USC vs. Oregon State Report Card: Grading the Trojan Defense

The USC Trojans put in a dominant defensive display over the Oregon State Beavers Saturday on the way to a 35-10 victory at the Coliseum.

After being embarrassed by Boston College before the bye week, the defense had plenty of ground to cover to make up for their pitiful display in the upset.

Sean Mannion and the Beaver passing attack presented a new challenge for the Trojans, but they proved more than up for the task.

Here’s our report card for the USC defense in week five.

The sophomore provided the early spark with a 31-yard interception returned for a touchdown. He read the play perfectly and demonstrated once again what a game-changing player looks like. And of course he wasn’t done.

With another perfect read Cravens dropped Xavier Hawkins for a seven yard loss on an attempted fly sweep, then he sacked Mannion later that quarter for an eight yard loss.

By game’s end, Cravens led the Trojans in tackles as well.

Elsewhere in the linebacking corps, Hayes Pullard put in a typically good shift with a second-best five tackles on the evening, but he picked up two personal fouls and his facemask penalty wiped out a Trojan fumble recovery.

Anthony Sarao and Scott Felix both logged pass break ups with the latter also picking up a tackle for loss,

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A+

Su’a Cravens performance at linebacker for the Trojans was so dominant, the unit almost gets the A+ on his contributions alone.

The sophomore provided the early spark with a 31-yard interception returned for a touchdown. He read the play perfectly and demonstrated once again what a game-changing player looks like. And of course he wasn’t done.

With another perfect read Cravens dropped Xavier Hawkins for a seven yard loss on an attempted fly sweep, then he sacked Mannion later that quarter for an eight yard loss.

By game’s end, Cravens led the Trojans in tackles as well.

Elsewhere in the linebacking corps, Hayes Pullard put in a typically good shift with a second-best five tackles on the evening, but he picked up two personal fouls and his facemask penalty wiped out a Trojan fumble recovery.

Anthony Sarao and Scott Felix both logged pass break ups with the latter also picking up a tackle for loss,