Tag: usc trojans football

USC-Alabama: Roll Tide Wire Q and A with Josh Webb of Trojans Wire

More on USC-Bama

This story originally appeared at Roll Tide Wire, where editor Clint Lamb asked our staff writer, Josh Webb, for a USC perspective on the canceled game between the Trojans and Alabama.

Last week, Josh had asked Clint for an Alabama-centric view of the cancellation.

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Q and A: Josh Webb of Trojans Wire on USC-Alabama cancellation

By Clint Lamb

Editor, Roll Tide Wire

The Pac-12 has already announced that it would be moving to a conference-only schedule as response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which means that Alabama will not be playing USC to open the 2020 season.

It was an unfortunate development considering the excitement surrounding two blue blood college football programs, who are both expected to be top 20 teams, going at it to kick things off, but life goes on.

With that said, Josh Webb with Trojans Wire, one of our college wire partner sites, gave us a little of his time to talk about the cancellation of that USC-Alabama game.

1. How is the cancellation of the Alabama game being received with USC fans?

To be honest, fans are somewhat relieved. Aside from the fact that these games should’ve never been played at AT&T Stadium, the way the Coronavirus is trending means that the Trojans might likely have been a little unprepared as they fought to get ready before the game. In other words, the prep time might not have been what USC would’ve liked heading into a game against the Crimson Tide. Then you factor in the last time they played and how that all went down, and it wasn’t really the worst cancellation from this side of the globe.

2. Did Trojan fans have more confidence this time around knowing the quarterback play would be improved?

Uh, no. If we’re being honest, I’m not sure how improved that play was going to be. While Kedon Slovis is much better than Max Browne, who peaked in high school, it’s hard to tell how good the quarterback play would be after trying to fend off the Alabama Crimson Tide defensive line all day. The offensive line is still a work in progress, as are the running backs. It’s a tough thing to play Alabama at any time, but having to play them the first game of the season doesn’t seem to favor the Trojans either.

3. How will the loss of this game affect the Trojans financially, if at all?

Probably won’t affect their bottom line too much. USC is an incredibly well-funded school, way more funded than Alabama across the board. The Endowment at USC is $5.7B compared to Alabama $1.5B and athletic boosters are just as generous as Bama’s boosters, who definitely more than help to make up some of the endowment difference. In this case, USC is the richer school and it likely hurts “Bama more than it hurts USC. But this is honestly a scenario where neither school are going to take much of a hit.

4. How badly do you think conference-only scheduling will have an impact on the way we process the postseason?

I gotta be honest, I have no idea how the postseason is going to work. We have some conferences using conference-only scheduling. There has been talk of conference plus one with the SEC and ACC, meaning they will play one team outside their conference. College football already has a problem with trying to avoid the perception of bias during the postseason award of games.I don’t see how they avoid it when leagues are conference-only scheduling or using the plus one model. I think it’s going to be a really hard conversation that we really should be having before trying to play a season, but nobody seems to be having it. Everyone is using the “let’s see what happens” approach and there’s no way to know how that’s going to work. It’s too ad hoc.

5. How do you think it would’ve been received by USC fans had Bryce Young been somehow named the starter?

Maybe three people would’ve cared. Bryce Young is a talent, but USC is more than happy with Kedon Slovis, who trained under Kurt Warner for his high school ball. Kurt Warner couldn’t say enough things about Kedon, and he’s been right. The kid was better than J.T. Daniels and it did not even take a competition to prove it. Once Daniels went down with his injury, it just became obvious that Slovis was the better quarterback and there was no way Daniels could get the job back. If they weren’t gonna worry about losing J.T. Daniels, they aren’t going to care about Young for Alabama. It’s very “next man up” at USC, especially when that next dude up is a legit baller, as they tend to be at both of these schools.

REPORT: Alabama is considering replacing USC with BYU in Week 1

Important news

The news hit the wires on Saturday that Alabama is strongly considering Brigham Young as a replacement opponent for USC in Week 1.

The importance of this story is not that USC is specifically being replaced. The importance of the story — similar to what we told you about TCU reportedly discussing replacements for the California Golden Bears in Week 1 — is that SEC and Big 12 schools are not yet at a point where they are accepting a reduced schedule for 2020.

