Has Vegas not been watching USC this year? This is the worst USC team of the last 20 years. The uniforms will look the same; the venue will be the same; the horse will still be there, although he won't do much of anything after the pregame. But this is not a USC football team that you'll see Saturday. It will look more like a San Jose State team that stole USC's uniforms and took the field in their place. Clay Helton is essentially Paul Hackett; he's Ty Willingham without the charisma; he's Charlie Weis without the decided schematic advantage. I don't expect any sympathy from the Irish; you hate us and we hate you. It would be nice if you could spare the women and children on Saturday.
In all honesty, I don't see how this game is even close. USC can't stop the run. USC can't stop the pass. USC can't run the ball. And while we can throw it a little, our offense consists almost entirely of low-percentage throws downfield, hoping our talented receivers can make a big play. They do sometimes. But not nearly often enough. And JT Daniels will make a few inexcusable freshmen throws along the way.
Congrats on a great season. For my own sanity, I hope you guys meltdown in the playoff.
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regardless of the vast difference in the two teams records. You can't discount how bad USC wants to screw up ND's season not only for the fact that it would be sticking it to their most hated rival, but they'd also be keeping them from the playoffs which is likely a much bigger driver for the Trojan's.
I think ND wins but would not be surprised if it's much closer than expected. I hope we blow USC out, but we have to come prepared.
shiny 5 star freshman QBs.
Arrogance is what ties them together
NFL teams do poorly just making one trip cross country. For kids in college this has to be extremely challenging. USC hasn't left their time zone in months.
He has won 11 and 10 games the past two years. Maybe those records are misleading, but Ty would never have done better.
And did you use the words 'Willingham' and 'charisma' in the same sentence?
Wait a minute: Ty did win 10 games at ND. Clay pulled the stunt twice at USC, but that's because he had a weak schedule and a boatload of talent, including the #3 overall pick at QB.
"And did you use the words 'Willingham' and 'charisma' in the same sentence?"
Yes, I was joking of course. Just like I was joking about Charlie's schematic advantage. Everything else, unfortunately, was accurate.
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That 2002 team was loaded with NFL draftee quality defensive talent, and quite frankly, had decent players on offense as well. This was a veteran defense that worked well together, and essentially coached themselves. They were able to do a fine job in 2002 despite Kent Baer's idiotic constant "stack the box and let the DB's fend for themselves," even on 3rd down.
That 2002 team was also the luckiest ND team when it came to opportunities.
The offense was terrible. Running a West Coast offense with a quarterback who couldn't throw an accurate short ball was a display of sheer stupidity, but of course, Bill Diedrick refused to modify things, and WIllingham foolishly agreed to leave him alone.
Then Willingham became the laziest recruiter of all time. There were plenty of 4 and 5 star players who would have loved to come to ND, but Willingham didn't reach out to them. Instead, he simply waited on his lazy ass, and accepted whoever decided to show up in 2003 and 2004, leading to the two worst recruiting classes of all time at ND (2004 and 2005 classes). That 2005 class would have been even worse if Charlie Weis didn't manage to snag a few decent players at the end (Duncan, Turkovich, and a couple others).
Clay Helton is at least a competent coach, and works hard to bring in good talent. JT Daniels is going to be fine once he's had an off-season of strength and conditioning, and there's a lot of talent coming up through the ranks, especially St. Brown.
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Baer's defense in 2002 was an experienced, veteran crew, who could basically coach themselves. A lot of times, you would see the defensive captains making some pretty smart audibles, despite Baer's play call.
If you look at Kent Baer's playcalling, he got away with a lot of bad calls in the beginning of the year, because of the caliber of the defense.
I would actually argue, that our defense could have done a decent job against that USC team. While it wouldn't have been enough to win it (there was no doubting the outcome, our offense was completely inept for most of the game), making better calls on defense would have at least slowed down Carson Palmer and co. Instead, Chow and Palmer had a field day during that second half, picking off our defensive secondary single coverage all day long. All it took were a few minor adjustments on Chow's part, and they steamrolled us.
Losing a lot of those players in 2003 then revealed the ineptitude of Kent Baer. No longer was his "stack the box with 8 and single cover every receiver" working, even against the teams weaker than a USC. There was still a good bit of defensive talent there, but he couldn't coach them up properly during the off-season.
He still didn't learn in 2004.
That's a strong argument. Ty's subsequent performance at Washington means that he's the leader in the clubhouse until Helton runs inevitably San Diego State into the ground five years from now.
But, no, Clay Helton is not a competent coach. He is in way over his head and always has been. Like Ty, he has benefited from an overwhelming talent advantage against almost all of his opponents. He has been unable to beat -- and usually can't compete with -- teams of comparable talent. Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame all crushed him. It will happen again Saturday.
