Final Scrimmage Recap

It's possible that the only team that can beat USC this year is USC. While Trojan faithful hope not to see that happen in October against, say, Oregon, there was nothing wrong with it on Wednesday night.

USC split up into Cardinal (essentially first string) and White (essentially second string) squads to simulate a real game in the Coliseum. It was a dress rehearsal appropriate for Hollywood's team.

A "studio audience" of 18,000 showed up, including some freshmen who had just moved into the dorms that afternoon. Donning their crisp new USC sweatshirts, they only needed an oversized nametag to morph into "Price Is Right" contestants. A close cousin of the laugh track, artificial stadium noise was pumped in through the PA. The band, song girls and cheerleaders also did their part to enforce Los Angeles cliches by hitting the road at halftime (the game itself finished before the clock wound down). To meet this town's minimum congestion requirement, the crowd was restricted to the south end of the Coliseum.

Such is life in Los Angeles, a place where the traditional crisp air that usually signals the start of football was replaced by just another perfect balmy evening.

Beyond the velvet ropes (or at least CSC bouncers), several players put on glitzy performances. Chauncey Washington reeled off a 63-yard run and scored a TD before leaving the scrimmage with a shoulder injury. He could be out for a couple weeks, but understudy Stafon Johnson left little reason to worry. He had the longest play of the evening with a 67-yard dash to go along with a couple of scores. Freshman Ronald Johnson also caused some cameras to flash with a 42-yard kickoff return. Though they have had limited exposure to Trojan fans, Johnson & Johnson eventually figure to be key players in any Trojan championship sequels.

Unsurprisingly, "Big Brother" won the contest as Cardinal beat White, 42-10. There are a few ways to interpret that, but at the end of the day this was just a scrimmage with a stacked deck. One stat that gives pause is turnovers. It's great that the QBs didn't toss any picks (Booty has had 400 attempts in camp without throwing a single one), and Stafon Johnson somehow managed to hold onto a ball that was almost stripped at the end of his long run. On the other hand, the defense is hoping to improve on last year's turnover ratio. The fact that one of the nation's best defenses had no takeaways against a second-string offense isn't a great omen.

Another two troublesome stats came on special teams. The first stringers had two penalties on kicks, while the backups had one. There was also a bobbled ball prior to RoJo's big run. Return defense has been a concern in years past, and with kickoffs being moved five yards back it could expose the Trojans to some big plays unless kicker David Buehler can put the ball in the back of the end zone with his strong leg. If he can't, USC may see some big return performances from opponents on par with that of the White team's Vincent Joseph, who had had 111 yards on 5 returns (22.2 yard average).

Like much of the Hollywood press, this is probably just hype over insignificant details. These concerns are minor when you consider USC has good athletes all around the ball who simply put on an exhibition against the best team they may face all year (themselves).

It looks like a blockbuster season is coming to a stadium near you.

Comments

[Cliff Wrangler]

The scrimmage was ok, not great. It seemed like the running backs were the only ones who tried. Everyone else didn't try or just looked average (I hope they didn't try). Booty still doesn't have the Leinart or Palmer arm, but we can make that up in our running game. I hope Chauncey can come back and hopefully Desmond Reed doesn't get injured. I am excited that LA's NFL team will be back in stride in ten days. Fight On!

[Ricky from Omaha]

Chalk up one loss when the Trojans come to Nebraska!

Go Big Red!

Ricky from omaha