2020 Season (4th Qtr.)
WEEK 13
vs. #5 UCLA (10-0) (PAC-10) *TV1*
(USC -7) USC BCS RANK: #3
Just like deja vu all over again. Undefeated Southern Cal plays undefeated UCLA for the PAC-10 Championship and a possible invitation to the Rose Bowl to play for the National Championship.
Where have we seen this before?
UCLA runs a terrific pro formation offense. They throw the ball a lot, but still run for a lot of yards. Defensively they're a hard team to match up with. They've got a good receiving corps, but we're going to try and double up on their #1 receiver as he looks to be their single go to guy. We can't overplay the pass too much or their backs will run wild on us. So we've got to trust our corners to play man on man as we won't go to a lot of nickel or dime sets. Basically, we'll try and beat them with our regular 3-4 set.
We got bit by the injury bug last week and will be missing some key players this week.
Code:
Southern California Roster, Injury Report
Player # Pos Elig Health Injury Full Strn.
Burgess, Bobby 60 T Sr Out Torn Wrist Tendon 10 Weeks
Francis, Andrew 99 DT Sr Doubtful Torn Thumb Ligame 6 Weeks
Benzer, Devin 22 FB Sr Out Separated Shoulde 8 Weeks
Wilcox, Albert 94 DT Sr Out Broken Clavicle 5 Weeks
Cheng, Walter 23 CB So* Out ACL Damage to the 35 Weeks
Francis is going to try and play but everyone else is out. Bobby Burgess' blocking is what we'll probably miss the most, he's a dominant force on the O-line.
Got fantastic news on the recruiting front today, Thomas Kluge, a quarterback from Laughlin High School in Laughlin, Nevada signed a letter of intent to play for Southern Cal next season. Thomas was one of the top priority recruits we mentioned back at the start of the year. He ran for over 1200 yards in his senior year as a quarterback and we feel he'll fit right into the new system we have.
We're just waiting on the last couple of recruits to make up their minds and we'll have a full recruiting class. I think it has turned out to be a very solid class this year.
It was not a pleasant start to this week's game. All my gameplanning and Clarence Ackerman's playcalling got us was a 14 point deficit after one as UCLA QB Jessie Graham threw two touchdown passes.
After 1Q: UCLA 14-0
Not a good start to the game, that's for sure. But our defense started to stiffen up and then QB Kenny Finch hit TE Fred Hastings with a 53 yard touchdown pass to pull us within 7. A Rodney Gardner field goal just before halftime pulled us to within 4 - and our defense kept the Bruins off the scoreboard for the quarter.
Halftime: UCLA 14-10
The 3rd quarter was all defense, neither team could do a thing. I started to take some comfort in knowing my gameplan hadn't been a total disaster, as it looked like it was going to be in the 1st quarter. The 3rd went scoreless and we headed to the 4th.
End of 3Q: UCLA 14-10
Again the defenses held for the first 5:30 before UCLA kicked a 3 spot, putting them up 17-10. That's ok, we were still only down by 7 and with our offense we could make that up - plenty of time left on the clock.
Back and forth it went, neither side could move the ball, punt, punt, punt, punt. We get the ball back on our own 26 with 2:16 left on the clock and I'm frustrated as hell - we haven't been able to do much of anything all day. An option play gains a couple and then Kenny tosses one away. 3rd and 8 and Spencer Foley calls for a bomb, Kenny Finch drops back and hits TE Dustin Wynn with a 48 yard heave to the Bruin 30 with 1:33 left on the clock.
Foley's got us in constant pass mode now, no time for clock controll or the grinding wishbone attack, but Kenny Finch can't find anyone open. First one, then two, then three incompletions leaves us with 4th and 10 from the UCLA 30 with 1:14 on the clock.
We can't kick a field goal, we're down by 7. Got to go for it. Finch drops back and again, no one is open. Kenny takes off - he earns his keep as a wishbone quarterback - and scrambles for a 13 yard gain and a 1st down at the Bruin 17 with 52 seconds left in the game.
Kenny drops back yet again, but his protection breaks down and he's sacked, loss of 7. We manage to call a timeout with 40 ticks left.
Everyone knows a pass is coming, but this time Kenny rolls out and scrambles, looking for a receiver. He spots TE Dustin Wynn in the corner of the endzone and hits him with a 24 yard scoring strike. Rodney Gardner boots the XP and overtime here we come.
End of Regulation: Tied 17-17
We win the toss and elect to start on defense so we know what we have to match if the Bruins score. UCLA drives 20 yards to our 5 but can't make any headway and they kick a field goal to take the lead. We need a 3 or we lose.
First play Kenny Finch goes deep and it's incomplete, but we get a pass interference call that takes us to the Bruin 10. A false start on us pushes us back to the 15. 1st and goal and Tailback J.B. Wilson runs off tackle for 2, followed by an option pitch to JB for another 2 yards down to the 11. Spencer Foley doesn't see any need to be creative here as all we need is a three to stay in the game, so he calls the option once again. This time OG Desmond Connell opens a huge hole and Kenny Finch keeps it and runs it in from 11 yards out, Southern Cal wins 23-20.