Look at Clay's Rose Bowl-winning team in 2016. That team had 16 current or soon-to-be NFL players in its rotation. (That doesn't count some younger guys who didn't play a prominent role like Tyler Vaughns and Michael Pittman, which would make these numbers climb further.) Some of those guys were big-time talents. You have in that group 5 guys who went in the first or second round, including the #3 overall pick in the draft at the most important position. At times, USC's offense had the #3 overall pick at QB, four second-round skill position guys (when Adoree was on O), and three OL who have made NFL rosters.
That team failed to win the Pac 12 South. It got blown out twice.
Clay Helton is inept. Going 4-5 in the horrible Pac 12 with USC's talent in a year where Oregon and Washington weren't even on the schedule? That's Hackett, Ty, Weis, and Faust level incompetence.
I know you guys want to pour it on Saturday. Do what you must. Put us out of our misery.
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prepared for a battle.
they will make a couple of big plays possibly, overall our attitude will sink them despite their athleticism. Only downside for us is travelling east coast to west coast. And don't eat too much turkey.
When history shows you have struggled mightily at a venue, you are usually going to struggle at that venue and should never take that game for granted.
We 'should' kill SC this year and as long as we are the only ones thinking like that (not the players), here's to our first playoff birth and a chance to make up for the nonsense that occurred in 2012.
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There is a lot of pay-back due. A mere beat-down will not be enough. They need to be thoroughly embarrassed and humiliated. They're down, so now is a good time to kick them. Make the many fraternity boys whimper and the sorority girls raise their skirts. Do I make myself clear?
Make it bad enough, and you can solve our Clay Helton problem for us. So do what needs to be done.
I remember the usc band DELIBERATELY trying to disrupt Ken MacAfee's HOF recognition speech at ND Stadium.
I remember two usc letterman trying to rough up a 70 year old ND man and his wife.
They were both dropped and arrested.
I remember be asked to leave a restaurant owned by a usc grad when she found out I was an ND grad.
I could go on for hours.
You people are the scum of the earth.
Seriously.
"I remember be asked to leave a restaurant owned by a usc grad when she found out I was an ND grad."
That's odd. You seem like a hell of a guy based on your post. I'm surprised she wasn't smitten by you.
sure ND will be.
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I blame usc for the fact he was a functional illiterate when he “graduated”.
Your sanity and decency are disarming. I don't want to have to adulterate my hatred. I hope you are right, though.
I read yesterday how obnoxious USC fans are in LA; dont doubt it for a minute..BUT, Ive met Trojan fans in airports, on the plane, in bars and restaurants, in ND STadium, in the Morris..All have been respectful of the rivalry, nice to talk to, mannerly, etc, etc..You can chalk it up to being on enemy territory; but Ive met scUM fans in South Bend, and they were trash..
By the way, I'M 8-6..and listened to every minute of '64 ND-USC, AND watched '70 ND-USC..Yes, I hate USC..AND WHILE ,Im bitter over both, I'll never forget that rip off in '78 spoiling Joe Montana's comeback for the ages when the IRISH seemed dead at 24-6..and the whole viewing audience knew that MacDonald fumbled..
GO IRISH!...
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when the top ranked IRISH prevailed 28-24, or in 05 when the top ranked Trojans prevailed 34-31, the SC fans I met after those games were class all the way..
Talk about different sides of the emotional spectrum.
who threw everything but the kitchen sink at IRISH that day, taking the Trojans to Irish 7, I think, only to be rebuffed..Then the 05 Bush Push to beat ND..But the play that still haunts me, that 4th and 9 pass that Leinart COMPLETED TO KEEP LAST DRIVe ALIVE, THE RECEIVER BREAKING LOOSE, AFTER HE WAS COVERED TIGHTLY..
As heartbreaking as 05 was, I shook it off as the night went on, and it was CW's first yr, and brighter days seemed ahead..MAN WAs I WRONG..But after Ty,it didn't seem too bad as the result sunk in..
I am right, and you're free to continue hating us. I wouldn't want it any other way.
I've been to South Bend seven times for USC-ND games. Almost without exception, the people I've met there have been decent, courteous, and welcoming. They were good people. I was still able to hate them.
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First and foremost, you are a USC fan and you are suffering. That makes me happy.
ND has been f'ed over too many times in CA to take this game lightly. There is still much talent on your roster. God bless you Lynn Swann for extending Clay Helton earlier this year through 2023.
Hey Amon-Ra! How's that Trojan decision working out for you?
I laughed out loud at the 'Ty Willingham without the charisma' line. Ty had all the charisma of a painted white wall. I've heard Clay during interviews and always came away impressed.
Hope you hire either Bob Davie or Ty Willingham and commence upon a decade of horrible football. May Chip Kelly and his many chins be prominent in your dreams.
Thank you for the post.
EQ probably should have chosen USC or Stanford due to better QB play and Amon-ra should have likely chosen ND for a better QB future.