What a difference a week makes. Yes the Trojans are 1-0 but boy did they have their hands full with Western Michigan last week. Looking at the 18 point win if you did’nt see the game you might think it was a cake walk. Nope. We won that game by never giving up and came from behind mid way through the fourth quarter to win going away. Hats off to the men from Western Michigan and to our Trojans for not wilting in the 100 degree temprature and getting their heads handed to them on the ground for three quarters. This team does’nt quit.
On to Stanford. The Cardinal are off to a good start. Steady as always and showing no signs of a major letdown from the loss of Christian McCaffery to the NFL last year. They are a very dettermined and confident team and Tee Martin along with Clancy Pendergast will have their hands full in devising a run stop defense against a very skilled offensive line and set of running backs. The passing game is good enough not to beat themselves so that in itself tells you they will be a patient group and grind you into the turf if possible.
For the Trojans it’s about film. There should have been plenty of film on the first three quarters to last the whole week and fix the areas of the defense and offense that were challenge last week. A key area which is always difficult to judge is the impact of a star player who was benched for the first half. Taking Cam Smith out of the defense is like sitting Sam Darnold down on the offense. Yes I said it. I compared Cam to Sam. I think it’s all relative and have gotten myself into a few spirited chats this week.
The defense will need help. The offense has to keep that running game in high gear and work the clock. This won’t be a 100 point combined scoring game with the Cardinal. Unless we allow it of course. The good news here is that the Trojans know they did not impress anyone. They dropped in the rankings for whatever week one is worth. Now they are sitting right where we want to be just out of the reach of the playoffs. But close enough to earn a seat on the bus at the right time.
Beat the Cardinal. Focus on this game. Execute the defense, offense and special teams to the full potential of this highly gifted group of Trojans and the game is theirs.
Fight On!