Thursday With Ric 10/6/11
Hello there, this is one of the worst weeks for an SC football fan and one of the better weeks for the SC football player: the mid-season bye. The starters get a chance to rest up, get pointers on fundamentals, heal their injuries, fingerblast their girlfriends, get tested for whatever they picked up from the ASU coeds, etc.
Meanwhile the SC football fan is left to ponder “The Tale of Two Halves” against Arizona last Saturday afternoon. Record setting performances by our junior QB, a duo of underclassmen receivers and a redshirt freshman linebacker juxtaposed with how many yards the teams’ offenses were able to obtain against each other in the second half.
If you played offense in the second half against USC last weekend, you were going to be able to drive down the field and score. And if you played defense for Arizona you could only hope that this would be your last year looking over seeing Mike Stoops ineffectively yelling at you from the opposite hashmark.
This week the (geriatric, diaper wearing) father and son team of Kiffins gets to work exclusively with the guys on the team while other skill position coaches are on the road recruiting or back home in the south dealing with whatever problems they have in the south.
They hope that the recently wounded Lamar Dawson will return to spell the rapidly aging Chris Galippo as it seems that none of our other 4 and 5 star recruits can grasp the middle linebacker position. It would also seem we would be able to generate a true depth chart that includes more than one person at a position so some of our guys could take a few plays off and catch their breath. Or maybe the coaching staff has privately written the rush to shore up the back up positions off since we have no hope of playing in the 2011 post season and our scholarships have been decimated for the next 127 games or however long the NCAA predicated. Perhaps the mantra is “We may as well save our youngsters for the seasons of the future that actually count (i.e., can bring in more revenue if we get to a bowl)”.
Well, it was nice to watch the offense click last weekend. Our line did not give up a sack. We looked like a finely tuned machine. I also like that we now have a field goal kicker who looks like he is reliable and can put points on the board. Special Teams is consistent. They haven’t really done anything bad or particularly good. As for the first half defense, I want TJ McDonald to have 2 picks every game. That man looked Team 6 dangerous. I hope he discovers he likes sniffing out passes in South Bend more than he likes it in the Coliseum. Then we can get that “rivalry” back on track and get past the Rojo drop from last year, but I am getting 2 games ahead of myself.
A week from tomorrow on a Thursday night – Pitts, we have to get drunk on a Thursday night!! – the team travels up to the bay area to play the Cal Bears. Cal may be a good team, but they have to play at Oregon this Saturday and us about 5 days after that. I am hoping they get softened up in the Duck game or stun Oregon like they almost did last year and then have a let down against us. Look at me predicting the possible outcomes. Soon I’ll be receiving requests for whitespace opportunity identification and netnography studies…oh wait that actually happened this morning. I don’t know what the hell those terms mean or why I would be receiving them via the internet.
Not looking forward to a USC-less Saturday. Am looking forward to Pitts’ picks this week; that is if he can get off his lazy ass while he tours the Cape sipping wine and pretending the jazz age never left. Fight On, Ric