This doesn’t mean SEC and Big 12 schools will play 12 games. The coronavirus drives this bus, not college football or any of its conferences or schools. Yet, the obvious importance attached to Alabama’s desire to find a Week 1 opponent is that while the Big Ten and Pac-12 have already accepted a reduced schedule (the Pac-12 hasn’t yet announced its specific scheduling plan, but a conference-only schedule puts a cap at 11 games, less than the full 12-game slate), the SEC and Big 12 show clear signs of wanting to play as many games as possible. If Alabama and TCU are both trying to fill a Week 1 nonconference gap in their respective schedules, that points to a desire to play 12 games.

How long is this dance going to continue? How long will this uncertainty about the 2020 schedule persist? Those are good questions.

Thankfully, the answer is that this coming week is the last week in which we will live with these particular voids and vacuums.

Remember: If six weeks is the widely accepted timetable for college football teams to get ready for the start of the regular season, any team trying to play a game on Sept. 5 must start that six-week preparation period this coming Saturday, July 25.

The Big Ten and Pac-12, by reducing their seasons in length, don’t have to meet this commitment. They can therefore unveil their schedules after July 25.

The Big 12 and SEC, along with the ACC, haven’t said anything yet.

They will need to say something by the end of this week.

The next four or five days might be boring in college football, but the political and logistical pressure on schools and conferences will definitely increase next week. Things are going to get very interesting (though not necessarily in a good way or for happy and positive reasons).

USC playing UCLA twice? It’s not ridiculous in a pandemic

Stop. It’s not insane to do this.

If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times: Normal solutions don’t apply to a pandemic and this very weird, unsettled, scary time we live in. Ideas which would be crazy in normal periods shouldn’t be considered ridiculous in these adjusted circumstances.

The Pac-12 has already moved to a conference-only football game schedule for 2020, but it hasn’t yet announced the details of its plan.

A story on Sunday from the Casper (Wyoming) Star-Tribune underscores the point that creative options exist for filling out a conference schedule.

Davis Potter reported on Wyoming’s uncertainties, and what the school’s athletic director, Tom Burman, is considering while he waits for the Big 12, SEC, and ACC to reveal their scheduling plans for the fall.

One option on the table for Wyoming is playing foremost rival Colorado State twice.

If you can’t play a full 12-game season, and if you can’t have teams outside your conference on the slate, why the hell NOT play your rival twice to spice things up and generate more local interest in the program?

Keep in mind that while we won’t see anything close to full stadium capacity at games this fall — 30 percent capacity would seem to be at the HIGH end of possibilities at this point; that would rate as a real achievement, while 20 percent seems like a more likely figure — getting 30 percent of fans into a stadium rates as a lot better than having no fans at all.

Rivalry games being played twice — as opposed to filling an open date with an FCS school — makes sense in terms of attracting fans to a stadium, even in reduced numbers.

Moreover, the genius of a two-rivalry-game plan is that fans who couldn’t attend the first of the two games could attend the second one. Think of this as USC and UCLA playing eight quarters in front of 38,000 people — 18,000 in one four-quarter game at the Coliseum and 20,000 in the other four-quarter game at the Rose Bowl.

It sounds stupid in normal times… but again, these times aren’t normal.

If the Pac-12 wants a 10-game conference-only game schedule — the regular nine games plus one add-on — would it be better for USC to play Washington State or Oregon State, the two teams currently not scheduled to face the Trojans in 2020, OR…

would it be better for USC to simply circle back and play UCLA a second time?

I know which option most USC fans would choose.

Q & A: Clint Lamb of Roll Tide Wire on USC-Alabama cancellation

USC-Alabama won’t happen. Let’s talk about it.

With the Pac-12 moving to a conference-only schedule, the USC Trojans will not be playing the Alabama Crimson Tide at AT&T Stadium on September 5. The last time the two teams met, USC was blown out of the water by a score of 52-6. The game eventually led to Sam Darnold taking over the reins of the team. Jalen Hurts’ Alabama career began in that game.

To talk about this huge change to the 2020 schedule, Trojans Wire reached out to Clint Lamb, editor of Roll Tide Wire, one of our college wire partner sites under the USA TODAY banner.

1. How is the cancellation of the USC game being received in Alabama?

A lot of Alabama fans were excited about the opportunity to play what is expected to be a really good USC team. With the tradition and current talent levels of both programs, the game was seen as one of the best opening-week matchups in college football, and there are a lot of fans who were disappointed with the Pac-12 decision.

