2013 SEASON (2ND Qtr)
WEEK 5
@ Oregon (2-1) *TV5*
(USC -9) USC BCS RANK: #19
Had to suspend sophomore Safety Bubba Miller for the season this week. Miller was caught in the woman's locker room in the main gymnasium on campus. The NCAA chose to leave any discipline upto the school. These player incidents are getting out of hand. He's gone for the season.
Continued making follow up contacts to players on our recruiting list. Like last season, a lot of Caly kids our on our list, but we're also pursuing recruits as far away as Rhode Island.
Junior Strong Safety Claude Horn returned and interception for a touchdown and QB Malcolm Moreno tossed two touchdown passes to lead the Trojans to a 27-6 road win at Oregon this week. Moreon went a pedestrian 12/22 for 173 yards and 2 TD's while throwing no INT's in leading Southern Cal to victory. Hauling in the touchdown grabs were Malcolm's two favorite targets - Willie Davison and Ronnie Wheeler.
The Trojans couldn't get a running game going however as Aaron Castillo went down with a broken clavicle. Castillo could miss upto 14 weeks and is probably gone for the rest of the year.
In looking at our roster I think we'll continue to redshirt Gabe Whalen unless another back goes down. Junior Coffey can start at Tailback and he's better developed than Whalen is so we won't lose anythign there by keeping Whalen redshirted. 5th year senior Brad Berberich should be able to fill in ably enough at Wingback and I don't want to use a year of Whalen's eligibility just to be a reserve.
Good win, but we'll miss Castillo - more for how it hinders his development than anything.
USC 27 -- Oregon 6
PAC 10 (1-0) -- OVERALL (4-0)
* * *
WEEK 6
Off Week.
USC BCS RANK: #7
Bumped up to #7 with our win over the Ducks last week. I'm pleased with the way Malcolm Moreno has played. He hasn't been spectacular (4 GP, 74/120, 61.6%, 859 yards, 7 TD/1 INT), but has been solid and hasn't lost us games. Coach Edwards seems to call a better game for moreno than he did for Ev McDaniel - though I have taken over the ganmeplan for the most part. Don't know whether I should have with McDaniel here or not, but hindsight is 20/20 in any case.
Three recruits signed letters with us this week, and we got two rejections. The players who committed to USC were Ernie Cheatham, an offensive guard from Cerritos High School in Cerritos, California, Freddie Stender, a defensive end from Rialto High School in Rialto, California and Chad Berg, an inside linebacker from Petaluma High School in Petaluma, California - all Caly kids.
Stender is ranked as the #23 recruit in the nation. He's a DE (76+) with good academics and comes from a very good prep athletic program. He could be a solid contributor his freshman year. Cheatham is ranked as the #35 recruit in the nation. He's an OG (83--) with outstanding academics that comes from a high school with both outstanding athletic and academic preperation. He should develop nicely, even if he is overrated.
PAC 10 (1-0) -- OVERALL (4-0)
* * *
WEEK 7
vs. Arizona (4-1) *TV4*
(USC -9) USC BCS RANK: #7
Big game for us at the Rose Bowl this week against a 4-1 Arizona Wildcat program. I think it will be a test of how good we really are. We're going to need to win here if we hope to make any kind of noise come bowl time.
No committments or rejections this week. Spent the week making follow up calls and contacts. We're in the hunt for a number of highly ranked recruits. Made some new contacts and invitations to visit this week as we start to expand our recruiting pool a bit now that we've maxed out contacts with most of our primary list.
QB Malcolm Moreno had an outstanding day going 29/40 for 274 yards and throwing for two touchdowns and running for another on a 20 yard scamper as he led USC to a dominating 44-17 win in front of a sold out Rose Bowl crowd.
Moreno connected with senior Fullback Clyde Dotson on one of his touchdowns as Dotson led Southern Cal receivers with 7 catches for 63 yards. Moreno also hit wideout Ronnie Wheeler for a touchdown.
Redshirt senior Junior Coffey played well as he transitioned from Wingback to Tailback with the injury to Aaron Castillo, rushing for 108 yards and 2 TD's on 22 carries (4.9 ypc), providing the Trojans with a solid running attack to balance Malcolm Moreno's passing.
A terrific win for us and we're playing some pretty good football right now.
USC 44 -- Arizona 17
PAC 10 (2-0) -- OVERALL (5-0)
* * *
WEEK 8
@ Washington State (2-3) *TV5*
(USC -17) USC BCS RANK: #8
We remain highly ranked in the BCS this week, a point of pride after not making the preseason Top 25. We're coming off a good win over Arizona, but now we have to go on the road and show what we're really capable of. Junior Coffey and Malcom moreno will have to take their games to a higher level as we get into the meat of our PAC-10 schedule.
