Sports Radio Interviews

Pete Carroll and the Trojans Search for Answers to Fix the Defense During the Bye Week

When the season started at USC, many people thought things would be difficult for the Trojans.  They had a bunch of questions on offense and ton on defense as well.  I’m not sure how many other teams in the country had to replace as many impact players that USC was trying to replace.  Rey Maualuga, Clay Matthews, Brian Cushing and Mark Sanchez among others all left for the NFL, leaving holes all over the field.  However, at the beginning of the year that didn’t seem to be a huge issue for Pete Carroll and his Trojans. USC started the season on a good note as they notched a victory over a top 10 team on the road in a hostile environment, they won six of their first seven games and had their eyes on a BCS Bowl.  Well, that hasn’t exactly gone according to plan.  The Trojans have dropped two of their last three games and in those losses, Pete Carroll’s defense that looked so good at the beginning of the season gave up 102 total points, including a whopping 55 to Stanford.  And it was at home!

By their standards, USC has had a down year.  Not only have they lost a chance at a BCS Bowl berth, but it looks like a Pac 10 title is out of the question as well.  The Trojans have a bye this week to search for answers, to try and get right and finish the season on a high note.  However, I can’t imagine that two wins against UCLA and Arizona to finish out the season at 9-3 will really make the year at success.  Not when you’re USC, not when you have National Title aspirations at the beginning of the year and not when you finish the year without at least a Conference Title.  No matter what way you look at it, USC has had a down year.

Pete Carroll joined KLACto talk about the issues they are having on defense, what things they are trying to work on during the bye week, the play of his freshman quarterback this season, the game against Stanford and his thoughts on Jim Harbaugh.

On what issues they need to address during the bye week:

“We have to address a couple of issues about the style that we’re playing on defense.  We’ve worked hard to hold on to all the things that have always been successful for us: the adjustments and the things that have made changes for us that have worked out, but we have found that we have not been able to be consistent enough.  We’re not able to redirect fast enough and change the course of the way these games have gone.  We get in trouble and it just kind of snowballs on us and we’re not able to stop it.  Mainly we have to really play right and we can’t give up stuff by making the smallest of errors that can get you against a well-executed football team like what happened against Stanford.  They just kept running a couple of plays and hit ‘em and hit ‘em and hit ‘em.  They found different ways to make us be just a titch off where we needed to be.  They were able to take advantage of it and all of the sudden it just got rolling.  One, we have to be more precise and two, we have to go farther than where we have gone to make our adjustments and do things and position our guys.  That takes us a little farther out of the realm of being base and you have to take a few more risks to counter. So all of that is a part of it now.”

On how disappointed he is right now with the defense:

“Can’t be more disappointed that we haven’t been able to pull it together.  We bounced back against Arizona State and played a good football game, but they’re a team that is not on the top of their game right now, they’re still trying to find themselves.  We did it in fashion that should’ve happened.  We held them down and they couldn’t do much.  But against a high flying team like Oregon and Stanford whose offenses are just tearing it up, it’s calling for more out of the history of stuff that we have done.  I’ve gotta reach farther back in the adjustments and the changes and the things that we have been willing to do over the years when it was tough or we weren’t as manned up as well as we have been.  In that, it’s a great challenge and I’m serving as the most resilient person in history.  Who’s the guy that’s the most interesting man in the world (Hosts: Dos Equis guy.)  I try to be the most resilient and see if I can keep this thing going forward and moving ahead and keeping a clear thought so that we can make good decisions and not be mired in the mess that has just happened.  That takes discipline and it’s a challenge and we’re going to try and do this really well.”

On the turnovers by Matt Barkley against Stanford:

“He got hammered by a mistake up front on the fumble and he threw the interceptions in the game when we were down and the other ball was a tipped ball.  I’m not trying to cover for him because those are still four turnovers and those spell a huge aspect in this game that we couldn’t overcome.  We need to help him, the defense needs to play better around him, we need to not make the mistakes to cause a turnover early in the game on the way down the field on the first drive and support him.  There is no guy that does this by himself.  Andrew Luck has the tremendous running game commitment that they have; the great running back that’s hammering at you and that kills the clock and makes a lot of stuff easier for him and he’s playing really well in support of that.  If you think he’s the top quarterback in the country, that’s one thing, but I think he’s playing in a great offense and he’s playing great quarterback for them.  I don’t know who’s the best, but I think he’s the beneficiary of a really good surrounding cast.”

On why he always speaks so positively about Matt Barkley:

“He needs all the help he can get Petros.  He needs the support; he needs to realize that he’s got the backing and the commitment so that he can be concerned about the things that have to do with the football stuff.  I don’t know why somebody would want to criticize why we would praise somebody, but there is reason that you’re doing it to help somebody’s psych, help his preparation, help keep his focus, but also tell the truth.  This guy is a fantastic football player and a great kid obviously.  Look what he’s done and look what he’s upholding for the first time ever.  Nobody’s ever even tried to do this before.  Our expectations for him are that he’ll continue to do the things that he can do well and we need the support around him.  Just like people thought it was a crazy decision to start the guy from the beginning and then they saw that he has marvelous capabilities.  He’s got a tremendous upside and we have to build our stuff around him so that he can be effective and successful.  Part of that is keeping his mind right and keeping him straight.”

On the relationship between him and Jim Harbaugh:

“We have a competitor’s relationship.  I don’t know him very well.  I’ve talked to him a couple of times at league meetings and in a pregame situation.  I’ve coached against him a few times in the league and that’s it.  There’s nothing more to be made of it than that.  I don’t know why anybody would want to find anything special.  There isn’t, I barely know the guy.  I know him as a terrific competitor and he’s doing a fantastic job with him team right now.  I really think that everybody oughta get over it.  I wish they would because I don’t think it has anything to do with anything.  A coach that’s in a situation like that gets to do whatever he wants to do.  Remember the thing that Woody Hayes said a log time ago when it was 48-14 against Michigan and they asked him why he went for two?  He said because I couldn’t go for three.  That’s not exactly what Jim Harbaugh said, but that’s what Woody was thinking at the time.  Guys get to do whatever they want to do.  Whatever we do and whatever we say there’s always consequences.  There’s always reason to try and consider what somebody meant and what they thought and all.  He had his chance, he spoke out about it and he can do whatever he wants.”

Listen to Pete Carroll on KLAC with Petros and Money

Tags: College Football, Jim Harbaugh, Matt Barkley, Pete Carroll, Petros and Money, USC Trojans