How cool is this? You can now access From Medskool from mobile phones at http://winksite.com/txmed/medskool. As well I’ve syndicated the feeds of my favorite blogs to be read on a mobile phone.
Granted, no pictures, and the formatting leaves a little to be desired but now that I’ve found this I may actually look into a paid mobile syndicator. I don’t know why I’d do that as a poor medical student…except for the fact it is pretty cool.
In any case, I encourage you to grab your mobile phone and check out the new From Medskool Mobile.
I’m almost to the point of suggesting that Texas’ decline its bowl invitation. Honestly, there’s just nothing left to gain.
A hilarious conversation between EDSBS’ Orson Swindle and Peter/HornsFan from Burnt Orange Nation on the USC-UCLA game is up at Bruins Nation.
In all seriousness, Orson proves once again he is the funniest/cleverest sports blogger on the web. Complete sincerity in that statement. Every Day Should Be Saturday should be on any football fan’s reading list.
Warning: There’s language in the excrepts from the conversation below.
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Peter: And Pete Carroll is more of a humanitarian
OS: Pete Carroll–wearing a boonie cap handing out antibiotics in the Sudan.
Peter: I heard he bribed the Hutus to lay off the Tutsis.
OS: …saying “Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you” to guinea worm in Gabon…
Peter: He may be shady. But his intentions, man…
OS: Crystal clear. Even if he’s using Reggie Bush’s house to shelter blood diamond money.
OS: The ‘X’ factor. The ‘X” stands for “Xactly anything you care to bring into the debate.”
Peter: ok, X factor - non-OJ category
Peter: Trojans are 0-1 in the Rose Bowl in 2006.
OS: Correctly guessed you’d bring that up. To what team?
Peter: They lost to Vince Young’s tree trunk. Also known as his penis.
OS: That game should have just been credited to him.
OS: VINCE: 1, USC Humanitarians, 0
Peter: Seriously - Vince Young cuts Pete’s illicit diamonds with his cock. True story.
OS: Don’t doubt it. He loves the orphans, too.
I’ll admit, hard to get my blood boiling at USC mocking when it is actually funny. It’ll be funnier still once USC wins by 25 on Saturday. In case you missed it, here’s the proof that Pete is a humanitarian straight from the horses mouth.
“Here, if you lose a lot of weight, people automatically think you have TB or AIDS. It’s not like in America and Europe where you go on a diet to lose weight,” Njobo said.
Although the figures are lower than in affluent countries, many experts fear that health systems already stretched by the AIDS virus, malaria and poverty-related diseases may snap under the additional burden of heart disease, strokes, cancer and diabetes, conditions linked to obesity.
Worldwide, an estimated 1 billion people are overweight, compared to 800 million who are undernourished.
Some 56 percent of South African women are now either obese or overweight, compared to fewer than 10 percent who are underweight. More than 17 percent of adolescents here are overweight _ for teenage girls, it’s 25 percent, according to the Medical Research Council.
I was a Longhorn fan my entire life. A Baylor Bear fan as well, which is sadder. But, I was surrounded by friends and family who were Texas alum. I was part of a Longhorn social network; not a lot of Aggies at the Christmas parties I attended growing up. I go to a University of Texas medical school. I’m a Texas fan when they’re not playing USC. But, with crazy ass views like this, I hope that USC wins its next two games, puts last year’s Rose Bowl in perspective, and sends UT fans like those posting on BON over the edge.
A little vengeful, for sure. But you have to admit, the comment below is just ridiculous.
[I]f [starting QB] McCoy’s not good to go (or if the staff wisely decides to play it safe), who can Texas turn to? You can forget burning Sherrod Harris’ redshirt - that won’t happen. Who does that leave? Texas either plays walk-on third stringer Matt McCoy or goes with Quan Cosby. Yes - flanker Quan Cosby.
Going with Cosby would make for great entertainment, but of course if I’m advocating shutting down McCoy out of a desire to see the 2007 team protected, it hardly makes sense to advocate starting Cosby behind center. I’m almost to the point of suggesting that Texas’ decline its bowl invitation. Honestly, there’s just nothing left to gain.
The message: if you can’t play for it all, take your ball and go home. Great reaction. And USC is the University of Spoiled Children.
