SCliff Notes: Tre Madden’s Return Will Elevate Offense and More USC Football News

Can’t get enough of USC football? We’ve got your morning dose of all the best content from around the web concerning the men of Troy.

1st & 10:

Don’t sleep on Tre Madden… As reported by our very own Hank Shaw, Tre Madden is back to being listed as an available player on the Trojan depth chart for this coming week after missing four games with turf toe.

It’s been awhile since a healthy Madden took the field for USC, so you’d be forgiven for forgetting what a powerful weapon he was for the Trojans in the early goings of 2013. So let me remind you.

You know how dominant Buck Allen was in the final six games of the season? How it earned him the team MVP? That’s what Madden was doing for the Trojans in the first six. Except Madden didn’t have a confident Cody Kessler opening things up with the passing game and the team as a whole was playing so much worse.

Madden racked up 100 total yards in each of his first five games in 2013 and was nine shy of making it a sixth straight against Arizona before getting injured just before half time. He averaged 5.5 yards per carry before getting injured and added four touchdowns in the passing game.

So don’t sleep on the importance of Madden returning to the fold. He could very well be the man to elevate USC’s offense from just alright to great.

In Other News…

• We’ve got grades for the USC offense against Oregon State, with Aundrey Walker earning a shout out for his contributions on the offensive line. (Reign of Troy)
• Sticking with the report card theme, Michael Lev had his own grades for the Trojans on Saturday. (OC Register)
• On a similar note, check out our Studs and Duds from the game, featuring Su’a Cravens and Sean Mannion. (Reign Of Troy)
• Su’a Cravens got some national love as well this week from Adam Kramer, who highlighted the Trojan as his Dominant Defender of the week. (Bleacher Report)
• Kevin Gemmell took a look at the defensive improvement against Oregon State which includes this wonderful quote from Hayes Pullard: “This team needed to get punched in the face.” (ESPN)
• Scott Wolf pointed out the cool tribute to recently passed Trojan linebacker Scott Ross by OSU offensive tackle Sean Harlow, whose father was former USC O-lineman Pat Harlow. (Daily News)
• For a preview of the Arizona State game, Kyle Kennsing breaks down match up including keys to victory, players to watch and a high scoring prediction. (Bleacher Report)
• USC got a big commit for 2016 as four-star defensive end Isaac Garcia announced his desire to join the Trojans on Twitter. (Reign Of Troy)
  • Gerard Martinez collected some great quotes from Garcia who calls USC his dream school. (Scout)
• Some more recruiting news comes via Garry Paskwietz and Johnny Curren who took a look at some of the recruits present at the Coliseum this weekend. (ESPN)
• If you’re eager to look way forward to Arizona, the kick off time was announced Monday with ESPN picking up the game at 7:30 p.m. (Reign Of Troy)

Reign Of Troy Radio:

Be sure to check out the latest episode of Reign of Troy Radio, in which we discuss “Beast Mode” Su’a Cravens, the dominant pass defense, Justin Davis’ stellar outing and the “criminally underrated” Cody Kessler.

Stat of the Day:

USC is 2-0 in Pac-12 play for the first time since 2007.

Tweets of the Day: