More photos » by Matt Sayles - AP Browse more photos » It is safe to say that the recent play of Matt Barkley has been some cause for concern for many of us. We all marveled at his poise on the road against tOSU, Cal and ND. The tOSU and ND games were not the prettiest but the... more »
Stanford comes into the Coliseum as a hot team with Rose Bowl aspirations. The Cardinal’s defeat of the 8th ranked Oregon Ducks 51-42 put the nation on notice that Stanford football can compete at the highest level and Head Coach Jim Harbaugh is one of the best young coaches in the game.
It was just two years ago that Harbaugh inherited a football program that was one of the worst in the country and used the biggest upset in college football history against USC (Stanford was a 42.5 point underdog) that year as a stepping stone to building a top 25 team.
The heart and soul of Stanford is Toby Gerhart, a 6’1, 235 pound physical powerhouse running back who is one of the best in the nation. He is one of the few backs in the country that can and will carry the ball over 30 times a game and beat defenders up. His mentality has crossed over to his teammates who thrive off playing a physical brand of football.
Another key to Stanford’s success is they play intelligently and usually will not beat themselves. The development of Redshirt Freshman Andrew Luck has been tremendous and gives Stanford the balance on offense that makes them dangerous anywhere on the field. In the past 3 games, Luck was 50-83 for 910 yards and 5 TD’s against only 1 interceptions and that included games against two top 25 teams (Oregon and Arizona) and against one of the best defenses in the conferences Arizona State.
The banged up Trojans will have to play far better than they have the past 6 quarters to leave the Coliseum with a victory. It is going to be tough as the offense will need to come to life without #1 wideout/punt returner Damian Williams (high ankle sprain) and Wide Receiver Ronald Johnson and Tight End Anthony McCoy not operating at 100%.
The Stanford defense is vulnerable to a balanced attack and the Trojans offense is not only going to have to generate at least 24 points of offense but also grind away at the game clock to rest the defense which will be involved in a very physical battle.
4 Keys to the Game:
Hold Gerhart to under 4 yards a carry: It is going to be difficult to completely shut down a back as physical as Toby Gerhart. The Trojans have to look to contain him and not allow him to frequently gain over 5 yards a carry. The Defensive Line will have to play very physical and win the line of scrimmage battle.
The shift of Defensive Lineman Devon Kennard to Linebacker could be a huge factor. Kennard looked great in practice this week and has the size and strength to handle a guy like Gerhart. He gives the undersized linebacking core a physical presence that is sorely needed in a game like this. USC coaches are very enthusiastic about Kennard's physical and mental attributes. He can be a “55” type linebacker. However, a lot is being asked of a freshman who has not played the position before.
Thoughts from Thursday's practice, through the eyes of USCRipsIt...- With football icon Jim Brown in attendance and cool weather in the air, the Trojans sped through a brief half-pads practice on a quintessential gridiron evening under the lights. The workout closed out the on-field portion of game preparation and pushed the team one step closer to the Stanford matchup... more »
While watching the Trojans lose control of a football game for the first time in the Pete Carroll era and reflecting on the last 9 quarters of football USC has played, the beginning of Buffalo Springfield’s song “For What It’s Worth” started playing in my head “There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear, there’s a man with a gun over there telling me I have go to beware…”
The Trojan nation will remember where they were Halloween night 2009 for many years to come after watching a true horror movie being played out in Auzten Stadium as Oregon dominated the Trojans 47-20 and literally beat them up as the Trojans suffered quite a few injuries on the defensive side of the ball. For the first time in his SC tenure, Coach Carroll seemed to doubt his own game plan of stopping Oregon’s run offense because of a few early completions to the Oregon slot receiver early and chaos ensued.
Oregon proved they are one of the best teams in the country and Head Coach Chip Kelly has done a masterful job of getting his team to rebound from an early loss against Boise State.
It is easy to beat up on the Trojans right now and quite frankly some of it is deserved. However, if they can pull it together they still have an easy shot at another top 10 season, a potential BCS at-large bow bid and the chance to carry quite a bit of momentum into next season with a very young team. Even faint hope remains for the Rose Bowl.
We will learn a lot about the Trojans from the coaching staff down in terms of how they rebound from this type of loss over the next few weeks. The invincibility factor of the SC jersey is no longer going to give them a mental edge in 2009.
