(Written by kencraw)

Various thoughts on the first half of the USC game…

• D’Amato: There’s no doubt he’s got the shanks and it’s all inside his head. Nice to see him get a chance to kick a short one to get some confidence back. While we should definitely bias against kicking, but I wouldn’t completely give up on him yet.
• The 2 interceptions have saved this from being a much more lopsided game. That’s both good defense and a bit of luck.
• At the same time, the run defense is a real problem. Very intermitant play. Some good plays, but also WAAAY too many plays getting blown off the ball and seeing it go for lots of yards.
• Offense hasn’t been horrible, but also has been too inconsistent as well. Too many botched plays. Also, the offensive line is loosing the battle at the line of scrimmage. Considering that deficit, the rest of the offense isn’t doing half bad.
• WHERE THE HECK IS BIGELOW!?! This is where I get pretty frustrated with Tedford and his staff. They act like they get it, but yet then they never seem to ACT on what they get. Bigelow’s carries so far: ZERO! Unbelievable.
• Touchdowns, not field goals. That has to be the mantra when playing a better team and so far we’ve got two redzone possessions and two field goal attempts.
• The Bears are going to have to play a much better 2nd half to win this one, but it’s not entirely out of reach yet. Scoring on their first drive is pretty important to swing momentum and then the run defense has to improve.

Oh, one more thing… why couldn’t we have the good luck of the Furd in when we match up against USC? They played them without their kicker or their lauded center. Both are back to face Cal. Ugh.

That said: No excuses, win this game!