My goal is to do a series on the growing hatred for USC (you win, you make enemies) before the UCLA game. A look at all the hate in the blogosphere: here, here (move on already!), and more broken down by team.
Of course there are always completely reasonable bloggers (like here and here), who will no doubt be cheering for the Bruins on Saturday, but have a much more balanced view of the situation. So this little series on those that hate the Trojans is by no means an accurate reflection of all of college football-dom.
Unlike many physicians (or future physicians) I’m not going out of my head trying to oppose pay-for-performance. This is even after I personaly heard HHS Secretary Leavitt admit that the only reason pay for performance was coming was to reduce physician reimbursement and control costs. I posted on that previously. Now, that may sound like a “no, duh” statement but it is one thing to know it, and another entirely to get it straight from the horse’s mouth.
My reasons, unsorted but mentioned throughout the blog, are for another posts.
I bring it up only so I can point out, that I think after hearing the Secretary speak we can dispense with any notion that P4P will work like this in the United States.
GPs earned an average £106,000 during the first year of their new contract, figures show.
Figures from the Information Centre for health and social care show average earnings rose by 30% during 2004-05.
Ministers and NHS bosses expressed concern that so much of the new money had apparently gone on pay, rather than on investment in services.
The new contract, which ushered in radical changes to the delivery of primary care services, was designed to give general practices additional funds to invest in improving and developing services to patients.
It included incentives to reward GPs and their practice teams for driving up the quality of patient care.
A large proportion of GPs’ earnings are now linked to the quality of care they provide, with payments made for the provision of extra services, such as contraception, child health and chronic disease clinics.
Basically the NHS’ pay for performance protocol, which I’ve commented on previously, has led to an increase in PCP earnings. One of my pet issues has been a desire to close the reimbursement, and thus the recruitment, gap between specialties and primary care. Apparently such a gap exists in the UK as well,
He said: “Prior to the introduction of the new contract, there were serious recruitment problems and GPs pay had fallen behind.
“This was officially recognised during negotiations and is reflected in pay increases under the new contract.
I haven’t gotten a chance to look at them, but as of yesterday the new volume of Grand Rounds is up. It is at a blog I actually read with some regularity (well, as much as I read any blog) Notes From Dr. RW.
Tons of global warming boo-ha-ha, including a Supreme Court case on the powers of the EPA, new data on the “little ice age” of the 12th to 19th centuries, a fight over the facts of An Inconvenient Truth with some nasty words for the evidence of global warming between here and a rebuttal to that piece here.
If Florida is diddled out of the national championship game that will be the second time in three years that a team from the nation’s “toughest conference” has been screwed.
This is important because the SEC commissioner is currently serving as the BCS commish (it is a rotating position). Could some changes be coming in the next couple years? Even with the television contract looked in, maybe actually.
Any hope for a playoff system must be a compromise. D1 will never look like 1-AA. And despite the hypocrisy of it, a Division 1 playoff must do at the minimum two things:
Not extend the season
Not destroy the bowl system
The only hope? A plus one system. Even this faces significant difficulty but perhaps after this year it will be a real possibility.
A plus one system would be, for all intents and purposes, a four team playoff. Sure there’d still be whining by that fifth team in some years and it holds significant other hurdles, many of which I’m sure I don’t even perceive although I’ll discuss some of them below.
But the point is, of all the playoff systems proposed, the plus one system achieves the two major goals I listed above.
It does not extend the season
It preserves the bowl system
All that would happen is that the BCS games would be required to match up #1 versus #4 and #2 versus #3 on a rotating basis. Let’s imagine how such a rotation would work, it isn’t difficult.
2007 (This Year)
Rose Bowl - PAC 10 v. Big 10
Fiesta Bowl - Big 12 v. Open
Orange Bowl - #2 versus #3
Sugar Bowl - #1 versus #4
2008
Sugar Bowl - SEC v. Open
Rose Bowl - PAC 10 v. Big 10
Fiesta Bowl - #2 versus #3
Orange Bowl - #1 versus #4
2009
Orange Bowl - ACC v. Open
Sugar Bowl - SEC v. Open
Rose Bowl - #2 versus #3
Orange Bowl - #1 versus #4
You get the idea.
Then, the next week, in the already existing national championship game, you get the winner of the #2/#3 game and the winner of the #1/#4 game facing off.
