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The biggest question for the 2-0 USC Trojans coming into today's showdown against Minnesota was whether both the offense and defense could deliver quality performances during the same game. Prior to this, the offense looked good against Hawaii while the defense looked terrible. In the next game against Virginia, the defense looked stout while the offense looked relatively anemic. Coach Lane Kiffin wants the team to play consistently week in and week out, and develop an identity. Let's see if Kiffin got his wish...
First Quarter
Leading up to the game, Minnesota spent a lot of time telling the media that they planned on emphasizing the run game today. It wanted to establish the run and then meet its goal of gaining at least two first downs per offensive possession. On its first drive, Minnesota ran the ball twice, both for zero or negative yardage, and then threw an incomplete pass on third down. Mission failed.
The Trojans offense began the game exactly how I expected: slow. For whatever reason, I have these hopes that our offense will open every game with a quick strike and suffocate teams early. But unfortunately, for the third straight week, the team rudely wakes me up. The first play of the game was a play-action bootleg that resulted in Barkley connecting with tight end Rhett Ellison for 24 yards. That play got my hopes up, and the next four plays brought them back down. In the blink of an eye we faced fourth down and sent kicker Joe Houston out on the field. Not surprisingly, he missed. The SC kicking game has been atrocious throughout the Pete Carroll era, but hopefully Lane Kiffin can turn things around by emphasizing special teams more during recruiting.
Minnesota's second position was highlighted by a short completion on a crossing route that turned into a big gain. With the ball in the red zone, USC then committed a defensive holding penalty (shocking, isn't it?) that gave Minnesota the ball on the one-yard line. The Gophers punched it in from there and completed the extra point to take an early 7-0 lead. This particular drive was a wild one for freshman cornerback Nickell Robey. He made some nice open-field tackles and showed solid speed in pursuit of cutting down Minnesota ball carriers. But then he committed the holding penalty after getting beat off the line of scrimmage near the end zone. Robey is a good looking player who has plenty of athleticism. The experience he has received and continues to receive will benefit him going forward.
USC responded with a 13 play, 60 yard drive that lasted 5 minutes and 28 seconds. It was a run-heavy drive that even included an Allen Bradford sighting! The bruising back got 2 carries for 23 yards after Marc Tyler and Dillon Baxter were taken out for breathers. It was great to see Bradford get some carries and contribute. I am still a bit disappointed that Bradford has not been featured more in the offense this season, but I do recognize that Tyler and Baxter are worthy running backs and that someone has to unfortunately be left out.
The quarter ended with a disappointing personal foul penalty on one of SC's defensive linemen. Coach Orgeron chewed the big fella out on the sideline as ESPN showed us statistics of how ridiculously undisciplined the team has been so far this year..
Two last first quarter notes: First, the play-by-play announcer said that C.J. Gable is one of the best kickoff returners in USC history. Is that the most ludicrous comment we've heard through the first three weeks? I dare you to find one that is worse. Second, the defensive line looked really impressive in the quarter. It got great jumps off the ball on running plays and blew up most of Minnesota's rushes. Ideally, I would like a little more pressure on the quarterback but the Gophers do not exactly have a dangerous passing attack.
Second Quarter
SC begins the second quarter with the type of quick strike that I expected from them in the first quarter! After a short pass from Barkley and two modest runs, Kiffin called a play-action deep ball. Barkley rolled to his right and fired deep down field to an open Ronald Johnson, who caught the ball in stride and galloped into the end zone. On the replay, RoJo zigzagged through the Gophers defense and got behind its secondary with ease. And, perhaps most importantly, the team did not commit a penalty, so the play actually counted. A beautiful 4 play, 77 yard drive in 1 minute and 37 seconds.
After the touchdown, SC went for two, continuing a trend that was set during the first game at Hawaii. The conversion failed as backup quarterback Mitch Mustain ran into a wall of Gophers at the 2-yard line. I still don't understand the decision making process on these two point conversion attempts. According to the guys in the booth, if SC sees that the defense lines "right," then they will revert back to the extra point, but if the defense looks unprepared, then they will go for two.
SC got a nice stop on the ensuing Minnesota drive capped off by a T.J. Bryant sack.
