It never ceases to amaze. Whenever the Trojans open the season on the road, they look like they are in mid-season form. That was the case for USC as they dismantled an over-matched Virginia Cavalier squad that is still looking for the truck that hit them.
SC was sharp in nearly all phases (surprising even Trojan fans), and the preparation couldn't have been better despite several injuries during Fall Camp that left the offense with a lot of question marks. But the Trojans answered those questions with ease will dropping 52 points on the road in Charlottesville.
Let's grade this puppy:
Offense
QB - MarkSanchez almost played a flawless game. He was poised, patient, and opportunistic hitting on 26 - 35 passes for 330+ yards and 3 TDs. The only blemish were an INT on a ball thrown behind the receiver. And the knee injury? What knew injury?
Grade: A minus
RBs/FB - It was a cast of thousands here. (5) RBs scored TDs, and they all ran well. SC needs to run the toss sweep a lot more, cuz McKnight and Gable are money on those plays. As a group, this unit averaged six yards per carry.
Grade: A
WRs/TE - A terrific start for this group. No drops, baby . . . that will get it done. Damian Williams looked comfortable finding holes in the defensive zones and led with (7) receptions. Patrick Turner struck for two big plays and a TD. RoJo showed toughness on catch taking a big hit, and then came back and struck deep for a TD reception. TE Anthony McCoy also started the game off with two nice receptions for first downs.
Grade: A
OLine - The biggest question mark here turned into the biggest answer. The big uglies got it done giving up no sacks, and leading the running game to 200+ yards. Tackles Butch Lewis and Charles Brown had great games protecting in the passing game.
Grade: A
Defense
DLine - Interesting deal here . . . not a lot of stats from Moore, Moala, Spicer and Griffen in terms of tackles and sacks. But they did so their job in this game by occupying the Virginia OLine and allowing the LBs to blitz unchallenged. DE Clay Matthews was around the ball a lot accounting for a sack and a couple of fumble recoveries. They'll have to do more vs. Ohio St., however.
Grade: C
LBs - MLB Maualuga was a disruptive force all day long, and OLB Cushing was terrific in pass coverage. OLB Kaluka Maiava led the team in tackles with six, including a TFL. Youngsters Malcolm Smith (3 tackles) and true frosh MLB Uona Kavienga (TFL for 5 yard loss) also made some nice plays.
Grade: B plus
DBs - Outstanding game. SS Kevin Ellison started things off with a couple of pass break ups (should have been INTs) on Virginia's short passing game attempts. Cary Harris blanketed any deep ball tries, and CB Kevin Thomas had a nice INT in the second half. As usual, the DBs came up and delivered blows vs. the running game.
Grade: A minus
Special Teams - Kicker David Buehler was nails again with a FG, and several touchbacks on kickoffs. But punter Greg Woidneck only averaged 36 yards per punt, and PR Joe McKnight made a bad decision to field a punt and fumbled. McKnight did have a nice 18 yard punt return early in the game, however.
Grade - C
Coaching - What can be said? No staff does a better job of preparing these players to get off to a good start on the road. We've seen SC use its variety and sophistication on offense to utterly confuse OOS defenses every year. They did the same on Saturday. The defensive scheme really shut off the short passing game that Virginia wanted to use early, and forced Virginia's QB to have to make quick decisions.
One area that needs to be figured out is the the penalties. Virginia's only TD came almost entirely from successive SC penalties on excessive celebration, a late hit, and a pass interference. A balance needs to be found on encouraging enthusiasm and aggression with smart play.
Grade: A minus
Game Balls:
* Offense - OLine (Lewis, Byers, O'Dowd, Herberer and Brown)
* Defense - DE Clay Matthews
* Special Teams - Kicker David Buehler
Prediction Winner - JudoMan . . . picked the SC point total from out of the blue.
No comments:
Post a Comment