So, what’s the problem with this? Well the major one is that it removes two BCS teams. However, that is the way it was before this past year! We’re just going back to the way it was. The major losers in such a situation are the non-BCS conferences.
As well, some people will try to tell you that it doesn’t truly remove the controversy as the teams vying for that fourth spot will all be whining (imagine three two loss teams filing the fourth, fifth, and sixth BCS rankings). True, but in reality I promise you fewer people would care about the complaints.
At the least, it would significantly reduce the number of years where there would be large scale, media covered temper tantrums by teams left out of the BCS.
You might imagine you have to change the automatic qualifying rules. But actually not very much. You would have to bump the non-BCS conference qualifiers up (maybe from Top 12 to Top 8 ). You might have to bump Notre Dame up (Top 6 finish?)
Or, unwilling to do that, you could simply add a fifth BCS bowl. That would cause the already BCS bowls to whine a bit, no doubt, but the Cotton or Peach Bowl have more than enough tradition and strong enough infrastructure and organization to handle the role.
Like I said, any playoff system will require compromise. This is just the one with the least muddy road to implementation.
How would it have looked in the past if this system was implemented:
1998
#1 Tennessee (SEC) v. #4 Ohio St. (At Large)
#2 Florida State (ACC) v. #3 Kansas State (At Large)
Wisconsin (Big 10) v. UCLA (PAC 10)
Syracuse (Big East) v. Texas A&M (Big 12)
1999
#1 Florida State (ACC) v. #4 ‘Bama (SEC)
#2 Va Tech (Big East) v. #3 Nebraska (Big 12)
Wisconsin (Big 10) v. Stanford (PAC 10)
Tennessee (At Large) v. Michigan (At Large)
2000
#1 Oklahoma (Big 12) v. #4 Washington (PAC 10)
#2 Florida State (ACC) v. #3 Miami (Big East)
Purdue (Big 10) v. Florida (SEC)
Oregon State (At Large) v. Va Tech (At Large)
# of BCS Bowl Spots (including national championship game): 10 # of Automatic Qualifiers: 8 - 10
Current Automatic Qualifiers:
USC (PAC 10 Champion)
Ohio State (Big 10 Champion)
Florida/Arkansas (SEC Champion)
Oklahoma/Nebraska (Big 12 Champion)
Wake Forest/Georgia Tech (ACC Champion)
Rutgers/Louisville (Big East Champion)
Boise State (Non-BCS Top 12)
Michigan (Non-Champion Top 4)
Potential Automatic Qualifiers:
LSU (Becomes Top 4 With Arkansas Upset of Florida or UCLA Upset of USC)
Louisville (Becomes Top 4 Even if Rutgers Wins Out With Arkansas Upset of Florida and UCLA Upset of USC)
Notre Dame (Becomes Top 8 With Florida Over Arkansas and UConn Over Louisville)
What will the BCS look like with no upsets per the current BCS standings:
National Championship: Ohio State (BCS #1) v. USC (BCS #2)
Rose Bowl: Michigan (Top 4) v. Notre Dame (At-Large)
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma (Big 12 Champ) v. Boise State (Non-BCS Top 12)
Orange Bowl: Wake Forest (ACC Champ) v. Rutgers (Big East Champ)
Sugar Bowl: Florida (SEC Champ) v. Louisville (At-Large)
This would be a disaster scenario. The automatic qualifiers would include Wake Forest, Boise State and Rutgers (no offense to those teams). There would be a mere two at-large berths to go around. One would clearly go to the Irish. They travel to well, their fan base is huge (and national in scope) and they have too much history. It doesn’t matter that I don’t think they deserve it.
However, the trouble is the Rose Bowl would get the first two picks. They would take Michigan without a doubt. I promise that will be the first selection (they will take an eligible Big 10 or PAC 10 team if possible). There has actually been rumors from inside the Rose Bowl committee (per ESPN) that they would look hard at a Notre Dame - Michigan rematch. This despite the trouncing Michigan put on the Irish earlier.
The average fan asks why?
Because the prospect of an SEC team or Louisville traveling all the way out to Pasadena in numbers and of their fans tuning into the game makes the Rose Bowl people cringe. While the Michigan-ND earlier this season was horrific, Notre Dame’s fan base makes them attractive still. It would also be a traditional rivalry game.
