Lane Kiffin Has USC Flipping and Flopping

A “flip flop” game, that’s what Lane Kiffin called Game Two against Virginia.  

In Game One against Hawaii, the offense looked like a well-oil machine while the defense looked more like BP’s ruptured well in the Gulf. 

In Game Two, it was just the opposite.  The defense did fairly well while the offense was out of sync.

So, Kiffin is hoping that the Trojans will have a complete gain – a flip without a flop.

But, is it possible that Week Three against Minnesota could be a flop, an incomplete game on both sides of the ball?

Sure can!

Why?

By Kiffin’s own admission, he and his staff were “outcoached” by the Virginia staff last week.  How can that be?

Isn’t Kiffin’s staff considered one of the best in the nation as well as one of the highest paid?

And isn’t the Cavaliers’ staff a very modestly paid one at best and not very notable?  Aren’t the Cavaliers expected to finish last in the ACC?

Yes, on all three counts.

So, how can the Kiffins, Lane and Monte, along with the likes of Ed Orgeron, John Baxter, Joe Barry, James Clegg, and Willie Mack Garza be outcoached by a no-name staff?

Kiffin never went into specifics of why or how.  But I don’t think that they were outcoached during the game.  In fact, I liked some of the calls Kiffin made on offense, going long when everyone in the Coliseum including the Virginia defense expected a run.

No, it was clearly a lack of execution on the offense’s part.  Overthrows, dropped passes and penalties killed possession after possession.  The Trojans left at least three scores on the Coliseum field last Saturday.

The same could be said for Monte Kiffin’s defense in Hawaii the week before.  The defensive alignments, for the most part, were proper.  It was the execution – poor tackling and coverage – that didn’t get it done.

When it is a matter of sloppy execution, it has little to do with game day coaching.  Instead, that reflects on poor coaching during practices.

Kiffin has used the excuse that the coaching staff and players are new to each other.  But Virginia, a 19-point underdog, nearly upset USC.  They would have if it weren’t for two missed field goals and a botched call by the officials.  Nevertheless, this is the first year for their coaching staff and their first game ever in California. 

So, throw out that “new to each other” excuse.

The timing between Matt Barkley and his receivers must be worked on over and over during the week in drills.

The offensive line’s inability to open holes against a supposedly weaker opponent at home in the Coliseum shows a lack of intensity and focus.  This is something that should be second-nature by now after Fall Camp.

USC is at the top of the NCAA rankings in most penalties.  Again, the team’s lack of concentration and attention to details needed to be fixed long before now, back in the spring and at Fall Camp.

Perhaps the team is flip-flopping because the staff is flip-flopping.

Kiffin changed tactics again this week, deciding not to talk about penalties and had the coaches screaming and yelling at the players to focus and be more intense. 

Why now all of a sudden?  Where was the emphasis on focus and intensity during Fall Camp?  Why did the team come out flat in their home opener against a bottom-rung ACC team?

So, now it’s onto Minnesota and the 0-2 Gophers. 

This is the first crucial trap game of the season.  The Trojans are coming off a very poor showing at home and traveling halfway across the country.

The Gophers are coming off two upset losses, the last one a 41-38 loss to South Dakota.  It would be an understatement to say that the Gophers really need a win.

If not, Tim Brewster may not get to finish his fourth year as head coach.

The Trojans are facing a prolific offense with quarterback Adam Weber, a four-year starter, leading the nation’s number 29 overall offense (446.5 yards/game) and running back Duane Bennett heading up the nations 18^th ranked rushing offenses (242.4 yards/game)

Bennett rushed for 376 rushing yards all of last season but has already racked up 291 yards after only two games.  That puts him at number six nationally with 145.5 yards/game.

With Weber going against a young secondary that has shown quite a few lapses in coverage and Bennett hitting a defensive front seven that at times has looked like a sieve, the Trojans could easily find themselves in a trap with no way out.

To say that all the pressure is on Matt Barkley and the Trojan offense is putting it mildly.  If they don’t score early and often like they did in Hawaii, the Trojan’s could very well experience their first loss of the season.

Before the season started, I said it would be a credit to Kiffin and his staff to end up with an 8-5 record considering all the problems this program has experienced in 2010.

However, should the Trojans lose in Minnesota, and there is a good chance of that happening, then I will be the one to do some flip-flopping and expect that 8-5 to turn into a very ugly 5-8.

Let’s hope that Kiffin’s call for a complete game this Saturday becomes a reality and that the players can expect the same kind of consistency from the staff that Kiffin and his staff expect from the players.  No more flip-flopping.