Game Day Notes & Observations: USC 56, Stanford 10

On September 9, 2023, the Trojans sent a message to the Cardinal with its dominating 56-10 win. USC’s message was loud and clear; you know where to find us if you ever want to play again.

USC and Stanford are currently the two private institutions that play for the Pac-12 Conference, and they’ve been playing against each other the longest dating back to 1905. But now they’ll go their separate ways as USC will join the B1G Conference in 2024, and Stanford becomes a member of the ACC.

For the time being USC and Stanford’s Rivalry is taking a sebatical while they explore their destinations, and the Cardinal might want to take their time asking for a rematch.

**If the two program ever do decide to renew their rivalry, I would like the game to be scheduled on my birthday again, 9/9. The Trojans tend to play well on that date. And maybe it will lead to another Pac-12 Championship too!

**During pregame warmups when both teams are having players sporadically coming out to check the field conditions, I see Calen Bullock and Raesjon Davis saying hi to Trojan-for-Life Viane Talamaivo who is Stanford’s Offensive Line coach. At the same time Taylor Mays and Vavae Malepeai are talking old times near midfield.

**USC freshman punter/kicker Tyler Robles has the best cleats on the team, or at least they stand out the best. One is orange the other is yellow.

**Could mean nothing, however, I did not see Eric Gentry do the team walk and at 6:00 PM he still hasn’t done his pregame walk-the-field routine. He’s usually one of the first Trojans to survey the field.

**It meant nothing.–Gentry was suited up and ready to play. Mason Cobb on the other hand was not playing for the 2nd consecutive game with an unknown injury.

**The Victory Bell is loud when the Trojan Knights bring out from the tunnel making it’s way to the student section. And it can actually be heard over DJ Malski’s music. Maybe someone heard about all of the complaints because the music was turned way down compared to the previous two weeks.

**Forget everything I just said. The Spirit of Troy is marching out of the tunnel and there is a Wells Fargo Bank commercial on the big screen that is loud enough to wake the dead.

**I’m scoreboard watching waiting for the game to start and the only team with a worse QB situation than Nebraska, is Alabama. They’re down 13-9 late in the 3rd quarter to Texas in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide would end up losing at home to Team Sark.

**Amon-Ra St. Brown is on the Trojans pregame radio show with Max Browne, Su’a Cravens, Shaun Cody, and host Jordan Moore. St. Brown said he loves watching this Trojans’ offense and “USC is WRU.”

*Gino Quinones is on the sideline leaning on a crutch while talking with former Trojans running back Samuel Oram-Jones. I saw Gino after the game walking up the tunnel and asked him where his scooter was. He said he’d rather walk with his team after a win. His surgery is scheduled in a couple of weeks.

**I’m not sure where the Stanford kicker’s range ends but I just watched Josh Karty drill like 7 48-yarders in a row with plenty of room to spare. The Trojans defense only allowed 10 points for the game, and Karty’s 38-yard FG was all the Cardinal scored in the 1st half.

**The team of kids from El Segundo who won the Littel League World Series are on the field watching USC warm up which also means they’ll be honored at some point during the game. I think I heard USC’s very own Pete Arbogast say he is from El Segundo.

**I wonder how long Lincoln Riley is going to settle for USC fans being fashionably late to their seats? In Oklahoma, their stadium is full an hour ahead of kickoff while the Sooners go through their warmups.

**Sometimes it’s hard to tell if there are more fans on the field during pregame than there are in the stands. Right before the Lincoln Riley gets ready to bring his team on the field he’s asked by USC Victory Podcast Host, Keely Eure, Coach Riley’s thoughts on the crowd size, Riley said, “We need a home field advantage!”

**There is something special about playing football under the lights inside the Coliseum. And despite the late start, I love seeing the LA Skyline in the background lit up.

**The National Anthem just finished. I heard the flyover but the stealth fighters were hard to see in the dark. The Trojans synchronized phone light show was, meh. Not enough people participated because they were still finding their seats.

