The game: USC was 9-0 vs. the Buffs, and 4-0 at Colorado. But this is an improved team and gave UCLA a tough game losing 31-34. If you haven't been there, Boulder is a plains town, partly surrounded by snow covered mountains, with thin air. The game time temp was 39 degrees. Are the sanctions still happening since we seem to get Stanford in Sunny California in Early September (ruining someone's season) and Colorado there in November?
The Buffs had a good QB in Liufau, a great receiver in Nelson Spruce, and a decent OC. They also have Ralphie (Ralphina?) who scares the heck out of the stands in her mad dash to get to the feed truck, and one supposes more heat. A scary game that started out badly 3-17, looked to be a romp 27-17, and then a nail biter 27-24. Compared to the fates of Stanford, Utah and UCLA it was Nirvana. Spruce was the great receiver he always has been, Liufau, often a streaky QB, got hurt at the end of the first quarter and sub QB Apsay (72% completion, 2 TDs, 0 Interceptions) , after an initial sack looked at times like ASU's QB Bercovici, from a year ago, subbing for injured Kelly. Both teams used 59 players.
Offense:. USC needed to get off early. And they did have a good first drive that sputtered and ended as a FG. Meanwhile, Colorado acted like they were favored by 16 points and led 17-3. USC last came back from a double digit halftime deficit (down 21-3) in 2005 vs. UA. Colorado's plan was to stop the USC run, and they stacked 5-6 players up front bringing in a safety close to the line. Like Arizona, it made running tough and they got pressure on Cody Kessler on passes. USC tried to establish the run first. In USC's first 6 games it ran 48% of the time and passed 52%, In the last 3 it ran 65% of the time and passed 35%. This game it was 58% run and 42% pass. I think this predilection leads to opponents stacking that line early and creating slow starts. The first quarter had 11 runs and 5 passes. In the second and third quarters it was a more balanced 18 runs and 18 passes, and the comeback was on. After starting with 0-5 in third down conversions, USC then went 5-8. Grade: first quarter D-. Last three quarters : B.
QB: In his first 8 passes Cody had 4 incompletions and an interception. Conversely the three completions were for 14, 17, and 19 yards. The Interception was clearly a miscommunication and Cody was irate at Steven Mitchell who stopped his route , which was then completed by the Buffs interceptor. It was at the USC 45 and ended in a Buffs TD. Helton used the FB (Pinner) and Tight end (McNamara) for TD passes. After a FG block USC went long pass as usual on a turnover, for a 36 yard TD pass to Juju. Cody had 63% completion-12 yards per catch- 3 TD-1 int.-2 sacks. He threw 10 receptions to WRs, 2 to the TEs and 5 to running backs. Grade: B.
Receiving Game: Juju (3 rec-22 ypc-1 TD-3 First downs) was worked over as USCs top receiver. On one play he slipped down, and got up enough to take a first down reception. He missed a long TD that was tough to handle but he probably he would have caught with two good hands. The ball was spread (17 receptions aiming 10 different receivers) with Steven Mitchell (3 rec-20 ypc-3 FD), RB Justin Davis (3 rec-9.3 ypc-2 FD) and Daquan Hampton (2 rec-9.5 ypc-1 FD) with multiple catches .Overall 10 were to WRs, 5 to RBs, and 2 to TEs. Overall Grade: B.
Running Game:Ronald Jones II (19-61 yds-3.2ypc-2FD) gets most of the praise but in this game Justin Davis(14-85 yds-6.1 ypc-5FD) did most of the heavy lifting. And on passing plays Davis is the better blocker. RJII is young and learning, but he whiffed on one sack. On a key play Davis in Q4, on a 3rd and 7, ran with speed to the edge and picked up 13 and SC sat on the clock. Overall Grade: B+
Oline: Another injury to a starter brought USC down to its third string center. The Oline struggled against the Colorado front loaded defense and gave up 2 sacks of Kessler for 14 yards, one in each of 2 second quarter drives. This killed the opportunity to score a TD instead of a FG on one drive. But that was it, and the mixing of pass and run calls and better blocking enabled the comeback. USC averaged 4.4 ypc running, excluding the Sack numbers. Overall Grade: B-.