That especially holds true if the rest of the schedule remains intact and Alabama replaces the Trojans with TCU. That game still provides some level of excitement for fans, but it’s not USC.

2. USC fans feel like they dodged a bullet. I imagine Bama fans do not feel like that, so what are they feeling?

There are a lot of Alabama fans who are anxious to see where the defense is at after the struggles last season. The return of key players such as Dylan Moses and LaBryan Ray helps, but most of the exterior pass rush production is gone from last season (Anfernee Jennings and Terrell Lewis) and the secondary is replacing four out of five starters.

Going against a formidable USC offense, including quarterback Kedon Slovis and a talented group of receivers, was going to be an excellent opportunity to see where Pete Golding’s defense was at heading into Year 2 of being the full-time defensive coordinator. It’s disappointed that we won’t get to see that happen.

3. How will the loss of this game affect the Tide financially, if at all?  

That’s a great question. As of right now, it’s tough to know how losing the USC game will financially impact Alabama, especially considering that Greg Sankey and the other SEC decision-makers are trying to replace it with another respected, Power Five opponent. I’m sure there will be financially implications here, but like I said, it’s hard to know exactly what those will be without knowing where the Tide goes from here.

4. How badly do you think conference-only scheduling will have an impact on the way we process the postseason?

With where the SEC, Big 12 and ACC are at currently, it’s hard to tell if the conference-only scheduling will be consistent across the board. If it isn’t, that will make things extremely interesting because comparisons could only be made between three of the five Power Five conferences. How does that affect things?

For example, what if there’s an undefeated SEC and ACC team, but the Big 12 champion has one loss. Then you have undefeated Pac-12 and Big Ten champs, but they’ve each only gone 11-0 (assuming conference championships are played) instead of 12-1 like the Big 12 champion. Do you punish that Big 12 champion for playing two more games?

With all that being said, I still believe we end up at a 10-game schedule across the board, and it could very well be a conference-only schedule like you mention. So, what does that look like?

Well, it will be extremely difficult for the College Football Playoff committee to make comparisons between conferences. I think it completely wipes out the chance of one conference, such as the SEC, from getting two teams into a four-team Playoff. Prior beliefs on conference strength from past seasons will almost certainly come into play, as unfortunate as that is to say.

5. Let’s be honest: How excited were Bama fans to face this team again after they destroyed their morale and soul the last time?

I do believe there was a lot of confidence among the Alabama fan base after the result from 2016, but at the same time, there’s no denying that USC would’ve been much better prepared this time around. What makes things interesting is the similarity between the quarterback battles going on in both seasons.

The Tide was looking to replace national championship winner Jake Coker in 2016 with either Blake Barnett, Cooper Bateman or Jalen Hurts, and they ultimately settled in on the talented true freshman in Hurts. This year could provide a similar result, although I doubt it.

Mac Jones at least has multiple starts under his belt, including a road game against Auburn in the Iron Bowl and a bowl game victory against Michigan. With the pandemic limiting the preparation time table, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the freshman phenom like Bryce Young is named the starter out of the gate.

As confident as Alabama fans might’ve been heading into this game, there is still a ton of respect to be had for Clay Helton’s program. And one key difference between the 2016 squad and the group in 2020 would’ve been the expected quarterback play. Sam Darnold didn’t take over as the starter until after that opening game, and seeing how he performed has to make people wonder if the score would’ve been closer had he been “the guy” out the gate (Max Browne just wasn’t it).

Getting quality play with Slovis from the most important position on the field could’ve been a major difference this time around.

3 USC Trojans named to Bednarik Award watch list

Three USC Trojans defensive players, Jay Tufele, Drake Jackson and Talanoa Hufanga, were named to the Bednarik Award watch list.

In case you were worried attention was only being paid to USC’s offensive players during the preseason award campaign, never fear – three Trojans defensive players; defensive tackle Jay Tufele, defensive tackle Drake Jackson and safety Talanoa Hufanga, were all named to the Bednarik Award watch list – given to the nation’s top defensive player.

Jackson is entering his sophomore season after making the freshman All-American team last year, when he racked up 46 tackles, 11.5 for loss, and 5.5 sacks.

Hufanga was on the All-PAC-12 second team last year after recording 90 tackles, second on the team, along with 7.5 tackles for loss.

