IMHO Sunday: USC exhibition season has begun
In my humble opinion from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum press box, cardinal and gold thoughts on what I saw, what I heard, and what I thought after No. 6 USC’s 56-28 tale of two halves victory over the San Jose Spartans on Saturday night.
Nobody asked me, but…
Did you like what you saw on an early Saturday evening? In the first half, I didn’t. I really didn’t. In the second half, the Trojans, or should I say spectacular freshman Zachariah Branch, calmed me down considerably. The kid from Las Vegas is what a 5-star recruit is supposed to look like. SC’s and L.A.’s next superstar.
Is USC (1-0, 00 Pac-12) really the No. 6 team in the country? It certainly wasn’t in the first half and nobody will convince me of that. That said, the 35-point second half spearheaded by the precious Branch overlooked my extreme trepidation over a defense that looked very much at times like 2022. Folks, this team that has a long way to go, and they’ve got five more “exhibition games to figure it out.
The Trojans, a 30-point favorite, didn’t whack San Jose State around like a sock puppet for four quarters, and at times, you wondered in the first half which team was the puppet? To the Trojans’ defense – or lack of it at too many times – Lincoln Riley played his freshmen from the opening kickoff and it continued throughout the game, but the freshmen really shined. The transfers had some learning curves in Alex Grinch’s system, which will be questioned this week.
Well, if you enjoyed watching the Trojans’ first exhibition game of the season against San Jose State, then you must be giddy with anticipation for next week’s second Coli exhibition opponent, the lowly Nevada Wolfpack, currently riding a 10-game losing streak…
Offensively speaking, in honor of WeAreSC’s late Steve “Bish/Stevie” Bisheff, Lincoln Riley’s offense couldn’t get untracked in the first half despite scoring 21 points. Caleb Williams didn’t look like himself and admitted afterward he was frustrated, and San Jose State did a good job of controlling the ball in the first couple of quarters to keep the ball away from the vaunted USC offense. Williams obviously played much better in the second half.
Throughout the game the Trojans substituted their offensive linemen liberally. It should be noted that true freshman Alani Noa from Sacramento started and played well at times and other times it looked inconsistent. On a really positive note, the Trojans’ running backs looked good, all of them.
USC quarterback Caleb Williams delivers a pass against the San Jose State Spartans.
( Photo above by acscottphotography/WeAreSC)
Defensively speaking, in honor of WeAreSC’s late columnist and captain of the 1975 Trojans, Kevin Bruce, El Capitan would have been disgusted with the first half of the USC defense. I can hear him screaming from the heavens about the lack of discipline, tackling, and especially the containment of San Jose quarterback Chevan Cordeiro. I would imagine he wouldn’t have been too pleased with Alex Ginch to be honest. Kevin would have been impressed with rush end Anthony Lucas, inside linebacker Mason Cobb, defensive tackle Stanley Ta’ufo’ou, and true freshmen linebacker Tackett Curtis. And let’s not forget the impressive play of true freshman D-lineman Elijah Hughes from Virginia. The Trojans’ secondary, uh, needs work.
Special teams speaking, there is Zachariah Branch and then there is Zachariah Branch. After Saturday night, “Ease” will be compared to Reggie Bush and Lynn Swann, he is an incredible talent, the nephew of the late great Cliff Branch of the Oakland Raiders. He is a home run waiting to happen EVERY TIME he touches the ball.
USC wide receiver Zachariah Branch escapes a San Jose State defender to score his first career touchdown for the Trojans
(Photo above by acscottphotography/WeAreSC)
So, what will be the first game when the Trojans actually draw over 70,000 fans? If you said Utah, you are obviously correct, and that one will definitely be a sellout if Troy can return home from Notre Dame with victory. As for Saturday night, it wasn’t a bad turnout, but was it really over 60,000 fans?…
You know it’s USC football season when the Trojans Marching Band enters the Coli for the first time in the Coli and cranks up Tribute to Troy while the Trojans are warming up…
The USC Band takes the field in pregame to the San Jose State game on Saturday.