If that happens, then the situation will be really bad for the other BCS bowls. The Sugar Bowl would pick after the Rose Bowl. They have to take the SEC champion (by contract). If Notre Dame is gone (a team they would love to match up with either Florida or Arkansas), then they’ll be hurting.
Their options would be:
Boise State (ick)
Another SEC team (no chance in hell)
Rutgers (ick)
Louisville (ick)
Louisville seems like the best of bad options here for the Sugar Bowl.
That leaves the Orange and Fiesta Bowls in the odd position of each having a team they must put in by contract (Wake Forest to the Orange Bowl, Oklahoma to the Fiesta Bowl) and two automatic qualifiers.
Rutgers and Boise State will have to go to a BCS bowl (they’re automatic qualifiers), and the Orange and Fiesta Bowls are like the last kids picking for their dodge ball teams. It is just a matter of which team gets picked first (by the Orange Bowl). I have no doubt it would be Rutgers, the feel good story of the year, rather than Boise State.
What will the BCS look like if UCLA upsets USC, Arkansas upsets Florida, and Rutgers loses to West Virginia:
National Championship: Ohio State (BCS #1) v. Michigan (BCS #2)
Rose Bowl: USC (PAC 10 Champ) v. LSU (Top 4)
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma (Big 12 Champ) v. Boise State (Non-BCS Top 12)
Orange Bowl: Wake Forest (ACC Champ) v. Louisville (Big East Champ)
Sugar Bowl: Arkansas (SEC Champ) v. Notre Dame (At-Large)
Personally, even if Florida wins out I do not think they can catch Michigan. It would take the pollsters playing God. If USC loses it will probably be an Ohio State-Michigan rematch.
The Rose must take USC (by contract) and then would again be faced with a tough decision between a Notre Dame rematch (which could happen), Louisville (unlikely), or an SEC team. Florida will not get picked here, despite their loyal fans because coming off a loss never bodes well for how the fan base travels. That leaves the other at large SEC possibility of LSU. LSU-USC would make a compelling match up. But don’t be surprised to see a Notre Dame-USC rematch here either.
The Sugar Bowl gets the second pick. Remember they must take the SEC champ (by contract). They’ll almost certainly jump at an eligible Notre Dame team.
Once again the Orange and Fiesta Bowl are the last kids picking for dodge ball. They must, between them, take Boise State and Louisville. Once again there’s little doubt the Orange Bowl will take the Big East champion (in this case Louisville). That leaves the Fiesta Bowl with a Oklahoma - Boise State match up.
A thing to keep in mind:
No matter how overrated you think they are Notre Dame is a virtual automatic qualifier if an at large spot is available
The contenders for a second “at large” spot (in order of strength):
LSU (If Finishes Outside of Top 4)
Florida (If Loss In SEC Championship)
Louisville (If Rutgers Wins Big East)
Have fun figuring the entire mess out. See you on December 3rd (when the BCS selections come out).
So you wanted the BCS standings early? Although officially “embargoed” until 7:30 pm EST (about 90 minutes away), the BCS standings for this week are hidden away in a PDF file on National Football Foundation website.
What is a little surprising is how big the margin is between USC and Michigan and how well USC did in the computers. Tellshow wasn’t expecting a big jump in the computers until next week, but we’re #1 in two computers and the clear #2 in computer average (which Tellshow, and other pundits expected Michigan to hold onto by the slimmest of margins this week).
I’ve listed them in the post below, but as a summary these are the keys to the game for the Trojans:
Get pressure on Brady Quinn
Sure Tackling (When The Pressure Forces Brady Underneath)
Balanced Offensive Attack (Don’t Get Obsessed With This Irish Team’s Terrible Pass Coverage)
Clock Control (Which Comes With A Balanced Attack & No Turnovers)
And here’s my prediction:
USC 35 - Notre Dame 23
*7:41 PM*
We’re two touchdowns into the game before I comment. But man, the Irish are getting rolled. That can change in a minute, don’t be cheering just yet.
Brady Quinn is looking like the emotion is getting to him. Overthrows. Missed receivers. Even though the Trojans are getting some pressure, expect Quinn to calm down and improve.
What bodes worse than the offensive play is how hapless the Irish secondary looks. I mean I know they’re constantly criticized but if they play like this all night then all the criticism will be more than valid.
