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Report card: Grading the Trojans (vs. Oregon State)
October 26th, 2009, 7:00 am · 16 Comments · posted by Michael Lev, staff writer
Was USC 42, Oregon State 36 a solid victory over a quality foe? Or an underachieving performance against a big underdog?
The grades tell all.
OFFENSE
- The good: Junior tailback Allen Bradford rushed for a career-high 147 yards and two touchdowns that provided badly needed breathing room in the third quarter. … In his second game back from a shoulder injury, receiver Ronald Johnson looked much more like his usual self, catching six passes for 99 yards and a score.
- The not-so-good: Freshman quarterback Matt Barkley threw two interceptions, giving him four in the past three games. … Brice Butler failed to corral an underthrown but catchable ball over the middle, leading to a punt on the first drive of the third quarter; the Beavers scored on the next possession.
- The grade: B-plus
Your turn:
Grade USC's offense vs. Oregon State:
DEFENSE
- The good: Josh Pinkard and Everson Griffen teamed up to cause and recover Oregon State’s first lost fumble of the season, setting up the game’s first touchdown. … The defense limited the Beavers to four field-goal attempts in the first half, three of which were successful.
- The not-so-good: After limiting Jacquizz Rodgers to 18 yards in the first half, the defense yielded 95 and a touchdown in the second. … The pass defense revealed cracks for the second game in a row, surrendering 329 yards and three touchdowns to Oregon State QB Sean Canfield, who directed four second-half TD drives.
- The grade: D-plus
Your turn:
Grade USC's defense vs. Oregon State:
SPECIAL TEAMS
- The good: Damian Williams‘ 63-yard punt return for a touchdown was his second of the season and broke open what had been a back-and-forth game. … Jacob Harfman averaged 44 yards per punt and chased down OSU’s Jordan Poyer to prevent a possible touchdown on a kickoff return.
- The not-so-good: Poyer’s return — immediately after Williams’ — went for 70 yards and ignited a comeback bid that fell just short. … The kickoff-return team continued to struggle, averaging just 17.4 yards and nearly turning the ball over on a short kick that Curtis McNeal had to dive on in traffic.
- The grade: B-minus
Your turn:
Grade USC's special teams vs. Oregon State:
COACHING
- The good: Pete Carroll’s team played with a high energy level (and a lower penalty total) in a game with trap potential, falling between Notre Dame and Oregon. … Jeremy Bates made a great call on a critical third-and-2 late in the fourth quarter, going with a sprint-out pass that Barkley and Williams executed perfectly for a first down.
- The not-so-good: Carroll and defensive coordinator Rocky Seto seemed to be one step behind counterpart Mike Riley, who made all the right offensive adjustments in the second half before running out of time. … Carroll made a questionable decision in the first quarter to push the Beavers back when they were stopped at the 16-yard line; it didn’t end up mattering, as Justin Kahut made a 48-yard field goal two plays later.
- The grade: B
Your turn:
Grade USC's coaching vs. Oregon State:
Posted in: Football • Grading the Trojans • Oregon State • Pac-10 rivals • Allen Bradford • Brice Butler • Curtis McNeal • Damian Williams • Everson Griffen • Jacob Harfman • Jacquizz Rodgers • Jeremy Bates • Josh Pinkard • Matt Barkley • Mike Riley • Pete Carroll • Rocky Seto • Ronald Johnson • Sean Canfield
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I can’t believe you gave the coaching staff a B after watching their inabilty to adjust to what Oregon St. was doing on offense. The D was repeatedly beat by the same type of play and in the same area of the field and made no adjustments. I saw a breakdown of what was obvious to me watching live and it went something like 200 of Canfields yards were right over the middle and under 10 yard passes. Why not take that away and make them go somewhere else? We made the OSU tight end, who I had never heard of look like Antonio Gates! Not to mention more stupid penalties, special teams miscues and 2 int that could/should have been 4.I give them a D and want to give them an F except we did win.
Secondary looked lethargic in the second half, gave up too many scores. D-line was goo d first half, took foot of the gas in the 4th quarter. We need more pressure on the QB on 3rd and long. Stop going to soft cover zones.. Hope AB gets the start on Saturday, he has earned it.
The secondary needs work. The pass rush was not nearly as successful as against ND. They stopped the run in the first half but that opened up passing and the OSU QB did a great job.
USC won’t be able to beat Oregon at Autzen without making defensive adjustments, both this week in practice and during the game.
By the by, the 1 vote of ‘A’ for defense was me, by mistake. I thought it was offense.
Love to see our D-backs get the chance to go after the ball–”the don’t let anything get behind you” gives up the short pass and makes good Qb’s look great against our defense. Man up half the time and go after them
Oregon has a seasoned QB with a seasoned offense. USC has a seasoned offense but a true Freshman as a QB. This is a solid win against an OSU team that that was built to compete and beat USC. This was not an underacheiving performance….except for the secondary.
