Boy is it nice to see a team that is passionate about playing football again! These guys have earned our unconditional support (so long as they behave themeselves to a reasonable degree).
Coaches: First of all good for them for somehow having these kids ready to play tonight. Whitt and co have handled their trials as well as could possibly be expected. If they keep up this level of play and finish with a winning record he absolutely deserves coach of the year, at least in the Pac12.
Over the last few weeks I’ve speculated that Ludwig and Whitt have been holding back in an effor to gain an advantage against USC. I can’t say definitively that I was right, but it sure seems that way. We saw more downfield plays tonight than in the first 4 games combined. Maybe there is something to that, maybe it was just USC’s defense that lended itself to those plays when others did not in previous games. I’m not smart enough to know the answer to that, so I won’t say I told you so.
Kyle throwing a pass after they called a late timeout when we were in victory formation is classic Kyle. Love it!
Quarterback: I felt like Rising did a PHENOMENAL job at QB tonight, one of the best QB performances of the Whittingham era. every pass that needed to be on target was on target, every decision was sound, he had the one fumble, but was right on top of it. He is the leader this team was desperately in need of.
Running back: Thomas also had a great game. It was clear that he was making an effort to protect the ball in traffic. That was good to see. He also had a tremendous pancake block before his big TD run. That dude is fast and HUGE. Bernard had a good game receiving.
WR: Vele finally showed up outside of Spring ball. That was nice. Theo Howard played well. Anyone know what’s up with Solomon Enis? I dont think I saw him play. Covey had some good catches.
TE: What can I say? all three of them are great.
OL: They didn’t open up any holes for the run game in the first half, but did a good enough job pass blocking to allow Rising to throw the ball down field. Olaseni had a play or two when he came in where he just completely blocked the wrong guy, but for the most part they didn’t make any costly mistakes. Harding PASSED this test. If I’m in Whitt’s position, Harding gets to keep his job until at least the end of this season. They didn’t play great, but they played good enough.
DL: Tafua looks like a different player compared to his first two games. WTF happened to light a fire under his butt? Whatever it was, I’m glad it happened. He looks faster, and stronger than he did at the beginning of the season.
LB: Lloyd had a solid game, missed a few tackles but whatever. Reid had a good pass breakup. His inexperience showed up a few times.
DBs: They didn’t get beat long (except in garbage time but who cares). Against a team like USC that is all you can ask.
** I believe Clark Phillips deserves praise for the way he played tonight. London caught the ball A LOT. He gave London a ton of cushion, but never got beat long. More importantly he didn’t let London get inside his head. He could have tried to show London up, and go for the big play at the wrong time (resulting in getting beat long), but he did what he was most likely asked to do. He gave London plenty of room, kept him in front, and was there when he got the ball. Phillips will never be an elite cover corner because of his size, but he did as good as you can ask of a guy his size tonight.
ST: no big mistakes. Didn’t need the much tonight. YAY! that doesn’t happen very often.
Overall I thought the defense as a whole (particularly the run defense) was a bit soft (as they have been all year). Against a team like USC though, I’m happy to give up the run in order to stop the big pass play over the top.
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