*7:44 PM*
This might be part of his play script but after trying to go long early, get into a shoot out, Weis seems to have toned down the offense for Brady. Two runs, a short dump pass…make that three runs. Probably just trying to get Brady’s emotions under control.
If those first few shots are any indication Weis actually wants to spread the field and go for the big play often. If he’s waiting for Brady to get under control to go back to that…well, I think it is a mistake.
*8:01 PM*
That field goal really was a victory for the Trojans. Clearly Weis is trying to keep the game short, although Brady took some endzone shots after the 30, to get Brady into the game.
The Trojans are keeping balance in the offensive game. Don’t let the long balls deceive you, it is 9 and 9 right now in terms of pass and run.
We’re having some difficulty pounding the ball in for the touchdown. Chauncey was stuffed, now Booty took it on a bootleg and was stuffed short. Nevermind, there goes Washington in to make it 20 - 3.
*8:15 PM*
Wow, the one thing the Irish cannot do. Turn the ball over. And inside the red zone. Is this 1974 redux, with the roles reversed? That is the one thing the Trojans must worry about. No let downs as we approach the half.
*8:21 PM*
How quickly they’re in it. A blocked punt. Wow. I thought special teams might have been an advantage for the Irish. Expect a “trick” play here to put the ball in the end zone.
*8:22 PM*
Not so much a trick play. But clearly one Brady favors/is comfortable with. The answer of course is for the Trojans to march down the field. Booty must not get so comfortable in the pocket. We must maintain a balance on offense. Do not allow the Irish to get any closer on the scoreboard!!
Currently: USC 21 - Notre Dame 10
*8:26 PM*
What did I say about not cheering? A blocked punt. A touchdown. An interception. The Trojans must hold the Irish here to a field goal or nothing.
*8:30 PM*
That was a bad call by Weis (an option on third and short). But holding the Irish on fourth down is not enough. Now that they have the ball the Trojans, specifically JDB, must do something on this drive.
Oh my. Another interception. Sark and Kiffin need to sit Booty down right now. Sit him down right now.
Well, our defense is playing well still. Although McKnight has dropped some balls without our help (such as that fourth down ball). We need them to come up big again. This momentum could be all ND going into half time.
*8:45 PM*
We’re getting a lot of talk about dropped passes, but especially in the “big play” arena the Trojan defense is playing astounding. Just amazing, and the booth guys have given some nods to that but the half time crew needs to as well. That, at least as much as those two drops, is why the Irish have only 10 points despite their field position at times (also, apparently their field goal kicker sucks).
JDB needs to calm down. If he does that, we will be fine. No matter if we force some Irish turnovers, if we turn the ball over we will have trouble. We cannot continually give them opportunities. That should be the main goal. To keep with a balanced attack, with Booty calm and making throws, and to not turn the ball over.
We are getting pressure on Brady Quinn but in case you forgot (or didn’t know), he’s elusive. Still, it is serving some purpose, forcing him to make throws on the run (never easy) and to throw it before he is set and ready. That is reflected in his completion %, which is also hurt by the very nice defense the secondary is playing on the deep ball. Still, Quinn has proven he has a level head even with all the emotion for this game.
We were playing a balanced attack early. Got into throwing on early downs, got some interceptions. Then tried running it and wasting the clock. We’ll get back to a more balanced attack in the second half.
I’m not terribly concerned. No one should doubt after this first half that we have the more talented team (on both sides of the ball) by a large margin. Despite the black and white nature of the first compared to the second quarter, I actually think the early second half will tell most of the story. USC gets the ball, and it is our offense (so potent in the first quarter) which must regain its composure. It isn’t as if the Irish were playing notably tougher, smarter, or with more skill in the second quarter. USC just got flustered after some missteps. Don’t make those missteps and we will continue to move the ball on Notre dame and put up points.
See you after the break.
*9:02 PM*
Man, the booth crew has a more balanced view of the game. But listening to Lee Corso and Desmond Howard, and to a lesser extent the studio crew for ABC you’d think Notre Dame was ahead in this game!
I know fans take slight at the words of pundits all the time. It just happens. But I really think this is a legitimate observation in this instance. They need glasses.
Then again the Trojans may come out and have a pick returned for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage or something and then they’ll be vindicated. *Knock On Wood*
*9:07 PM*
I know he’s throwing short timing patterns on some of these passes I’m making this complain on, but Booty (as I said in my preview) must stop staring down his first option.