Tufele is likely the best bet, as he is cropping up on a handful of first round mock drafts this offseason – with many expecting a breakout campaign in 2020. He was a PAC-12 first teamer in 2019 when he racked up 41 tackles, including 6.5 for a loss and 3.5 sacks.

USC has had one Bednarik Award winner, linebacker Rey Maualuga, who won the award back in 2008.

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Q and A with Nick Shepkowski of Fighting Irish Wire

The Notre Dame situation

With the Pac-12 moving to a conference-only schedule, the Trojans will not be playing the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the first time since 1945. They didn’t play in ’45 because of World War II. In fact, the Trojans didn’t play the Irish from 1943-45. That was the last time the two teams did not meet in the regular season. To talk about this psychic blow, and this unwelcome void on the 2020 schedule, Trojans Wire reached out to Nick Shepkowski, editor of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Wire site.

1. How is the cancellation of the USC game being received in South Bend?

Disappointment but understandable. Not only will it be strange to not have USC (or Stanford for that matter – played every year since 1997) on the schedule, what’s even odd is the Irish will be playing what could very likely be an entire ACC schedule despite remaining independent.

2. USC fans have been saddened by the loss of a key rival game. What’s the general feeling by the fans and players about not playing this game for the first time since 1945?

Disappointment. There might not be any love loss between the two programs, but historically speaking the two are as dependent on each other as any rivals in college football are. Without the long history with each other the past of both programs struggle to reach the blue blood caliber both are in. Midwestern and Southern California people might not see eye to eye on much, but I’m fairly sure I speak for both parties when I say that missing out on this rivalry for a year just sucks.

3. How will the loss of this game affect the Irish in their bid for a postseason shot, if at all?

If anything it helps. USC was supposed to be better this year — yeah, we’ve heard that before — but that was probably Notre Dame’s third toughest game in 2020 behind Clemson and Wisconsin. Even in recent undefeated seasons (‘12, ‘18) that trip to LA on Thanksgiving weekend has brought a couple real scares against some pretty formidable USC squads.

4. How badly do you think conference-only scheduling will have an impact on the way we process the postseason as a whole?

No way to judge conference superiority if all they do is play themselves. I think this year especially you have to expand the playoff and have every conference champion in because there is simply no way to actually tell the strength of any conference if no OOC games are played nationwide.

5. Let’s be honest: How excited were Irish fans to play Clay Helton one more time?

It’s nice to finally know what it was like when USC got to take advantage of playing Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis all those years. Y’all miss Coach O yet? Whoops.

USC long snapper Damon Johnson named preseason All-American

Damon Johnson is entering his fourth season at USC, and has a chance to be an All-American during the 2020 season.

USC long snapper Damon Johnson was among the nine Trojans selected by Phil Steele to be All-PAC-12 first teamers in 2020.

However, Steele predicted even more for Johnson, naming him a preseason First-Team All-American.

There’s definitely a precedent for Johnson’s success as he enters his fourth and final season wearing the crimson and gold.

Johnson was named an All-American honorable mention and All-PAC-12 first teamer last year, also by Phil Steele.

Johnson originally came to USC in 2017 after spending one year at Citrus Junior College in Glendora, California – where he did not play football.

He started for the Trojans right away in 2017, and has been the team’s consistent long snapper ever since.

While long snappers almost never get selected in the NFL draft, Johnson will almost certainly get picked up as an undrafted free agent if he fulfills Steele’s prediction this year and earns an All-American nod.

Even another PAC-12 first team will likely be enough for NFL team’s to take notice, although teams rarely carry a backup – so he will have to prove he is among the 32 best long snappers in the game if he wants to have a career in the NFL.

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The Changing Landscape of Football Recruiting at Junior Colleges

JUCOs in focus

College recruiting has always been a changing landscape. As technology and coverage have changed, recruiting has improved throughout its evolution, as has the way college recruiters get in contact with recruits and their parents. It’s a way for the colleges to improve their communication in an effort to land highest-ranked recruits in the nation at a time in which recruits are more essential to a program’s future than ever before. 

