The game: In 2008 I went to Pullman in full USC gear. Pete Carroll was the coach and a WSU fan next to me in the stadium says "Don't hurt us!" I didn’t, but USC won 69-0. Those days are gone. And they since have given us trouble. WSU HC Mike Leach, is called the Pirate for his trickery, and his coming to town "shivered me timbers" with fright. He called this team his best at WSU and his 5th year senior transfer QB backed that talk up with his precision passing. He hit 71% in this game and is Number 1 in percentage in the country. He's good..A smallish crowd of 52,421 late arriving (and nighthawks before leaving). Their spirit is alive. Still, who thought a Friday night game in LA was a good idea?
Key play(s) The game had 6 lead changes but the key plays IMO stopped WSU from a winning TD or tying FG--- 1st-10 at USC 25- pass incomplete to Bell, QB hurry by Malik Dorton. 2nd-10 RB Williams rushes for 4 yards (Tackle Cam Smith). 3rd-6 at USC 21 RB Williams rushed ( to outguess USC) for no gain to the USC21 (Tackle: by Rector and Smith). 4th-6 Mazza had a field goal attempt of 38 yards BLOCKED by Tufele and recovered by USC As an aside, Coach Helton skyed vertically on the Blocked FG to his own personal high height approximated at 4 inches…. but the chains were called out and it was officially only 3 1/2 inches. J/K
Offense:HC Helton is now 29-12 (.707) overall, 22-6 (.785) in conference . He is undefeated at Home, 18 -0 overall and 13-0 vs.P12.The team had 31 pass plays and 26 run plays, 5 of those runs were the entirety of the plays in the 1st drive leading to the TD and 75 yards. USC added more passing as WSU got ahead. USC averaged only 3.6 yards per carry (including sacks and bad snap for a total of 37 yards, nearly a game killer). and averaged a high 14.2 yards on pass receptions. USC had 5 big plays above 20 yards (Runs by Carr-50 yards, and Melepeai-22 y, plus Receptions by Vaughns-44 y, St. Brown -30 y -TD, and Pitman- 22 y). The team came back and scored their last 24 points in 32 plays, while holding WSU to 12 points.
QB: Grade: B. JT took some big steps forward. His arm strength and accuracy are fine. His detriment is inexperience, and that sometimes affects our expectations. 5th year WSU QB Minshew is cool under pressure and directs the offense. JT just has more ups and downs. The latter being sacks, dropping of footballs or handling bad snaps, missed handoffs, or interceptions (none today, but, close on 2). It's that way until he gets the experience. JT did throw away a pass. recovered from some unexpected events, and had an encouraging game. 65% completions, 0 ints. and 3 nice TDs. He could find another word for "Sucks" when getting interviewed. We used that in medieval times.LOL.
Running Game: Grade: B-. The "3 Amigos" (of runners) became the 'deadly duo' minus Ware (1 run for -5 yards). Carr (77 yards-9.6 ypc) had that impressive 50 yard run and 1 first down. Malepeai (78 yards-6.0 ypc) had a solid game with both running TDs and 4 first downs, including the last dagger into WSU chances. Vavae hits the line hard and breaks through that first tackle attempt with full speed. He was tackled for a single loss of (-2 yards) in his 13 attempts.
Receiving Game:Grade: A-. Much more synergy between JT and his corps. Vaughns (1 TD of 9 yards and 3 FDs) was the main target with 7 receptions and the best catch, soaring over his defender for his longest catch (21 yards) in a 3rd and 9 on that last USC score. Michael Pittman had the most yards and 2 first downs on his 50 yard (TD) and 22 yard catches. Velus Jones caught 2 for 48 (long of 44) for 2 first downs. And St Brown had 2 for 38 yards with a 30 yard TD and 2 first downs. Sidney had a 12 yarder. In addition Carr caught 2 and. Ware had one. The TE was targeted for 2 passes, one of which resulted in a pass interference call. Overall the receivers beat the WSU defense and it resulted in 4 PI calls and 3 holds. That moved the sticks bybout 90 yards..
Oline: Grade B-. They were great in the first drive 5 runs for 75 yards and run blocking was good overall. They gave up 2 sacks and 4 other tackles for loss. The bad snaps (3 of them hurt a lot) but that’s an item between the OC and QB and it needs resolving. It cost them on drives. The 3rd down conversions were 3-9 but 9 chances isn't that many. The team just played very well on first and second downs. Some of the 3rd downs were 3-32, 3-18, 3-9, 3-8. They actually made 3 of the last 4 third down conversions.
