With our talent it's a possibility. Maybe we won't meet in a national championship game but we could face them in one of the bowl games. If so I am pasting a post from a USC fan that was posted on their site BEFORE the game. It is very insightful and something that should be taken into consideration. This was posted on an OU board and nobody there disagrees with this. It's long but it is good. Here it is: SC will win easily because.....our STYLE OF PLAY will baffle OU. Lest you think I am blinded by my Trojan loyalty and or failing to respect a formidable opponent in OU, that is not my style. In fact those who know me would tell you that I am always as objective as one can possibly be when critiquing football teams and games even though I do love the Trojans. There are two factors that make this game an easy win for us. The first is that OU is too good for their own good. The other is that OU simply does not know how to deal with what we will throw at them. These two factors combined will make this game a blow-out victory for SC. What I mean when I say OU is too good for their own good is that they have been so successful playing their style they will not believe that they need to alter it to have a chance against SC. After the UCLA game I posted that they put forth a masterful D performance by keeping everything in front of them and basically daring us to run. Chow does not like to run so even though we had a huge day on the ground we were not happy running and kept trying to force the passing game when it was not there. Consequently we got a lot of yards, but were kept off balance all day and ended up with FGs instead of TDs on 5 drives and zero points on others. We had our worst day of the season on 3rd down converting something like 1 of 13. Someone asked if OU would do the same thing on D against us since it seemed to work so well and I said they would not because it is not in their personality. For UCLA to play the way they did was an admission on their part that they could not beat us playing straight-up, that they needed to play a gimmick D just to keep the game respectable. In order to make a tactical decision like that you must first admit to yourself that you are indeed inferior to your opponent and OU will not do that. I believed at the time that OU was too proud and too damn good to think that they would have to alter their style to compete with SC. The Birdine quote the other day really confirmed my belief. Usually you can dismiss this type of stuff as gamesmanship or just plain stupidity on the part of a young athlete, but for me Birdine saying ¨we look at film and they are really average¨ was very telling. What this told me was that the OU coaches are not altering their normal game plan. The rather than admit they are not properly equipped to deal with our O the OU coaches are convincing their players that all they have to do is play their normal game and they will prevail. There is one thing coaches always preach, one thing that is more important than everything else to them and that is EXECUTION. Coaches want players to buy into what they are being taught 100% and they teach this by telling the players that if they execute they will win. The logic is that if you believe in what we are doing, you give 100% and you execute to perfection you will win. Basically all we have to do is go out there and play OU football and we will prevail just as we always have. When teams lose the coaches always point to execution as the issue because if it was the game plan itself then the coaches would have failed and there would be nothing left for the players and fans to believe in. Of course when there is a huge disparity in talent there is an understanding that the underdog will lose, but even in those situations coaches will say things like ´we played them tough, but there were too many breakdown, too many situation where we just did not execute´. Now, if you believe my thesis regarding the lack of understanding that they need to alter their D style the next issue is why exactly do they have to alter their D style to be successful. The answer to that question is simple; they are not equipped to deal with what we will throw at them using their normal D. In order to slow down our O OU needs to make the same admission that UCLA did and basically play prevent the entire day. They have a ton of great athletes and are very well coached so it is not like they are overmatched physically or mentally. The problem lies in their lack of experience against the sophistication of our O. Our O is unlike anything they have ever played against and that is really the biggest problem for them. Of course we have incredible athletes, but they have incredible athletes too and they have played against countless incredible athletes over the years. It is not about the talent, it is about the STYLE OF PLAY. When Birdine and the other Sooners watch film and see our guys they think we are average because they have seen a lot of players with similar talent in the Big 12, but what they do not understand is how much different it is going to be trying defend these guys in this O than it is defending similarly talented guys in the basic offenses they face in the Big 12. They are watching film thinking SC does things a little differently, but the talent is the same so we will be fine. The problem with this is that film will not prepare them for the