In our previous column on Trojans Wire, we explored the recruiting landscape at the high school level. Now it’s time to focus on the junior college recruitment process. As was mentioned in the column linked in the previous sentence above, JUCOs have expressed the desire to switch to spring football. How they are going to actually pull that off remains the biggest question of all. While it’s not exactly wise, high school kids are young enough and able enough to potentially play a fall schedule after playing in spring. At the FBS collegiate level, however, that becomes infinity more difficult.   

Kyle Murphy played on the offensive line at Arizona State from 1993-1997. In his opinion, the rigors of the game would prevent people from really being able to give their all to what would amount to two seasons in one year. It also doesn’t account for the injury recovery time window that typically accompanies a fall schedule. Someone injured badly in the spring is now going to have a completely different recovery timetable. 

“The demands required on the body to play collegiate football are extreme,” Murphy said. “Thus, athletes need time to recover from their previous season and prepare their bodies for the upcoming season. Playing in the spring and fall doesn’t afford those athletes that opportunity. They will be more prone to being hurt and/or being injured. What about athletes injured in the spring? Some won’t have the time to properly heal. Player safety is constantly and consistently touted as the most important aspect of the decision making process but I don’t understand how playing in the spring AND fall accomplishes that.”

Of course, none of this accounts for how coaches will evaluate talent at the JUCO level. Are they going to use tape from high school and their collegiate career? Are they going to rely solely on tape? Will they be going to watch these athletes during their own hectic spring schedule? What if colleges do end up playing in the fall? Will they also have to crank up the recruiting right before National Signing Day while using only film? There are so many questions left to be asked. One thing we know for certain is that nothing is certain right now. Whatever ends up happening is surely going to change the way we process the game for good. 

The COVID-19 Landscape of Football Recruiting

Complicated questions

College recruiting has always been a changing landscape. As technology and coverage has changed, it has improved over time, as has the way college recruits get in contact with recruits and their parents. It’s a way for the colleges to improve their communication in an effort to land highest-ranked recruits in the nation at a time when recruits are more essential to a program than ever before. 

Whether public schools open this fall — including, for emphasis in this piece, high schools with college prospects — seems to be an ongoing battle between Donald Trump and the various superintendents of different school districts. Several superintendents have said they do not plan to open this fall. Los Angeles Public Schools will not open this fall, instead opting to maintain their online correspondence courses this fall… and that’s just one district in the country. San Diego opted to do the same.

It’s a touch and go situation, and it seems very “go” right now as opposed to “touch.” It’s not an easy situation to deal and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. What works for one district may not work for another. 

This makes it really hard for college coaches to evaluate high school football players. Lack of competition or limited competition — either one — put coaches in a bind. Plenty of coaches won’t have the full set of evaluation-based tools they usually depend on. They’re going to offer a number of kids based on film and film alone. It wouldn’t be terribly surprising if a number of kids in this class turn out to be busts. Coaches are going to have to spend a good chunk of their time developing these players instead of relying on sheer talent. 

Of course, it won’t just be high school players who are offered scholarships. Junior colleges around the nation have already announced that they will be playing their games in the spring instead of the fall. This gives coaches and players time and space to avoid coronavirus infections, providing them the ability to practice and get into shape prior to engaging in a full season of play. Something that gets lost in these discussions is that players need that time to get into football shape. You can’t just slap a season together and expect folks to be ready to go simply because administrators will it to be so. We will be exploring the JUCO recruiting puzzle — and its specific challenges — in another article.

Twitter reacts as NCAA rules USC transfer JT Daniels to be immediately eligible

Quarterback J.T. Daniels, who recently transferred to the University of Georgia, has been granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA.

Ex-USC quarterback J.T. Daniels, who recently transferred to the University of Georgia, has been granted immediate eligibility for this season from the NCAA.

The former Trojan is a five-star from Santa Ana, California. He was ranked as the No. 3-rated quarterback in his loaded recruiting class.

In 2018, Daniels threw for 2,672 yards with 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions for USC. Unfortunately, he suffered a knee injury last season. Kedon Slovis was great in his time as the starter in 2019 and was strongly favored to win the starting job entering the 2020 season.

Wake Forest transfer Jamie Newman is projected to start for Georgia next season, but Daniels will compete provide solid depth and talent. Georgia has received a commitment from five-star quarterback Brock Vandagriff in the class of 2021.

Here’s how college football Twitter reacted to the news of Daniels’ eligibility:

https://twitter.com/TreyWallace_/status/1282720128262639616?s=20

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