Look . . . up in the sky . . . its a bird . . . its a plane . . . no, its just big Fred Davis making catch after catch to help SC dominate Wazzu. The Trojans put the Cougars away with a decisive 27 - 0 run mainly in the second quarter, and never looked back. It was a total team effort as the passing game made strides, the running game kept humming, and the defense turned in another strong effort. Let's take a look at the grades:
Offense -
QB - JD Booty had his best outing of the year with 4 TD passes. He spread the ball around and bought time in the pocket really well to stay alive and find receivers downfield. The only blemish was an INT in tight coverage. Sanchez also got a few reps, completing a couple of passes, but also throwing a pick. Grade: B +
RB - Chauncey Washington ran physical while gaining 84 yards on 11 carries. C-Dub was most impressive breaking tackles when he got to the second level, scoring 1 TD on the night. Stafon Johnson looked impressive once again displaying a low center of gravity, breaking tackles and showing terrific acceleration. Even Joe McKnight finally looked like he was feeling comfortable at RB - slippery is the word for McKnight as defenders seem to slide right off of him. Grade: B +
WR/TE - SC came out determined to establish the passing game, throwing 12 of the first 14 plays. TE Fred Davis was the main beneficiary with (9) catches and 2 TDs. Patrick Turner looked good snagging six balls and Vidal Hazleton added a TD on a vintage SC WR slant route in the red zone. Grade: B
OLine - Another solid effort by this group as SC rushed for 200+ yards again. They continue to open holes at the LOS to allow the RBs to get to the second level and make people miss or break tackles. The inside trio of Byers, O'Dowd and Rachal are just cleaning people out . . . while Radovich and Baker hold down the edges, only giving up one sack in the game. Grade: B+
Defense:
DLine - Another good game pressuring the passer and completely shutting down the run game for the front four - Wazzu gained only 64 yards on 27 carries (2.4 ypc). LoJack is officially back! He registered two sacks, while Kyle Moore got another INT, as Wazzu was pre-occupied with The Beast (NT Sed Ellis). Grade: B+
LB - Keith Rivers is The Man - and 14 tackles (9 solo, 2.5 tackles for loss) is all you need to know. Maualuga, Matthews and Thomas "Hit Man" Williams all made their presence felt. Cushing played, but tweaked his ankle again for the only bad news. Grade: A minus
DB - This group did a solid job versus a team with a very good passing game. Only a couple of lapses led to big gains for Wazzu, but those were sporadic. CB Terrell Thomas played physical, and CB Shareece Wright is learning what it takes to defend Pac 10 WRs. CB Cary Harris dislocated a shoulder in the first half, and his availability for the next two games is in doubt.
Grade: B
Special Teams:
Kickers/Coverage/Returns - Kicker David Buehler had one of the biggest plays of the night when he ran a Wazzu return man out of bounds on a sure TD after kickoff coverage breakdown.
Desmond Reed had a couple of pretty good punt and kickoff returns. Buehler hit an FG, but did miss an extra point for the only mishap in the kicking game. Grade: B minus
Coaching: A nice offensive and defensive game plan for the Cougs. On offense, coming out passing (12 of the first 14 plays) was probably not what Wazzu expected. And then on defense, PCarroll and crew kept a good passing attack in check. Grade: A minus
Game Balls:
Offense - TE Fred Davis
Defense - LB Keith Rivers
Special Teams - K David Buehler
Prediction Winner - B-Dub
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