From practice and interviews Tuesday ...
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Coming off his best game yet as a Trojan, running back Woody Marks is just 114 yards away from matching his career-high (582) set two years ago at Mississippi State.
Marks has reached 100 rushing yards in three of his five games in a USC uniform, including 134 yards and a touchdown on a season-high 20 carries (6.7 YPC) Saturday at Minnesota. He also added 4 catches for 30 yards.
For the season, he's up to 468 yards and 4 TDs on the ground (5.8 YPC) and another 145 yards through the air, but ask Marks and he'll say he's not satisfied with his production yet.
"I really think I haven't proved a lot. I proved a little bit, I showed a little bit, but I haven't really just established like a dominant game yet. ... I haven't played up to the standard that I hold myself accountable to," he said.
That's how coach Lincoln Riley felt about the run game, in general, even as the Trojans rushed for 173 yards on 6.2 YPC as a team -- its best mark this season against a power conference foe.
"We did do a lot of good things in the run game that was exciting, and honestly we ran it well, but we were agonizingly close to having just a crazy day running the ball. I mean, it was some of the times that we got down, it wasn't by much, and so no, we were really, really excited about what we did in the run game," he said. "Thought the guys played well, prepared hard. I thought Alani Noa had his best game as a Trojan, which was great to see. I thought Elijah [Paige] took some really good steps. [Mason] Murphy was really good in the run game. We did some really good things that we absolutely can build on."
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Riley was asked if that rushing success might, you know, encourage him to stick with it more late in games (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) ...
"No question, we did a lot the other night. We ran it a lot, we ran it well. It was good to see the rest of the group really do some good things in the run game -- I know we talked about that some after the game and that was important the other night, but it's obviously going to be really, really important going forward," Riley said. "I feel like we took some great steps. Listen, the most fun time to call plays is when you have a great running game. It's a lot different, so it was good to see us take some steps."
Starting with the decision to have Miller Moss dropback and pass on third-and-4 from the Minnesota 35-yard line early in the fourth quarter -- the play on which he was hit while throwing and intercepted -- USC didn't run the ball again the final 10-plus minutes of the game. Of course, the Gophers had the ball for most of that time, USC's ensuing three-and-out started with a 9-yard sack (though that drive might have been well-served to start things off on the ground) and the final drive was a race against the clock.
As for Marks, he is also just 40 carries away from his career-high of 121, so being a workhorse back is a bit of a new role for him, though he said he had some 20-carry games in high school. He credited Bennie Wylie and the strength staff for getting him ready for this season.
"I think training [factors] into that throughout the summer. I think Coach Wylie put me in a great position to have my body equipped to get that many carries," Marks said. "You've got to work hard every day. You might get 5 carries, but in the summer you're working like you're getting 50 carries. You gotta train your body to overdo what you've got to do on the field."
Sophomore running back Quinten Joyner didn't touch the ball again after his second quarter fumble Saturday, and it's unclear how the coaching staff will handle that moving forward with the talented young back, but either way it looks like Marks is going to continue to be a major focal point for this offense.
"He's been exactly what we had hoped he'd [be] up to this point. He's been, I think one, a steady, veteran presence for us because we've got a lot of youth and new players around him. He's ran the ball well. He's done a nice job in pass pro, and then obviously he's been a factor in the receiving game as well," Riley said. "So I think he's going to keep getting better as he gets settled in with our guys, our linemen, our system, everything, I think he can still continue to improve and I believe he will, but he's just a quiet, unassuming, hard worker, shows up every day, you can tell he's really motivated to play and he's been a great teammate. So I can't say enough about him at this point."
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As for Riley's praise of Noa, the sophomore right guard, he played every snap in this game after rotating with redshirt freshman Amos Talelele the previous week. And he responded -- Noa received USC's highest pass-blocking grade (86.8) and run-blocking grade (72.2) from PFF while allowing 0 pressures and committing 0 penalties.
"I think in some instances he was thinking a little less and just playing a little more and that turned out well for him. Certainly, it was good to see that, and if he keeps growing on that he'll be a real good player for us," center Jonah Monheim said.
Riley was asked what the film showed him about the pass protection overall. While PFF logged USC for a season-low 5 pressures allowed -- down from 21 vs. Michigan and 15 vs. Wisconsin -- the reality is that two of them swung the game, on Moss' hit-induced fourth quarter interception and then the sack to start USC's next drive leading to a three-and-out in between Minnesota's two touchdowns to seize the game.
"I think we just got to continue to build on [it]. I think we've had a few weeks here -- we didn't play good against Michigan and again I own a lot of that, I screwed us up in our silent count. Our linemen had some things working against them in that game -- and obviously they weren't perfect -- they had some things working against them in the game that were not their fault, that were mine. We didn't play good in that game.," Riley said. "We were better against Wisconsin, we were better against Minnesota. We've got to stay on that trend. If we keep doing that, these young dudes are going to get better and their cohesion is going to grow. There's a lot of good things on that tape from the other night, and I think we'll continue to build on it. Obviously, we want our depth and our guys to keep pushing them, and obviously be ready to sub in there and go in as well."
