My Thoughts - USC

It's just hard to imagine how badly we were beaten last night. I don't really have a whole lot to add over the frustrations that HogBlogger wrote earlier today. And unlike the last two games, I have a feeling that many people reading this post probably saw (at least part of) the game on TV last night. But, with apologies for stating the obvious, here goes...

The defense is worse than last year. It's hard for me to admit that because I like Reggie Herring's "old school" coaching style. But they obviously are...you can't have USC score more on you than they do on Hawaii. The boys from Honolulu have been the gold standard of bad defense for years. Now we are close to being the Hawaii of the SEC...without the high-powered offense.

And speaking of our defensive coordinator, he continues to show a stubbornness during games that is disappointing. This was a concern I mentioned last week, and there was no improvement last night. Every time we blitzed, we were burned. When we finally decided to call off the blitz, we were already down 21 points. When things don't work, there's a reason. If you don't adjust quickly, it's just about a certainty they'll keep happening. And it's taken Reggie Herring way too long to make the obvious adjustments during the past two games.

Shouldn't an offensive line ranked ninth in the country during the preseason be able to look like it even against a highly-rated (maybe number one) defense? I guess not because we were pushed around by the USC defensive line all night. Yes, I know we led the nation in rushing going into this weekend. But for anyone who watched the game last night, did we look like we even belonged on the line of scrimmage with USC? And if not for a long kickoff return, we only move the ball enough to score three points in the first half. That's just unacceptable for a team whose supposed "strength" before the season was its "veteran offensive line."

The "grace period" was two years...and now we can see why. After the Houston Nutt-Nebraska flirtation, HDN got a big raise and a two year "get out of jail free" card. But, three games into the second year, does anyone see how we're going to be completely different (and much improved) next year? Will an All-American quarterback recruit make that much difference? Do you recover from two losing seasons to win 8 or 9 games the next year? Well, I guess the 1998 Razorbacks did...but that was after a coaching change.

I've been out of town all week at a conference in Los Angeles. I want to thank HogBlogger for posting regularly during the week and also thank you, the readers of this blog, for your patience as some information was posted (by me) later than normal.

I know there were many times during the week when I wished I was back here listening to all the debate. I can tell you that there was hardly any mention of the Hogs by the L.A. television and print media all week long. And you know, it really is disappointing to be so down that you're not considered a interesting matchup by the other team. (Oklahoma, by contrast, received quite a bit of coverage for their game against UCLA.) And so you may be asking...why didn't I stay an extra day for the game? Well, when I was making my travel plans back in late July, I considered it...for a moment...and then I came to my senses. Now, of course, I'm glad that I did.