USC 51 HUSKIES 24

Thoughts from Husky Stadium

• Nothing surprising in this one. The Trojans were vastly superior to the Huskies in all phases of the game. The Trojans defense is not particularly good and the Huskies offense did an adequate job of taking advantage of their weakness.
• Matt Fontaine did not play today due to discipline from the coaching staff.
• It was not all bad for the Huskies. If you really look at a lot of facets of the game the Huskies played with USC and if they hadn’t filled up the truck for the Trojans the game would have been competitive. There is no scenario where they were going to win that game, however USC is the best in college football and on most plays they competed with the Trojans.
• The USC Trojans were down to the third or fourth string cornerback at times in the game.
• Nothing better in sports then when you come to see someone do something special and they do it. Reggie Bush had a punt return for a touchdown that was incredible.
• Stanback had a really good day. His numbers 14 of 18 for 201 are terrific. However, as I have said all year he will not win until he gets rid of the players that are killers. I call them F plays and he made two or three of them in the first half that altered the game.
• Johnny DuRocher came in for the final drive and seemed to have a nice command of what was taking place on the field.
• Injury update. Marlon Wood fractured his leg on the game opening 92 yard kick off return. Louis Rankin has a turf toe that eliminated him from the game after the 1st drive and Kenny James re-bruised his shoulder. James could have returned in an emergency; however it left the Huskies with James Sims as their primary back.
• After the back to back quick scores the Huskies made a conscience effort to slow down the game and break the momentum.
• Once again, their were too many plays and penalties that zapped the Huskies chances. If those ever get eliminated this team is capable of winning a game.

NFL PREDICTIONS BY COMPUTER

As many of you know I have become a real fan of footballoutsiders.com. The premise of football outsiders is a system that breaks down every play and compares a teams performance based on the league average based on the situation. This creates the value over average. They also equate for the opponents a team has played.

I thought it would be interesting to do this week's pick's solely based upon what their efficiency ratings say.

Here is what it projects.
Miami will defeat KC.
Redskins over the 49ers.
Cleveland wins at home v. the Lions.
The game of the week in the AFC goes to the Bengals over the Steelers.
Colts will beat the Texans.
Chargers will win in Philadelphia.
Green Bay is better then Minnesota in Minnesota.
Seattle wins the key match-up in the NFC.
Tennessee wins on the road at Arizona.
The New York Giants are victorous over the Denver Broncos.
Buffalo beats the Raiders.
The Bears outlast the Ravens.
Falcons win on Monday Night against the Jets.

We will see how this terms out. I have not weighted the home field.

OBSERVATIONS FROM KEY ARENA

SONICS GET FIRST PRE-SEAOSN WIN
• Pre-Game Meeting with Bob Weiss. Tonight he will be working guys into a flow rather then just working guys minutes. He is really pleased with what he is seeing defensively. The primary teaching this season is Contain/ Help then Help the Helper. He feels that is taking place. They have shrunk the floor well. The rotations are much more active and the guys are firing out and firing back. Weiss’s goal with his line-ups are to always have 4 shooters on the floor. He classifies Vitaly and Nick as shooters.
• Sonics started Danny Forston and Nick Collison. The team is noticeable short with this line-up. Weiss likes playing Fortson and Collison together because they had success together last season and the offensive rebounding is amazing. However, they are forced to play zone when they play Collison at the center.
• Often the simplest way to evaluate a player is if it bothers you when he is on the other team. In the case of Cutino Mobley I like it when he is on the other team.
• Johan Petro does some remarkable things with his body and athletic skill. Elton Brand drove hard at Petro. Petro was athletic enough to defend the drive with a back peddle and then stop and still affect the shot. It was pretty impressive. Not a lot of 7 footers could do that. Most 7 footers couldn’t back peddle, they would be flat footed and they most definitely wouldn’t have been able to still defend the shot.
• I am not sure if Nick Collison is a good enough rebounder to be the sole rebounder on the floor. He may need a Reggie or a Danny on the floor with him.
• Rashard Lewis has a better handle this year then what we saw last year. It is another step in his yearly improvement.
• Luke is playing well in the pre-season. He must improve two areas of his game. He must start hitting the mid range jumper and he has to be able to finish on his way to the basket. He still seems to lack the strength necessary to finish plays at the basket. Late in the game with the score 90-88 he nailed the 19 footer when the Clippers went under on the pick and roll. The next play he nailed a three from the corner as the shot clock horn sounded to give the Sonics a 95-90 lead.
• Weiss had a line-up of Murray and Wilkins on the floor at the same time. I am not sure I am sold on either Murray as a point guard or Wilkins as a two but something about that line-up that was intriguing. They both are good penetrators, they both can finish at the basket and they are both pretty athletic. If they can shoot well enough to stretch the floor for the penetration is questionable. Let’s go with that it is interesting.
• Reggie Evans is on the verge of converting me. I have always been yea but on Reggie, but I am coming closer and closer to believing he just needs to be on the floor. Almost immediately after typing the above Reggie made three mistakes in a row that are the same mistakes that have driven me nuts about his game.
• The Sonics closed the game with Ridnour, Allen, Lewis, Collison and Petro. Petro is playing that well. That could be your starting line-up.

Locked On Sports: Spooky! UW's slide grows more ominous

Locked On Sports: Spooky! UW's slide grows more ominous: "USC's spot on top of college football is unquestioned. Unnervingly, since September of 2004, no team in a BCS conference has been as bad as Washington.

Not even college football lowlifes like Duke, Baylor, Kentucky and Vanderbilt are winless in conference or winless against a BCS opponent."