USC seems to land most recruits they go after, and consistently year after year. I am not sure that has ever happened in CFB history to any one team over a stretch of several years. I have heard Coop used to do it, and FSU used to do it in the mid 90's, but nobody has the ability to attract players to positions where they are already loaded. I think that is what makes them such a media darling.
In any given year, a lot of things need to happen to go undefeated. Luck is one of them. In addition, success breeds contempt. That is extremely dangerous. How many times have we come this close to winning a NC (and would've probably done it) and came up short because of lack of preparation or overconfidence, or the ball bouncing the other way? IMO 1969, 1970, 1975, 2006, just to name a few. The same goes for USC as well. They were outsmarted by who will probably be named the athelete of the decade in 2005, and got overconfident against UCLA last year. They came back strong against scUM though.
There are several things I like about USC and Carrol. One is that I heard they have a practice every week where the starters have to win the job over. After the UCLA game, their OT who got clobbered, was bumped down to the second team. He had to win the position back during the next practice. That makes the players that much more competitive. As long as something like that is going on, I don't see them being humiliated like we were against UF. And this might be the primary reason why they attract top recruits year in and year out.
I heard that we went to two-a-days after new year because the coaches thought they'd lost the team. I don't know whether that was true, butif it was true, I have to question myself if the coaches' philosophy was appropriate in motivating the players.
During a game last year, a commentator mentioned that Carrol was the only coach he know that would run down the field during a kick return practice. He is that competitive.
Also look at the # of returning seniors for USC this year. USC could've had several juniors go pro. Only Jarrett did. Carrol actively engaged them to return for another year with the intention of going for a NC. Look at 2005. After the quarterback and the two RBs decided to leave, PC didn't actively ask juniors to return, and a lot of players went pro. I even think that he might've actively enrouraged them to go pro. JT on the other hand, IMO doesn't encourage players to return or leave. He looks at what's good for the players, and encourages them to make their own decision. There are positives and negatives on both areas, but PC's actions tend to leave them really "raw" in several positions in one year, and then have a really good year, or two. Ours, we will need to fill in for some positions every year. The bottomline, IMO is that PC is a cut-throat coach. He knows his job is to win games, win conference championships and win NC's. He optimizes his actions accordingly.
Lastly, a lot of people tend to understate the importance of USC's recruiting powers. IMO PC is just as good a coach as JT, but a better recruiter. Considering the results they've had, I'll say he's a pretty good evaluator of talent as well. It is true that there can only be 11 people in the field at one time, but you don't get better during games. You get better during practice, and USC has better competition during practice due to recruiting. What's more alarming to me is that they don't seem to have a "down" year in recruiting, so far. Case in point, we have a seemingly great OL haul this year, but USC might actually be on the way to match it.
Scout and Rivals are not the be-all end-all of recruiting, and I recognize that. But they are more often correct than wrong. Admittedly recruiting is an inexact science, but let's play the numbers. I heard somewhere that 15% of 5-star players end up spectacular, around 50% tend to be solid players, and the remaining just fizzle out. I think that is correct. But for 4-star players, the probability of being great or solid will be less. For a 3-star, even less. Sure, we should trust JT, but it isn't as if he is getting every recruit he's ever gone after. Remember, last year was a down year for us in recruiting. We needed more than just one OL last year, and we ended up with one whose only other major offer was Pitt. PC has a lot of negative qualities with recruiting, possibly including lying to recruits. But nice guys finish last, and IMO, JT is too nice for my liking in this department.
This is what I think at this time. There is definitely a possibility that I could be wrong in my assessment, depending on how USC does in the next few years under PC. I, for one, am eagerly awaiting the day when he retires (IMO he doesn't leave CFB). Let the flaming begin.
