USC vs Stanford Report Card 2016: Grading the Trojan Defense

USC vs Stanford wasn’t exactly a repeat of the last two match ups, but the Trojan defense failed to answer for Christian McCaffrey once again.

Facing an offense which has eclipsed 30 points in all but two of their last 15 games, the USC defense wasn’t exactly blown away by the Stanford Cardinal in Palo Alto, despite the 27-10 scoreline.

Still, David Shaw’s Cardinal were just effective enough to get their comfortable win, while the Trojans once again struggled to contain Christian McCaffrey.

SEE ALSO: Grading the Trojan Offense vs Stanford

Here’s how each defensive unit graded out against the Cardinal:

After a solid first drive, the Trojan defensive front quickly wore down against Stanford’s ground-and-pound attack to the tune of 295 yards and a 6.3 yards per carry average.

When Stanford ran, they got the yards they wanted. When they passed, quarterback Ryan Burns rarely faced pressure from the front line.

To their credit, they never capitulated and continued to fight for stops, but USC’s line was fighting a losing battle.

USC had three tackles for loss on the night — none of them came via a Trojan linebacker.

That’s a worry considering USC’s defensive system revolves around the predator and outside linebacker supplying pressure off the edge. Uchenna Nwosu forced Stanford players to hold him on several occasions, but with none of those penalties called and Nwosu missed a prime opportunity to sack Burns.

The lack of pressure hurt USC, but so did the inside linebackers inability to shed blocks and take down Christian McCaffrey more reliably. Michael Hutchings led the Trojans in tackles with seven while Cameron Smith logged six, but both were pushed back too easily when USC stacked the box in attempts to slow Stanford’s rushing attack.

Marvell Tell committed an egregious mental mistake, leaving McCaffrey uncovered on his long touchdown pass. Later, Chris Hawkins almost gave up another long touchdown to the Heisman candidate but the pass was overthrown.

Those moments — regular occurrences for USC’s defense in 2016 — dock the secondary grade on a night when the defensive backs were generally bright.

Adoree’ Jackson shut down Stanford’s primary receiver Michael Rector, breaking up a pass in the endzone and nabbing an interception. He also added a tackle for loss and contributed six tackles, helping USC prevent the Cardinal from having success on outside runs.

Iman Marshall and Hawkins also added tackles for loss.

Clancy Pendergast defense is an aggressive unit, one which will always be prone to big plays. It’s the nature of the beast, and Stanford exploited that on two long touchdowns.

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The concern on the first from a coaching perspective would be USC’s lack of attention to McCaffrey, who should never have been allowed to be so open.

Still, the big plays weren’t the only concern for the Trojan defense, who were pounded by McCaffrey and the Stanford rushing attack. Putting eight in the box didn’t seem to matter.

Nor could Pendergast find ways to generate pressure when Burns went back to throw.

Giving up 27 points to Stanford, who have averaged much more over the past year, isn’t exactly a failure, but the Trojan defense was right where Stanford wanted them from start to finish.