New "Inside the Trojans' Huddle" Tuesday (Nov. 15) edition: Grading Colorado, USC-UCLA good and bad memories, and a special Trojans-Bruins viewer questions and panel answers
In Tuesday’s “Inside the Trojans’ Huddle”, panelists Marc Kulkin, Chris Arledge, Erik McKinney, and Greg Katz grade and analyze the Colorado victory, discuss the greatest wins and most disappointing losses against UCLA in panel memories, how the Bruins’ loss to Arizona may affect Saturday’s USC/UCLA game, and, of course,viewer questions and panel answers pertaining to the big game.
In the first quarter of ITTH, the panel discusses grades for the offensive, defense, and special teams for the Colorado game. There was agreement on the Trojans getting off to a slow start, but there was also agreement that once the Men of Troy got rolling, the big benefit was getting to watch USC backup QB Miller Moss come into the game in the final quarter and also a chance see running backs Austin Jones, Raleek Brown, and Darwin Barlow carry the pigskin. While the panel gave injured Trojans’ running back Travis Dye all the deserved props he deserved, the panel agreed that the three backs behind Dye got some much-needed carries in the fourth quarter.
All agreed that for USC QB Caleb Williams, this was not his cardinal and gold finest moment in the first quarter, but he pulled himself together to compete in the second and third quarters and finished with some outstanding numbers.
Defensively, a lot of the talk was around defensive tackle Tuli Tuipulotu and his impact in the game against an inferior Colorado offense. While there was some improvement by the defense against the Buffaloes, it was apparent that it was still just Colorado and not to get overly excited. There was discussion on inside linebacker Ralen Goforth coming back and playing in place of Eric Gentry.
The special teams were given an overall grade of about average. There was nothing that was overly impressive or poorly done to affect the outcome, but see what panelists were more generous than others.
In terms of the overall grade for the team, USC did not get an “A” overall grade for the Colorado game despite scoring 55 points. That first quarter offense in which the Trojans were down 3-2 hurt the grading scale.
In the second quarter, the panel changed gears and gave their three favorite memories of wins over UCLA, and three unfavorite memories regarding losses to the Bruins. Obviously, there was a wide range of answers due to the ages of the panel members. One panelist decided to concentrate on the 1960s, which included the 1967 team and the 1969 famous Sam Dickerson catch to beat the Bruins. Then there were the disappointments, and the last name of “Barnes” came forward as well as the name of former 1965 UCLA QB Gary Beban. Of course, you didn’t think that the panel would forget get that 2006, 13-9, upset of the Trojans by UCLA, which a couple of panelists refused to even answer? One panel member did, however, answer and immediately pointed to former assistant and future head coach Lane Kiffin as the culprit for that unbelievable loss.
For the halftime segment, the panel answers viewer questions focused on questions regarding UCLA and would Lincoln Riley turn Caleb Williams loose on offense, and how would Lincoln Riley handle the USC offense? Would he go ball control, or would Lincoln let the ball fly? And, of course, a question about the effects last weekend of both Oregon and UCLA losing, and what does it do to their prospects of getting into the title game?
