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College Football 2015 Week Six Thread: Auburn is a Weird Place
- Thread starter mre
- Start date
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Sark was an odd hire for USC in the first place. What kind of miracle was expected there?
Seems the obvious choice. Writing's on the wall for Sark.
timetokill
Banned
Kessler is good. Don't let your hate blind you.
What isn't good is calling 2-man routes against a 7-man drop. Kessler can't do much when the coaches set him up to fail.
They're trying to grasp at strings related to the Pete Carroll era. They need to move on.
timetokill
Banned
exactly.
speaking of which, too bad Todd McNair hasn't finished suing the fuck out of the NCAA yet
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
"There are miracles in life I must achieve, but first I know it starts inside of me." The AD watched Space Jam before making that hire.
sf2fanatic
Member
Congrats Cdy on the school win. PAC-12 schools are unpredictable this year
timetokill
Banned
Chip Kelly yo
Seems hesitant to leave the NFL but I wouldn't doubt it. Maybe they should've stayed with Lane Kiffin haha.
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
He might not have a choice, plus that Texas job will be opening up.
timetokill
Banned
I'm sure Chip doesn't want to leave, but the Eagles aren't gonna keep him because his team fucking blows.
man, those lane tweets/comments came with the quickness.
Still dislike the idiot, but maybe now you USCw guys will realize that putting the blame on him at the time was idiotic, while they were on super probation.
Sark loses his 1st game against Washington? LOL-OUCH
Still dislike the idiot, but maybe now you USCw guys will realize that putting the blame on him at the time was idiotic, while they were on super probation.
Sark loses his 1st game against Washington? LOL-OUCH
He would break Oregon's heart if rejoined the PAC 12 but it's where's experienced. I don't see him going to Texas.
Oh yiss, Spurrier still has a little bit left in the tank ;P
https://twitter.com/GamecockEquip/status/652100750747828228?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
:lollers LSU gotta wear Purple
https://twitter.com/GamecockEquip/status/652100750747828228?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
:lollers LSU gotta wear Purple
Purple Cheeto
Member
USC has only one win when trailing in the second half under Sark. Considering USC under Pete/Norm was notorious for its ability to adjust at half time it's kinda clear that Lane Kiffin and Sarkisian did not learn whatever the secret was.
timetokill
Banned
Yup. Neither one makes any sort of adjustments whatsoever.
There's only so long that superior player talent can mask shitty coaching, and that time has well expired.
Still amazed USC didn't just keep Orgeron until a real replacement could be found. Now it'll probably be Haden's head along with Sark's, unless he can magically convince Chip Kelly to show up.
You're dead on. Sark did not inherit the halftime adjustments ability from Pete. He'll be gone soon and you'll be back to winning.
Nick Saban
Seriously, I mean it's not great but it's not like they're Texas bad.
Affeinvasion
Member
Don't forget to get your Yahoo! Pick 'em picks in. There's a game tonight!
Friday
NCSU v. Va Tech (-2.5)COVER
Saturday
Indiana v. Penn State (-3.5)NO COVER
LSU (-20.5) v. USCe NO COVER
OU (-14.5) v. Texas COVER
Maryland v. OSUn (-23.5) COVER
Ga Tech v. Clempson (-7.5)NO COVER
Uconn v. UCF (-3.5) NO COVER
Boise State (-10.5) v. CSU COVER
Miami v. FSU (-10.5)NO COVER
NCSU v. Va Tech (-2.5)COVER
Saturday
Indiana v. Penn State (-3.5)NO COVER
LSU (-20.5) v. USCe NO COVER
OU (-14.5) v. Texas COVER
Maryland v. OSUn (-23.5) COVER
Ga Tech v. Clempson (-7.5)NO COVER
Uconn v. UCF (-3.5) NO COVER
Boise State (-10.5) v. CSU COVER
Miami v. FSU (-10.5)NO COVER
That guy always cracks me up, I met him once on campus when he was asking people things. He's also a Gator.
Saw this already, but it's good. Arkansas version is best version.
Calamari41
41 > 38
Barely anybody aside from Haden wanted the guy in the first place. The fact that he got that year and a half of leeway at all was the fanbase being gracious and giving him some kind of a chance to prove himself. He hasn't done so in the least, and fun time is over now that he has been thoroughly out-coached and beaten with a younger group of players by the coach near the top of most of our lists from the day Carrol left.
