Dissent Among The Trojans?
Posted by DontBendDontBreak | Filed under Dissent
Mark Sanchez’s postgame interview with College Gameday is up at FanDome, and there are a few interesting things to note from it.
He praises the fans and the team effort, mentioning nearly all of the receivers by name. Understandable, for if it weren’t for their fantastic athletic ability, they never would have been able to score on a Buckeyes team that was obviously better coached. They were expecting the pass and nearly stopped all four of Sanchez’s touchdown passes.
Carroll does know his players are allowed to run the ball into the endzone, right? The Trojans had 20 less rushing yards than passing yards, and the difference would be greater if not for Joe McKnight having a few big runs. Offense balance is key. We got lucky. If the Buckeyes hadn’t felt the lead was insurmountable, they would have eventually shut down our one-sided attack.
Sanchez is a remarkable talent and a classy guy, so of course he wouldn’t publicly call out Pete Carroll (that’s why we’re here) for putting the outcome of the game in the hands of a young, inexperienced offense. That’s too much pressure for a bunch of unheralded receivers that shouldn’t have been able to get that open and a rebuilt offensive line that should have been dominated by a much more experienced defensive front seven. When they gave up their first sack (on another failed 4th and short attempt), we were surprised it wasn’t the tenth.
But the fact that Sanchez did not mention him while heaping praise on others speaks volumes.
Sanchez went on to say that “[the Trojans] don’t feel like [they’ve] arrived at all.” Kirk Herbstreit and Brent Musberger interpreted this comment as an athlete with a fiery passion hoping to spur his team up to the next level, but the dissatisfaction in Sanchez’s dreamy brown eyes was clear.
His words echo the sentiment that has been brewing among the Trojan nation for some time now; USC hasn’t arrived in National Championshipsville for far too long, and they won’t get there with Pete Carroll behind the wheel.
Tags: Brent Musberger, FanDome, Gameday, Joe McKnight, Krik Herbstreit, Mark Sanchez, Ohio State