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Coming off his best game yet as a Trojan, running back Woody Marks is just 114 yards away from matching his career-high (582) set two years ago at Mississippi State.
Marks has reached 100 rushing yards in three of his five games in a USC uniform, including 134 yards and a touchdown on a season-high 20 carries (6.7 YPC) Saturday at Minnesota. He also added 4 catches for 30 yards.
For the season, he's up to 468 yards and 4 TDs on the ground (5.8 YPC) and another 145 yards through the air, but ask Marks and he'll say he's not satisfied with his production yet.
"I really think I haven't proved a lot. I proved a little bit, I showed a little bit, but I haven't really just established like a dominant game yet. ... I haven't played up to the standard that I hold myself accountable to," he said.
That's how coach Lincoln Riley felt about the run game, in general, even as the Trojans rushed for 173 yards on 6.2 YPC as a team -- its best mark this season against a power conference foe.
"We did do a lot of good things in the run game that was exciting, and honestly we ran it well, but we were agonizingly close to having just a crazy day running the ball. I mean, it was some of the times that we got down, it wasn't by much, and so no, we were really, really excited about what we did in the run game," he said. "Thought the guys played well, prepared hard. I thought Alani Noa had his best game as a Trojan, which was great to see. I thought Elijah [Paige] took some really good steps. [Mason] Murphy was really good in the run game. We did some really good things that we absolutely can build on."
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Riley was asked if that rushing success might, you know, encourage him to stick with it more late in games (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) ...
"No question, we did a lot the other night. We ran it a lot, we ran it well. It was good to see the rest of the group really do some good things in the run game -- I know we talked about that some after the game and that was important the other night, but it's obviously going to be really, really important going forward," Riley said. "I feel like we took some great steps. Listen, the most fun time to call plays is when you have a great running game. It's a lot different, so it was good to see us take some steps."
Starting with the decision to have Miller Moss dropback and pass on third-and-4 from the Minnesota 35-yard line early in the fourth quarter -- the play on which he was hit while throwing and intercepted -- USC didn't run the ball again the final 10-plus minutes of the game. Of course, the Gophers had the ball for most of that time, USC's ensuing three-and-out started with a 9-yard sack (though that drive might have been well-served to start things off on the ground) and the final drive was a race against the clock.
As for Marks, he is also just 40 carries away from his career-high of 121, so being a workhorse back is a bit of a new role for him, though he said he had some 20-carry games in high school. He credited Bennie Wylie and the strength staff for getting him ready for this season.
"I think training [factors] into that throughout the summer. I think Coach Wylie put me in a great position to have my body equipped to get that many carries," Marks said. "You've got to work hard every day. You might get 5 carries, but in the summer you're working like you're getting 50 carries. You gotta train your body to overdo what you've got to do on the field."
Sophomore running back Quinten Joyner didn't touch the ball again after his second quarter fumble Saturday, and it's unclear how the coaching staff will handle that moving forward with the talented young back, but either way it looks like Marks is going to continue to be a major focal point for this offense.
"He's been exactly what we had hoped he'd [be] up to this point. He's been, I think one, a steady, veteran presence for us because we've got a lot of youth and new players around him. He's ran the ball well. He's done a nice job in pass pro, and then obviously he's been a factor in the receiving game as well," Riley said. "So I think he's going to keep getting better as he gets settled in with our guys, our linemen, our system, everything, I think he can still continue to improve and I believe he will, but he's just a quiet, unassuming, hard worker, shows up every day, you can tell he's really motivated to play and he's been a great teammate. So I can't say enough about him at this point."
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As for Riley's praise of Noa, the sophomore right guard, he played every snap in this game after rotating with redshirt freshman Amos Talelele the previous week. And he responded -- Noa received USC's highest pass-blocking grade (86.8) and run-blocking grade (72.2) from PFF while allowing 0 pressures and committing 0 penalties.
"I think in some instances he was thinking a little less and just playing a little more and that turned out well for him. Certainly, it was good to see that, and if he keeps growing on that he'll be a real good player for us," center Jonah Monheim said.
Riley was asked what the film showed him about the pass protection overall. While PFF logged USC for a season-low 5 pressures allowed -- down from 21 vs. Michigan and 15 vs. Wisconsin -- the reality is that two of them swung the game, on Moss' hit-induced fourth quarter interception and then the sack to start USC's next drive leading to a three-and-out in between Minnesota's two touchdowns to seize the game.
"I think we just got to continue to build on [it]. I think we've had a few weeks here -- we didn't play good against Michigan and again I own a lot of that, I screwed us up in our silent count. Our linemen had some things working against them in that game -- and obviously they weren't perfect -- they had some things working against them in the game that were not their fault, that were mine. We didn't play good in that game.," Riley said. "We were better against Wisconsin, we were better against Minnesota. We've got to stay on that trend. If we keep doing that, these young dudes are going to get better and their cohesion is going to grow. There's a lot of good things on that tape from the other night, and I think we'll continue to build on it. Obviously, we want our depth and our guys to keep pushing them, and obviously be ready to sub in there and go in as well."
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