**Maybe next time the fans will arrive sooner because they might only see Caleb play a half of football. I’m not joking, I had someone send me a text saying he was leaving the game if Williams wasn’t playing in the 2nd half. I think the 49-3 score had more to do with it though.

**Hello Stanford! The Cardinal wearing their all-whites arrive to a chorus of boos. I’m okay with this. They’re not Nevada and there is some history here.

**USC won the coin toss and they elected to take the ball. Team Captain Caleb Williams stayed on the sideline loosening up with Brenden Rice. Mason Cobb wasn’t out there either, so Amon-Ra joined Justin Dedich, Shane Lee, and Jonah Monheim.

**1ST QUARTER

**There will be zero kickoff returns by USC tonight. Josh Karty has a cannon for a leg, and he only had three kickoff attempts

**Okay, so USC just ran its 4th play of the game and they haven’t scored yet. Although they’re easily moving the ball down field and the offense’s tempo would make Chip Kelly jealous. It’s like they were going at warp speed.

**On the 8th play of the opening drive Caleb Williams kept the ball and took off for a 21-yard TD run. It took USC 3:01 to go 75 yards. And if your name is Zahran Manley, and you play CB for Stanford, you just got bullied by Caleb Williams who lowered his shoulder and pushed the defender 3-yards deep into his own red zone.

**After the game Rice spoke about Caleb’s TD run that he was blocking downfield for, and he also discussed their 75-yard TD connection.

**Trojans senior safety Max Williams should have had the pick-6. He’ll have to be satisfied with just getting the interception.

**Both of his teammates, Jaylin Smith and Raesjon Davis were excited because they were called for celebrating too much. So instead of USC taking over at the Stanford 4-yard line, the Trojans will begin inside the La Victoria Red Zone at the 19-yard yard line.

**The penalty did not hurt because 3 plays later MarShawn Lloyd waltzed in for a TD on a well-executed RPO. Caleb held the ball till the last second, and Cardinal defender David Bailey guessed wrong.

**Trojans now lead 14-0 with 9:05 to play in the 1st quarter.

****Let’s give credit where credit is due to Alex Grinch and his defense.

**When Stanford needed to convert a long 3rd down which was frequent, they tried to go to their Sr. TE Benjamin Yourasek, who had a big game against USC last season. This season Raesjon Davis and the Trojan defense was there for the tackle. The defense is much more aggressive and jumping the TE route on 3rd downs. Yourasek finished with just 4 catches and 54 yards while being targeted nine times for the game.

**Stanford just punted to Zachariah Branch who almost got loose. You’d think that they would not try that again, right?–Stay tuned!

**It feels like FOX TV getting all of their commercials out of the way early because this is their 4th TV timeout of the quarter and there is still 6:35 left to go.

**If it weren’t for their three penalties totaling 37 yards, the Trojans would have played a perfect 1st quarter.

**One of the holding penalties took a MarShawn Lloyd TD off the scoreboard when Michael Jackson would get flagged. The flag was a speed bump because they eventually punched in the score when Austin Jones took it in from the 1-yard line.

**USC leads 21-0 and it is a complete domination!

2ND QUARTER

**Solomon Byrd just forced a fumble and sacked the QB. The play also forced Stanford to bring in their backup QB when Ashton Daniels’s arm is slow to get up.

**On the very next play the Trojans defense finished that series with a TFL by Byrd on the RB. That’s two solid performances in a row by the defensive end who has taken ownership of the starters role.

**Not to steal a catchy marketing slogam from In-n-Out Burgers, But 3 and out is what the USC defense is all about. It’s still the in the first half of the game, but this is not the Alex Grinch defense you’ve come to grin and bare. It looks like a Pete Carroll defense!

**Stanford just learned the hard way. Do not outkick your coverage or Branch will return a punt 75 yards for a TD giving USC a 28-0 leads with 13:43 left to play in the half.