After the jump is a quick analysis of the keys to the game from Friday's Skinny and an injury report
The Trojans have survived tough road environments this year at Ohio State, Cal and Notre Dame. However, the biggest test of the year will be Saturday night at the toughest place to play in the Pac-10, Auzten Stadium, where the Trojans will battle the 10th ranked Oregon Ducks.
The Trojans will have to survive a real house of hunts with a raucous Halloween night crowd, rain and wind in the 1st half and an Oregon team that is operating at the top of its game.
The fourth ranked Trojans have not left the state of Oregon with a victory since 2005 and will have to play together and disciplined in all phases of the game to for them to leave with a victory.
5 things to keep track of plus the obvious:
1- USC’s Defensive Line vs. Oregon’s Offensive Line: Oregon’s offensive line is fairly inexperienced and has yet to play a top tier defensive line. The Trojans must get penetration early and break-up Oregon’s offensive rhythm. The key to stopping any spread attack is linebackers being able to stay home and cause havoc on the short passing game and mis-directional running plays.
The emergence of the spread offense has led defensive coaches to really focus on it in the offseason and will see if that hard work pays off on Saturday.
2- Force Oregon into obvious passing situations: The Oregon offense is very potent when they are running the ball 2/3 of the time and not forced into throwing situations longer than 10 yards. Oregon only averages 157 yards passing a game. The hurry up aspect of Oregon’s offense is based on a solid running game where they like to hand it off or throw a pass behind the line of scrimmage 85% of the time.
Oregon prefers to throw the ball less than 20 times and Masoli is a weak mid to deep thrower under pressure. Evidence of that was clear in USC’s 44-10 victory over Oregon in the Coliseum last year.
Oregon tailback LaMichael James might be the second best back in the conference behind Oregon State’s Jacquizz Rogers. He is a great cut-back runner and has the ability to make a big gain at the blink of an eye. Containing James will be the key to forcing Oregon into 3rd and long situations.
History repeats itself for the Golden Bears; they enter the season with lots of hype, only to fold like a bad hand in poker. Time for them to enter hibernation!
Cal's Heisman hopeful tailback, Jahvid Bust, was held to a season-low 47 rushing yards against USC. Meanwhile Joe McKnight looked the best out there, rushing for 119 yards and two touchdowns.
Cal's quarterback, Kevin Riley, really outdid himself this time. Just when you thought his passing completion rate of 38.7% against Oregon could not get any worse, he sunk to a new low against the Trojans with a completion rate of 37.5%.
The offense got off to a strong start, but they were inconsistent and fumbled more than they should have, but on the bright side, coaches opened up the playbook and allowed Matt Barkley to complete some deep passes. However this offense, and the receiving game in particular, needs to play better. Trojan fans eagerly await the return of the fastest receiver, Ronald Johnson, who suffered a shoulder injury in the scrimmage game in August.
This defense is impressive. They almost held the Cougars to a shutout if it were not for Aaron Corp's fumble late in the game. Defensive back Marshall Jones and defensive tackle Hebron Fangupo each suffered season ending injuries in this game. Injuries are part of the game, and this is why it never hurts to have depth like USC does. Pete Carroll and coaching staff "stockpile" talent, and given the current waves of injuries, this is when the depth is tested.
Some quick thoughts on the first three quarters of tonight's USC-Washington State matchup at the Coliseum:
Penalties! Penalties! Penalties! Ack!!!! USC's lack of discipline is turning me into Cathy Guisewite.
Great to see Brice Butler getting involved.
And even better to finally see a Damian Williams TD.
Loni Fangupo's injury was pretty gruesome. Not Tim Krumrie-ugly, but still nasty.
Watching Anthony McCoy limp off the field is disappointing, but watching Blake Ayles run out on the field is a thrill. There's no doubt, the kid's got the gift.
Way too much love for Tuel -- guy didn't score a TD, and yet the announcers were going all Tebow on him.
We connected with Big Mike Williams on Twitter tonight. Assuming it really was him and not an impostor, we are stoked.
Does being an academic star at Washington State really count?
Matt Barkley is throwing Brett Favre hard on some plays. Don't be afraid to dial it back a touch, young Jedi.
