By Thursday, most of the obvious things have already found a home somewhere. We have talked about Jayden Maiava. We have talked about USC’s improved running game, Gary Patterson’s defense and the problems Oregon has to solve along the line of scrimmage. We have gone into the advanced numbers, looked at the matchup from both sides and spent enough time with USC that there isn’t much value in simply finding another way to tell you the Trojans are good.
That isn’t really what I want this piece to become anyway. Over the course of a week, there are things I write down because they might become something later. A quote catches my attention but doesn’t quite fit the story I’m writing. Something from the previous Saturday looks a little different after hearing a coach explain something Monday. A thought from rewatching the game collides with something from Ducks vs. Them, a podcast or another breakdown, and suddenly something that seemed relatively insignificant a few days earlier starts hanging around.
Those are the things I want Emptying the Notebook to be about. Not what was left over, but what became more interesting after having a few days to sit with it.
