Disappointing USC Football Season Comes to an End

Sigh...the end of a very disappointing regular season came and went. I'm sure I'm not the only person who was not surprised by the Trojans' loss to Arizona.

I can't comment much other than that as personal obligations prevented me from attending the game. However, I do have a few comments to sum up the season:

• We now see why true freshmen QB's are typically asked to redshirt. They just aren't ready to play and perform at a consistent level for the entire season. This was what we saw with Matt Barkley....and in fact, I would say that he regressed over the course of the season as opposing teams got tape on what Barkley is capable of and schemed accordingly.
• The SC offense had no identity this year. You would think that with a true freshmen QB starting, the coaching staff would rely on the running game to take pressure off of Barkley. Unfortunately, the SC coaching staff had other ideas. At this point, I'm still wondering what those ideas were. It just didn't work as everything seemed to change/vary from game to game. What should have happened is that the coaches should have given Allen Bradford the ball and run it. And can we finally admit that Joe McKnight is NOT Reggie Bush?!?! Let's stop pretending.
• The SC defense was clearly in a rebuilding mode. Losing the entire starting linebacking corps from last season along with a starting defensive end WAS a major issue for this team. We just couldn't stop anyone when it mattered the most.
• While I did see some improvement from the SC special teams as the year progressed, it's still mediocre. We really need a better placekicker who can kick and make field goals beyond 40 yards. We needed to score this year and could not count on a sure 3 points from the field goal unit when the offense sputtered. The punting got better which is nice, but kickoff coverage still bite us every other time and kickoff/punt returns are inconsistent.
• Coach Carroll needs experienced coordinators. While coaching staff turnover is expected (especially when USC has had as much success as it had in the prior 7 seasons), USC is not the place for on-the-job training for inexperienced defensive and offensive coordinators. USC is big boy college football. We expect to contend for Pac-10 and the BCS Title....it's not the place for these coordinators to get their feet wet and learn on the job. Coach Carroll can't do everything and he needs to understand that.
• HEART...where was the "Always Compete" nature of this team? It too often looked like this team just thought it could show up and win. Even if we lose, I want the team to play hard...ALL the time! As we've seen, every game counts and letting up for even a single play can cost you the game and a chance at the BCS Title.
  

We now have approximately 3 weeks to prepare for the Emerald Bowl. Let's hope the team can psych itself up to play and win....and set the stage for next season.

The only silver lining from this year was that SC beat the Irish and the bRuins!

Fight On!