USC Graham Harrell Needs to Bring the Panic

I'm probably going to sound like I'm preaching out of both sides of this topic. Guilty. I love the passing game but I treasure the O Line and the RB's sprinkled in with the TE activity. This USC offense is well equipped to give DC's nightmares on the planning side let alone the game-time decisions that will be thrust on them. Unless of course, Graham Harrell decides to forgo the use of these key areas to give Kedon a show at surprising the defense each time he lines up. We saw so many drop 8 alignments and Graham was not seeing the obvious or just too stubborn to take what is given.

The statistics I was reading on 2020's play selection show the running game was in the mid to high 40% of total plays. That sounds good to me at first glance but it's also a concern for if you just look at statistics you won't understand the frustration. In 2020, given all of the challenges with COVID, etc, we all could predict when Graham was going to call a run. He used it as a token and the RB's never got into that rhythm they seek and need. The defense could see it in the films. The situational calls were too easy to dissect what was coming.

One last rant. I hate the USC version of Tempo. Rushing to the line of scrimmage and then showing all of your assets for 20+ seconds standing with their hands on their hips and staring to the sidelines is a non-starter. Huddle Up Graham. Give Kedon a chance at working the huddle and honing his leadership skills. We snapped the ball under 5 seconds so many times it was laughable to consider this up-tempo. We look unorganized. Almost lazy just standing there trying to read whatever the sideline was communicating. Trust the defensive coordinators could re-align with plenty of time as they could see the Offensive assets on the upcoming play without panic.

Bring the Panic Graham