty got in the way of being the head coach. Totally agree.
That IS on Kiffin. But to his credit...he then fired his father, (or perhaps dad walked away...we won't ever know), and hired a new DC.
If he had not done that and the D was again stinking it up, I'd be calling for his Kiffin's head right now too.

Fair enough.... But it seems you may be in the minority among USCw fans on your view opinion of Kiffin based on the boards I've read. MJ is now on the Trojans 247 board and he's not too high on Kiffin right about now....

[Walter]

Sept 15, 2013 15:11:01 GMT -5 al1tidr said:

Sept 15, 2013 15:06:20 GMT -5 Walter said:

Agreed. Family loyalty got in the way of being the head coach. Totally agree.
That IS on Kiffin. But to his credit...he then fired his father, (or perhaps dad walked away...we won't ever know), and hired a new DC.
If he had not done that and the D was again stinking it up, I'd be calling for his Kiffin's head right now too.

Fair enough.... But it seems you may be in the minority among USCw fans on your view opinion of Kiffin based on the boards I've read. MJ is now on the Trojans 247 board and he's not too high on Kiffin right about now....

Gee....let's see, MJ....you've got a team only halfway through program killing sanctions, and you have a guy running your offense that never took a snap in college as your QB..and you wonder if it's the coach that's the problem in the second game of the season? Seems a bit short-sighted to me...There is some cause for concern, such as the high number of penalties....so I get the issues...but fire him? IMO, were that to happen you'd have not given Kiffin a fair chance to prove himself.