USC defense vs Gray

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whogoofed

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Living near LA I get to see most of the USC and UCLA games. The last couple of years USC has really struggled against big mobile QB's. Locker is one that I remember they had trouble against. Hopefully that is something that we take advantage of with Gray at QB.
 

Not only Q, but how are they going to defend THIS GUY?!?!

<img src="http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/boards/attachment.php?attachmentid=941&d=1284908167"/>
 

For some context, some notable performances...

2010:
vs. Washington, Locker ran 12 times for 110 yards (USC lost 31-32)
vs. Washington State, Tuel ran 12 times for 26 yards (USC won 50-16)
vs. Stanford, Luck ran 6 times for 40 yards (USC lost 35-37)
vs. Oregon, Thomas ran 8 times for 42 yards (USC lost 32-53)

2009:
vs. Ohio State, Pryor ran 10 times for 36 yards (USC won 18-15)
vs. Washington, Locker ran 8 times for -15 yards (USC lost 13-16)
vs. Oregon, Masoli ran 13 times for 164 yards (USC lost 20-47)
vs. UCLA, Craft ran 9 times for 40 yards (USC won 28-7)

I don't think their mobile QB issue is quite as prevalent as some make it seem, but they've laid a couple of stinkers the last few years.
 

It seems to me that quarterbacks that are meant to be dual-threat (Pryor and Masoli) did fairly well against USC. I don't know much about UCLA or Oregon State though so I'm not sure about those quarterbacks.
 

If I were USC, I would rush 4 (or even 3 possibly in obvious passing downs), and sit back and make Gray beat us with his arm.

Standard logic says you would rush and pressure an inexperienced starting QB but I would do just the opposite. They'll keep Gray in the pocket, let him have all day to throw, see what he can do and take their chances.

I think Gray will do well this season when he breaks the pocket, gets on the move, and finds some guys who have had time to make themselves WIDE open. Other than that, I'm concerned about the passing game.
 


Ogee Oglethorpe said:
If I were USC, I would rush 4 (or even 3 possibly in obvious passing downs), and sit back and make Gray beat us with his arm.

Standard logic says you would rush and pressure an inexperienced starting QB but I would do just the opposite. They'll keep Gray in the pocket, let him have all day to throw, see what he can do and take their chances.

I think Gray will do well this season when he breaks the pocket, gets on the move, and finds some guys who have had time to make themselves WIDE open. Other than that, I'm concerned about the passing game.
Click to expand...

I agree. Make the Gophers beat you with Gray's arm until they prove they can do it.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
If I were USC, I would rush 4 (or even 3 possibly in obvious passing downs), and sit back and make Gray beat us with his arm.

Standard logic says you would rush and pressure an inexperienced starting QB but I would do just the opposite. They'll keep Gray in the pocket, let him have all day to throw, see what he can do and take their chances.

I think Gray will do well this season when he breaks the pocket, gets on the move, and finds some guys who have had time to make themselves WIDE open. Other than that, I'm concerned about the passing game.
Click to expand...

I would still try to pressure him whenever I can. To me, if you just "sit back", you're just letting him pick and choose when and where he can run. The field is very big. You let him sit back there for a few seconds without much pressure, that will stretch out the secondary. If he can't find anyone open and decides to run, he'll have LB's one on one. I'd put my money on Gray winning most of those. He may not break a lot of 20+ yarders but I bet he would have a bunch of 5 and 10 yarders.

I'd blitz a bunch if it were me. Sure, he'll probably break away from the blitz a few times and have long runs. But, looking from the defensive stand point, I also would want to see what he does under pressure, being it is his first start at QB. Even though Gray is an incredible runner, the Gophers (IMO) still want him to think pass first, run second. Sometimes when inexperienced running QBs like Gray get pressured a lot, they tend to take off early instead of stepping up in the pocket or rolling out still looking down field. Putting a lot of pressure on him could make him one-dimensional and that's not good for the Gophers in my opinion.

Gray is the biggest question mark without a doubt. With his running ability, he doesn't have to throw for 300 yards for us to be successful. But he does have to show the ability to complete passes. It will be interesting to see what happens. I'm super pumped!
 

I think Q breaks out big time against USC, & continues to break out well into the season.
He's sorta under the radar nationally, but not way under the radar.
By october he'll be a household name, much like Denard Robinson was 2 years ago, & Cam Newton was last year.
I'm not predicting this will always translate into wins, but Q's star will shine.
I'm hoping the rest of the team will rise to the occasion, & raise the bar as well.
A lot of folks on this board are concerned about Gray, think he's a question mark & let's wait & see...
He's the most solid & explosive player on the Gopher roster, & he won't disappoint. IMHO...

Can't wait for the Season to start!
Go Gophers!
 

I don't think we will see a lot of drop back 5-7 step passes...it just isn't the Kill offense. Most passing is done out of the option and is quick hitting to the wide outs and backside to the ends and slot. Anything deep, crosses or go routes, will be based on our ability to run the ball well on first and second so play action on first down is effective.

Blitzing always has its advantages and disadvantages, I look for them to blitz to stop the run as much as to stop the pass. Blitzing will take the ball out of Grays hands as much as possible...but I think he is still going to have his moments.

Key to this game is going to be our OL vs their DL and our ability to rush the passer. If we can move the line and effectively run the ball on O and get to their QB, we will have a chance...IMO.
 





Cobra said:
I think Q breaks out big time against USC, & continues to break out well into the season.
He's sorta under the radar nationally, but not way under the radar.
By october he'll be a household name, much like Denard Robinson was 2 years ago, & Cam Newton was last year.
I'm not predicting this will always translate into wins, but Q's star will shine.
I'm hoping the rest of the team will rise to the occasion, & raise the bar as well.
A lot of folks on this board are concerned about Gray, think he's a question mark & let's wait & see...
He's the most solid & explosive player on the Gopher roster, & he won't disappoint. IMHO...

Can't wait for the Season to start!
Go Gophers!
Click to expand...

Not trying to start anything, but Denard Robinson was last year too. 2 years ago Tate Forcier started for Michigan.
 

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