Football Answers - Oregon Edition

Oregon was clearly the better team on Saturday and showed why they're a legitimate contender for the national title. Looking back on the key themes entering the game ...

• Unstoppable force or immovable object? The immovable object (when it counted) was Oregon's defense. They had three clutch turnovers. As for the anticipated matchup of Oregon O and USC D, the Trojans held the dynamic Ducks to 212 yards less than their average production. While they did allow a rare 100-yard rusher, Stewart's 103 were well below his average. Also impressive was that USC only allowed 115 yards in the second half. So why did they give up 24 points? Once again, turnovers hurt the Trojans and gave Oregon great field position.
• Is Mark Sanchez the real deal? Yes. And no. We'll have another post on this coming right up.
• Will the offensive line jell? They didn't seem to: Rachal and Radovich had two major penalties ... The coaches apparently didn't have enough faith to run it up the middle on 4th and 1 early on, sending McKnight on a futile end-run instead ... USC only gained 101 yards on the ground ... Sanchez was sacked just once, but only because he escaped and scrambled several times ... Sam Baker went out again with an injury.
• Washington, Johnson, or McKnight? In the tailback rotation, Johnson only had three touches (likely because of his lingering foot injury). Washington was dependable, but the coaches didn't go to him on the aforementioned 4th down. McKnight showed flashes of his Reggie Bush-esque assets, especially on a long touchdown that was called back by Radovich's penalty.  He also showed Bush-esque liabilities when he lost ground on 4th down. He should have had more touches, but not that one.
• Where's the Cush? Brian Cushing came back from injury and made eight tackles, but five of his teammates reached double-digits in that category. These guys had a long day at the office.
• Can the wide receivers hang on? The receiving corps made some tough catches and showed improvement.

I expected these questions to sum up the outcome -- whatever it would be -- but concerns from earlier in the season have reared their ugly head. USC continued to hurt itself with penalties (80 yards) and turnovers (3), suffered a key injury (Sam Baker), and struggled with punts (a 36.4-yard average when kicking and no returns when receiving).

It might be good news that USC heads into next week's homecoming game against Oregon State (looking for revenge from last year, no less) ... but Stanford was supposed to be easy, too.

Comments

[Gerrrg]

3 things:

1. The middle-linebacker was too anxious to follow the line that was pulling one direction, and left the cutback to the middle, wide open. Despite that,..see #2.
2. The defense was really awesome. The corners and safety did an excellent job of keeping the plays in front.
3. The offense ranks of inconsistency. I like Booty, but he didn't grow much from last year. I like Sanchez, but he needs to learn to make better reads. Maybe they need to go to the shotgun with Booty? I thought this was going to be inserted into the offense this year???

[Adam Rose]

Gerrrg - All good points.

The shotgun was essentially dropped because of injuries. The only quarterback-center combo that practiced it was Booty-Spanos, but Spanos was injured early and replaced by O'Dowd. A few games later, O'Dowd was injured, so a still-hurt Spanos came back in. The next game, Booty went down. Even if Booty comes back, remember that Spanos is playing with an injured triceps, and that could affect the long snap.

[PK-IN-THE-MESA]

Lets face it there is not any control of this bunch this year and until the coach pull there heads out of the clouds the will still be not thinking what if like late hits

[Trojanguy]

The Ducks were the better team Saturday. It was close on the scoreboard, but Oregon was always in control, the way the Trojans used to be from say mid-season 2002 to 2005.

The team started to lose its dominance last year during a streak of listless victories over Washington State, Washington,Arizona and Arizona State, culiminating in an upset loss at Oregon State. In all those games, the Trojans failed to control the line of scrimmage, establish a consistently strong running game and/or failed to force turnovers. Coach Carroll got the team to put in three strong games after that, but the problems resurfaced versus UCLA along with John David Booty's lack of mobility. The lack of dominance on the offensive line continued in the Rose Bowl where USC passed itself to victory in the second half against an unathletic Michigan team....

I point all this out because this is exactly what has dogged USC this year from Day 1, other than when it played Nebraska, along with the defense while generally playing well having one irritating habit: setting up third down and long but then allowing conversions. A Great Defense sees it give up a first down when it has a third and say more than 15 once a season or so, but going back to the Idaho game, the Nebraska game, Washington State, etc. the Trojans have allowed an embarrasing number for conversions.

