USC football: A fan’s look back at the Arizona game

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Big Brother always knows best.

Rudy Tesselaar, my oldest brother, was correct when he said during USC’s game with Washington that this was a four-loss team.

I figured he was just displaying the pessimism that runs in the family in regard to the teams we root for. But was he ever right.

USC, the team that began the season on a roll of seven (consecutive conference championships, 11-win seasons and BCS bowl game appearances), is indeed a four-loss team after finishing the regular season with a dispiriting 21-17 defeat against Arizona on Saturday at the Coliseum.

The Trojans haven’t lost this many games in a season since 2001, when Pete Carroll’s first USC team went 6-6. But at least that team won its final four regular-season games and showed major improvement as the year progressed.

My disappointment with the 2009 Trojans is not that they didn’t meet the standard of previous Carroll teams, it’s that they got worse as the season went along. USC lost three of its final five games, including two at home, where it had lost one game in the previous seven seasons.

Pin USC’s loss Saturday on another miserable performance by the offense. The defense, for the most part, was solid, but failed on two huge occasions, opening the way for the Wildcats to beat USC for the first time since 2000.

It is hard to comprehend how far USC has fallen on offense since the Oregon State game.

A quick review of the offense the last five games:

— Four scoring possessions for 20 points against Oregon.

— One scoring possession (seven points) against Arizona State.

— Three scoring possessions (21 points) against Stanford.

— Three scoring possessions (21 points) against UCLA.

— Three scoring possessions (17 points) against Arizona.

Production like that doesn’t cut it in a mid-major conference, let alone the Pac-10.

I’m not a football coach, so my opinion counts for nothing, but can anyone say freshman quarterback Matt Barkley is better today than he was at the start of the season? How about Jeremy Bates, the first-year play-caller? The wide receivers, other than Damian Williams? The offensive line?

USC had 282 yards of offense against the Wildcats. Barkley completed 20 of 37 passes, but for only 144 yards and a dreadful 3.9-yard average per attempt. He had one pass intercepted and could have had several more picked off. In the last three games, Barkley had five passes intercepted. For the season, he has 13 touchdown passes against 12 interceptions.

Any fan clamoring for Aaron Corp or Mitch Mustain to get a chance at quarterback can forget it. Barkley is going to be the starter next season and the season after that. So it’s up to the Santa Ana Mater Dei High product to dramatically improve next season and the season after that or USC will continue to be an embarrassment on offense.

And the blame isn’t solely on Barkley. He needs receivers who can consistently get open and consistently catch the ball. Other than Williams, I don’t see a receiver like that on this year’s team.

As for the defense? It kept the Trojans in the game Saturday, unlike the Oregon and Stanford games, but its inability to stop Arizona on third down was the difference.

With the score tied at 7-7, Arizona went 90 yards in 15 plays for a touchdown, three times converting on third down. On a third-and-13 play from the USC 21, Everson Griffen jumped offside on a play that ended with Arizona well short of the first down. Given another chance (after a false start), the Wildcats completed a pass to the two and scored two plays later.

What should have been a field-goal attempt instead was a touchdown because of an undisciplined penalty.

With the score 14-14 late in the game, USC was in position for a possible touchdown, but a holding penalty moved the Trojans from the Arizona 14 to the 24. The Trojans could get only a field goal instead of a possible seven points, again because of a most ill-timed flag.

USC had shut down Arizona for the entire second half until after the field goal, when the Wildcats went 80 yards in 10 plays for the decisive score. Arizona again was three for three on third-down plays, none bigger than Nick Foles’ 13-yard pass to Keola Antolin on third and 10 from the Arizona 20.

USC nearly sacked Foles on the play, but didn’t, bringing up another disturbing number. In USC’s losses to Oregon, Stanford and Arizona, opposing quarterbacks Jeremiah Masoli, Andrew Luckand Foles threw 93 passes.

How many times were they sacked?

ZERO.

And that’s what this season has felt like way too many times. A lot of nothing. And it has nothing to do with being a fan spoiled by past success. Watching this offense is just painful. Watching the defense give up third-and-long conversions all season long isn’t much better.

I usually get sad at the end of the year, because it means no more USC football for nine months. But even before Saturday’s game, I was looking for this season to be over.

Of course, it’s not done yet, as the Trojans will play Boston College in the Emerald Bowl on Dec. 26.

I’m hoping USC can find something in the bowl game and get a head start on 2010.

Big Brother proved to be right about the four losses.

But he didn’t say anything about five losses.

-- Hans Tesselaar