IMHO Sunday: A reason for concern?

In my humble opinion, cardinal and gold thoughts on what I see, what I hear, and what I think from Los Angeles.

Here come the Spartans: The defending Mountain West Champion San Jose State Spartans, fresh off a season-opening 45-14 trashing of visiting Southern Utah, will arrive in L.A. next weekend undefeated (1-0) for next Saturday afternoon’s Coliseum confrontation with the No. 15 USC Trojans, who will be making their 2021 season debut. 

Here come the Spartans – Part 2: Is San Jose State, which opened a 15 1/2-point underdog to USC prior to the Spartans’ game on Saturday night against Southern Utah, a reason for concern for Clay Helton and his team? Most coaches would agree, there’s nothing more unpredictable than a season opener, and teams improve the most from their first to second games of the season. Obviously, San Jose State has now already played a game so the Trojans figure to be seeing an improved Spartans’ team, and, of course, the Men of Troy will be playing their first game next Saturday afternoon.

Here come the Spartans – Part 3: In the Clay Helton era, it has been quite a roller coaster victory ride when it comes to season openers. In fact, in the combined five previous season openers, the Trojans have outscored their opponents 157-154. The average score per season opening game: USC 31.4 pts., Opponents 30.8 pts.

Here come the Spartans – Part 4: Now for some Clay Helton opening game history: 2016 – a 52-6 loss to Alabama; 2017 – a 49-31 win over Western Michigan; 2018 – a 43-21 win over UNLV; 2019 – a 31-23 win over Fresno State; and 2020 – a 28-27 win over Arizona State. All but the Alabama game (Arlington, Texas) were played in the Coliseum. Ready to place a bet?

Here come the Spartans – Part 5: Now seriously, folks, can you honestly raise your hand and say you did your due diligence on Saturday night and watched San Jose State manhandle that vaunted Big Sky “powerhouse” Southern Utah Thunderbirds? FYI, last season, Southern Utah was 1-5 with losses to N. Arizona (twice), Idaho State, Idaho, and Weber State. The lone Thunderbirds win was at Cal Poly SLO.      

Here come the Spartans – Part 6: In case you were wondering, the official attendance at San Jose State’s CEFCU Stadium on Saturday night was announced as 16,204. The joint holds a capacity of 30,456.

Here come the Spartans – Part 7: It figures that next Saturday San Jose State will face a substantial increase in Coliseum attendance, but then again who knows with (1) newly announced on-campus restrictions for the San Jose State game only; (2) a 2 p.m. kickoff in expected warm to hot L.A. weather; (3) mandated virus facial masking in the Coliseum regardless of vaccination status; (4) a rumored decrease in Trojans’ season ticket sales; (5) trepidation as it pertains to a gameday walk-up crowd; and (5) a skeptical Clay Helton fan base who may choose to stay home in the friendly confines of air conditioning and watch the Trojans’ opener on the Pac-12 Network – if they get the network.

Here come the Spartans – Part 8: Referring to the newly announced on-campus gameday restrictions for the San Jose State game only, USC athletic director Mike Bohn sent out the following important email last week, which could affect many of you planning on attending the game with designs of tailgating on campus:

“At the recommendation of our medical experts, we have made the difficult decision not to host on-campus tailgating and other gameday activities for the USC vs. San Jose State game on September 4. Please note this change has only been made for the first game as we manage the substantial increases in campus density and in-person activities resulting from move-in week. There are no changes to pre-game activities at the Coliseum at this time. We will assess the public health situation on campus and consult with public health authorities before making decisions about future games.”

Here come the Spartans – Part 9: Bohn added, “To safeguard the health and safety of the university community as the university returns to in-person learning, campus access has been restricted and perimeter checks have been put in place at campus entrances. If you plan to park on or walk through campus on your way to the Coliseum on September 4, you will need to display your completed Trojan Check badge to members of our Care Crew.”

Here come the Spartans – Part 10: Despite all the newly announced USC campus restrictions along with the county health mask mandates, Mike Bohn, ever the optimist, concluded his email to fans by saying, “We are excited to host a full capacity crowd at our home opener!” For the record, that would mean 77,500 fans.

From the press box…

The quote book: As training camp came to an end this past week, Clay Helton said the hardest and toughest decisions in terms of player personnel was deciding on the offensive line. Helton said, “It’s a deep unit, a talented unit, made up of vets and talented young guys. We are in a terrific place with the offensive line, in my opinion, coming out of camp for both the immediate, present, as well as the future of the offensive line.”

StubHub: Less than a week away from the Trojans’ season opener, StubHub has tickets for the San Jose State opener going for as low as $30 for sitting low behind the end zone in the closed end of the Coli and a high of $289 to sit behind the USC bench.

The forecast: The way early forecast for next Saturday afternoon’s 2 p.m. PDT game against San Jose State calls for sunny with a high of 85 and a low of 62 degrees, 47% humidity, and 2% precipitation.

The tunnel run: BTW, for the San Jose State game, did you know that for $1,250 dollars you can join the Trojans football team when they come running out of the famous Coliseum tunnel just prior to kickoff? According to an official USC promotion, “You and one (1) guest will be escorted to the field 30 minutes prior to kick-off to enjoy the sights and sounds of pre-game, including the band performance and team warm-ups. As the team takes the field, you will be able to run out with the team to the roar of the crowd.”

