This has happened before. No, I don’t mean getting trounced by USC. I mean having major fumbling problems by veteran — protected in practice — players during season openers. Against Missouri State last year, Peyton Hillis lost two fumbles and Marcus Monk lost one. (And I say in my best “Church Lady” voice: Hmmm…could it be…green jerseys?)
So much of RoJo’s problems can be attributed to a lack of “touch” and his tendency to only throw to the underneath receiver. Like others who went to practice, HogBlogger and I saw this all the time. On the second fumble by Felix (the only one we recovered), he was the underneath receiver while Monk and Damian ran downfield. Well…they might as well have been sitting on the bench…RoJo was going to throw it to the underneath receiver. Even if Felix doesn’t fumble, he’s still five yards short of the first down. Same choices…same gripes by the fans.
But yes, I’ll agree…in the third quarter, Monk should have still caught the bullet pass from RoJo instead of tipping it and having it intercepted. But RoJo’s one-size-fits-all-cram-it-in-there velocity for every throwing situation is not what good college quarterbacks do. And even the casual fan who saw the touch that Mustain displayed (with a defender in his face) on his pass to Damian realized what’s possible when a little more finesse is added to a downfield passing game.
The defensive ends have to stay at home. USC exploited some of the same weaknesses that we saw others take advantage of last year. Weak side defensive end crashes inward to stop running play up the middle; no one in the flat when quarterback executes play-action fake and rolls out to the weak side. Result? Quarterback picks secondary apart throwing to tight end, fullback, etc. while defensive end is oblivious and still trying to push offensive center away from the play.
The linebackers have to cover receivers on crossing routes. Same song, second verse. Heck…there were a few times when the linebackers were “helping out” by piling on and pushing the aforementioned defensive end even further away from the play.
Reggie Herring said he would “hang himself” if the Hogs lost as badly as they did last year. During the second half as the points continued to mount up for USC, I kept thinking about that line from A Few Good Men:
Kaffee: A yardarm? Sherby, does the Navy still hang people from yardarms?
Sherby: I don’t think so, Danny.
Kaffee: Dave, Sherby doesn’t think the Navy hangs people from yardarms anymore.
Luckily for Herring, Sherby doesn’t think the Navy hangs people from yardarms anymore.
On the DEs…A.Robinson seemed to stay at home much better than J.Anderson. Notice that Robinson was rewarded with a sack, and a QB hurry because of his proper technique.
Glad Herring didn't "do the deed".
TipsterHog, he has more responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago. We need him on that wall.