Defense- Due to the interception and bad Special teams punting, the D found itself facing unfavorable field position much of the game. That was particularly true on their scoring drives (CU starts on their 39 yard line, and SCs 26 and SCs 2). Down by 6-17 and with Colorado driving to the USC 50 at the beginning of Q2, , Apsay was sacked for a ten yard loss and the game started turning around quickly. USC blitzed up to 6 men resulting in 6 sacks this game and creating a 1.6 yards per run attempt with the sack losses . After a drive to the USC 34 yard line USC created a fumble by and a recovery by Antuan Wood. These guys are really starting to percolate. Adoree Jackson not only blocked a long FGA but ran it back 16 yards to the Colorado 36 (one play later Juju had that TD reception).. Cam Smith went down with 5 minutes left in quarter two. Overall Grades: D-Line A, Linebackers-B, secondary- B.
Special Teams- An OK night for K Wood...the first FG had a low trajectory, the second- an important FG of 41 yards. But he kicked one out of bounds giving CU a 35 yard start, leading to that blocked FG.. Special Teams allowed a Punt return to the USC 4 with P Albarado committing a PF at the end of that run. That lead to a TD. USC returns were 11 yards on a punt and an average 23 on kickoff returns. Overall Grade: C.
Coaching: Overall it was a win, and a comeback. No panic, and changes resulted in improved second half performance. No mistake, this was a survival game. Overall Grade: B
Miscellaneous: The play calling was not bad and I admit that I like Dave Fleming who does SF Giants broadcasts as well. Kind of reminds me of that Howdy Doody character on vintage TV. The refs were slightly biased to the Home team and made several PI calls , the worst was a beautifully played defense by Adoree Jackson for an awful call. Grades: TV- B. Refs-C+.
Bottom line/Next game Forecast - Would Liufau have done better? Hard to say. USC had no info on the little used Apsay. He actually had a good completion rate but was not the runner that Liufau is. As to Oregon next, they had a good game versus Stanford , who had three turnovers deep in Oregon territory in a close game. No doubt Oregon can move the ball on offense and they had big plays of 75 yards, 47 yards, 49 yards for TDs. But their D is not good- they gave up 506 yards to Stanford and 25 plays of 10 or more yards. The odds favor Oregon by 3, a normal Home team advantage. Sagarin has USC by about 1 point. I think Oregon takes it, but in a game this close my heart is with USC . My Forecast..USC 45 UO 42.
The Buffs had a good QB in Liufau, a great receiver in Nelson Spruce, and a decent OC. They also have Ralphie (Ralphina?) who scares the heck out of the stands in her mad dash to get to the feed truck, and one supposes more heat. A scary game that started out badly 3-17, looked to be a romp 27-17, and then a nail biter 27-24. Compared to the fates of Stanford, Utah and UCLA it was Nirvana. Spruce was the great receiver he always has been, Liufau, often a streaky QB, got hurt at the end of the first quarter and sub QB Apsay (72% completion, 2 TDs, 0 Interceptions) , after an initial sack looked at times like ASU's QB Bercovici, from a year ago, subbing for injured Kelly. Both teams used 59 players.
Offense:. USC needed to get off early. And they did have a good first drive that sputtered and ended as a FG. Meanwhile, Colorado acted like they were favored by 16 points and led 17-3. USC last came back from a double digit halftime deficit (down 21-3) in 2005 vs. UA. Colorado's plan was to stop the USC run, and they stacked 5-6 players up front bringing in a safety close to the line. Like Arizona, it made running tough and they got pressure on Cody Kessler on passes. USC tried to establish the run first. In USC's first 6 games it ran 48% of the time and passed 52%, In the last 3 it ran 65% of the time and passed 35%. This game it was 58% run and 42% pass. I think this predilection leads to opponents stacking that line early and creating slow starts. The first quarter had 11 runs and 5 passes. In the second and third quarters it was a more balanced 18 runs and 18 passes, and the comeback was on. After starting with 0-5 in third down conversions, USC then went 5-8. Grade: first quarter D-. Last three quarters : B.