If SC is running at full potential, you would expect them to capitalize off the strong defensive stand and score another touchdown. The next drive started off poorly with two penalties on three plays. That resulted in a 3rd and 15, and Barkley only managed to get 10 of those yards back on a pass over the middle. However, on the next play, a simple, innocent punt to Minnesota, the ball hit a Gopher in the back as it bounced up off of the ground and SC recovered the football. Huge break for the Trojans as they get the ball on the Minnesota 38.
The half ended the two quarterbacks through back-to-back interceptions. It was the first interception thrown by both Matt Barkley and Minnesota's Adam Weber. It was altogether a very disappointing half in my estimation. The Trojans failed twice, once in the first and once in the second quarter, to capitalize on favorable field position. Also, the Trojans hampered themselves with 5 penalties for 42 yards. I would have liked to see the offense gun it a little more. Barkley was accurate throughout the first half--the lone interception was the result of a miscommunication between him and a receiver. And USC's receivers have the speed to get behind the Gophers secondary, as demonstrated by RoJo on the 53-yard touchdown catch.
Random thought to close the half: some of Kiffin's antics are beginning to not only confuse me, but bother me. In the Hawaii game it was the rampant two-point conversion attempts. He showed a little more of that against Virginia and today at Minnesota. But as the first half was coming to an end, Kiffin refused to use timeouts to spare the clock with over a minute remaining. Minnesota threw an interception on a third down that Barkley promptly returned back to them on the ensuing possession. But then, with about 30 seconds remaining (less time than on the previous defensive stand), Kiffin started to burn the timeouts! He was not going to let Minnesota simply kneel on the ball to run out the clock. After Minnesota punted the ball, Kiffin then sent Barkley out to kneel the ball. Is Kiffin off his rocker, or is it just me? Was there any strategy there?
Third Quarter
The opening drive of the second half looked great until SC committed its obligatory drive-killing penalty. Wide receiver Brandon Carswell delivered a low block on a swing pass that cost the Trojans a first down and another 15 yards. Then Barkley committed his worst decision and throw of the season thus far by forcing a high ball over the middle that Minnesota's James Manuel picked off.
Minnesota's run-dominant play-calling to this point has befuddled me. I think it's great to establish the run, but eventually you have to abandon it and take a shot down the field. On the other hand, USC does not seem to want to win this game, so perhaps Minnesota thinks it can just stay close by running the ball and controlling the clock until deep into the fourth quarter when it will take a risk.
Oops, I guess I was wrong. Minnesota ran and controlled the clock until deep into the third (not fourth) quarter when it took a risk by throwing a 31-yard touchdown pass to Da'Jon McKnight to take the lead. As is customary for USC cornerbacks in the past seven seasons, Robey had his back to the football as it was in the air and thus could not even make an attempt at a play. Pathetic.
But just like that, the Trojans responded behind a Robert Woods 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. He is an electric playmaker and the big play completely took the crowd out of the game. Wait, why wasn't C.J. Gable--the best returner in USC history--back to return it instead? Somebody ask the guys in the booth. Fortunately for us, it was Woods instead, because I know Gable would not have brought that one to the house.
SC's defense followed the game-changing return touchdown by stuffing Minnesota's run game to force a punt. The ensuing drive poured over into the fourth quarter…
Fourth Quarter
The drive that started in the previous quarter reminded me of something out of Varsity Blues. If you remember, in the movie the racist head coach used the black running back to pound the ball all the way into the red zone, where he would then dial up a pass for his white quarterback so that the QB would look great in the box score. Well, on this drive, SC ran the ball down Minnesota's throat with a steady dose of Allen Bradford and some Marc Tyler sprinkled in here and there. Then when they got near the red zone, Barkley dropped back and floated a ball to David Ausberry who ran a slant-and-go into the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown catch. I'm not insinuating anything about Kiffin, but I just thought that the way the drive developed looked familiar to me. Regardless, it gave SC a two score lead and probably went a long way in boosting Barkley's morale.
On SC's second drive of the quarter, they continued to run the football and keep the clock on its side. Minnesota bailed them out on a third and long with a critical face mask penalty, and then a few plays later, Bradford added to his dominant performance by breaking a 56-yard touchdown run through the middle of the Gophers defense. Through three and a half quarters, Bradford has rushed 12 times for 127 yards and 1 touchdown. Perhaps this will showing will get him more carries in the future.