(Photo above by Greg Katz/WeAreSC.com)
It still gets the blood flowing when I hear USC fans chanting “We Are… SC”, “We are…SC”, “We are…SC” even if it’s against a San Jose State…
You must have noticed at some point when you entered the Coli or were watching on TV the new and larger Heisman Trophy jersey numbers dispalyed in the peristyle end of the Coli. They were a nice addition…
You may have also noticed that there was a large section to the right of the peristyle steps with no jerseys but a large USC helmet. There is enough space there in the future that it could be used for at least two more jerseys. Obviously, one will be for Caleb Williams, and the other presumably for Reggie Bush…
Before it was covered with a USC helmet banner, this was what the peristyle end of the Coliseum looked like.
I don’t see why a Caleb No. 13 jersey can’t go up right now in the peristyle. He won the award last season, and he should have that jersey up right here and right now. Sure, he might win another Heisman, but there is no guarantee, so recognize last season’s award now…
I know what you were wishful thinking when you walked into the Coli on Saturday, USC might unveil a new large No. 5 jersey in the peristyle end of the Coli to honor Reggie Bush winning the Heisman Trophy…
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Let’s go to the highlights…
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The post-game show…
(Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/Getty Images)
It’s the series: USC now leads its series with San Jose State 6-0, but who’s counting?
Parking sharks: Across the street from the Coliseum, private parking lots were full giving the appearance of a Coliseum sellout.
Tunnel runner: Leading the Trojans out of the Coliseum tunnel before kickoff was former Trojans’ corner and Super Bowl champion Terrell Thomas (2004-07), the pride of local Rancho Cucamonga. So much for new USC athletic director “Sideline Jen” Cohen doing the honors as the tunnel runner.
Pass the sunscreen or an overcoat: Temperature at kickoff was degrees, but the dysfunctional temperature clock in the peristyle end had the temperature as 57 degrees.
The turnstile: The announced Coliseum attendance on Saturday was 63,411, but there was no way that many fans were in the Coli.
The over 60,000 fans were fired up when the Trojans took the field.
(Photo above by Greg Katz/WeAreSC.com)
Flag masters: Officials for Saturday’s game were from the Pac-12 Conference.
Feeling a draft: NFL representatives in attendance on Saturday night to do some scouting included Arizona, San Francisco, Denver, Green Bay, Miami, and New England.
Going bowling: Bowl representatives in attendance included the Hula and Senior Bowls.
Chow down: The 5-star Coli pregame media meal in the press box consisted of chicken and rice and did not get good reviews. A major problem, however, was a large portion of the media did not get fed due to “hoarding” of the meals earlier in the day.
Inside the Trojans’ Huddle A reminder: this Tuesday, WeAreSC panelists Marc Kulkin, Chris Arledge, Erik McKinney, and your humble columnist review Saturday’s San Jose State game and preview next week’s opponent, the Nevada Wolfpack, in addition to topics both current to USC and college football.
Nailed it: Caleb Williams is a featured player in the new Dr. Pepper Fansville ads this season along with his mother. In a sneak preview, Caleb makes a non-verbal reference to his famous “nail art.”
USC All-America QB Caleb Williams showcases his “nail Art” in this 2023 Dr. Pepper Fansville ad.
You’re invited: Mark your calendar because you’re invited to join me and “Dr. Zo” for “Trojan Tuesdays Meet and Greet” on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at the Cabrillo Landing, 291 W. 22nd Street Suite 104, San Pedro, Calif. In a great location with some good eats (complementary food and beverages), we’ll be talking USC football – Q&A and viewpoints and comments – from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. See you there and Fight On!
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Trojans/ San Jose State Quotebook
Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley
USC head coach Lincoln Riley post-game comments: “Good to be 1-0. No matter what the score was tonight, a lot to be excited about, but a lot of work to do. Excited about a lot of the things that I saw out there tonight. Biggest disappointment was the end of the half. The solid punt and then busted coverage there on the last play before half was inexcusable. Finishing in those moments when you’ve played a solid half, and to give a team momentum like that coming in was obviously very disappointing. I like how we responded in the third quarter.
