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Originally Posted by hoopsguy
Chief, sounds like you have already blazed the trail for us - I would be ecstatic if we can replicate that level of success.
I think our talent level is getting close to where it needs to be, but I'm wondering what the impact of the morale is on the squad. Last year we lost a couple of games and couldn't seem to catch a break most of the way after that. Sure injuries at QB and a suspect D played their part, but we lost to several teams that were less talented (at first blush) than us.
Hopefully we are better prepared for success in Year 2. Glad to have you following along.
So, after a couple of more seasons of ruling LA, will you leave to resurrect a down-and-out USC team?
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Not so fast...
I played out the next season, and things didn't go so well. I scheduled a tougher nonconference schedule (no one ranked 100 and below this time, and I added Utah and Penn State), but that wasn't the problem. Although I did lose to Penn State in a tough game at home, I was the only team to beat Utah in the regular season.
No, what did me in was my inability to bring in enough impact secondary and defensive line players, and the loss of my best defensive player in the middle of the season. When my star ILB went down, I lost four straight (starting with the Penn State game). With a lack quality up front, and a lack of depth in the defensive backfield, I wasn't very good at stopping the run or the pass. My excellent linebacker corps, led by the star ILB, was the only reason my D was any good at all, so when he went down, we really suffered.
He came back okay, and we went on a season-saving run, with four straight wins, including road win over ranked Cal and a home win over ranked Oregon State. But then unranked (of all things) USC slaughtered us at the Coliseum, and we were relegated to the Emerald. So we wrapped up our follow up to a championship run with a big step back in an 8-5 season.
I have already progressed up to recruiting, so I know I pretty much return my entire offense (it was a Top 20 offense), but I need to make some big improvements on D to start going forward again.
Yeah, this game can be fickle sometimes. I'll lose a key player with an injury and that really affects me. Or a suspension at the wrong time. And that really hurts your season. But I still should have beat Washington State at home, and no way I should have beat Cal on the road (they were 8-1 at the time). Tough to figure...
I'll pretend you didn't even suggest that last part.