I don't think we can land a world class coach so long as Haden is in charge of our athletic department. Whether its because he can't close a deal with a hot commodity or he just has a warped view of the type of person who should be coaching a blue chip program like USC, I don't know. But a guy like Chip Kelly will only come here if the planets align just right, in my opinion. The main thing keeping Haden in place is the fact that Nikias isn't a big football guy and has kind of handed the whole thing off to Haden, and taken a hands-off approach.
I can tell you that things are getting bad internally, though. John Elway and a bunch of NFL scouts were in the press box last night, and they didn't look happy at all. Kessler was in tears after the game. Our coaching staff is actively hurting the career potential of our players, and Heritage Hall knows it.
I didn't watch the whole game, but from what I saw, Kessler was making some awful throws. How is that the coaching staff's fault? I'm not all in on Sarkesian, but Kessler looked terrible.
What was stupid was seeing Sarkesian call passing plays when they were rushing for a ridiculous average YPC. Those runs at the beginning of the game were beautiful. Run the damn ball, Bobo!
Calamari41
41 > 38
Kessler definitely had an off game, without a doubt, but he was facing insane pressure all night. Plus, how many nice passes were just straight-up dropped? Some game changers, for sure, including that two point conversion. That kind of thing is on the coaches, as is the play calling, the penalties, the under-performance of the line, our inability to tackle or to block, the fact that the receivers weren't lining up correctly all night, etc.
The issue with calling for pass plays vs run plays is the perfect representation of the failure in coaching that we've been seeing. We're beyond the point of "no adjustments," here. We're now making negative adjustments. If you take away the sack yards, I believe we were averaging 7 yards per carry last night. So, of course, we only ran three times during the final three (edit: two?) possessions. Inexcusable.
Doesn't Kiffin credit Sarkesian for a lot of his playcalling "prowess"?
Calamari41
41 > 38
Sark actually handed off the play calling duties to Helton this season, so it's not necessarily all on him. Now, Sark should have seen what was happening and given different marching orders, but he was very clearly panicked the entire game.
I would guess Sarkesian is still heavily involved in their playcalling philosophy and has a lot of guidance into what Helton will call.
I don't understand how this is on the coaches? Seems like they called the right plays, but the players, specifically the receivers, just didn't execute.
Purple Cheeto
Member
Well Haden is just as likely as to get canned so the new AD will want to bring in his own coach.
Sarkisian was an unpopular hire to begin with and between his off the field issues and on the field issues he's done nothing to make people feel better about him.
Calamari41
41 > 38
Top ranked recruits regressing in skill, is the angle that I was going for. The practice field is where your players learn to execute reliably. You can see it across all facets of the team... it's the same issue as the missed tackles and blown coverages. You can't bring in top recruiting classes every year and then turn around and say that the players just aren't good enough.
The natural conclusion to your argument is that the players have no responsibility for their play, it's always on the coaches, which I just don't buy. The players did everything right on those plays but catch the ball. The receivers ran the right routes. The line and the backs blocked. The qb threw the ball where it needed to be. Seems like everyone executed up to the point where the receiver just didn't catch the ball. When the receiver is in the right spot, the qb has time, and the ball is thrown well, dropping the ball is on the receiver, not the coaches.
Calamari41
41 > 38
FelixOrion
Poet Centuriate
Whoops forgot to pick in time for Thursday's game. Oh well.
