Another batch of quotes from USC players following the loss to Stanford ...
Su’a Cravens
--He graded USC’s defense vs. Stanford a “D, D-minus.”
“We had them in situations we wanted to be in and just didn’t execute. If we would have stopped them on third downs we probably would have saw 21 less points on the board.
--After the game, it wasn’t clear to USC how exactly it could have played better defense.
“If I had that answer, I think we would have made that adjustment in the second half.”
--Stopping Stanford went beyond containing Kevin Hogan.
“I think if we would have played better in all phases on defense we would have won. If we would have stopped the screens, if we would have stopped the tight ends, the quarterback getting to the edge and scrambling out the pocket, we would have been in a better situation.”
--Stanford eventually wore USC down in the second half.
“You know whenever you play Stanford, they’re going to play big-boy ball. And that’s what they did. They just kept at it. After a while, you keep getting those big bodies in there and them pounding the ball up the middle, a couple plays are going to go for a lot of yards. That’s what happened. … They were the better team tonight. They were faster and more physical.”
--He believes this loss needs to be a wake-up call.
“We just got to grow up. We got to establish ourselves. This game is a tough game every year. I think this is a game where you decide who you are as a team, whether it’s Week 3 or Week 9 of the season. We just got to get to the drawing board and move on.”
JuJu Smith-Schuster
--He believes Stanford’s ability to convert third downs was the X factor in the game.
“If you really look at the stats, that’s what you see and that’s what sticks out the most. That’s the obvious answer. I think if we would have had them stopped a couple (third) downs, for us to get the ball back. Having our offense off the field kind of slowed us down, kind of threw us off our game. … We had to stop them on third downs and get the momentum back. You know Stanford is going to control the clock.”
--USC is conservative on third down sometimes because it’s operating under the assumption that it has two downs to work with.
“Out coach is not afraid to go (for it) on fourth down, so if we can take the three yards, four yards (on third down), that’s OK, because we know we got another down. But definitely I feel like we should have taken more shots downfield. Obviously, that didn’t work out. …
“They just weren’t giving up the deep balls. They were not trying to let us go deep. The majority of the time the corner was just playing off and just sitting inside, outside, not letting us get the ball (downfield).”
--He expects the team to rebound emotionally pretty fast.
“Our team knows we have to pick it up another notch, knowing that our first away game is against Arizona State. We’re just going to keep moving forward.”
Chris Hawkins
--Finishing plays is still an issue for the secondary.
“We were on them, we just got to finish. We got to make our plays. We were in tight coverage. One ball, (the receiver) caught (it) over two of our guys. And then the other ball he caught over one of our guys. For us to be great we have to make those plays. I feel like if we make those plays this game is totally different. At that moment in time he wanted it more. We were in position to win a lot. We just got to make our plays. We were doing things that we were not doing in practice. I don’t know if we underestimated them. I don’t know what happened. We were doing things we weren’t usually doing.”
--Multiple defensive backs acknowledged having to cover for long intervals on certain plays because of a lack of pressure but didn’t gripe about it.
“That’s all part of the game. That’s what you sign up to do when you play defensive back. You have to cover for the whole play. He broke the pocket, he broke our containment a few times, but that all comes with playing that position.”
Steven Mitchell Jr.
--Stanford imposed its will, especially from a physical standpoint.
“They were a great team. They were very physical up front, on offense and defense. We give them credit, but we have to come harder, come next week ready to play. We’re going to go into Monday and watch the film, take the hard coaching and just move on.”
--After scoring three touchdowns in its first four possessions, USC left points on the field.
“Nothing changed. It was just the penalties that we had hurt us. The plays that we had penalties on, we had big chunks of yards. We definitely could have scored more. We beat ourselves (on offense). No doubt about it, we beat ourselves. We should have scored every time we touched the ball, to be honest.”
--He’s awaiting more opportunities in the pass game, particularly further beyond the line of scrimmage.
“I’m definitely looking for that play to show everybody what I can do after the catch. I love the touchdowns. I love the touchdowns. But I also want to get those passes where I can go. We have plays that are designed for that, but whoever gets the ball makes the play. That’s what happens. … I’m just playing for my brothers, doing my assignments.”
Adoree’ Jackson
--He was surprised by Stanford’s offensive output.
“I don’t expect our defense to give up that many points. That would be any team. I’d be surprised that a team would score that many points on us. We just got to get back to the drawing board and see where we were wrong.”
