The game: Is UA as good as last year, or as bad as last week (losing to UW 49-3)? No... and probably not. But coming in each of the last 8 games were decided by a TD or less (USC 20-13, 17-10, 17-21, 24-21, 48-41, 36-39, 38-31, 28-26) . And it was broken, however so slightly, at 38-30. I never set foot any more on campus on homecoming day. It's like visiting the Renaissance fair with Hip-Hop and Rap music replacing medieval madrigals and 1000 renditions of Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair". Beautiful night game weather..cold enough for pullovers. Great halftime show with the Band being joined by ex-band members for a full competition of fuller sound renditions of USC favorites.
The game started 0-7 and I'm thinking OK, just like at Cal. Then it was 0-14 and I'm thinking ..Wow how long has it been since USC came back from such a hole to win? The answer is 44 games, or 3 plus seasons ago on October 4, 2012 vs. Utah. And UA was 5-0 this year after leading at the end of Q1. Plus after an answering USC FG, Arizona was kicking at the door again to go up nearly 3 scores. Then an errant pass, intercepted by Platenburg, some USC adjustments on both sides of the ball and it was USC38-23 in late Q4. This was followed by a 'prevent defense' (e.g. preventing USC from stopping the score) to make it and end with 38-30 with 10 seconds to go. Whew!! But in this year a win truly is a win. Both teams used 59 players. UA played hard after the embarrassing loss last week. Let's hope Arizona plays even harder to lead and beat Utah next week.
Offense:. First quarter-disaster: 4 USC drives...resulting in 3 punts and a fumble (UA scored a TD off of it subsequently). A net of 12 YARDS.. On defense USC gives up 126 yards to UA. Then after a UA score on the first play of the second quarter , USC adjusted to UAs unusual 3-3-5 defensive setup, using faster stating plays and better blocking schemes (lots of traps)...and USC started taking over the game on both sides. In the last 3 quarters USC gained 462 yards (251 on the ground, 209 in the air) and gave up 286 (11yards on the ground, 275 in the air). 65 yards of that gained on that last UA drive. Improvements were seen on USC third and fourth down conversions...USC which came in making 36% on third downs and was 0-4 in that first quarter, had 10 of 14 (71%) the rest of the game to control longer (8, 13, 13, 7, 11 plays) drives resulting in a FG, a missed FGA and 3 TDs. Grade: first quarter D-. Last three quarters : A-.
QB: Kessler was under duress and sacked or tackled for loss on each of his first three drives. His receivers (Rogers, JuJu -a hard pass, and Pineer) dropped three catchable balls and that hurt. In the 5th drive things started to click With passes of 18 and 42 yards. That loosened the UA defense. Two passes later CK hooked up with JuJu on a perfectly played 72 yard pass TD (after a UA Turnover) and it was "Game On". Cody had 61% completion-11.04 yards per catch- 2 TD-0 int.-2 sacks. He was hit often and came right back. He threw 19 receptions to WRs, 2 to the TEs and 1 to running backs. Grade: A-.
Receiving Game: The big question was who was to replace injured JuJu and the answer was the man in the mirror, JuJu, playing with a soft cast. No doubt this player is a 'man', coming back so soon and doing so well. He had a hand injury, leg cramps, and 8 catches for 138 yards and a TD. Adoree played more offense and added 4 catches for 45 yards and Mitchell came back for 4 catches for 22 yards. Hampton had a nice 10 yard reception and TE Tyler had an important 18 yarder. I know some people complain a lot about spreading the passes around, but a lot of this is what the opponent gives you. TEs block blitzes and so do running backs. In critical downs you go to the proven players and that is the star..JuJu Smith-Shuster just as any team , including Pete Carroll's did . That second consistent receiver still has to show up. Overall Grade: B+
Running Game:On that USC fumble, two players had a shot at recovery and one went to pick it up instead of dropping on it. Bad Choice and a TO that resulted in a UA TD drive. But Jones set a record for USC freshmen at 177 yards besting Lendale White's 144 in 2003. The kid (177 yards-9.3 ypc-5 First Downs-1 TD) is pure excitement and on that 74 yard play was circled by 2 defenders and pushed off on one, maintained balance and scored. He hits the hole quickly and is through it into the secondary before most first contact...what a jolt. Ronald Jones II also had one reception for a 5 yard TD. Whenever the machinery is cranky just use a squirt of RJ2. Davis had an underrated game (85 yards-5.3 ypc-5 First Downs-2 TD). They were a big part of the 11-19 3rd and 4th down conversions after Q1. Overall Grade: A-.
Oline: They appeared overwhelmed at first and Kessler took nearly all 31 yards of losses in the first quarter. Then they started opening up holes for Davis and Jones and held steadier to enable Kessler some longer passes. The better 3rd down conversion numbers and the 10 first downs rushing are partly theirs.. Overall Grade: B-.