QB: In his first 8 passes Cody had 4 incompletions and an interception. Conversely the three completions were for 14, 17, and 19 yards. The Interception was clearly a miscommunication and Cody was irate at Steven Mitchell who stopped his route , which was then completed by the Buffs interceptor. It was at the USC 45 and ended in a Buffs TD. Helton used the FB (Pinner) and Tight end (McNamara) for TD passes. After a FG block USC went long pass as usual on a turnover, for a 36 yard TD pass to Juju. Cody had 63% completion-12 yards per catch- 3 TD-1 int.-2 sacks. He threw 10 receptions to WRs, 2 to the TEs and 5 to running backs. Grade: B.
Receiving Game: Juju (3 rec-22 ypc-1 TD-3 First downs) was worked over as USCs top receiver. On one play he slipped down, and got up enough to take a first down reception. He missed a long TD that was tough to handle but he probably he would have caught with two good hands. The ball was spread (17 receptions aiming 10 different receivers) with Steven Mitchell (3 rec-20 ypc-3 FD), RB Justin Davis (3 rec-9.3 ypc-2 FD) and Daquan Hampton (2 rec-9.5 ypc-1 FD) with multiple catches .Overall 10 were to WRs, 5 to RBs, and 2 to TEs. Overall Grade: B.
Running Game:Ronald Jones II (19-61 yds-3.2ypc-2FD) gets most of the praise but in this game Justin Davis(14-85 yds-6.1 ypc-5FD) did most of the heavy lifting. And on passing plays Davis is the better blocker. RJII is young and learning, but he whiffed on one sack. On a key play Davis in Q4, on a 3rd and 7, ran with speed to the edge and picked up 13 and SC sat on the clock. Overall Grade: B+
Oline: Another injury to a starter brought USC down to its third string center. The Oline struggled against the Colorado front loaded defense and gave up 2 sacks of Kessler for 14 yards, one in each of 2 second quarter drives. This killed the opportunity to score a TD instead of a FG on one drive. But that was it, and the mixing of pass and run calls and better blocking enabled the comeback. USC averaged 4.4 ypc running, excluding the Sack numbers. Overall Grade: B-.
Defense- Due to the interception and bad Special teams punting, the D found itself facing unfavorable field position much of the game. That was particularly true on their scoring drives (CU starts on their 39 yard line, and SCs 26 and SCs 2). Down by 6-17 and with Colorado driving to the USC 50 at the beginning of Q2, , Apsay was sacked for a ten yard loss and the game started turning around quickly. USC blitzed up to 6 men resulting in 6 sacks this game and creating a 1.6 yards per run attempt with the sack losses . After a drive to the USC 34 yard line USC created a fumble by and a recovery by Antuan Wood. These guys are really starting to percolate. Adoree Jackson not only blocked a long FGA but ran it back 16 yards to the Colorado 36 (one play later Juju had that TD reception).. Cam Smith went down with 5 minutes left in quarter two. Overall Grades: D-Line A, Linebackers-B, secondary- B.
Special Teams- An OK night for K Wood...the first FG had a low trajectory, the second- an important FG of 41 yards. But he kicked one out of bounds giving CU a 35 yard start, leading to that blocked FG.. Special Teams allowed a Punt return to the USC 4 with P Albarado committing a PF at the end of that run. That lead to a TD. USC returns were 11 yards on a punt and an average 23 on kickoff returns. Overall Grade: C.
Coaching: Overall it was a win, and a comeback. No panic, and changes resulted in improved second half performance. No mistake, this was a survival game. Overall Grade: B
Miscellaneous: The play calling was not bad and I admit that I like Dave Fleming who does SF Giants broadcasts as well. Kind of reminds me of that Howdy Doody character on vintage TV. The refs were slightly biased to the Home team and made several PI calls , the worst was a beautifully played defense by Adoree Jackson for an awful call. Grades: TV- B. Refs-C+.
Bottom line/Next game Forecast - Would Liufau have done better? Hard to say. USC had no info on the little used Apsay. He actually had a good completion rate but was not the runner that Liufau is. As to Oregon next, they had a good game versus Stanford , who had three turnovers deep in Oregon territory in a close game. No doubt Oregon can move the ball on offense and they had big plays of 75 yards, 47 yards, 49 yards for TDs. But their D is not good- they gave up 506 yards to Stanford and 25 plays of 10 or more yards. The odds favor Oregon by 3, a normal Home team advantage. Sagarin has USC by about 1 point. I think Oregon takes it, but in a game this close my heart is with USC . My Forecast..USC 45 UO 42.
