USC roster loaded with youth & talent - Gophers have a huge test

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hungan1

hungan1

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Interesting titbit from the Orange County Register about Lane Kiffin's strategy to stave off effects of NCAA sanctions: Redshirt as many players.

http://usc.ocregister.com/2011/02/21/usc-football-roster-check-reveals-trojans-youth/61843/

Looking at their depth chart, what stands out are the massive OL and team speed at WRs & RBs. Will pose matchups problems for the Gophers Defense.

http://usc.rivals.com/cdepthtext.asp

The matchup is a good barometer as to how far the Gophers have come from last year under current conditioning and coaching. If the Gophers can prevent a blow out, it bodes well for the rest of their season.

IMHO, playing against USC early in pre season is a blessing. They will know how far they have to go & will only give them more resolve to work harder.
 

SC has the final live tackle scrimmage today before the opener. The OC register article in today's paper points out that a number of positions are still up for grabs. Both o guards, ss,olb.ect. They are down to the third running back. A WR became an academic victim this week. This is a 6 loss team, as usual over hyped and ranked #25 in the AP. And this is before they have lost any of the 30 schollies.The Gophers can win this game. The register journalists stated " the AP poll is the only one that matters for USC to win the mythical national title" LMAO. They may not win 6 games. Both lines are a mess. Shut Woods down and hit them hard, they will fold. Save the moral victory talk. No will care if the Gophers lose by 1 in triple OT or by 60. Beat SC!
 



I don't think USC is the typical 5 loss team. I am in Orange County half of the time and I get to watch a lot of Pac 10, and I think it would be a mistake to consider this another 5 loss football team.

The Pac 10 was very good last season.
They lost three of the games by a combined 7 points.
They are returning a lot of key players on offense (Barkley, Woods, couple OL) and 7 players on defense.
 


USC's defense will be what holds them back this year just like last year. If the team keeps progressing like they were last year their offense could be scary good
 

Yep, that's the key Drunk.

USC will only do as well as their defense has improved. Word out of here is that the defense has looked better than the offense in the preseason stuff, so if that holds true at all, they will be really good this season.

It's obviously hard to tell and easy to drink the Kool Aid in July/August, but I do think they will improve quite a bit on defense. They have the athletes, they have the coaches (Monte Kiffin) and they will be in their second (rather than 1st) year in the system.

Their offense could definitely be scary though. I think our best chance (this is kind of an obvious statement) is to shorten the game and dominate the time of possesion.
 

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