USC Shows Off Weapons, Lack Consistency vs. Utah State

A week after getting boat-raced on a grand stage against No. 1 Alabama, Clay Helton’s USC football team got back to basics, winning 45-7 with a satisfactory effort against Utah State at the LA Coliseum.

It certainly wasn’t pretty. USC had yet another player –offensive lineman Chuma Edoga– ejected for an uncalled-for dead ball foul, and the offensive line struggled with consistency, giving up a pair of sacks.

But for a team coming off of a demoralizing loss, Saturday was all about restoring confidence in a wide range of areas.

“It felt like the week creeped along,” Helton said. “To be able to get out there and play was special. We needed it as a football team, to get a bad taste out of our mouth.”

In many ways, the Trojans’ redemption win was a potpourri of coming attractions.

Rookie quarterback Max Browne put together a quietly efficient 23-for-30 passing performance, Justin Davis hit the century mark in all-purpose yards and Clancy Pendergast’s defense held the nation’s Week 1-leading team in rushing to just 49 yards.

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Add in a pair of touchdown passes from Sam Darnold, a punt return for a touchdown by Adoree’ Jackson and a blocked punt, and USC add enough glitz to go with a mostly glamourless, workman-like performance.

It all stemmed from a first quarter calming of nerves in the form of Michael Pittman’s blocked punt to set up the Trojans’ first touchdown of the season.

The freshman receiver streaked in from the right side and batted Aaron Dalton’s punt deep into Utah State territory to set up a three-play, six-yard touchdown drive culminating in Browne’s first career touchdown pass.

“All of it is Coach [John] Baxter’s crazy mind working,” Pittman said of the block. “As soon as they split out wide, I just knew I had my opportunity.”

USC then weathered a near-response following a Utah State missed field goal, and the ball control game went into full effect.

The Trojans ran 43 of the next 53 plays leading into halftime, and amassed at least 47 yards on five-straight drives beyond that.

“I thought it was our form of winning, [because] what we like to do is stop the run against a dynamic running quarterback.” Helton said. “We ran the ball effectively and what it really did is set up great opportunities for our wideouts.”

After USC unsuccessfully tested the waters early on the downfield passing game, Utah State’s defense made adjustments in coverage, deciding to play off the line of scrimmage.

It opened room underneath for Browne to target his receivers on high percentage pass plays.

Senior Darreus Rogers proved to be the biggest recipient of the lax coverage, as he was continuously open on mid-range routes. The result was Browne distributing to more playmakers than JuJu Smith-Schuster, a key criticism of Cody Kessler.

“It’s a big difference [from last year],” Rogers said. “I had seven catches –a career high– so it’s a big difference.”

All told, the Trojans had 14 different players get touches on offense, with three different players functioning as gadget quarterbacks: the aforementioned Darnold, Ajene Harris and Jalen Greene.

“I was sitting on the sideline when I got pulled [in the fourth quarter], thinking I got through to seven different guys today,” Browne said. “That’s awesome getting all the weapons involved, because we have them.”

But while feeding everyone was a welcomed sight for an offense stuck in reverse last week, the flip side of the coin for USC is that needing to do so many different things on offense meant a lack of a sense of rhythm.

Controlling the game throughout as they did, the Trojans needed to have more to show for their assertion of style. They never appeared dominant or overly confident on offense.

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The offensive line needed Justin Davis to dazzle with second-chance efforts, and while five different players had rushes of 10-yards or more, USC was limited to a middle-of-the-road 4.0 yards per carry.

“Special teams was huge for us today, but offensively, we showed we can put some drives together,” Browne said. “You put up a lot of points, but you’re still going to watch that film and say, ‘Hey!'”

Against Utah State, the Trojans shouldn’t have had to rely on the defense and special teams setting the tone but getting a victory — the first of the official Clay Helton era — was the most important takeaway.

All told, USC’s win over Utah State did wonders for establishing confidence in winning period, with a baby-steps improvement on offense.

But with Stanford next, there’s still lots of work to be done.

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