*9:13 PM*
Stud. Need More Be Said?
*9:17 PM*
No better way to start the second half. A balanced, long drive down for a touchdown. What would a stop of Brady & Co. do for the Trojan momentum? Then again we don’t need to get too overzealous (as we did when the first 21 points came so easily).
*9:36 PM*
That was a terrible, godawful challenge. I know Pete is a demigod, but if the fact we only have one time out and it is still the third quarter comes back to bite us, then it is a completely valid criticism of the wonder boy.
He never should’ve made that. And Pete ain’t exactly the best “clock management” guy in D-I.
*9:40 PM*
More success on fourth down. That isn’t good for the Trojans.
Onside kick anyone from Weis? Seems like a good spot for the trickster, and it wouldn’t surprise me. USC needs to watch for it. And with the ball in our hands, go and score. Don’t allow ND any momentum.
*10:09 PM*
I dare now to dream.
I heard a comment once that DJ was a great reciever because he played his best in big games. I dared not to believe he dogged it at other times. But can you refute that comment after this game? 3 touchdowns, amazing catches, 100+ yards. He has been the Trojan offense.
*10:12 PM*
High hit? What an awful call. Even the booth thinks it is a poor call. It really is. You cannot make that call this late in the game, it has to be more definitive.
Without A Hint Of Homerism: One Of The Greatest Games Of All Time
Despite what the LA Times might implicate, there are no Heisman implications to the eighty year old Trojan-Irish matchup this year (as there have been the past two years). No, your 2006 Heisman winner is here.
And despite the hopes and dreams of Fat Ass’ (how I will refer to Charlie Weis) players, there will be no national championship for the Irish. No matter how well they thump the Trojans.
Should’ve Lost To A Worse Team
And no matter win or lose, both teams will be going to BCS games this year. No, you can only throw up the rage Fat Ass and Brady Quinn and others are displaying as a matter of pride. Pride in standing in the way of a Trojan team’s fourth consecutive trip to play for (at least a piece of) the national championship in a bowl game. Pride in trying to spit out the terrible taste of last year (see the video above).
The Notre Dame National Broadcasting Service has called on the talents of a Notre Dame alum to sum up what this game means for the Irish. Here’s my favorite,
5. Trojan Title. How unbearable would it be for Irish fans to watch USC play in a national championship game — again? Realistically, Notre Dame might be the only team that can prevent that possibility.
Never have I seen a coach as riled up about a game as you can see here and here. As if his players needed any more reason to get riled up, Fat Ass is providing it to them. And while Carroll has taken his shots, they’ve been subtle and it is clear USC is being more “business class” about this game. The question of course is, will this emotion hurt or hinder the Fighting Irish?
Notre Dame Offense v. USC Defense
This game will be about emotion and Brady Quinn for the Irish. It must be. There is no doubt, Weis has thought up clever ways to keep Brady from repeating his Michigan performance (which was as much his fault as the offensive line’s). As Rivals points out,
The main weakness is up front. Notre Dame is not blocking as well as they did last season. They are rushing for 23 yards less per game last year at 124 per game, which is awful considering the fact that four of the eleven teams that they have played are ranked 103rd or worse against the run.
The Irish have faced four defenses in the top 20 nationally against the run. In those games, they averaged 73 yards rushing at 2.3 yards per carry. USC is 13th nationally in rush defense. Therein lies the problem for Notre Dame Last year’s SC defense was mediocre against the run.
Make no mistake, Fat Ass will try to keep the defense honest. He will not abandon the run, even with USC up multiple scores in the second half. But he knows that offensively this game will have to be about confusing the USC secondary (becoming less and less of a possibility), out coaching Carroll, and of course (for the first two to happen) keeping Brady on his feet.
Two months ago, the Trojans’ secondary looked a little too aggressive.
For the past two weeks, the USC secondary has blanketed some of the best receivers in the country. It shut down two good passing attacks: Cal’s and Oregon’s. It will be tested again this week by Heisman candidate Brady Quinn and Notre Dame’s precision passing game. The exam might come at the right time.
There is nothing this secondary hasn’t had to deal with. They covered a 6-foot-6 receiver, Arkansas’ Marcus Monk. They covered a 245-pound receiver, Oregon’s Jaison Williams. They covered one of the nation’s fastest players, Cal’s Jackson. Not one of those NFL-bound playmakers had more than six catches or more than 71 yards against USC.