Defense- Arizona came in averaging 512 yards on total offense and 265 yards of that by rushing. They exited this game having 60 yards of rush offense and 412 yards overall. Solomon as a runner had 25 yards gain, and 27 yards lost over 11 plays. USC had 6 sacks of Solomon and 10 tackles for losses overall. They pressured Solomon into several throwaways and overthrows. But UA did have more luck through the air attacking our secondary. Lots of good performances by guys not expected as well. 11 players had 4 or more tackles. The Numbers: Sua Cravens (8 tackles-1.5 Sacks-2.5 TFL), John Platenburg (8 tackles-0.5 TFL and the play of the game- The Interception). And 2 others that played well- Antuan Woods (6 tackles-2 Sacks-3 TFL) and Claude Pelon (4 tackles-0.5 Sacks-0.5 TFL) coming off injury. At times it was difficult to change defensive units as the Cats pumped up the tempo on offense, running about 80 plays. Overall Grades: D-Line A-, Linebackers-B, secondary- C+.
Special Teams- UA mostly kicked and punted away from Adoree Jackson making for few runbacks Adoree had 4 punts for a 7.0 ypp aver. and 3 KOR for about 19 ypr. Albarado's punts averaged a good 43 yards net. Wood had 38 yards per kickoff net with one returned for 56 yards just after a USC score. He also made a 25 yard FG and missed one from 34. Overall an average performance. Overall Grade: C+.
Coaching: . The play calling started poorly in the first quarter (12 yards net), but really picked up in the Q2 with 224 yards, and then continued at 104 yards in Q3 and 144 in Q4. USC really shut down the UA defense in Q3 to 39 yards net and took over the game from mid 3rd quarter through the late Q4. But there were some strange calls IMO on both sides. USC declined a penalty of Holding (10 yards) that would have pushed UA from a 37 yard FG to a 47 yard field goal point albeit with one more down. UA hit the FG from 37 to make it UA 17-10. And Rich Rod chose to play a 4th and 2 at the 50 leading 20-17 and turned it over on downs on a USC stop. From that spot USC marched in for a TD to make it 20-24 and USC never gave up the lead. And it's great to follow a Turnover on Downs with a long pass for a TD, but then an onsides kick...that nearly worked...hmmm. Overall Grade for USC: B
Miscellaneous: No complaints on the TV announcing team and the refs called a relatively even game. The one peccadillo was allowing UA to rack (a body slam) a USC runner when clearly out of bounds and then penalized a USC player 15 yards for a push while the UA runner was still in bounds. TV- B. Refs-B-.
Bottom line/Next game Forecast - Colorado on Friday at 7 PM in 30 degree weather. Colorado is better than last year and could qualify as a trap game. They played UCLA tough and they tussled with Arizona. They are good enough to make it competitive but score at a 23 ppg in the P12 and give up 36 ppg. As to the cold I've played in that weather in New England and it's kind of fun. And contrary to thoughts it often is a higher scoring game. With heaters and gloves it isn't bad. Of course it's a different story for fans. My Forecast..USC 35 UC 20.
The game started 0-7 and I'm thinking OK, just like at Cal. Then it was 0-14 and I'm thinking ..Wow how long has it been since USC came back from such a hole to win? The answer is 44 games, or 3 plus seasons ago on October 4, 2012 vs. Utah. And UA was 5-0 this year after leading at the end of Q1. Plus after an answering USC FG, Arizona was kicking at the door again to go up nearly 3 scores. Then an errant pass, intercepted by Platenburg, some USC adjustments on both sides of the ball and it was USC38-23 in late Q4. This was followed by a 'prevent defense' (e.g. preventing USC from stopping the score) to make it and end with 38-30 with 10 seconds to go. Whew!! But in this year a win truly is a win. Both teams used 59 players. UA played hard after the embarrassing loss last week. Let's hope Arizona plays even harder to lead and beat Utah next week.
Offense:. First quarter-disaster: 4 USC drives...resulting in 3 punts and a fumble (UA scored a TD off of it subsequently). A net of 12 YARDS.. On defense USC gives up 126 yards to UA. Then after a UA score on the first play of the second quarter , USC adjusted to UAs unusual 3-3-5 defensive setup, using faster stating plays and better blocking schemes (lots of traps)...and USC started taking over the game on both sides. In the last 3 quarters USC gained 462 yards (251 on the ground, 209 in the air) and gave up 286 (11yards on the ground, 275 in the air). 65 yards of that gained on that last UA drive. Improvements were seen on USC third and fourth down conversions...USC which came in making 36% on third downs and was 0-4 in that first quarter, had 10 of 14 (71%) the rest of the game to control longer (8, 13, 13, 7, 11 plays) drives resulting in a FG, a missed FGA and 3 TDs. Grade: first quarter D-. Last three quarters : A-.
QB: Kessler was under duress and sacked or tackled for loss on each of his first three drives. His receivers (Rogers, JuJu -a hard pass, and Pineer) dropped three catchable balls and that hurt. In the 5th drive things started to click With passes of 18 and 42 yards. That loosened the UA defense. Two passes later CK hooked up with JuJu on a perfectly played 72 yard pass TD (after a UA Turnover) and it was "Game On". Cody had 61% completion-11.04 yards per catch- 2 TD-0 int.-2 sacks. He was hit often and came right back. He threw 19 receptions to WRs, 2 to the TEs and 1 to running backs. Grade: A-.