**I’m starting to feel good about the Trojans covering the 29-point spread by halftime.

**I think Eddie Czaplicki’s 60-yard kickoff was good because it split the uprights. The Trojans kicked off from the 50-yard line when Stanford was called for a penalty on Branch’s return. One of the Cradinal players lost his helmet during the play and that’s a no-no.

**The Trojans’Rush End spot is doing what everyone wanted to see last year from the position. Jamil Muhammad just got another sack and forced a fumble. Tackett Curtis was Destroyer on the spot collecting USC’s 3rd turnover.

**It looked like the Cardinal were about to score a 1st half TD, but the defense flexed forcing a Karty’s only FG.

**So much for the new clock rules! The 1st half is taking a long time because USC is scoring every time they touch the ball and that means another timeout!

**I think the FG allowed upset Lincoln Riley because on USC’s 1st play, Williams threw a perfect pass to Rice for a 75-yard TD making the score 42-3, with 6 minutes to play.

**It’s not a perfect 1st half, but they were pretty darn close. Save for the 7 penalties, and the Cardinal’s 98 yards rushing, everything and everyone should be all smiles. And that Includes NFL All Pro Tyreek Hill who is enjoying the Trojans offense watching Caleb and Zach do what they want, how they want, and when they want.

**USC has a 49-3 lead at halftime and I don’t feel bad for the Stanford Cardinal. Although I feel some sympathy for Vaine and Vavae who have another half of football to deal with. But at least they’ll get the ball to start the 2nd half.

3RD QUARTER

**The 2nd half starts the same way as the first 1st quarter for Stanford’s offense.

**Miller Moss starts the 3rd quarter at QB and so does the 2nd team offensive line. I would have liked to see the No. 1 Oline stay out there for another series or two.

**The 2nd string defense with Calen Bullock at safety breaks up the Cardinal 4th down TD attempt from the USC 4-yard line. What makes this a significant defensive stop, is the Cardinal had 2nd and goal at USC’s 1-yard line before the Cardinal tooka 5-yard penalty. Trojans still lead 49-3 with 6:57 to play in the 3rd.

**Talk about irony! The one time P12 refs get a call right that benefits USC is when they pick up the flag for an illegal procedure on USC from their own 4-yard line. The play was nullified because The DJ’s music was still playing during an unnecessary marketing campaign for a local rap artist. No type of artificial noise like music or a band playing is allowed when the ball is snapped.

**I know a way they can make sure this doesn’t happen again. Instead of commercials and marketing campaigns during timeouts, le the Spirit of Troy plsy more often!

**Mario Williams is having one of his inconsistent games dropping the easy pass while trying to make a move before catching the ball. And it’s probably why he’s in the game with the backup WRs including the trio of freshmen.

**Miller Moss just showed off his NFL arm with a 15-yard pass to Duce Robinson. The throw was impressive because it was from the far hashmark to the USC sideline with the ball was in the air for more than 15 yards!

**I can’t believe USC was held scoreless in the 3rd qtr. and I’m not a fan of their new tradition of doing the YMCA sing-along to end the 3rd.

4TH QUARTER

** There’s not many times I disagree with Lincoln Riley and his play decision-making. However at the start of the fourth quarter, why not go for it on 4th and 2 near midfield. Call a run play, and if the offense doesn’t convert, then you’re showing more confidence with the defense that has performed pretty well despite the penalties.

**Maybe a growth moment for Korey Foreman who was lit up on a 3rd down and 1. During the same series on the next 3rd down, Foreman beat the offensive tackle forcing a holding penalty.

**I had a final score of 59-27 going into the game, and the defense is making me look bad. But I’m totally okay with this result because giving up only 10 points is better than acceptable!

**Although, the Trojans offense has been outscored 7-0 since Moss took over at QB, and I would like to see 56 points. Miller is playing behind the 2nd and 3rd string Oline guys and they’re not having a good game.

**And then Miller did his Caleb TD run imitation with a tough run of his own to get to 56 points!

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