Weis has talked about controlling the clock, much as he managed to do last year. But this is not last year’s Trojan defense. I say it emphatically, no matter what Fat Ass thinks he’s figured out, the Irish will not be able to run the ball on Saturday. It will be worse than the 3 ypc they managed in last year’s game.
Fat Ass knows this. He knows he will have to seek out the big plays, even if success in that means putting his weakest unit (his defense) out on the field for a bigger chunk of the game. If Fat Ass tries to make this game 17 - 14, he will face more three and longs and three and outs than he can shake a stick at.
And if it becomes a shoot out, it becomes a battle in the trenches for the Trojan defense. Per Rivals,
The Notre Dame front five is strong on the left side but has struggled mightily on the right, mainly due to freshman RT Sam Young, who has done decent work considering his on-the-job training. However, between Young and senior RG Bob Morton, teams have attacked the right side of ND’s line with success.
That is certainly where Michigan came from early. From the ROLB and RE. Although by the end of the game the undersized Irish line was clearly flabbergasted as a whole. The front three (or four, if you want to look at it that way) has been disappointing at times for the Trojans. But it is clear that Pete has taken over the defense (sorry, Holt) once again.
There has been significant blitzing compared to the first half of the season. In part that blitzing is actually part of the answer to why Jackson (finally) made his appearance over the past few weeks, after a sackless first eight games (I believe). If Brady is anything under Fat Ass, he is a smart QB. I have no doubt he learned from the Michigan game and it would be naive to imagine the Trojans can force him into the number of mistakes he made against Blue. But if Carroll can get even 70% of the pressure he achieved against Oregon and Cal then several things will happen:
We’ll Be Able To Jam In Man To Man
The Trojan Linebackers Will Be Able To Crowd The Box And Stuff Notre Dame’s Weak Run Game
The Irish Will Be Forced Into Long Downs
And The Pressure Will Force Brady To Get Rid Of The Ball Before The First Down Line
We’ll Force Some Turnovers
No doubt Mays and Ellison will be watching for the Irish’s dangerous deep threats, but almost as important if the “game plan” (a very generous term) above plays out is sure tackling. If Brady gets pressure you will see Weis try to let his receivers make plays after the catch (he’ll have no option)…
…And We All Know They Can Make Plays After The Catch
I’ve made it clear here but to reiterate, there are two keys to the game for the coaches and the Trojan defense:
LoJack, Cushing, Rey Rey, Ellis, Moala, and company need to get pressure on Quinn
There must be sure tackling
USC Offense v. Notre Dame Defense
Boy this defensive unit is maligned. You hear it all the time. I think rightly so. But it is scary to have pundits and such dissing a unit so badly before a big game. Weird things happen,
“Everyone’s talking that our defense is still the downfall of the team,” said Landri, a senior defensive tackle who has seven sacks and 15 tackles for loss this season. “Apparently, there’s a lot of people in the country that feel that we’re not championship-caliber.”
Every time Brockington hears Notre Dame’s star-studded offense being praised, he knows a “but” is coming.
“They’re like, ‘Oh, your offense is good, but…’” the senior linebacker said. “It’s always our defense this, our defense that. It definitely bothers you.”
A stripped ball early, a Booty misthrow, some big hits. It could happen. Maybe not as likely as a quick strike from the Trojans or a bruising Chauncey run leaving an Irish player calling for the trainer, but make no mistake this defense of a one-loss team deserves respect. That’s something, thank God, you can count that Carroll is pounding home.
Now to just hope the younger Trojan playmakers on offense haven’t been watching too much SportsCenter.
Booty didn’t look on against Cal. He will need to be on Saturday. What may be good news is that as a unit (unlike earlier where it was one on and one off) the receiving corp of Jarrett, Smith, and Co. may be playing the best they have all year. Booty still has trouble under pressure, sliding off his first read and to his safety valve. He did find third option Smith on that fourth down play for a touchdown against Cal, but he had all day. He cannot stare down his receivers against the Irish.