“Got the chance to play a lot of guys tonight, which was a big focus. You saw a lot of lineup changes on both sides, probably as aggressively as we’ve done in a first game. Building for the future in terms of what the guys had done through fall camp it was going to be important to play a lot of guys tonight and we did that. A lot to build on. There’s some big plays on all sides of the ball. Some huge plays on special teams, some great plays on both sides of the ball, but from a consistency standpoint it wasn’t there. Credit to San Jose, it’s a good football team. Went through the whole week and didn’t get asked one question about San Jose in all the media I did, with a returning quarterback that has almost 50 starts and I think the number 11 or 12 returning defensive in the country.
“There was a respect factor for those guys in our locker room. Good football team; coach has done an awesome job with that program. I can’t say enough about him in the way those guys play. So we’re excited to be 1-0. We know we have a lot of work to do, which we knew was going to be the case anyway. And we will get up in the morning and get back to attacking and look forward to being back here in a week.”
Riley on the Trojans run defense: “Yeah, the quarterback’s a good player. We call several things throughout the game; we have a spy on him a lot of times and a couple of times we got lost in there, got a little too aggressive a couple of times and he just flat out outran us. He’s a good player. That part was disappointing. I think the penalties and then the busted coverage before half — those are the things. You take what had the makings of being a good defensive performance, but those are the mistakes you’ve got to correct. Those are the self-inflicted errors, especially the penalties and especially the busted coverage before half. A handful of those drives had no momentum.
“Those penalties came on big plays, and you can’t give a good quarterback like that multiple chances. I liked the way some of the young guys flew around. We had some young guys that made some young-guy mistakes too, which that’s a little bit to be expected. So gotta continue to grow. Excited about where we can be, but we have a lot of work to do.”
Riley on Zachariah Branch: “I haven’t done it much, but once guys play, that’s part of it. It’s not freshmen, it’s not seniors in there, it’s just USC football players. I felt like he earned it, made an impact on offense, made an impact on special teams. I thought he did a good job not trying to do too much which guys in their first game sometimes will do. I thought his patience, especially on the return, you saw a lot of patience there which was key.”
Riley on the shuffling of the offensive line: “A lot of it is for a positive reason. But we’ve got some things to sort out. We think we have multiple guys who are capable of being starters. This will be an interesting film to go back and look at to see how some of those guys did. I thought they settled in as the game went on. We’ve got to find that right combination, which we will. Specifically at the guard positions it’ll be interesting. There’s going to be a lot of competition. Not just that position but a lot of others, and that’s how we want it to be. We don’t want guys feeling comfortable. We want guys pressing knowing that they need to get better for the team and they need to get better to continue to get reps. It’ll be expected of the O-line and every other group.”
San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan post-game comments:
San Jose head coach Brent Brennan
Opening statement: “First off, congratulations to USC and coach Riley’s staff. That’s a really good football team and they did a lot of really good stuff today. Total respect to those guys. We just didn’t make the plays we needed to stay in it and keep it close, and that was disappointing. We had a couple of breakdowns that really hurt us, but that’s football and I think we have a resilient team. We’ve got some really talented kids on this team, really high character guys. I loved how we kept playing and I think there’s going to be some good stuff ahead for this group. So I’m excited about the future. I’m disappointed about today, but that’s football. We didn’t play well enough to win and they did.”
Zachariah Branch on his evening: “It was always a dream for me to be at a prestigious university and be around an elite staff and elite players. So all day you know, they were juicing us up from morning all the way up until the game, and I was just really excited. I mean, our coach- es always told us to just trust our instincts, trust our process and to just go out there and be the best that we can be. So I mean, just to go out there week in and week out, and just try to produce the same amount every week.
“I didn’t really have any expectations. Coach Riley and the rest of the staff just told me to go out there and don’t try to do too much, execute your job and I mean the rest will follow. I was blessed enough to get those opportunities and I just tried to capitalize off of them. My fastest 40 time I ran was a 4.38 at the UA camp, and then my 100 time I ran a 10.3 my sophomore year in high school. I haven’t run it since.”
Caleb Williams on his reflections of the evening: “I feel good. We’re 1-0. Coach said this and you know, walking off the field, there is a bit of frustration that a couple of the coaches or myself or the players that have been here, seeing and knowing how it should go. I’ve been playing ball for a while in college and been in a lot of games and put in a lot of reps.