--USC wasn’t anticipating Hogan to run as much as he did.
“You don’t expect that, him being a big guy. We knew he could run but we didn’t expect him to run like he was running. That’s just being a competitor, that’s just respect to him. He wanted it as bad as we did.”
--Aside from USC’s final dive, Jackson remembers only being on offense for the play in which JuJu scored. (Jackson was a decoy on the play.)
“I want to be in there more, but it’s my job, my role to be a spark plug. I’ll do it on special teams, kickoff returns, get the momentum going and get them fired up. And that’s as much as I can do. If the coach wants to put me in there more then I’ll go in.”
Darreus Rogers
--USC’s fast start on offense was derailed by its own doing.
“Penalties, missed opportunities, miscommunication, those are the details we got to fix if we want to be a great team. We’re going to fix those. It’s still early in the season. … I’m very surprised. I know we’re better than that. I don’t know what to say.
“We had a game plan and I believe in our coach’s game plan. Whatever the calls, we’re going to do it to the max effort. We just got to make our plays. Plays were there, we had them in busted coverages, just missed opportunities and penalties.”
John Plattenburg
--He said it felt like Stanford offensive game plan was a step ahead of USC’s defense.
"I’m going to give it to them, they played a hell of a game. They played a hell of a game. They run-executed. The tight ends executed, 18 (Austin Hooper) played a hell of a game. I pretty much met 35 (fullback Daniel Marx) in the hole I don’t know how many times. He did a great job. I give them the credit. They did a great job. …
"But even if you do have a great plan, we still got to execute. Countless times we were there. The big thing was first-and-10, we didn’t get that done tonight and that just opened it up even more for them to run or pass.
--USC wasn’t prepared to defend Hogan running the ball that often.
“We’d have third-and-long, we’d be tight on coverage, and he’d just make a great play. He played really well. He broke tackles when he needed to and he knew where the first down was. We can’t do anything about that.”
--He will be looking for the team to return to practice with a lot of energy.
“We all got to get better, including myself especially. In order to do that we got to come in ready to work, no distractions. Knowing the team we have, we’re going to bounce back, no heads down. I think we’ll be good.”
Su’a Cravens
--He graded USC’s defense vs. Stanford a “D, D-minus.”
“We had them in situations we wanted to be in and just didn’t execute. If we would have stopped them on third downs we probably would have saw 21 less points on the board.
--After the game, it wasn’t clear to USC how exactly it could have played better defense.
“If I had that answer, I think we would have made that adjustment in the second half.”
--Stopping Stanford went beyond containing Kevin Hogan.
“I think if we would have played better in all phases on defense we would have won. If we would have stopped the screens, if we would have stopped the tight ends, the quarterback getting to the edge and scrambling out the pocket, we would have been in a better situation.”
--Stanford eventually wore USC down in the second half.
“You know whenever you play Stanford, they’re going to play big-boy ball. And that’s what they did. They just kept at it. After a while, you keep getting those big bodies in there and them pounding the ball up the middle, a couple plays are going to go for a lot of yards. That’s what happened. … They were the better team tonight. They were faster and more physical.”
--He believes this loss needs to be a wake-up call.
“We just got to grow up. We got to establish ourselves. This game is a tough game every year. I think this is a game where you decide who you are as a team, whether it’s Week 3 or Week 9 of the season. We just got to get to the drawing board and move on.”
JuJu Smith-Schuster
--He believes Stanford’s ability to convert third downs was the X factor in the game.
“If you really look at the stats, that’s what you see and that’s what sticks out the most. That’s the obvious answer. I think if we would have had them stopped a couple (third) downs, for us to get the ball back. Having our offense off the field kind of slowed us down, kind of threw us off our game. … We had to stop them on third downs and get the momentum back. You know Stanford is going to control the clock.”
--USC is conservative on third down sometimes because it’s operating under the assumption that it has two downs to work with.
“Out coach is not afraid to go (for it) on fourth down, so if we can take the three yards, four yards (on third down), that’s OK, because we know we got another down. But definitely I feel like we should have taken more shots downfield. Obviously, that didn’t work out. …
“They just weren’t giving up the deep balls. They were not trying to let us go deep. The majority of the time the corner was just playing off and just sitting inside, outside, not letting us get the ball (downfield).”