Defense: Grade B. This unit was kind of schizophrenic. In the first half plus first drive (35 minutes, the defense allowed 30 points and 296 yards. In the last 25 minutes it was 9 points and 139 yards. Quite a difference Part of this was new defense formations and coverage. But a large part may have been Porter Gustin, jailed in the locker room from last week's "Targeting" call. He apparently was a caged animal and showed that with an offside's on his first play. But he did add an attack element that was missing (and nearly committed another targeting!). His numbers were 3 solo tackles 1 assist and the only sack where he shrugged off a defending blocker to catch Minshew from behind. I think they are assessing the damage he might have done to the locker-room in the first half. LOL. WSU did score one TD early in the second half which made it 5 straight scoring plays. But they scored the one TD after that in 5 drives. And WSU may be one dimensional but does it well just as Army is , and they took Oklahoma to OT.
Special Teams: Grade: B- With the exception of Punting, which still is erratic, Brown who suffered an ACL injury last year adequately replaced McGrath who did the same this year. And the return runs by the Kickoff team gave USC decent starting position, especially in the second half. And of course the game changing FGA block against a kicker who had a 50 yard FG earlier. Now, about that punting again!
Miscellaneous- Their baaaccckk….the PAC12 refs of course. A total of 19 penalties and 183 yards or almost 10 yards per penalty. No small 5 yard potatoes for them. Uh-uh. And will someone please define a consistent Targeting penalty. Gustin got creamed for last week second half and this week's first half for what was mostly a shoulder hit and this time the WSU player took 2 steps to nail a kneeling JT Daniels, and was considered not with force. Maybe wireless PSI gauges are needed in helmets from now on to override the ref. And isn't replay meant to correct judgments, not agree with bad ref calls like that denial of a TD for USC at the end of the 1H?
Bottom line - It's a win . It’s a conference win against an undefeated team. It’s a comeback win from 14 points down. It’s a team effort. Some of these have to be good …right? Next week it's at Arizona , a 2-2 team that waxed a Big Sky team Southern Utah (0-4), beat Oregon State (1-3) team handily, and then lost a close one to BYU (3-1) and was knocked around by Houston (3-1). They averaged scoring 41 ppg and giving up 34 ppg last year so far they are more like 30 ppg on both ends. USC beat them 49-35 last year. My Forecast" USC 35 UA 24..
Key play(s) The game had 6 lead changes but the key plays IMO stopped WSU from a winning TD or tying FG--- 1st-10 at USC 25- pass incomplete to Bell, QB hurry by Malik Dorton. 2nd-10 RB Williams rushes for 4 yards (Tackle Cam Smith). 3rd-6 at USC 21 RB Williams rushed ( to outguess USC) for no gain to the USC21 (Tackle: by Rector and Smith). 4th-6 Mazza had a field goal attempt of 38 yards BLOCKED by Tufele and recovered by USC As an aside, Coach Helton skyed vertically on the Blocked FG to his own personal high height approximated at 4 inches…. but the chains were called out and it was officially only 3 1/2 inches. J/K
Offense:HC Helton is now 29-12 (.707) overall, 22-6 (.785) in conference . He is undefeated at Home, 18 -0 overall and 13-0 vs.P12.The team had 31 pass plays and 26 run plays, 5 of those runs were the entirety of the plays in the 1st drive leading to the TD and 75 yards. USC added more passing as WSU got ahead. USC averaged only 3.6 yards per carry (including sacks and bad snap for a total of 37 yards, nearly a game killer). and averaged a high 14.2 yards on pass receptions. USC had 5 big plays above 20 yards (Runs by Carr-50 yards, and Melepeai-22 y, plus Receptions by Vaughns-44 y, St. Brown -30 y -TD, and Pitman- 22 y). The team came back and scored their last 24 points in 32 plays, while holding WSU to 12 points.
QB: Grade: B. JT took some big steps forward. His arm strength and accuracy are fine. His detriment is inexperience, and that sometimes affects our expectations. 5th year WSU QB Minshew is cool under pressure and directs the offense. JT just has more ups and downs. The latter being sacks, dropping of footballs or handling bad snaps, missed handoffs, or interceptions (none today, but, close on 2). It's that way until he gets the experience. JT did throw away a pass. recovered from some unexpected events, and had an encouraging game. 65% completions, 0 ints. and 3 nice TDs. He could find another word for "Sucks" when getting interviewed. We used that in medieval times.LOL.
