5 Key Story Lines Going into the USC vs Colorado Game

USC vs Colorado features a wealth of story lines to follow, including Shay Fields’ connection to Troy and Sam Darnold’s influence on the Trojan offense.

Entering the 2016 season, few could have predicted the match up between USC and Colorado would hold such major implications for Trojans and the Pac-12 South championship race.

Nor would it have been anything but a shock to learn that the Buffaloes were in the drivers seat for the division title while USC would be in need of an upset win to keep their season alive.

With plenty on the line for both teams, here’s five key story lines to watch going into this year’s USC vs Colorado game:

Maintaining The Pressure

The Trojans left the Coliseum on Saturday night feeling truly great about the pass rush for the first time in 2016, having generated three sacks against ASU while causing all sorts of other havoc in the backfield.

“Guys were getting to the quarterback,” Cameron Smith said. “It’s always fun to be aggressive and get after it.”

USC’s ability to recreate that performance on the front lines will be pivotal this Saturday when Colorado is in town. However, there is some nuance involved when it comes to attacking an offense like the Buffaloes.

Facing a quick-passing offense, selling out on the pass rush could carry negative consequences.

“It’s situational. It’s about how we feel our match ups are and how we want to best utilize our guys based on those match ups,” defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast said,

The key, Pendergast says, is to react quickly enough to disrupt the rhythm of the offense.

It won’t be easy against an uptempo attack that can do a little bit of everything in the passing game, nickel and diming the opposition with short , quick passes, or taking shots deep with speedy receivers capable of getting behind the defense.

So while the Trojans are likely to deploy some of the creative fronts that were so effective versus ASU, it may come down to the organic penetration of USC’s defensive line.

Head coach Clay Helton praised that defensive front this week, sure to point out that two of the Trojans three sacks against the Sun Devils came on a four-man rush, no blitz necessary.

“I’ve always said, you want to see an offense shut down, get the quarterback off his spot and let him have to deal with getting hit a couple times. Then you really see where you’re at,” Helton said.

It worked against ASU. The Trojans just need a repeat performance.