USC Outsider Season 6 Week 13: Holiday Bowl vs Nebraska!
Another season has come and gone in the blink of an eye. Ric and I had so much fun this year as there was a ton to talk about. There were ups and downs (too many downs!) but never a dull moment. From the hiring of Sark, the Josh Shaw saga, big early wins and big early let downs, hail marys, defensive let downs, a potential heisman campaign, freshman everywhere, play calling, 3 in a row (ugh), and to beating up a rival. This season had it all.
This being the holidays and all, Ric and I are with our families and thus unable to get together to discuss the season. Rather than do another remote recording we thought we would do something a little different. Ric wrote a…thing and I will respond accordingly to his questions within his essay in bold so you will know it’s me. So, without further ado, I give you Ric!
Well well well well well. I heart you, Scott Pitts. You better be reading all of this out loud! Thank you for your patience with me during this season and thank your family for letting you drive halfway across Southern California each week in traffic to record in the apartment of a sleep deprived new father who still can’t tell which way is up. Thank you for your humor, intellect and positive attitude and despite my comments throughout the season I remain much more excited about the future of USC Football than I have been.
Thank you to our devoted, ravenous listeners like Kevin, Irish Tom and Peter Italian. I never played a meaningful down of football yet I still feel compelled to talk about the sport and the overpaid coaching staff at USC. And you fuckers choose to listen to it!
After our last game there’s some hope among Trojans (warranted) since we beat Notre Dame 49-14. The 2014 Irish were badly injured and never got anything going against the Trojans. Fuck em. It’s always nice to beat a rival. Next up is Nebraska this Saturday in the I Hate North Korea Holiday Bowl. Kickoff is at 5PM Pacific Time The Only Time That Matters. Game will be on ESPN.
Here are my questions:
Pitts, what do you think of Ameer Abdullah and his chances of gaining over 100 yards against a rested Trojan defensive front? Abdullah is legit! He is a real fine player. However, his numbers came against a bad Big 10. I fully expect USC to game plan for him and hold him to an average day. I like Leonard Williams chances of containing him even without Woods playing in this game. Nebraska is 9-3 and fired their coach. Do you think they had a reason to since their gripe was that he was a prick who could never beat ranked opponents? I liked Bo Pelini. I was surprised they fired him at 9-3 and even more surprised they replaced him with Mike Riley. I guess they really were sick of Bo being a dick and pulled a full 180* to go with a nice guy with barely more hair. You ever seen Riley hatless? Ech. The Big 10 conference currently has Ohio State and then everyone else. Do you think Jesus loves Urban Meyer more than me? Yes. Nebraska is lumped into the Everyone Else group because they are not Ohio State and appear to be about as good or bad as Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Penn State. What’s your prediction for this game? USC wins this game by 2 TDs. Something like 38-24 but it’s not as close as the score looks. We have seen what this team is capable of against ND and they have tasted sweet victory and want to carry that into next season. If you were part of the team this year in San Diego and were asked to participate in a group trip to Sea World, would you go? No. One word: “Blackfish” Did you see the picture of Cody Kessler getting kissed by a beluga whale yesterday? C’mon Cody, you are way to close to Tijuana to get kissed by a whale. Do you think certain members of the coaching staff (Justin Wilcox) will be caught across the border actively participating in a donkey show? Again?
Now for the season end wrap up: Coach Sark proved he can definitely recruit and that his staff can definitely recruit and sell the USC brand to kids and their parents. That is a huge deal and is worth its weight in gold. Sark has also proven he’s a stubborn prick who thinks he can actually call a game and be a head coach at the same time. While I can forgive the losses to Arizona State (What?!!!!) and Utah I happen to think when Sark’s back is against the wall we can expect the style of coaching that plagued us at Boston College and against UCLA. His inability to adjust, improvise and creatively manage a game is not in his DNA. If it was, the University of Washington would have been more successful and made more of an attempt to keep him. Or the NFL would have tried to lure him away. With his first season at USC down the toilet, he has no excuses to fall back on next year (He’d be the first one to agree with you). Neither does Justin Wilcox and the one blitz per game scheme he favors (This has to change). Athletic Director Pat Hayden will die in the offseason so that will be a non-factor (Horrible!). If we don’t see improvements overall in our winning percentage and play calling next year, we will not ever see them from this staff and cannot expect to win the conference or a playoff or a championship under Sark. The guy can convince the great players from all over the country to come to USC, and next year we’ll find out if he can lead them and coach them to success. The numbers are going to be so much better for Sark next season. This team was very young this season and remains mainly intact next year. With the stellar freshman a year older and with crazy game experience, things can only get better. Hopefully a couple of these juniors on the fence decide to stick around for another year. I’m talking mostly to you Buck. If Nelson leaves, (which I think would be a mistake on his part) the cupboard is pretty full at that position especially with the emergence of George Farmer. I expect great things from George next season. Let’s see how these guys do with a year of a new system under their belts and the security of a coach being around longer than a year.
I acknowledge that UCLA has owned us for 3 straight years, but man did they go in the tank. What’s your deal, Jim Mora? You can get your team fired up to play a sanctions depleted program across town with its 4th head coach in 2 years but can’t take the pressure to win consistently at the conference level? Enjoy losing your once in a decade quarterback. My sentiments exactly. Jimmy has said that he isn’t going anywhere and that he’s staying at ucla. This bums out a lot of USC fans as many would love to see him leave. However Ric, you nailed it. Let’s see what this guy does without a qb who wins games single handedly. They are also losing Kendricks along with some other key seniors. I can’t wait to beat Jim Mora and watch that loser school team come back down to earth now that they can’t poach players from USC and it’s coming sooner than later. They suck now and always will.
Lastly, the NCAA sanctions are finally over and with new blood coming in and a roster of previously injured but returning studs in 2015 we look to be in the greatest shape since 2008. We even get two warm up games in the fall and our first three games at home. We open the season against Arkansas State followed by Idaho followed by Stanford. At the USC Outsider podcast we don’t overthink it and I’m not about to start now so I’ll say USC will win the National Championship next year in college football. Fight On, Pitts!!! Whoa, talk about a 180*! Who is this person and what have you done with Ric? Finally some positivity. While I agree that USC will definitely be a better team next year (and healthier) I’m not so sure a Natty is in the cards. There is still a long uphill climb to get back to full strength and dominance. We gotta get the kids coming back to USC and stop going to the other PAC schools. The fact that the sanctions are behind USC should take care of that and balance will be restored with USC on top where it should be. I’m looking forward to it as the future looks bright. Fight On Ric and Fight On all you Trojans!