Orange County Register

LEV’S GRADE: D-PLUS

Let’s start at the beginning: For whatever reason, USC did not come out ready to play. The Trojans couldn’t match the Beavers’ intensity and tenacity in the first half, and then couldn’t catch up. Pete Carroll knew Oregon State represented a potential pothole en route to the BCS title game yet couldn’t steer his team clear of it. Can you blame Carroll and the coaches for the defense’s lack of gap discipline? To a degree, you can. But the Trojans’ bad tackling wasn’t the coaches’ fault. The offense sputtered in part because of poor line play, in part because of predictable and at times nonsensical playcalling. It seemed as if the Beavers almost always knew what was coming. They covered the flats extremely well and invariably positioned a weak-side defender in Mark Sanchez’s face when he bootlegged. Offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian used the “Q Attack,” featuring tailback Joe McKnight as a shotgun quarterback, at peculiar times - once on a second-and-16, once on a third-and-7. Are those the right downs and distances to call those plays? Not a good night for Carroll & Co.

Now it’s your turn:

Related links:

• Grade it: Offense
• Grade it: Defense
• Grade it: Special teams
• Poll: What exactly happened to USC in Corvallis?

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