actual differences they will experience on the field. I think a good illustration of this can be found in basketball. Imagine that you are a basketball player and that you have only played against man to man defenses in your league. Imagine that you had played for four years and become absolutely dominant against man to man coverage to the point that you were unstoppable. Now, imagine that after four years of this you were notified that you had 3 weeks to get ready to play against a team that features the best zone D in the country. Add to this the fact that the only exposure you or any of your teammates have to the zone is through film, that you have never played in a game where anyone used zone before. Of course your coaches would install a zone for you to practice against and you would run your O against this zone D being run by the backup players on your team as they tried simulate your opponent and get you prepared for the game. The problem is that if your coaches and teammates have never been exposed to a zone D in their lives they are not going to be much help simulating what the best zone D in the country is actually going to play like on the court. OU will just not be able to stop us with their normal D and it will be too little too late if they do go into prevent after falling behind. As we all know prevent D is not so great for getting your D off the field and making a comeback when you are down. As far as our D is concerned OU is rather vanilla on O and will show us nothing we have not seen and dominated before. Mike Patterson will tackle AD behind the line on at least 2 of his first four rushing attempts. When OU brings in Jones and telegraphs that inside screen of theirs we will most likely get to it before him. Dallas Sartz will score more TDs on that play than Kejuan Jones does. We will have no problem shutting these guys down. AD is probably the most gifted pure runner in CFB since Marshall Faulk so he will get some yards after the outcome is decided, but he will be a non-factor in the game as will their entire O. I keep seeing posts on our board and on the OU board touting one match-up or another as the KEY to the game when the reality of this event is that the game has already been decided and not by a key match-up here or there, but by the overall style of play that is played by each team and by their opposition (conferences). OU is doomed because they will be unable to defend us and as the game unfolds their players will be increasingly disillusioned by the fact that they are executing and still getting their asses kicked. The players will begin to question what they have been taught and give-up by the 4th quarter. The final will probably be about 35-7 or 35-14, but regardless of the score it will be a dominant victory. The good thing is we will have the stadium to ourselves to celebrate with the team, band and song girls after the game.
Usuck will cancel a regular season game with us IMO. That would cancel their cupcake schedule and put their chances for a 3 peat at risk.
If Leinhart stays, USC will not come close to losing to anyone next year. And this is coming from someone who hates USC. Everybody will be playing for 2nd place.
Along those lines, maybe its all Norm Chow? I'm really amazed at the QB position and how well they've played the last few years. Carson Palmer then Leinhart? I agree with you and I hate USuck too but I don't think they will come to death valley, the only way we play them is a trip to the west coast.
As much as I would agree with you based on the OU game, lest we not forget their performance against UCLA, Cal, and VT. There's no discounting the fact they struggled mightily against all three. If the same USC that played in the Orange Bowl shows up every week, they may win every game by 40.
when usc played notre dame they basically got man handled. if nd had more speed at the skilled positions it would have been a different story. it was clear that nd's players were more physical but could not run with usc's skill people.
His principle was one the mark and his prediction was too...I for one, however, feel that more blitzes early on in the game, complimented with ensuring the safety's made sure no one got behind them would have changed the complexion of the game...He was also right in the fact that OU wanted to win the OU way vs the smart way.... As far as next year January '06 BCS NC Rose Bowk results LSU 31 USC 24 Matt Flynn starting/winning QB Alley Broussard MVP
Again, if you go by the story I posted then some teams with the better talent than UCLA should be able to adjust and beat USC. A couple of teams almost beat them anyway. Everybody is looking at the Orange Bowl as being a representation of the entire USC season which is not the case. That game was an anomaly. Part upset, part position of the planets, universal karma, overconfidence by OU, etc. You get the picture. Like Baylor did during the 2003 season against OU. They laid the road map on how to defeat them. They just didn't have the studs to pull it off like we did and K. State in the CCG in 2003. Keep in mind we held OU to a total of 157 yards. Has any team done that to them since Stoops has been there? OU got over 300 yards against USC and I think close to 400 yards against K. State in the conference championship game in 2003. ANY team is beatable with the 'correct' adjustments, smart coaching and decent players.