The tunnel run – Part 2: Oh, and by the way, San Jose State game tickets are not included in the $1250.00 price tag for the pregame and tunnel run.

Strike up the band: At his media conference last week, USC athletic director Mike Bohn mentioned that the portable “Sun Deck” bleachers at the peristyle end of the Coliseum had been installed for the return of the Trojans Marching Band. Wasn’t there discussion at some point to have the band sit in the stands behind the Trojans’ bench? Would any current band members care to give their take on the WeAreSC Garry P. message board?

Boise update: This past week, first-year Boise State head coach Andy Avalos named returning starter Hank Bachmeier as the 2021 Broncos’ starting quarterback, relegating former Trojan QB Jack Sears, who suffered a leg injury and missed a portion of training camp, to the second team. Avalos said, “At the end of the day, the consistency of which Hank has played over the course of this week and really the last two, three days and in this scrimmage … Hank was the more consistent quarterback.”

The post-game show…

The attendance count: The attendance count for Saturday’s UCLA game against Hawaii was announced as 32,982, which is the second lowest UCLA home attendance count since the Bruins moved to the Rose Bowl in 1982. Before you snicker, what’s your prediction for next Saturday afternoon’s USC game with San Jose State in the Coli?

The peristyle: Well, what is the over/under betting for the San Jose State game that Reggie Bush’s No. 5 jersey will return and be displayed beside the other Heisman Trophy winners on the steps of the peristyle end of the Coli? And by the way, are you enjoying Bush being the spokesperson for Wendy’s hamburgers?

The Utes know: There was no surprise recently when Utah coach Kyle Whittingham named Baylor transfer Charlie Brewer as the Utes starting quarterback. Brewer beat out sophomore Texas transfer Cameron Rising.

Everything is Fine–baum: Leave it to ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum to strongly suggest that USC and Oregon should join the Big Ten. Prickly Paul said, “Oregon is a very attractive national brand and then one of the biggest brands of all-time in college football, you can say it, USC. That would make the Big Ten as powerful as the SEC or the ACC with Notre Dame, but other than that, there aren’t that many cards.”

MIA: The Associated Press recently released its preseason All-America team. There were no Trojans on either the first or second teams. However, the Pac-12 did have Oregon junior defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux on the first team and Utah senior linebacker Devin Lloyd on the second team.

MIA – Part 2: You’ll be happy to know that Notre Dame had three preseason AP All-American first-teamers in safety Kyle Hamilton, offensive guard Cain Madden, and all-purpose/running back Kyren Williams. The Irish also had second team center Jarrett Paterson.

Watch your Stepp: Former Trojans running back Markese Stepp made his Nebraska debut at Illinois on Saturday, scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run and finishing the game with 10 yards on three carries. The Cornhuskers lost to Illinois 30-22.

The call-in show…

Caller No. 1: Senior Gato, do you think the Coliseum will be able to enforce the mandatory mask-wearing edict at next Saturday’s season opener against San Jose State?    

Caller No. 1, no, I don’t. Having watched the same Los Angeles mask rules for the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, it appeared to me that more people than not were not wearing masks. Supposedly you can take your mask off to eat but must immediately put on your mask when you are done. I just can’t see ushers spending all day in the hot sun going up and down Coliseum steps monitoring the mask situation. I can just hear fans telling the ushers, “I am not done eating yet.”  

Caller No. 2: Gregster, who will get more sacks against San Jose State – Drake Jackson or Korey Foreman?

Caller No. 2, one would think Jackson because he will get more playing time, but how many times will he drop back into pass coverage? Foreman should be in a better position for sacks if he mainly rushes off the edge.  

Caller No. 3: GK, what do you think the attendance count will be next Saturday at the Coliseum?

Caller No. 3, it depends if you want to go by tickets sold or the actual turnstile count. I would guess the announced crowd will be in the low 40,000 range at best, although I don’t think that many fans will actually be there because of the opponent, the heat, and/or the L.A. mask mandate. Okay, I’ll say it, most folks are not supportive of Clay Helton’s program.    

Caller No. 4: Coach, did you watch the UCLA game? And if you did, what did you think of the Ruins?

Caller No. 4, actually I’d like to know what UCLA fans thought of the 44-10 win over visiting Hawaii since most of them stayed home to watch the game on ESPN. However, since you asked, I thought it was a good win in the Pasadena heat against a vastly overmatched Hawaii team. It’s hard to really get a good read on the Bruins, but they won impressively on the scoreboard and had three TDs from Michigan running back transfer Zack Charbonnet. We’ll get a good read on the Bruins and their fan support when they host SEC power LSU in the Rose Bowl next Saturday evening.

Caller No. 5: G-Kat, what do you think of people that buy or rent houses/condos/apartments that have air conditioning and don’t use it?  

Caller No. 5, I could never understand why folks buy or rent property that has air conditioning and don’t use it. I know the excuse is that using the AC costs money. But, to me, why did you pay for a place that has AC and then never use it? Now THAT seems like a waste of money to me. IMHO, air conditioning is life.   

The last word: Beat the Spartans!