Those terrible Sonic commercials were more entertaining than a lot of the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
I left a sportsbar so I could come home and watch the game, which allowed me to get reacquainted with Petros Papadakis. A decision that wound up feeling like that time you opted to have dinner with your ex-girlfriend, only to have it quickly devolve to hurried eating and angst-ridden bill paying. And then he went and made out with Tuel before we even left the building.
In a battle between last place teams in the Pac-10 standings, the 12th ranked Trojans (2-1) face an overmatched Washington State Cougars (1-2) team on Saturday at 7:15 pm in the Coliseum.
Though the Cougars are coming off an exciting come from behind overtime win against SMU, they are limping into the Coliseum and will have a tough time putting up much of a fight against the Trojans.
The main goals for the Trojans are to work on eliminating crucial mental mistakes that plagued the team in Seattle (penalties and turnovers) and making progress in the passing game.
Six things to look for in the Coliseum on Saturday:
1-Dominant defensive performance: The Cougars started the season with the dubious distinction of having the least amount of talent in the Pac-10 and just three games into the season they are already down 4 starters on the offensive side of the ball. They have lost two starting offensive lineman, the #1 Wide Receiver left the team to focus on track and the starting Running Back injured his knee against SMU and is out for the year.
USC’s Defensive Line will absolutely dominate the line of scrimmage allowing them to pressure the QB while being able to drop the Linebackers into coverage. The Trojans should also be able to man-up the Wide Receivers in tight coverage allowing the Linebackers and Safeties to make plays on the ball. The Trojans should come up with at least 2 to 3 turnovers.
The tension and anxiety amongst the coaching staff in Heritage Hall this week ended up spilling onto the field and sidelines Saturday as the Trojans lost to the Washington Huskies 16-13 and dropped to #12 in the AP poll.
Despite an early touchdown drive where the offensive line opened up huge holes, the Trojans reverted back to the same recipe for disaster that annually costs them a game in Pac-10 play: Turnovers, Penalties and Questionable offensive play calls. It is very difficult to overcome these problems when you are playing the second of back-to-back road games and are without your starting QB Matt Barkley and All American Safety Taylor Mays.
The Trojans had the ball within or near the red zone six times and only walked away with 13 points and turned the ball over 3 times. They were a combined 0-11 on 3rd and 4th down and could only muster 110 yards passing, the lowest in the Pete Carroll era.
The offensive coaching staff botched an attempt to get a field goal off at the end of the first half by running the ball with no timeouts left and played not to lose at the end of the game instead of rolling Corp out and trying to attack the end zone.
*QB Aaron Corp has been throwing in 7-7 drills the past few days and has looked solid. The coaches have been happy with his accuracy and most importantly, his swagger. He appears confident and is showing good leadership skills despite being out with a cracked fibula. He will return to full practice next week. It will be interesting to see how his mobility looks as that seems to be the only thing that concerns the coaches regarding Corp. If Corp is even just 90% going into San Jose State I think he will get the start. The coaches are more comfortable with Corp's command of the offense and trust him to make the right throw depending on the situation. It will really come down to his health and how he performs the next two weeks.
*Freshman QB Matt Barkley has had a tough week following his 5-18 scrimmage performance in which Coach Carroll threw him into the fire against a heavy rush and disguised coverage's. The hope was that Barkley would bounce back fairly quickly from the performance but even Coach Carroll admits the expectations for Matt from everybody, coaches included, might have been too high.
The spotlight shined very bright on Matt since Corp went down and he has received nearly every first team snap to get him ready. In the process, they may have overloaded him. However, all this work will pay off in a big way for him in the future. He may have struggled but he never quit and has handled himself "beautifully" as Coach Carroll would say. Barkley will continue to get opportunities and may see significant time in the San Jose State game in a "platoon" situation. He has so much talent and moxie that they want to get him on the field sooner rather than later.
Also, the coaches have not ruled out the thought of a "platoon" system this year while they bring along Barkley. Carroll says he is opened to it but I don't think it fits his coaching style. We'll see... it worked with Chris Leak and Tim Tebow at Florida.
In the meantime, if Corp heals properly from his injury, in the near term, Corp gives the program the best chance to win.
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