Tiebreaker
Washington State v. Oregon - TPS Pick: 72
Thursday
Washington v. USC (-14.5)
Friday
NCSU v. Va Tech (-2.5) COVER
Saturday
Indiana v. Penn State (-3.5) NO COVER
LSU (-20.5) v. USCe COVER
OU (-14.5) v. Texas COVER
Maryland v. OSUn (-23.5) NO COVER
Ga Tech v. Clempson (-7.5) NO COVER
Uconn v. UCF (-3.5) NO COVER
Boise State (-10.5) v. CSU COVER
Miami v. FSU (-10.5) COVER
Tiebreaker
Washington State v. Oregon - TPS Pick: 72
Washington v. USC (-14.5)
Friday
NCSU v. Va Tech (-2.5) COVER
Saturday
Indiana v. Penn State (-3.5) NO COVER
LSU (-20.5) v. USCe COVER
OU (-14.5) v. Texas COVER
Maryland v. OSUn (-23.5) NO COVER
Ga Tech v. Clempson (-7.5) NO COVER
Uconn v. UCF (-3.5) NO COVER
Boise State (-10.5) v. CSU COVER
Miami v. FSU (-10.5) COVER
Fragamemnon
Member
All the talk of dropped balls kinds of misses one of the points of the fourth quarter in that USC game, namely why on earth USC was passing after slashing up the Husky defense hardcore in their TD drive on the ground earlier in the quarter.
The dropped balls were to their backs and their backs were wide open. Those play calls were fine.
PlayALLtheGames
Banned
Ah ok I didn't know his name.
Still, did he give them money when they were searching last time?
timetokill
Banned
There were some bad throws from Kessler, no doubt. But as I said last night, a big part of the problem is that USC was constantly calling 2 receiver pass plays into a 7 man drop. Inevitably nobody would be open and Kessler would either have to try and force a throw (for a pick) or get sacked. With Tuerk injured it only made things worse as he frequently had little time -- but again, the talent is there, so there's no real excuse. You could see by the end of the game that Kessler was scrambling out of the pocket well before it had even begun to collapse. Meanwhile backs are dropping easy passes all over the place. Dude was mad spooked.
Now, a good coach would notice that (a) the pass game is struggling and (b) that the run game is doing well, and lean heavily on the run and massively reduce passing. Instead, in its final possessions, USC chose to pass exclusively. Then, with clearly no faith in the offense, kick a FG with minutes remaining and only 1 TO despite being down 5 and out of the kicker's range.
If Kessler was crying last night, I would imagine it's because he just lost potential millions from last night's game. He also takes picks very seriously and probably blames himself more than he deserves. If the team wasn't ready (and they clearly weren't) then it's on the coaching staff.
As USC's head coach, Sark has now lost 4 times to unranked, double-digit underdogs.
Calamari41
41 > 38
I honestly couldn't comprehend what was happening. It made more sense to me that it was a fake than an earnest field goal attempt.
Calamari41
41 > 38
Aside from all of the good discussion that took place after my initial comment, this was what I was trying to get at by bringing it up in conjunction with the presence of Elway and the scouts. He blames himself, and I'm sure he knew who was watching. And again, while Kessler didn't have a good game, there were a million other factors holding his performance down that were beyond his control.
Kessler has enough tape and has had enough great performances to where a bad game like this won't cripple his career, but it's still not a good thing to have happened to him, and I can understand his emotion.
(Oops, I meant to edit this into my last post. Sorry for the DP)
Purple Cheeto
Member
So I wasn't watching the game, I was driving, but I had it on the radio and USC's color guy kept mentioning how UW was playing a LOT of cover 2 something most other school's hadn't done against USC and they were dropping a lot of guys back in coverage. He kept saying over and over that they should run the ball until UW stopped playing 2 deep.
Obviously color guys are a mixed bag in terms of analysis skills but it seems like what he was saying goes along with what you were saying and Sark never adjusted. USC's play by play guy kept going on about how vanilla and obvious the offense was, and I mean if you're so obvious that the Play By Play guy can pick it out then the other team is probably even better off.
As soon as they came out to attempt that I knew the game was over. They weren't moving the ball well enough or stopping UW quick enough to think they'd have time to kick another FG, and the kick was outside the comfortable range of most college kickers.
Then again Kessler's sack on the play before was awful as shit. For a supposedly smart QB and pre-season Heisman hopeful that sack was inexcusable.
Also I don't think Kessler was ever gonna be a high draft pick NFL QB. He's exactly the same kind of physical specimen that a lot of other QBs who succeed in pro-style offenses at the college level are. Intelligent, decent but not amazing arm strength, barely above statuesque in mobility, succeeds because of the talent around him. He's a less successful Greg McElroy.
Purple Cheeto
Member
"Well at least Jim Mora didn't lose to UW"
timetokill
Banned
I was going to make a Neuheisel joke but decided it would be in poor taste.