It was a ho-hum performance for a pretty mellow sell-out crowd of over 90,000 fans in the Coliseum as the Trojans jumped out to a 21-0 first half lead and coasted the rest of the way. I'm not sure what it was, but it seemed like the offense used methodical drives and the defense was in their base cover 2 defense the entire night, maybe to not tip their hand to Nebraska or to avoid big plays and the unthinkable, pulling a Michigan (more on that later). John David Booty threw for three touchdowns and a pick, but was off several times, including two tips on five wide sets on third downs and two drops when we were at the 2 yard line by David Ausberry. But the highlight of the night was this touchdown pass to Vidal Hazelton:
Stafon Johnson was by far the most impressive on the night, constantly moving the offense and scoring two touchdowns, while C.J. Gable had one impressive run and a touchdown catch. It was encouraging to see Stanley Havili be that fullback option in the passing game after missing it so much last year. The defense was pretty disappointing in the fact that we only had one takeaway, which looked even worse as the offense gave up three (!) turnovers. Hopefully Brian Cushing can use the bye week to recover from this ankle sprain. The kicking game looked solid, and it was a nice tribute by the Trojans to Mario Danelo, with the missing man formation on the first point after attempt of the game. Of course most of the LA fans and the students did not notice what was going on. Here's the clip:
Here's my game balls:
Offense: RB Stafon Johnson. Solid effort in his first start, going for 64 yards on 12 rushes with 2 touchdowns. Booty tossed 3 TDs, but did not look impressive at all.
Defense: LB Clay Matthews really stepped up and played solid defense after Cushing went down with an injury.
Special Teams: K David Buehler was solid in his debut, making 5-5 PATs and a 36 yard field goal. He also booted some kicks into the end zone, which was solid especially with the kickoff being pushed back to the 30 this year.
And ho boy, don't forget about the Michigan game. Too bad it wasn't on TV (probably because Appalachian State is a FCS school). But Lloyd Carr had a brain fart when he went for 2 in the third quarter. But Michigan had a chance twice in the last two minutes to clinch a win, but two blocked kicks led to their demise. Also, WTF Texas? That would have been a bad loss to Arkansas State at home. At least our game was never in doubt. Here's how I did this weekend"
Straight up: 27-2 (missed Michigan and Tennessee)
Against the Spread: 11-7
I'll post my top 25 after the Clemson/FSU game.
Update: Here's my Top 25...
- Southern California (1-0)
- Louisiana State (1-0)
- West Virginia (1-0)
- Wisconsin (1-0)
- Florida (1-0)
- Oklahoma (1-0)
- Louisville (1-0)
- Virginia Tech (1-0)
- California (1-0)
- Ohio State (1-0)
- Georgia (1-0)
- UCLA (1-0)
- Rutgers (1-0)
- Texas (1-0)
- Nebraska (1-0)
- Penn State (1-0)
- Auburn (1-0)
- Arkansas (1-0)
- Texas Christian (1-0)
- Hawaii (1-0)
- Boise State (1-0)
- Georgia Tech (1-0)
- Missouri (1-0)
- Boston College (1-0)
- Texas A&M (1-0)
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