Good win over a good team. After their annual slow start, I see the Beavs winning 4 of their next 5 to finish 8-4 and 3rd in conference again. With a likely bowl win, the Beavs will have had 9 or more win seasons in 5 of the last 5, I think. Go Beavs. Corvallis has a population of 50k, and the whole state is less than 4 mil. Mike Riley is arguably the best coach in the country.
The reason the short middle passing game was so open was because of OSU’s effective use of the fly sweep and the inside/outside zone run plays. You can’t tell the LBs to be aggressive on stopping the fly sweep and the inside/outside zone runs without leaving a vacancy in the middle of the field. OSU effectively ran the Y-Delay play which started with their TE blocking with a man in motion simulating the fly sweep to freeze our LBs, then the TE released and slipped into the vacant zone behind the LBs. OSU had a very good gameplan with complementing plays that keyed in on USC’s aggressive defensive nature.
@Wade +1
Slow clap, nicely done
Michael writes that part of what the coaches did well was cut down on the penalty total. In reality, USC never really commits that many penalties per game, the refs just like to assign them to USC. This was one of the worst games for actual penalties committed by USC that I have seen in a long time, but interestingly, the refs did not seem to notice. Either that, or they know their heads are on the chopping block after the officiating fiasco on national TV against Notre Dame.
About the other aspects of coaching, Jeremy Bates has been doing much better than Sark ever did at USC. The defense has to adjust better and faster than they have been, though.
The Beavers are the real deal. They have had a couple of tough losses to quality teams. The Trojans simply were challenged by one of the best teams in the Pac10. By then end of the season OSU will be in either 2nd or 3rd. There is a reason the Beavers have given the Trojans fits over the past 6 years - they are good.
NEED TO STOP THE CHECK DOWN OUT OF THE BACKFIELD. FOR TWO WEEKS IN A ROW, THEY HAVE GIVEN UP HUGE YARDAGE TO BACKS COMING OUT OF THE BACKFIELD AFTER THEY BLOCK FOR A COUNT AND RELEASE. THEY ALSO OVER PURSUE TOO MUCH. ESPECIALLY THE LINE BACKERS. THEY NEE TO STAY IN THEIR GAPS. THAT’S WHY RODGERS WAS ABLE TO EXPLOIT THEM IN THE SECOND HALF. HE WAS CUTTING BACK ON THEM ALL DAY LONG.
The Beavers are a good team with a great coach and represent the Pac-10 well.
That said, it was another classic performance for the “vaunted” butter defense of our Trojans. For about a month, mostly to deaf ears, I’ve been saying here, repeatedly, that our defense is more hype than anything else. Always looking for the big, flashy play rather than sound solid tackling. Against O St. it was more of the same. And again, it felt as we were watching someone bleed to death slowly and the clock was our ambulance. Pheew, saved by the bell again.
I question Rocky Seto’s awareness. With perhaps the most talent in NCAA, he couldn’t figure out a way to stop that middle pass to the TE, getting us burned repeatedly for 10-25 yards a pop.
Week after week, same story….ill-timed “big hits,” penalties, showboating, stripping rather tackling, not enough QB pressure, and getting marched up and down the field by an unranked opponent. The week before last we made that kid from Notre Douche, Paris, a hero and last week it was the O St. TE Halahuni. Against Wash, same story.
Do we really think this type of performance will cut it vs. a legitimate top ranked team like Oregon. Not likely….
Again, I agree with Greg. His comments are very perceptive and dead-on. Now, I am a big Pete Carroll fan and you can’t argue with success, but we are NOT a disciplined team. Stupid penalties, dumb mistakes, poor fundamentals (Exhibit A being what Greg points out — go for the “big hit” instead of sound tackling and wrapping up), and then compound this problem by showboating and drawing a flag. I just don’t understand it. It’s a recurring problem that dates back years. SC needs to be far more focused and disciplined to beat the Ducks in Autzen. I hope I’m wrong and see a smart, focused, and disciplined team come Saturday night. Fight On!
What’s the deal with if a team is ranked or not? A challenge is a challenge, regardless of rankings.. Teams are going to throw their best at SC, regardless of what the point spread is or BCS rankings, or any other kind of rankings. Oregon St is a good football team, ranked or not. They have good fundamentals and execute well with some great coaching and play calling. We need to get off of this “being ranked” garbage. Just because a team is not ranked, doesn’t mean that you will beat them by 20. Point being, bring your A game to every game. To hell with the polls!! I would take Oregon or Oregon St to play any SEC school and be satisfied with the outcome. Win or lose. Why? Because they are going to play solid football for you.. End of story..