Running Game: Grade: B-. The "3 Amigos" (of runners) became the 'deadly duo' minus Ware (1 run for -5 yards). Carr (77 yards-9.6 ypc) had that impressive 50 yard run and 1 first down. Malepeai (78 yards-6.0 ypc) had a solid game with both running TDs and 4 first downs, including the last dagger into WSU chances. Vavae hits the line hard and breaks through that first tackle attempt with full speed. He was tackled for a single loss of (-2 yards) in his 13 attempts.
Receiving Game:Grade: A-. Much more synergy between JT and his corps. Vaughns (1 TD of 9 yards and 3 FDs) was the main target with 7 receptions and the best catch, soaring over his defender for his longest catch (21 yards) in a 3rd and 9 on that last USC score. Michael Pittman had the most yards and 2 first downs on his 50 yard (TD) and 22 yard catches. Velus Jones caught 2 for 48 (long of 44) for 2 first downs. And St Brown had 2 for 38 yards with a 30 yard TD and 2 first downs. Sidney had a 12 yarder. In addition Carr caught 2 and. Ware had one. The TE was targeted for 2 passes, one of which resulted in a pass interference call. Overall the receivers beat the WSU defense and it resulted in 4 PI calls and 3 holds. That moved the sticks bybout 90 yards..
Oline: Grade B-. They were great in the first drive 5 runs for 75 yards and run blocking was good overall. They gave up 2 sacks and 4 other tackles for loss. The bad snaps (3 of them hurt a lot) but that’s an item between the OC and QB and it needs resolving. It cost them on drives. The 3rd down conversions were 3-9 but 9 chances isn't that many. The team just played very well on first and second downs. Some of the 3rd downs were 3-32, 3-18, 3-9, 3-8. They actually made 3 of the last 4 third down conversions.
Defense: Grade B. This unit was kind of schizophrenic. In the first half plus first drive (35 minutes, the defense allowed 30 points and 296 yards. In the last 25 minutes it was 9 points and 139 yards. Quite a difference Part of this was new defense formations and coverage. But a large part may have been Porter Gustin, jailed in the locker room from last week's "Targeting" call. He apparently was a caged animal and showed that with an offside's on his first play. But he did add an attack element that was missing (and nearly committed another targeting!). His numbers were 3 solo tackles 1 assist and the only sack where he shrugged off a defending blocker to catch Minshew from behind. I think they are assessing the damage he might have done to the locker-room in the first half. LOL. WSU did score one TD early in the second half which made it 5 straight scoring plays. But they scored the one TD after that in 5 drives. And WSU may be one dimensional but does it well just as Army is , and they took Oklahoma to OT.
Special Teams: Grade: B- With the exception of Punting, which still is erratic, Brown who suffered an ACL injury last year adequately replaced McGrath who did the same this year. And the return runs by the Kickoff team gave USC decent starting position, especially in the second half. And of course the game changing FGA block against a kicker who had a 50 yard FG earlier. Now, about that punting again!
Miscellaneous- Their baaaccckk….the PAC12 refs of course. A total of 19 penalties and 183 yards or almost 10 yards per penalty. No small 5 yard potatoes for them. Uh-uh. And will someone please define a consistent Targeting penalty. Gustin got creamed for last week second half and this week's first half for what was mostly a shoulder hit and this time the WSU player took 2 steps to nail a kneeling JT Daniels, and was considered not with force. Maybe wireless PSI gauges are needed in helmets from now on to override the ref. And isn't replay meant to correct judgments, not agree with bad ref calls like that denial of a TD for USC at the end of the 1H?
Bottom line - It's a win . It’s a conference win against an undefeated team. It’s a comeback win from 14 points down. It’s a team effort. Some of these have to be good …right? Next week it's at Arizona , a 2-2 team that waxed a Big Sky team Southern Utah (0-4), beat Oregon State (1-3) team handily, and then lost a close one to BYU (3-1) and was knocked around by Houston (3-1). They averaged scoring 41 ppg and giving up 34 ppg last year so far they are more like 30 ppg on both ends. USC beat them 49-35 last year. My Forecast" USC 35 UA 24..
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