Very good news on the recruiting front, though I don't know how we're going to keep all these quarterbacks happy with playing time down the road. The #1 recruit in the nation, Jason Krieger, a quarterback from Woonsocket High School in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, signed a letter of intent to play for USC next season. Jason is a 91+ quarterback with decent, though not spectacular academic credentials. He's coming to us from a very good athletic program and a school with good academic preperation.
Also signing with us this week were: Brett Vinnick, an inside linebacker (85-/Ranked #22) from Agua Fria High School in Avondale, Arizona and Johnnie El Nino, an outside linebacker (80+/Ranked #63) from Ripon High School in Ripon, California.
Tailback Junior Coffey had an outstanding day rushing for 170 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries as he led the Trojans to a hard fought 38-33 victory on the road at Washington State.
Fullback Clyde Dotson was once again the leading receiver for Southern Cal's dink and dunk offense, making 7 catches. QB Malcolm Moreno was picked off once but he did hit wideout Willie Davison for 6 points.
A solid, if unspectacular, victory for us on the road, and a terrific day for Coffey.
USC 38 -- Washington State 33
PAC 10 (3-0) -- OVERALL (6-0)
* * *
WEEK 9 MEDIA SNIPPETTS
ESPN NEWS
Week 9, 2013
The Trojans of Southern Cal continue to surprise everyone with their outstanding play, though they did have a scare against the Washington State Cougars, 38-33, this past week. It's difficult to put your finger on any one aspect of the Trojans play this season as to why they are playing well. Redshirt senior Tailback Junior Coffey has emerged as a force over the past couple of weeks, which is good as the defense didn't seem to show up against the Cougars. USC has put in a dink and dunk passing attack, utilizing it's backs as more of a passing weapon than in the past. While this type of offense minimizes the chances of their young quarterback Malcolm Moreno making mistakes, the question remains, will he be able to win a big game with this offense the next time the Trojan running game gets stalled.
That will likely determine just how far USC can go this season.
Code:
The College Years
2013 - Week 9
BCS Overall Rankings
School Record Conf Comp Poll Loss Sched Total Rank
Michigan 7-0 B10 1.00 3.00 0.00 0.72 4.72 1
Texas A&M 7-0 B12 2.75 2.00 0.00 2.28 7.03 2
Penn State 6-0 B10 2.25 5.50 0.00 1.92 9.67 3
Florida 6-0 SEC 4.25 1.00 0.00 4.44 9.69 4
Virginia 7-0 ACC 7.50 4.50 0.00 3.56 15.56 5
Syracuse 7-0 BGE 6.25 5.00 0.00 4.56 15.81 6
**Southern California 6-0 P10 5.00 9.00 0.00 3.36 17.36 7
Keene State 7-0 NNE 8.50 8.50 0.00 4.16 21.16 8
Vanderbilt 5-0 SEC 6.00 12.00 0.00 4.20 22.20 9
UCLA 5-1 P10 10.25 12.50 1.00 2.20 25.95 10
Marshall 6-0 MAC 13.75 8.00 0.00 4.84 26.59 11
Alabama 5-0 SEC 19.00 8.50 0.00 4.88 32.38 12
Toledo 6-1 MAC 8.75 21.00 1.00 2.24 32.99 13
Notre Dame 5-2 IND 14.50 18.50 2.00 0.44 35.44 14
Louisville 5-1 USA 21.25 11.50 1.00 4.48 38.23 15
Air Force 5-1 MTW 9.75 27.00 1.00 0.88 38.63 16
Wisconsin 5-2 B10 16.75 20.50 2.00 2.60 41.85 17
Kansas State 6-1 B12 17.00 20.50 1.00 4.64 43.14 18
Utah 5-1 MTW 17.25 23.00 1.00 3.48 44.73 19
Oklahoma 4-1 B12 20.25 23.50 1.00 1.32 46.07 20
Iowa 4-2 B10 23.75 19.00 2.00 1.56 46.31 21
Pittsburgh 5-2 BGE 17.50 26.00 2.00 1.16 46.66 22
California 6-1 P10 25.50 16.00 1.00 4.76 47.26 23
Louisiana-Lafayette 5-1 SUN 24.00 20.50 1.00 4.12 49.62 24
North Carolina State 4-2 ACC 22.00 29.00 2.00 0.28 53.28 25
###
LA TIMES
Week 9, 2013
Halfway through the college football season, USC is playing far better football than most pundits gave them any right to be playing this season. Coach Bear Growlz has his Trojans winning games right and left with a cast mostly unknown except to the most diehard Southern Cal fan. The emergence of Tailback Junior Coffey has been a pleasant surprise, as has been the development of QB Malcolm Moreno who we can expect to see great things from din the future. Giant kudos to Coach Growlz and all the USC Trojans for their successful first half and here's to an even better stretch drive.
* * *
PAC 10 (3-0) -- OVERALL (6-0)
USC BCS RANK: #7
-20-