“In the first half, it just felt like we weren’t hitting on certain calibers and things like that, that we’re going to hit here soon. And I spoke to a bunch of leaders in the game right after Coach took me out and the message was, ‘We got a special team.’ But the second part of the message was, ‘We’ve got a long way to go and a lot to get better at.’ The good part is we’re 1-0, and I feel good going into this next week. Now like Coach said, this is a great team, that prepared well and that went out there and executed, and so did we. And we came out with the win in the end.”
SC linebacker Mason Cobb reflecting on the game: “It is a lot to work on, you know, like you said. But the sky’s the limit. You’ve seen those plays where we’re all on our stuff. So just trying to make sure to limit those mistakes. I think a lot of it was self-inflicted in a lot of plays. We’re right there, just got to finish. But yeah, I would say we got a lot of work to do. A lot of work to do.”
San Jose State defensive lineman Tre Smith regarding Caleb Williams: “Obviously he’s a great player and keeps drives extended, but we really just do our best to treat every player the same. He is very respectable. You really want to treat everyone the same. Obviously it gets a little different there because we know he is a great runner, so we’re doing our best to contain him. Then at the same time, we just have to keep working and keep pursuing the ball, keep going forward.”
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The Stat Sheet…
Tackling the issues: Against San Jose State, safety Jaylin Smith led the Trojans with 8 tackles followed by inside linebacker Mason Cobb with 6 tackles.
Upward/Downward trend: Against San Jose State, the Trojans scored 56 points. Last season, the Trojans were averaging 41.4 points per game.
Upward/Downward trend: Against San Jose State, the Trojans allowed 28 points. Last season, the Trojans’ defense was allowing 29.2 points per game.
Upward/Downward trend: Against San Jose State, the Trojans had 501 yards in total offense. Last season, the Trojans were averaging 506.6 yards per game.
Upward/Downward trend: Against San Jose State, the Trojans’ allowed 396 total yards in total offense. Last season, the Trojans were allowing 432.9 total yards per game.
Upward/Downward trend: Against San Jose State, the Trojans had 160 net yards rushing. Last season, the Trojans were averaging 171.1 rushing yards per game.
Upward/Downward trend: Against San Jose State, the Trojans allowed 198 yards rushing. Last season, the Trojans were allowing 159.8 rushing yards per game.
Upward/Downward trend: Against San Jose State, the Trojans had 341 yards passing yards. Last season, the Trojans were averaging 335.4 passing yards per game.
Upward/Downward trend: Against San Jose State, the Trojans allowed 198 passing yards. Last season, the Trojans’ defense was allowing 264.1 passing yards per game.
Upward/Downward possession trend: The Trojans had the ball 29:18 minutes, while San Jose State had the ball for 30:42 minutes. Last season, the Trojans were averaging 31:57 minutes in time of possession while the opponents were averaging 29:03 minutes.
Upward/ Downward penalty trend: Against San Jose State, the Trojans had eight penalties for 57 yards while San Jose State had three penalties for 21 yards. Last season, the Trojans were averaging 58.0 penalty yards per game as opposed to their opponents, who were averaging 49.9 yards per game against the Trojans.
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The Scoreboard Show…
(Photo above by WeAreSC/USC Athletics)
No. 6 USC 56, San Jose State 28
Was the nation impressed by the Trojans on a Saturday night?
SJS 0 14 7 7 28
USC 7 14 21 14 56
Pac-12 Standings
USC TROJANS1-0, 0-0 Pac-12ARIZONA0-0, 0-0 Pac-12ARIZONA STATE0-0, 0-0 Pac-12CAL0-0, 0-0 Pac-12COLORADO0-0, 0-0 Pac-12OREGON0-0, 0-0 Pac-12OREGON STATE0-0, 0-0 Pac-12STANFORD0-0, 0-0 Pac-12UCLA0-0, 0-0 Pac-12UTAH0-0, 0-0 Pac-12WASHINGTON0-0, 0-0 Pac-12WASHINGTON STATE0-0, 0-0 Pac-12
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The last word…
Beat the Wolfpack!!!
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