What an exciting game. we did manage to contain the UCLA passing game - not entirely shut it down, but enough to keep us in the ballgame, while not allowing them to run all over us. Our dbacks deserve a lot of credit for that.
We managed to sack the Bruin QB 3 times on the day without blitzing much - we wanted our linebackers in pass coverage and spying the run most of the time - 1.5 by DE Floyd Jeffers. Jeffers, Renaldo Elder and Lawrence Abdul-Jabbar kled the defense with 7, 8, and 7 tackles respectively. The entire defensive unit made a great effort and it paid off today.
Offensively we had a hard time today. UCLA is really the first team this year that just slammed the door on our wishbone - limiting JB to 97 yards on 37 carries. We did get the one rushing touchdown by Kenny Finch in overtime, but other than that they kept our ground game completely in check.
Aside from our defense, we won today because Kenny finch threw the ball, going 14/26 for 244 yards while throwing two touchdown passes and not making any mistakes. Quite a performance from a first year player in the biggest game of his life.
So we hoist our second consecutive PAC-10 banner undefeated yet again. Life is good.
Now we just have to wait and see what the BCS does.
USC 23 -- UCLA 20 (OT)
PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-0)
***2020 PAC-10 CHAMPIONS***
* * *
WEEK 14
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #1
The BCS took our win over UCLA seriously and we jumped up to #1 in the rankings with five other undefeateds in the mix - #2 Florida, #3 Virginia, #4 Penn State, #5 Boston College, and #7 Alabama. UCLA at 10-1, sits in the #6 spot. Hopefully we'll be able to hold onto this ranking or at worst #2, though both Florida and Virginia have 1 game each left to play.
PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-0)
* * *
WEEK 15
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #2
Well, Florida moved ahead of us in the polls, and they still have one game left to play - the SEC Championship game. Penn State and Virginia, both 11-0, are about one point behind us in the BCS Rankings. Bowl bids go out next week, so we're hoping we can stay in the #2 slot.
PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-0)
* * *
WEEK 16
MINOR BOWL TIER
Off week.
USC BCS RANK: #2
Florida won the SEC and moved way ahead of us in the BCS rankings. But we managed to hold onto #2 - increasing our lead just a wee bit, and we'll be playing Florida in the Rose Bowl in a national championship rematch.
That should be fun.
PAC-10 (8-0) -- OVERALL (11-0)
* * *
WEEK 17 MEDIA SNIPPETTS
LA TIMES
Week 17, 2020
He did it again. Coach Bear Growlz managed to beat UCLA and win the PAC-10 conference championship in one of the most tense and exciting games in recent memory. Not only that, but Growlz has Southern Cal in position to repeat as National Champions, if they can just get by the University of Florida in the Rose Bowl.
It really is unbelievable how far the USC program has come in the past decade. Now let's see if Coach Growlz can do what Pete Carrol did - bring back-to-back national titles to USC.
Wouldn't that be something.
* * *
WEEK 17 BCS RANKINGS
Code:
The College Years
wEEK 17, 2020
BCS Overall Rankings
School Record Conf Comp Poll Loss Sched Total Rank
Florida 12-0 SEC 1.50 1.00 0.00 3.04 5.54 1
**Southern California 11-0 P10 2.50 3.00 0.00 2.84 8.34 2
Penn State 11-0 B10 2.50 5.00 0.00 2.96 10.46 3
Virginia 11-0 ACC 4.75 2.00 0.00 3.76 10.51 4
Boston College 11-0 BGE 2.25 6.50 0.00 4.00 12.75 5
UCLA 10-1 P10 7.00 4.50 1.00 3.40 15.90 6
Iowa 10-1 B10 8.00 6.00 1.00 3.92 18.92 7
Alabama 11-1 SEC 9.00 8.00 1.00 3.48 21.48 8
North Carolina State 10-1 ACC 5.50 12.50 1.00 4.92 23.92 9
Georgia Tech 9-2 ACC 10.50 14.00 2.00 1.52 28.02 10
Rice 10-2 WAC 14.25 9.00 2.00 4.16 29.41 11
Air Force 9-2 MTW 12.75 16.00 2.00 1.68 32.43 12
Syracuse 9-2 BGE 17.25 11.00 2.00 4.80 35.05 13
Hawaii 10-2 WAC 17.25 12.50 2.00 4.72 36.47 14
Wisconsin 9-2 B10 17.50 14.00 2.00 4.40 37.90 15
Texas A&M 10-2 B12 22.00 11.00 2.00 3.16 38.16 16
Utah 9-2 MTW 13.00 20.50 2.00 2.88 38.38 17
Ball State 11-2 MAC 15.25 19.00 2.00 3.96 40.21 18
Vanderbilt 9-2 SEC 13.25 22.00 2.00 3.08 40.33 19
California 8-3 P10 11.25 25.50 3.00 1.20 40.95 20
Memphis 9-2 USA 21.00 22.50 2.00 4.32 49.82 21
Michigan 7-4 B10 25.50 22.50 4.00 1.64 53.64 22
South Carolina 8-3 SEC 22.75 26.00 3.00 2.72 54.47 23
Middle Tennessee State 10-2 SUN 30.50 17.00 2.00 5.00 54.50 24
Marshall 10-3 MAC 33.50 18.00 3.00 4.28 58.78 25
-20-