How come you posters are so horrible at recognizing talent?

Ok, I am being a jerk, what a shock, but you can’t see the difference between Pac12 players and what we saw last night and definitely what we saw today?

Ok, maybe some of it is player development, but virtually no one on USC today would play for any of 3 teams today. The physical differences are dramatic. Bigger, taller, faster almost everywhere. Michael Pittman would hold his own, but he might not stand out. Stepp could but he needs to play a full season to show ruggedness over time.

Speed difference is ridiculous. USC is a slow team. Real slow, slow on offense, cement shoes on defense. But most Pac 12 teams are slow, or if fast, small.

I do not understand why there is such a dramatic differential between West Coast football and the rest of the country. Every QB today could run, and even Iowas’s QB could stick it in there.

But it isn’t just SC, we hold our own in conference, but we play out of conference against reasonably good teams and we get punched around. Oregon might be able to beat Oklahoma, but they would get blown off the field by the other 3. I think Oregon will be in a dog fight against Wisky, The Badgers can run the ball.
I got no answers, but I know what I see.

 

I won't get into your whole "CA players suck" argument, but I do agree that, in watching the two "playoff" games tonight, I texted my brother and said that all 4 teams make USC's team this year look like the JV Kindergarten team... there's no comparison in overall talent right now...

 

Why the size differential?

 

Is there? I've never made a study of it... where do you find that info?

I suspect that if there is no size difference, USC would still come out on the "short" end of toughness, technique, etc. because of one main disadvantage... coaching. Specifically, head coaching.

 

Here you go:
https://crescentcitysports.com/size-matters-college-footballs-biggest-offensive-linemen-of-2019/

 

I have a controversial answer.
I will give a very short version.
Black men for the most part out west and more specifically California like smaller women than Black men elsewhere in the country. I should say they tend to have children with smaller women.
My theory has a lot more to it.
However this point is a prominent part of it.

 

PEDs

 

USC used to look like these guys not so long ago.

 

It sounds crazy but I got no answers to refute it. Our black kids do “ look” smaller, is it an illusion?

 

No it's not an illusion. You see it don't you?

 

What are you getting at?

 

Well....some of it you yourself discussed in other posts. Juicing for example. Another is the S&C coach and what he has been directed to provide as a program. Another is the ability of younger talent to make it to the field based on practice competition.....this makes everyone look over their shoulder and work harder. Helton decides starters by seniority.
I always got smacked around by Helix, for pointing out our crummy recruiting for both lines as judged by the star system.
The facts are the facts......take the top 50 players in each year for the past 3 years as decided by most services.......these players are generally bigger, quicker and faster than the others.......how many ended up west of the Mississippi. Not many. The pac 12 champion has just a few players who were 5 star by all the services. Sewell, Thibo and Flowe. Flowe and Sewell just signed and have not seen the field. None of them linemen, although I will admit that older brother Sewell who plays LT for Oregon was a very high 4.
When Wyatt and a ton of other players, particularly linemen, like him leave and go east......those teams look bigger......we look smaller.

 

Kale salads and veggie lasagna.

 

USC has talent and so does the west. Not that it matters, but your annoyingly bad argument makes no sense because every year the top SEC schools etc., which you yourself are lauding, actually recruit that so-called lack of talent here in California to play for them. If there's no talent or a lack of talent then why bother recruiting here in this land of no talent? Now do you see how ridiculous you are? Obviously, this will go in your one ear and out the other - for obvious reasons. Why do I waste my time...Anyway, Urban Meyer recently put his definitive and authorative stamp on this truth that California has football talent. I'll take Urban's expert insight about evaluating talent over flyfakingtrojan and anyone else's any day of the week.

As for the size differential all I have to say is Ovaltine cannot compete with Ostarine.

Seems memories are short but some Clemson players were suspended from competing in the NC game for using Ostarine.

This article discusses a good reason for gaining mass due to bad steroid control policies of the NCAA and football in general. This PED problem does have a solution when the unannounced Olympics style testing is seriously considered and implemented. The dirty drug sport of football needs to be cleaned up.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2012/12/20/report-says-college-football-steroid-use-is-rampant-and-little-is-done-to-stop-it/

 

It’s a little bit of both.

The problem with blaming it all on the west coast mind set is that when USC gets a kid from the south they still suck.

I’m not saying that USC has SEC and Big 10 athletes but if you put a great coach in there you’d see drastic changes over night.

 

Pad level technique! Iowa pushed USC downfield not only because of strength and conditioning but because of technique. I use to marvel at De La Salle undersized o-line back in their heyday because their technique was so brilliant against giant d-linemen like at LB Poly. Re-watch the Iowa game and pay special attention to Iowa's o-line pad level and drive blocking.

Great coaching gets the most out of great recruits. That is where USC suffers most.

 

Clay’s ice cream parties don’t help?

 

It seems to me that there are so many issues with this thread. For one the west coast, specifically CA, does not lack talent, speed or size in its high school football athletes. They are as good and better than any in the country. The biggest issue in recruiting is the inabilty to keep the talent home. . If the gauge for talent, is going to be based off the pac-12 and USCs performance, then we may have to consider that TX and FL have bo talent considering the lack of playoff appearances of the schools in those states. And one school even has a coach many Trojan fans had wished was in C&G and not orange. And those three teams would end up making probably 90% of the teams in the FBS look like jv. They look faster and bigger and stronger, because they compete at such a high level, thru the week, agaimst competition that is as good as any team they will face once.. when the execution of a team is at a higher level than its opponents its noticeable. Those handful of schools, that are dominating college football, have mo5e good players , coaches and a better culture than usc for now. But the west coast still has as much talent as anywhere.

And the theory of microevolution and the South creating super lineman, probably shouldnt even b3 on this thread... smh

 

Our S&C program is pathetic. The kids simply aren’t being developed physically as well as top programs. And it shows.

 

This just so lame. All 12 Pac coaches suck? The West Coast with 60 million people can’t afford to lose a half dozen kids to other areas? That claim right there makes my point. Our best team, who according to you guys got SoCal’s best over the past couple years can’t beat Auburn?

Iowa smashed us, you saying Ferentz locked down IOWA?! There are more pigs than people in Iowa. Iowa was bigger, faster, and tougher than USC.

What tough fast big running back did USC miss recruiting from SoCal the past few years? Not Najee Harris, he was not in our back yard. Give me the list going back 10 years. Be specific, name names. What big rugged fast linebackers did we miss on? What D linemen?

OK smart guy, name names. You think coaching makes Travis Etienne that fast? You think Kirk Ferentz made SmithMarsette the fastest player on the field in San Diego?