Receiving Game: The big question was who was to replace injured JuJu and the answer was the man in the mirror, JuJu, playing with a soft cast. No doubt this player is a 'man', coming back so soon and doing so well. He had a hand injury, leg cramps, and 8 catches for 138 yards and a TD. Adoree played more offense and added 4 catches for 45 yards and Mitchell came back for 4 catches for 22 yards. Hampton had a nice 10 yard reception and TE Tyler had an important 18 yarder. I know some people complain a lot about spreading the passes around, but a lot of this is what the opponent gives you. TEs block blitzes and so do running backs. In critical downs you go to the proven players and that is the star..JuJu Smith-Shuster just as any team , including Pete Carroll's did . That second consistent receiver still has to show up. Overall Grade: B+
Running Game:On that USC fumble, two players had a shot at recovery and one went to pick it up instead of dropping on it. Bad Choice and a TO that resulted in a UA TD drive. But Jones set a record for USC freshmen at 177 yards besting Lendale White's 144 in 2003. The kid (177 yards-9.3 ypc-5 First Downs-1 TD) is pure excitement and on that 74 yard play was circled by 2 defenders and pushed off on one, maintained balance and scored. He hits the hole quickly and is through it into the secondary before most first contact...what a jolt. Ronald Jones II also had one reception for a 5 yard TD. Whenever the machinery is cranky just use a squirt of RJ2. Davis had an underrated game (85 yards-5.3 ypc-5 First Downs-2 TD). They were a big part of the 11-19 3rd and 4th down conversions after Q1. Overall Grade: A-.
Oline: They appeared overwhelmed at first and Kessler took nearly all 31 yards of losses in the first quarter. Then they started opening up holes for Davis and Jones and held steadier to enable Kessler some longer passes. The better 3rd down conversion numbers and the 10 first downs rushing are partly theirs.. Overall Grade: B-.
Defense- Arizona came in averaging 512 yards on total offense and 265 yards of that by rushing. They exited this game having 60 yards of rush offense and 412 yards overall. Solomon as a runner had 25 yards gain, and 27 yards lost over 11 plays. USC had 6 sacks of Solomon and 10 tackles for losses overall. They pressured Solomon into several throwaways and overthrows. But UA did have more luck through the air attacking our secondary. Lots of good performances by guys not expected as well. 11 players had 4 or more tackles. The Numbers: Sua Cravens (8 tackles-1.5 Sacks-2.5 TFL), John Platenburg (8 tackles-0.5 TFL and the play of the game- The Interception). And 2 others that played well- Antuan Woods (6 tackles-2 Sacks-3 TFL) and Claude Pelon (4 tackles-0.5 Sacks-0.5 TFL) coming off injury. At times it was difficult to change defensive units as the Cats pumped up the tempo on offense, running about 80 plays. Overall Grades: D-Line A-, Linebackers-B, secondary- C+.
Special Teams- UA mostly kicked and punted away from Adoree Jackson making for few runbacks Adoree had 4 punts for a 7.0 ypp aver. and 3 KOR for about 19 ypr. Albarado's punts averaged a good 43 yards net. Wood had 38 yards per kickoff net with one returned for 56 yards just after a USC score. He also made a 25 yard FG and missed one from 34. Overall an average performance. Overall Grade: C+.
Coaching: . The play calling started poorly in the first quarter (12 yards net), but really picked up in the Q2 with 224 yards, and then continued at 104 yards in Q3 and 144 in Q4. USC really shut down the UA defense in Q3 to 39 yards net and took over the game from mid 3rd quarter through the late Q4. But there were some strange calls IMO on both sides. USC declined a penalty of Holding (10 yards) that would have pushed UA from a 37 yard FG to a 47 yard field goal point albeit with one more down. UA hit the FG from 37 to make it UA 17-10. And Rich Rod chose to play a 4th and 2 at the 50 leading 20-17 and turned it over on downs on a USC stop. From that spot USC marched in for a TD to make it 20-24 and USC never gave up the lead. And it's great to follow a Turnover on Downs with a long pass for a TD, but then an onsides kick...that nearly worked...hmmm. Overall Grade for USC: B
Miscellaneous: No complaints on the TV announcing team and the refs called a relatively even game. The one peccadillo was allowing UA to rack (a body slam) a USC runner when clearly out of bounds and then penalized a USC player 15 yards for a push while the UA runner was still in bounds. TV- B. Refs-B-.
Bottom line/Next game Forecast - Colorado on Friday at 7 PM in 30 degree weather. Colorado is better than last year and could qualify as a trap game. They played UCLA tough and they tussled with Arizona. They are good enough to make it competitive but score at a 23 ppg in the P12 and give up 36 ppg. As to the cold I've played in that weather in New England and it's kind of fun. And contrary to thoughts it often is a higher scoring game. With heaters and gloves it isn't bad. Of course it's a different story for fans. My Forecast..USC 35 UC 20.
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