Almost as a much as the defense, I feel that this offensive line have come into their own over the past few weeks. They are, I believe, the offensive unit which has grown the most since the Oregon State loss (even though that loss really wasn’t their fault at all and so you might imagine the defense and the roll plays - particularly in holding onto the ball - had more to learn from that game). With that being said, knowing Fat Ass’ desire to be known as a brilliant strategician you can count on some new things to try to put his defense in a position to succeed. More than complicated blitzing schemes, I think you will see Fat Ass try to confuse Booty with coverages.
Certainly, the Irish pass defense is terribly weak. That must be what Pete is salivating over and so, if he sees new coverages he hasn’t seen on film Booty must make good decisions.
The Irish play a physical style of defense, but their lack of speed has hurt them against the pass. The Irish have played only one team ranked in the Top 25 in pass efficiency (a run heavy Air Force team), and yet are an abysmal 81st in the country in pass efficiency defense.
Why? Because they give up 7.4 yards per pass, which is good for 90th in the nation. They give up almost 14 yards per completion, while the Trojans give up 11. They have given up ten TD pass of 20 or more yards, and have surrendered far more completions longer than that. By contrast, the Trojans have given up zero TD passes of 20+.
In part Fat Ass may not need to bring complicated blitz schemes. His defensive line didn’t do a half bad job getting to Leinart last year, and while, like I said, I believe the offensive line has steadily improved for the Trojans it is certainly a possibility that Booty will be dropped more than his fair share on Saturday.
The defensive line however, is undersized. They were manhandled by Michigan. We won’t be talking about half a dozen here and we can live with a few sacks as long as the number of sacks is comparable to the number of big plays the Trojans pick up.
Booty has been oft critiqued on his deep ball. If he throws like he did against Cal we could have some problems, but Booty has certainly shown he has the touch when he feels comfortable. I don’t buy the criticism as much as some. I’m not scared that we will not be able to take advantage of the Irish’s lack of team speed.
That holds, even on the ground. The Irish run defense is a stifle better than their passing defense, however if C.J. runs like he did last week, and is complimented by Chauncey (who will probably have a bigger role this week), then we will get our rushing yards. In fact, as much as I talked about the big plays above don’t expect the Trojans to come out firing on first and second down. Chauncey and C.J. will combine for at least 35 carries. Balance. Balance. Balance. I don’t know why we should expect anything else.
Other Stuff
For all the focus on what the Irish are playing for, the Trojans have plenty. They’re going about it more business class like, but they are playing for a trip to the national championship (lest you forget). And while there shouldn’t need to be any more motivation, there are personal issues here. Lest we forget Desmond Reed and the high grass, the Coaches seething over the perception they were out coached by Fat Ass, and the fact the Trojans are playing at home.
During one of Charlie Weis’ first news conferences, in January 2005, a reporter noted USC’s and Oklahoma’s speed during the national championship game and asked Notre Dame’s new coach to assess his team’s speed.
“I think the grass needs to be longer,” he said. “Next question.”
The response drew laughter.
No one laughed nine months later when Reed turned to field a kickoff and then crumpled onto the nearly four-inch turf without so much as a tap.
“I really don’t think I would have got hurt if the grass wasn’t long,” Reed said last week.
The Trojans will not forget. There’s emotion in the Trojan locker room. They just have it under control. I hate to join in the pundits calling for a blow out. It scares the karma police. But you just can’t escape the feeling that for all the talking, all the yelling, all the emotion that is coming out of South Bend everything is setting up for a Trojan hurricane on Saturday.
I’ve already beaten this issue before. While I think HSAs are a good idea for some, even little ol’ Libertarian me has made the point that they’re not the solution. Which is the point that Graham is making. And even though I’ve said it before the Kaiser Foundation and KaiserEDU are easily the most amazing health care policy site on the planet.
Here’s The Image Graham Is Harping On
p.s.
In case you didn’t know - I (heart) KaiserEDU.org
I did my undergrad work in USC's School of Cinema-Television Cinematic Arts. I have a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Writing for Screen & Television. I loved it, but a future of waiting tables and taking meetings with B-List producers was not for me.
This blog is ostensibly to discuss healthcare policy and maybe educate a few of my fellow medical students. But it will stray into current events, politics, and other science topics when they draw my interest
Other odd notes about me:
I've skied half the resorts on this list (Squaw Valley/Lake Tahoe, Snowbird/Park City, Whistler, Taos, Vail)
I "played" lacrosse in high school and through a club level team in college
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