I trace the offensive and defense line problems as the key deficits for the 2007 team. Injuries are part of the game, and USC has had more than it's share on the o-line. But even when healthy, this is NOT a dominant group. Drew Radovich has never reached his potential at SC. His performance against Oregon including the backbreaker of a penalty on Joe McKnight's abated long touchdown run, was highly disappointing. Whenever you saw Mark Sanchez pressured, you saw Radovich was his hands up in the air almost it seems to have signaled, "I give up." The Duck guy against him Saturday OWNED him. So, Raodvich has turned out to be this year's Kyle Williams, a weak link where USC should have none.

Matt Spanos has proven why it has taken him five years to start, academic issues aside. O'Dowd as a true freshman is much, much more talented than Spanos and the young players loss against Washington was much more significant than can have been assumed at the time with a veteran coming in to play for him.

These guys don't push off the ball, and you wonder if Pat Ruel has lost his edge. Coach Davis, his predecessor, always seemed to have his o-line super aggressive--but without false starts and a minimum of holds--and for two years now Ruel has ruled over a group which isn't even the best in the conference let alone a line for a national championship contender.

One other issue for SC, and which has an easier solution: GO WITH ONE TAILBACK, and it should not be Chauncey Washington. Chauncey is still a step slow, and not as hard to take down as someone his size should be playing for a school like USC. Get us someone with breakaway speed as tailback and get him carriers so he can build up a some character. When a guy only carriers five times a game like Stafon Johnson or Joe McKnight, they aren't going to ever get into the flow of the game the way a good tailback needs to. Remember when our tailback got the rock 40 times a game? I am not suggesting that, but 18-20 to someone other than Chauncey Washington is going to give you an average above five years per carry and the threat of a long run. Chauncey sucks air after 10 yards.....

On the D-line, we may need a new coach there. Only Sed Ellis pays hard with a good motor the whole game. He had a monster game against Oregon double teams and should be our lone All American this year. Lo Jack is consistetnly....inconsistent. Overall, he's been a disappointment to me with his lack of sacks and big hits behind line of scrimmage. Kyle Moore is a year away from being a great player but he may at this time have surpassed Lo jack in overall impact on game from start to finish. Maybe we need to get Griffen some snaps and see if he can jump start line and get us some sacks without blitzing. Trojans remain last or near last in conference in sacks and that should NEVER be the case. That is D line coach's stat to mull over and improve by year end otherwise, we need someone who better shares Carroll's aggressive ethos and motivate these players to be more aggressive and violent when it comes time to getting to the QB.

I hope the Trojans took note of how Stanford, and the Oregon, celebrated their wins over SC. It should hurt and serve as motivation to finish the year strong and to remind us that running the table in the Pac-10 these days takes a dedicated effort each week. Fight On!

[E.Soto]

Good points trojanguy, you hit the nail on the head. Ive said it all along, it doesnt matter who plays QB when you cant dominate the line of scrimmage. I like Johnson as he is a north/south type runner with good speed and moves. McKnight needs to stop dancing around. Last but not least, our O line needs to get pissed off. They play very very soft.

[Les W]

I am a dyed-in-the-feathers Duck, and thoroughly enjoyed Saturday's contest between Oregon and USC. I am not in the habit of posting on blogs like this, but I was moved to do so here by the terrific display of sportsmanship by the USC players I observed (your band still drives me nuts though). Several times I observed your #49, Sedrick Ellis I think, pancake guys then offer them a hand up after the play was whistled dead. I will look for him in the NFL soon, and root for him.

Les W.

[Trojanguy]

Sed Ellis was USC's best player Saturday Les and I am glad that his sportsmanship matches his talent. Congratulations to the Ducks, you didn't win Saturday because we played a young quarterback, you controlled the lines well enough to give your fine quarterback and excellent running back the room they needed to make some plays. Even better luck to you Saturday. I respect Coach Belotti and his program, but would be lying if I say the same about Arizona State and Dennis Erickson. They are the outlaws of the conference, and in my view, very overrated. Give them a good taste of Autzen Stadium for USC, and preserve the inegrity of the Pac-10 by making sure the best team in our conference gets the best BCS bid.