Well if Joel called for the upset he was sorely disappointed. Irish totally outclassed an undermanned Bowling Green State team 52-0. Can't really take away very much from this game. Book played well but considering the opposition it's not surprising, and the defense pitched a shutout, even though they pretty much played the 2nd and 3rd team guys for the whole 2nd half. Some will be disappointed that Jurkovec didn't get any reps with the 1st team offensive line, but the 2nd team OL looked fine against BGSU. Phil looks like he's really a pretty good runner. Threw a couple of nice passes as well. I like what I saw today from C'Bo and Jahmir Smith. I'm a little surprised the Kyren Williams has just disappeared at RB. Hamilton continues to impress. Bring on USC
Yeah the radiation rocked me hard this week, so I slept through the 2nd half. I wanted to watch the backups, but Bowling Green was so outgunned, that it's hard to really take anything from the game. The truth is, our scout team is probably better.
I actually watched that game. Stanford has changed up what they do offensively and it made all the difference. I suspect the Irish will see a similar strategy. What Stanford did was combine their vertical power running game with a series of check down screens to counter the pressure that Washington was trying to bring to stop the run. Now, if the lads can stop the run without bringing any extra bodies into the box, then we'll be fine. If not, I suspect we'll see a lot of those screens. They didn't have a lot of big plays. They just played keep away with the ball from Washington's offense and the result was a total control of TOP. Scarlet (sic?) is emerging as a very fine power back for Stanford. Stanford continues to rack up injuries at QB and they continue to put decent to good QBs on the field. Last night, they were all the way down to the freshman from Saraland, Alabama. They didn't miss a beat. That win was no fluke. As surprised as I was to see it, Stanford came in and just flat out executed their game plan. Washington panicked a few times and went for it when they should have taken the points.
We're 10 point favorites over usc. They scare me even with their 2nd or 3rd string QB. They just throw it up and let one of those future NFL receivers catch it. Defense is going to have to get to the QB fast.
USC is a very athletically talented team. This will be a legit test. I'm not sure how we open 10 point favorites in a rivalry game, especially one with a tradition such as this one.
Right now it looks like it will be in the 40's by kickoff. Been to quite a few of these where one team is standing on the sideline in shirtsleeves while the other side is standing with parkas over their shoulders. I always get the feeling that one team wants to get on the plane and head back to the beach.