--He expects the team to rebound emotionally pretty fast.
“Our team knows we have to pick it up another notch, knowing that our first away game is against Arizona State. We’re just going to keep moving forward.”
Chris Hawkins
--Finishing plays is still an issue for the secondary.
“We were on them, we just got to finish. We got to make our plays. We were in tight coverage. One ball, (the receiver) caught (it) over two of our guys. And then the other ball he caught over one of our guys. For us to be great we have to make those plays. I feel like if we make those plays this game is totally different. At that moment in time he wanted it more. We were in position to win a lot. We just got to make our plays. We were doing things that we were not doing in practice. I don’t know if we underestimated them. I don’t know what happened. We were doing things we weren’t usually doing.”
--Multiple defensive backs acknowledged having to cover for long intervals on certain plays because of a lack of pressure but didn’t gripe about it.
“That’s all part of the game. That’s what you sign up to do when you play defensive back. You have to cover for the whole play. He broke the pocket, he broke our containment a few times, but that all comes with playing that position.”
Steven Mitchell Jr.
--Stanford imposed its will, especially from a physical standpoint.
“They were a great team. They were very physical up front, on offense and defense. We give them credit, but we have to come harder, come next week ready to play. We’re going to go into Monday and watch the film, take the hard coaching and just move on.”
--After scoring three touchdowns in its first four possessions, USC left points on the field.
“Nothing changed. It was just the penalties that we had hurt us. The plays that we had penalties on, we had big chunks of yards. We definitely could have scored more. We beat ourselves (on offense). No doubt about it, we beat ourselves. We should have scored every time we touched the ball, to be honest.”
--He’s awaiting more opportunities in the pass game, particularly further beyond the line of scrimmage.
“I’m definitely looking for that play to show everybody what I can do after the catch. I love the touchdowns. I love the touchdowns. But I also want to get those passes where I can go. We have plays that are designed for that, but whoever gets the ball makes the play. That’s what happens. … I’m just playing for my brothers, doing my assignments.”
Adoree’ Jackson
--He was surprised by Stanford’s offensive output.
“I don’t expect our defense to give up that many points. That would be any team. I’d be surprised that a team would score that many points on us. We just got to get back to the drawing board and see where we were wrong.”
--USC wasn’t anticipating Hogan to run as much as he did.
“You don’t expect that, him being a big guy. We knew he could run but we didn’t expect him to run like he was running. That’s just being a competitor, that’s just respect to him. He wanted it as bad as we did.”
--Aside from USC’s final dive, Jackson remembers only being on offense for the play in which JuJu scored. (Jackson was a decoy on the play.)
“I want to be in there more, but it’s my job, my role to be a spark plug. I’ll do it on special teams, kickoff returns, get the momentum going and get them fired up. And that’s as much as I can do. If the coach wants to put me in there more then I’ll go in.”
Darreus Rogers
--USC’s fast start on offense was derailed by its own doing.
“Penalties, missed opportunities, miscommunication, those are the details we got to fix if we want to be a great team. We’re going to fix those. It’s still early in the season. … I’m very surprised. I know we’re better than that. I don’t know what to say.
“We had a game plan and I believe in our coach’s game plan. Whatever the calls, we’re going to do it to the max effort. We just got to make our plays. Plays were there, we had them in busted coverages, just missed opportunities and penalties.”
John Plattenburg
--He said it felt like Stanford offensive game plan was a step ahead of USC’s defense.
"I’m going to give it to them, they played a hell of a game. They played a hell of a game. They run-executed. The tight ends executed, 18 (Austin Hooper) played a hell of a game. I pretty much met 35 (fullback Daniel Marx) in the hole I don’t know how many times. He did a great job. I give them the credit. They did a great job. …
"But even if you do have a great plan, we still got to execute. Countless times we were there. The big thing was first-and-10, we didn’t get that done tonight and that just opened it up even more for them to run or pass.
--USC wasn’t prepared to defend Hogan running the ball that often.
“We’d have third-and-long, we’d be tight on coverage, and he’d just make a great play. He played really well. He broke tackles when he needed to and he knew where the first down was. We can’t do anything about that.”
--He will be looking for the team to return to practice with a lot of energy.
“We all got to get better, including myself especially. In order to do that we got to come in ready to work, no distractions. Knowing the team we have, we’re going to bounce back, no heads down. I think we’ll be good.”
