- USC had a bonus practice Monday, so the Trojans are ahead of schedule. "We were able to get a little ahead game plan wise, which enabled us to be a bit cleaner today on a Tuesday than we normally would be," said head coach Steve Sarkisian. "It was a good, hard, physical practice, which we need."
- On the injury front, RB Tre Madden is getting "much closer," according to Sarkisian, and OL Jordan Simmons is still working back into "football shape," but he's healthy.
- The Trojans felt the full brunt of the loss, especially with an extra week to dwell on it, but they are looking forward now starting with Oregon State. "It was a tough loss, but we put it behind us as soon as the game ended," said QB Cody Kessler. "These guys have been working really hard these last two weeks. We're excited to get back on the field and redeem ourselves and show that we can play."
- Sarkisian wants the offense to improve on 1st and 10, which will make third downs easier. "Our biggest thing is that we want to have those long drives like we had that first game," Kessler explained. "We need to put long drives together and keep the other team off the field. Especially this week, Sean [Mannion] is a great quarterback and we need to do as much as we can to keep him off the field. Our biggest emphasis is finishing in the end zone."
- Sarkisian on Mannion: "He's a big, tall, strong-armed guy. He's more of your prototypical NFL quarterback. He throws the ball very accurately in the short game...but then he does a nice job with the play-action pass. He steps up really well in the pocket, and he throws the ball down the field very well, knowing he's going to get hit."
- Both teams will want to get after the quarterback this week, so the Trojans know they need to sure up their protection, which is the focus of Tim Drevno's unit after a rough outing at Boston College. "It gave us a serving of humble pie and I think that was good for us," Drevno said. "We needed it and now it's showed us we need to get better and we're working on it."
- The young offensive line was always going to be a work in progress this season, so week-by-week improvement is the key. "Those guys have seen a lot of defense, and they'll be better for it in the future," said Sarkisian. "I just want them to be better for it sooner rather than later, so we just constantly push them."
- The run game needs to rebound as well after getting stuffed by BC. "We just went back to square one," said RB Justin Davis. "We kind of reinstalled some runs just going over the basics so we know our assignments and can capitalize on them."
- Here is Sarkisian after practice this morning...
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Oregon State Tuesday: Notes
September 01, 2014 | USC Ripsit Blog
Oregon State Tuesday: Notes
The Trojans are ready to be back in action against the Beavers coming off a bye week.
Monday, September 14
Sunday, September 13
Sunday, September 13
Sunday, September 13
