Tucker Ashcraft

Apparently not.

So we saw Tucker Ashcraft, Neela Tupou.

Guess who scored USC's only touchdown of the game? Neela Tupou.

And that one was hard.

So I think you see a clear reaction to the fact that they didn't have their top guy.

It doesn't mean you're not going to play any tight ends, but let's see, who were the guys here? All right, so Tucker Ashcraft played 35 snaps.

Nobody else played more than five.

Okay, so it's mostly been him.

The instant analysis is not going to be as euphoric as it was in Happy Valley.

Yeah.

Big E for SC, Tucker Ashcraft, revenge game.

Yeah, he played at Wisconsin.

So like if you're, you have to, if it's throw to set up the run, then make do on that.

And I think that that was one of the things that I really liked in the Penn State game was in that second half, there were so many RPOs where they put Penn State's defense in in conflict with a pop pass over the middle to Tucker Ashcraft and Maiava I thought was so good at making his decisions on the RPOs and so if he can make his decisions well on the RPOs if he can make his decisions on the keeper that he does get he'll get one or two keepers or whatever that'll be key and then I go back to when are the games that he's had success on the ground in his career at SC two of them, I can think of both of them against Nebraska.

The first game he started was a game in which they ran a triple option jet sweep on a fourth down that I freaking loved that play.

And they have not run it since.

There was a lot of work that went in to get you to do that and make sure you do that same work, you know, and some differences there.

And you also you have Tucker Ashcraft, who said who went to Wisconsin, came over here.

He said he's been hyping up the entire team for jump around.

really wants his teammates to experience that so looking they're looking forward to it and so very different experience than the whiteout and he's been preparing his teammates for it

The players got to relax.

Tucker Ashcraft talked last week about going down to San Diego and getting away a little bit.

So there's that.

Now can you get back in the groove? Can you get guys healthy like you wanted to during the bye week? And then can you move forward and carry the momentum from that Penn State win? That was a huge momentum potential game for USC because you answered all the questions that we've had about you on the road, about you playing in a hostile environment, about you not taking care of the football, all those things on the road.

I mean, there's some runs that they had early in the season from a play design standpoint that they're not using right now because the tight end blocking has been such a mixed bag from the tight ends that have stepped in.

I think Tucker Ashcraft has been a bit of a disappointment.

I mean, he was coming in and supposed to be a guy that coming from Wisconsin, 6'5", 265.

The first thing he was supposed to be was a great run blocker.

He's a possible guy that's going to be out the door before we really even got to see him play much.

Safety, linebacker, there was no players.

Even the tight end position where you're losing two tight ends, you go after Tucker Ashcraft.

And you're like, okay, could be a starter.

What caught your attention the most from today's post-practice scrum, whether it was from Lincoln Riley, from one of the, you know, multiple players we spoke to, Jayden and, and, um, King Miller and, and Trent Mosley.

Who am I leaving? Tucker Ashcraft.

Who'd I miss? There was one more.

Jayden Maiva.

So it's a whole process, but USC was able to handle that.

When the tight ends were in, when they were, uh, connected to the line, you would see Tucker Ashcraft or you would see Tina Tutupou both, you know, basically putting their hand on the hip of the tackle and then going off the tackle's movement.

Now, there wasn't a lot of tight end, uh, usage in there compared to what it normally is, but the, they also did some things.

Lincoln Riley I thought did some interesting things to minimize the potential for errors and stuff, and that hasn't always been the case.

I think they did seven total snaps with that, and a couple of those were kneel downs.

They had the one fourth down where they actually went with three tight ends and they brought an extra offensive lineman.

But basically Tucker Ashcraft was in there.

The other tight ends didn't see the field much at all.