Using Chris Warren as decoy?

I've never seen him have any issues with the ball in his hand.

 

The concern seems to be Warren's inability to read defenses and block properly.

 

Yep.

 

I agree with you ... it looked like he was running a route in which case he still should have blocked as a matter of priority. No excuse for choosing not to block when you need to. But I think he was just focused on getting open for a short pass or something.

 

He had the opportunity to crush that guy but it seems he wasn't even trying to. Surely it's not that he didn't see the guy. That was piss poor.

 

are there other clips, because that's one play?

 

Watched the first overtime and he made several good blocks. Can't say about rest of game but think about it, he's in the most important time of game - only to block? Says it all to me.

 

I loved it when Sam threw the TD to Foreman to take the lead near the end of regulation and he came running to the sidelines throwing the Hookem. Somebody tried to high five him and Sam gave him the other hand, I ain't dropping the Hookem bro

 

Also I get the impression that maybe Herman is pissed at Warren for something and doesn't want to air the laundry. TH is not dumb, he knows what weapons he has. My speculation

 

It looked to me like he side-stepped him for whatever reason then headed down field looking for something to do. It was an example of cluelessness in my view. And if this is typical then he probably should have been benched.

 

Agree. That's what I was saying above. He either can't block or doesn't;t know what to do or both. Either way, if true, I can see why they didn't play him.

 

I have seen too much of him not picking up the block, which leads me to believe that he wasn't taught it in HS, or by Strong's staff, and hasn't picked it up under Herman. Warren is a very talented athlete, and an intelligent young man. I recommend coaching rather than benching. That's why I said have him run scout team blocking assignments these next two weeks.

 

As good of a runner as he can be, you would hope they are trying to coach him. But an interesting thing Herman said yesterday was that if players haven't learned the schemes by now, they need to recruit smarter players. Well, it was something to that effect. He was talking about the defense answering a question about how they suddenly got so good after Maryland. But I would suspect if Warren hasn't figured this stuff out yet that must cause great consternation for the coaches.

 

What causes me great consternation is seeing our freshman QB being asked to hit a jammed LOS at the 3 yd line and being unable to keep the ball from being wrested away in the scrum.

If, and its a big if, the best play at that moment is a run into the teeth of their defensive alignment, wouldn't you want your best power back to carry it?

 

On that 4th and 3 clip, it seems clear that --

(a) By the time Sam got the ball, he was running, and

(b) Warren was not running a pass pattern (if he were, he would have gone to the left flat, which was wide open, instead of curling back to the middle)

Anyone disagree?

 

No, of course I am not suggesting Warren would have been a worse option than a QB run there. Just trying to offer some thoughts on why they aren't playing the guy overall.

 

Matt is more gracious in victory than loss --

 

I don't. He looked lost.

 

After a few days to think about it I have to say that Sam did well given the lack of a running game or pass blocking. He took a beating and hung in there. How old is he? This was his second game and the hype/stakes were very high. I'd say he has a very bright future. I can't blame him at all given the context of his experience and the pressure of the situation.

 

In fairness to him, it's a lot tougher when you're walking off after getting your heart ripped out. I've kind of forgiven him for that, and honestly if I'm him, I'm probably thinking the exact same thing: "we're better than them, we should have won, I'm ticked about it." It's not really something you should say but I wouldn't expect a winner to feel any other way about how that game turned out.

 

I agree. The fact is that USC probably could have won a rematch just as easily as losing again. They weren't humbled by Texas. They just lost to Texas in the last minute. Matt has more than come around over the years evidenced by his collaborations with Vince on retrospectives and the like. He said they knew Vince was unstoppable during the game; they grasped that he was an incredible player. But Vince didn't play defense so he probably figured they should have done more.

 

Definitely disagree. Looked to me like he wanted to block the backer who was stunting around, so he ran past the incoming defender to go get him, only to watch the stunter get picked up by the person who was SUPPOSED to pick him up. He definitely missed an assignment there.

 

Not following. Which part were you disagreeing with?

 

Wait... I misread that. My apologies, yeah I'm with you.

 

Yes, but not if he is handed the ball 5-7 yards deep. I would submit that "best power back" is Jerrod Heard, who should have been under center. Our running game was being killed on the corners. Watch any college team, and the QB sneak on the goalline includes the RB defending his QB from the edge. Our RB was a spectator. I wanted the sneak and still would, but with the best personnel.

I said last year that the best blocker was Andrew Beck, and I suspect he would be this year as well. If he comes back, he needs to be moved to RB.

 

You are relegated to watching and reporting on USC the rest of the season for a missed assignment.



Assuming "can't pass block" is a legitimate critique and it's Warren who is mostly if not completely culpable ....

You've GOT to be able to run the ball.

We have these discussions every year. This is football. Our standing of championship football and one of the most winningest programs in the country wasn't forged in flag football offense.

The stadium doesn't carry the man's name who was "pass first/always"

Nor was he a guy to likely leave points off the board with a first possession 4Dn go for it.

There's "nothing to lose" and there's "unrespected program" just throwing mud on the wall to "see what happens"

Warren needs to become a greater piece of the offense ... that means ... MORE CARRIES ... ATTACKING the LOS, not dancing around in the backfield.

 

Yes, and I'm sure nobody thought our D would play like the 85 Bears.

 

Warren’s 4 carries

 

Well folks, talk about drill-down! You get it right here on Hornfans.com! No BS zone!

I agree with your implication. Those four runs should have encouraged us to use him more; not abandon him.