Take heart, Trojan fans . . . USC is still the king of L.A.
On a cool, crisp night at the Coliseum, things got kind of heated as SC took control and then applied the “sleeper hold” with a late TD pass that got the fans juiced up, and the Bruins riled up. It was beautiful.
Here’s the breakdown:
Offense
QB – Matt Barkley had a decent night going 18 – 26 for 201 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. But he has been unable to keep offensive drives going, and in my opinion, it’s not all his fault. SC is in 3rd and long situations all night long, and that just puts too much pressure on Barkley to complete downfield passes when the defense is expecting it. Grade: C
RBs/FBs – RB Allen Bradford led the way in this game gaining 70 yards on 14 carries, with 2 short TD runs. McKnight left the game early with a thigh bruise, but it was good to see FB Stan Havili back on the field and contributing. Grade: B minus
WRs/TEs – The trio of receivers Damian Williams, Ronald Johnson and TE Anthony McCoy combined for 13 receptions and 190+ yards. The late deep TD to Williams added a punctuation mark to a nice game by the group. Grade: B
OLine – The OLine didn’t overwhelm a solid Bruin front (7), but they did enough by not allowing a sack and opening holes for SC RB’s to average over 4 yards per carry on the ground. Grade: B minus
Defense
DLine – This group should have been more dominant vs. a weak Bruin OLine. Although, UCLA couldn’t get anything going offensively, NT Jurrell Casey had the only sack by the Trojan DLine. Grade: C minus
LBs – This unit had it’s best game since ASU. OLB Malcolm Smith got things going with a pick 6, and also made (15) tackles. Fellow LBs Chris Galippo and Michael Morgan each added a TFL to the cause. Grade: B
DBs – The Trojan secondary contributed some nice plays in this game. Safety Taylor Mays led the group with (9) tackles, while CB Josh Pinkard and Safety Will Harris both collected INTs. CB Kevin Thomas also broke up two passes, in addition to his (6) tackles. Grade: B +
Special Teams
Kicking/Coverage/Returns – The return of punt returner Damian Williams (62 yards in returns) added some spark to this unit. But the FGs continue to struggle with any kick over 40 yards, with Jacob Harfman missing again from long distance. Grade: C minus
Coaching
Finding a rhythm offensively was again a problem. And to me, it stems from not using the running game more often early on offensive possessions to set up the passing game. As a result, the team is in 3rd and long too much and not converting. Defensively, the game should have been a shut out, except for not falling on a fumble during UCLA’s only scoring drive. A good game plan would have been even better had SC been more stingy on 3rd downs. Grade: B minus
Prediction Winner:
J-Man scores one for the out-of-state Trojan fans!
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