Forgotten linebacker Chris Galippo helped the defense maintain a decent level of intensity as he had an impressive fourth quarter. The highly recruited linebacker had a huge sack and added an interception off a tipped pass. USC ended the game by giving Mitch Mustain some snaps under center and C.J. Gable the majority of the garbage time carries. Gable ran the ball well and stirred up some nostalgia from my sophomore year when he was a featured back in Carroll's offense.
Final Notes
The Trojans started slow, but finally showed signs of putting it all together. They still have not reached their full potential, but it was good to see both sides of the ball have success. The running game looked great as it went 37 carries for 206 yards (5.6 yards per carry). They were really able to dominate on the ground, which is a testament to the ability of the offensive line to get a good push off of the ball.
The passing game was okay today as it struggled during some stretches of the game (Barkley's 2 interceptions) but still showed signs of explosiveness (RoJo's 53-yard catch).
Special teams made a difference today, which is all you can ask from that unit. Robert Woods' 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the 3rd quarter changed the game and gave SC the swagger it needed to finish the game strong. Punter Jacob Harfman also helped SC tilt the field during certain situations by delivering solid kicks.
Finally,it was also pleasant to see the defense not let up during garbage time the defense played pretty well until the 0:11 mark of the 4th quarter when it allowed a "feel good" touchdown to Minnesota. Prior to that, Minnesota did not test SC much. The D forced 3 turnovers, held Weber to 15-for-29 on pass attempts, and limited the Gophers to 2.2 yards per carry on the ground. Seeing as that the Gophers ran the ball 37 times, it was impressive to see the defense hold them to under 100 yards.
My player of the game was Allen Bradford. After losing his starting job to Marc Tyler in the preseason and arguably losing his second-string spot to freshman Dillon Baxter, the thunderous senior tailback rushed 13 times for 129 yards and 1 touchdown (9.9 yards per carry). On countless occasions he ran over/through multiple defenders and reminded us (not that I needed it) that he can take over a football game. My runner-up was Robert Woods, who delivered a crucial kickoff return for a touchdown. Although it was just one play, it was probably the most important play. USC was against the ropes at that point as Minnesota had just taken a 14-13 lead and the crowd got back into it. Woods' play single-handedly rejuvenated the Trojans and devastated the Gophers and their fans.
Ultimately, while I was frustrated at times, I thought it was an encouraging performance. Conference play begins next weekend against the Washington State Cougars. I am looking for a dominant performance in Pullman.
First Quarter
Leading up to the game, Minnesota spent a lot of time telling the media that they planned on emphasizing the run game today. It wanted to establish the run and then meet its goal of gaining at least two first downs per offensive possession. On its first drive, Minnesota ran the ball twice, both for zero or negative yardage, and then threw an incomplete pass on third down. Mission failed.
The Trojans offense began the game exactly how I expected: slow. For whatever reason, I have these hopes that our offense will open every game with a quick strike and suffocate teams early. But unfortunately, for the third straight week, the team rudely wakes me up. The first play of the game was a play-action bootleg that resulted in Barkley connecting with tight end Rhett Ellison for 24 yards. That play got my hopes up, and the next four plays brought them back down. In the blink of an eye we faced fourth down and sent kicker Joe Houston out on the field. Not surprisingly, he missed. The SC kicking game has been atrocious throughout the Pete Carroll era, but hopefully Lane Kiffin can turn things around by emphasizing special teams more during recruiting.
Minnesota's second position was highlighted by a short completion on a crossing route that turned into a big gain. With the ball in the red zone, USC then committed a defensive holding penalty (shocking, isn't it?) that gave Minnesota the ball on the one-yard line. The Gophers punched it in from there and completed the extra point to take an early 7-0 lead. This particular drive was a wild one for freshman cornerback Nickell Robey. He made some nice open-field tackles and showed solid speed in pursuit of cutting down Minnesota ball carriers. But then he committed the holding penalty after getting beat off the line of scrimmage near the end zone. Robey is a good looking player who has plenty of athleticism. The experience he has received and continues to receive will benefit him going forward.
