Reasons to Be Concerned

I swiped this from "Stewart" Mandel's Saturday Scorecard (how can one respect a man named Stewart? Unless you're this man, I guess) and it warrants some sort of response.

"If you’re a Trojans fan, however, you have three reasons to be concerned right now: Injuries (guard Chilo Rachal joined center Kris O’Dowd and cornerback Shareece Wright – who himself was replacing the injured Cary Harris – on the sideline Saturday); the lack of a second dependable receiver after Turner; and Cal/Oregon/Arizona State. The Trojans, which have to play all three of those ranked teams on the road, are clearly far from invincible, and both the Bears and Ducks sure looked good Saturday."

Lets see. Where should I start on this one? I'll just validate or invalidate his 3 reasons...I guess.

1) Chilo Rachal has never been a great offensive lineman. This guy usually get pancaked by other lineman or by Jeff Byers who has pancaked the entire defense onto Rachal. Seriously, that was a reason to be concerned from the very beginning. At least Tiny can actually move some weight with his body.

2) The lack of a dependable receiver AFTER Turner? Christ, does this guy even watch the games? Turner has never been a dependable receiver to begin with for God's sake. Last time I checked, a receiver catches footballs and I have yet to see Turner do that every now and then. In fact, we have no dependable receivers. Hazelton is a "me-first" player while Ausberry is FAR from the elite scout teamer he once was (Allegedly). And if Booty's arm can catch up to Rojo's speed, maybe we can stretch the field sometime soon. We blame Booty for alot of our struggles this season and sometimes its deserved, but this past game at U-Dub shows that he has no sure hands on this team.

3) This last reason is kinda iffy. "Stewart" might have a point, but its not very strong. Do Cal and Oregon scare me? Yes. Is Desean Jackson a gamebreaker? Yes. Is Dennis Dixon a threat? Yes. Does Terrel Thomas suck? Yes. But I have one reason and its probably the best reason why those teams will NOT beat USC. Pete Carroll. I can assure you Mike Bellotti and Jeff Tedford will have some rear leakage when they are staring across the field from the man who is the best game-day coach money can buy. USC might be struggling right now, but no one is showing any respect right now and when that big game comes, Pete Carroll will make things right. You can take that shit all the way to the bank. Comments welcome.