I monitor the WeAreSC.com forum and can tell you there’s a lot of soul searching going on there and apparently with the coaching staff too. For an NFL Scout to say that they looked scared, that’s saying something. Basically, the coaching staff did not have that team prepared.
I have long believed that USC suffers from their elite players believing their own press clippings. They come in as 4 and 5 star recruits with a lot of hype, but that also comes with a sense of 4 and 5 star entitlement that the coaching staff has cultivated, rather than break it down and be rid of it through a tough boot camp like training program.
Their team lacks focus. The Harambe is an example. So it was so important that they planned that junk out so they would look like a bunch of ferocious animals? Sorry but the dance was followed up with no fight.
I still remember the USC loss at Utah. Leonard Williams spent the entire game taunting the NEZ between downs. Tells me that the NEZ was in his head and that means NOT FOCUSED on the game. Guess what, they lost. But Leonard got his digs in at a bunch of drunk rowdies (thank you NEZ!).
There are posters on WeAreSC wondering whether they might be better off with 2 and 3 stars who are hungry. They do have a point, because hunger to succeed is a big part of it. I know that if you ever stepped on the field or jumped into the pool (water polo) scared, you were certain to lose. Attitude is a big part of it. SC is lacking it.