USC responded with a 13 play, 60 yard drive that lasted 5 minutes and 28 seconds. It was a run-heavy drive that even included an Allen Bradford sighting! The bruising back got 2 carries for 23 yards after Marc Tyler and Dillon Baxter were taken out for breathers. It was great to see Bradford get some carries and contribute. I am still a bit disappointed that Bradford has not been featured more in the offense this season, but I do recognize that Tyler and Baxter are worthy running backs and that someone has to unfortunately be left out.
The quarter ended with a disappointing personal foul penalty on one of SC's defensive linemen. Coach Orgeron chewed the big fella out on the sideline as ESPN showed us statistics of how ridiculously undisciplined the team has been so far this year..
Two last first quarter notes: First, the play-by-play announcer said that C.J. Gable is one of the best kickoff returners in USC history. Is that the most ludicrous comment we've heard through the first three weeks? I dare you to find one that is worse. Second, the defensive line looked really impressive in the quarter. It got great jumps off the ball on running plays and blew up most of Minnesota's rushes. Ideally, I would like a little more pressure on the quarterback but the Gophers do not exactly have a dangerous passing attack.
Second Quarter
SC begins the second quarter with the type of quick strike that I expected from them in the first quarter! After a short pass from Barkley and two modest runs, Kiffin called a play-action deep ball. Barkley rolled to his right and fired deep down field to an open Ronald Johnson, who caught the ball in stride and galloped into the end zone. On the replay, RoJo zigzagged through the Gophers defense and got behind its secondary with ease. And, perhaps most importantly, the team did not commit a penalty, so the play actually counted. A beautiful 4 play, 77 yard drive in 1 minute and 37 seconds.
After the touchdown, SC went for two, continuing a trend that was set during the first game at Hawaii. The conversion failed as backup quarterback Mitch Mustain ran into a wall of Gophers at the 2-yard line. I still don't understand the decision making process on these two point conversion attempts. According to the guys in the booth, if SC sees that the defense lines "right," then they will revert back to the extra point, but if the defense looks unprepared, then they will go for two.
SC got a nice stop on the ensuing Minnesota drive capped off by a T.J. Bryant sack.
If SC is running at full potential, you would expect them to capitalize off the strong defensive stand and score another touchdown. The next drive started off poorly with two penalties on three plays. That resulted in a 3rd and 15, and Barkley only managed to get 10 of those yards back on a pass over the middle. However, on the next play, a simple, innocent punt to Minnesota, the ball hit a Gopher in the back as it bounced up off of the ground and SC recovered the football. Huge break for the Trojans as they get the ball on the Minnesota 38.
The half ended the two quarterbacks through back-to-back interceptions. It was the first interception thrown by both Matt Barkley and Minnesota's Adam Weber. It was altogether a very disappointing half in my estimation. The Trojans failed twice, once in the first and once in the second quarter, to capitalize on favorable field position. Also, the Trojans hampered themselves with 5 penalties for 42 yards. I would have liked to see the offense gun it a little more. Barkley was accurate throughout the first half--the lone interception was the result of a miscommunication between him and a receiver. And USC's receivers have the speed to get behind the Gophers secondary, as demonstrated by RoJo on the 53-yard touchdown catch.
Random thought to close the half: some of Kiffin's antics are beginning to not only confuse me, but bother me. In the Hawaii game it was the rampant two-point conversion attempts. He showed a little more of that against Virginia and today at Minnesota. But as the first half was coming to an end, Kiffin refused to use timeouts to spare the clock with over a minute remaining. Minnesota threw an interception on a third down that Barkley promptly returned back to them on the ensuing possession. But then, with about 30 seconds remaining (less time than on the previous defensive stand), Kiffin started to burn the timeouts! He was not going to let Minnesota simply kneel on the ball to run out the clock. After Minnesota punted the ball, Kiffin then sent Barkley out to kneel the ball. Is Kiffin off his rocker, or is it just me? Was there any strategy there?
Third Quarter
The opening drive of the second half looked great until SC committed its obligatory drive-killing penalty. Wide receiver Brandon Carswell delivered a low block on a swing pass that cost the Trojans a first down and another 15 yards. Then Barkley committed his worst decision and throw of the season thus far by forcing a high ball over the middle that Minnesota's James Manuel picked off.
Minnesota's run-dominant play-calling to this point has befuddled me. I think it's great to establish the run, but eventually you have to abandon it and take a shot down the field. On the other hand, USC does not seem to want to win this game, so perhaps Minnesota thinks it can just stay close by running the ball and controlling the clock until deep into the fourth quarter when it will take a risk.
Oops, I guess I was wrong. Minnesota ran and controlled the clock until deep into the third (not fourth) quarter when it took a risk by throwing a 31-yard touchdown pass to Da'Jon McKnight to take the lead. As is customary for USC cornerbacks in the past seven seasons, Robey had his back to the football as it was in the air and thus could not even make an attempt at a play. Pathetic.
But just like that, the Trojans responded behind a Robert Woods 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. He is an electric playmaker and the big play completely took the crowd out of the game. Wait, why wasn't C.J. Gable--the best returner in USC history--back to return it instead? Somebody ask the guys in the booth. Fortunately for us, it was Woods instead, because I know Gable would not have brought that one to the house.
SC's defense followed the game-changing return touchdown by stuffing Minnesota's run game to force a punt. The ensuing drive poured over into the fourth quarter…
Fourth Quarter
The drive that started in the previous quarter reminded me of something out of Varsity Blues. If you remember, in the movie the racist head coach used the black running back to pound the ball all the way into the red zone, where he would then dial up a pass for his white quarterback so that the QB would look great in the box score. Well, on this drive, SC ran the ball down Minnesota's throat with a steady dose of Allen Bradford and some Marc Tyler sprinkled in here and there. Then when they got near the red zone, Barkley dropped back and floated a ball to David Ausberry who ran a slant-and-go into the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown catch. I'm not insinuating anything about Kiffin, but I just thought that the way the drive developed looked familiar to me. Regardless, it gave SC a two score lead and probably went a long way in boosting Barkley's morale.
On SC's second drive of the quarter, they continued to run the football and keep the clock on its side. Minnesota bailed them out on a third and long with a critical face mask penalty, and then a few plays later, Bradford added to his dominant performance by breaking a 56-yard touchdown run through the middle of the Gophers defense. Through three and a half quarters, Bradford has rushed 12 times for 127 yards and 1 touchdown. Perhaps this will showing will get him more carries in the future.
Forgotten linebacker Chris Galippo helped the defense maintain a decent level of intensity as he had an impressive fourth quarter. The highly recruited linebacker had a huge sack and added an interception off a tipped pass. USC ended the game by giving Mitch Mustain some snaps under center and C.J. Gable the majority of the garbage time carries. Gable ran the ball well and stirred up some nostalgia from my sophomore year when he was a featured back in Carroll's offense.
Final Notes
The Trojans started slow, but finally showed signs of putting it all together. They still have not reached their full potential, but it was good to see both sides of the ball have success. The running game looked great as it went 37 carries for 206 yards (5.6 yards per carry). They were really able to dominate on the ground, which is a testament to the ability of the offensive line to get a good push off of the ball.
The passing game was okay today as it struggled during some stretches of the game (Barkley's 2 interceptions) but still showed signs of explosiveness (RoJo's 53-yard catch).
Special teams made a difference today, which is all you can ask from that unit. Robert Woods' 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the 3rd quarter changed the game and gave SC the swagger it needed to finish the game strong. Punter Jacob Harfman also helped SC tilt the field during certain situations by delivering solid kicks.
Finally,
My player of the game was Allen Bradford. After losing his starting job to Marc Tyler in the preseason and arguably losing his second-string spot to freshman Dillon Baxter, the thunderous senior tailback rushed 13 times for 129 yards and 1 touchdown (9.9 yards per carry). On countless occasions he ran over/through multiple defenders and reminded us (not that I needed it) that he can take over a football game. My runner-up was Robert Woods, who delivered a crucial kickoff return for a touchdown. Although it was just one play, it was probably the most important play. USC was against the ropes at that point as Minnesota had just taken a 14-13 lead and the crowd got back into it. Woods' play single-handedly rejuvenated the Trojans and devastated the Gophers and their fans.
Ultimately, while I was frustrated at times, I thought it was an encouraging performance. Conference play begins next weekend against the Washington State Cougars. I am looking for a dominant performance in Pullman.
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