USC vs Washington 2016: Who Were The Studs and Duds?
Who were the duds?
Adoree’ Jackson:
…Jackson’s man, John Ross, led all receivers with 154 yards on eight catches, including a 70-yard touchdown on which the Trojan cornerback had his ankles broken. It was a crapshoot for Jackson who couldn’t find the balance between giving Ross cushion and keeping him from getting easy catches underneath. Not only that, Jackson’s open field tackling was not up to snuff.
Having said all that, Jackson had the last laugh.
Damien Mama:
False starts were to be expected given the hostile enviroment, but accounting for two of them on his own, as well as an illegal hands to the face penalty which called back a Sam Darnold touchdown, puts Mama on the duds list.
Jake Browning:
The Heisman Trophy candidate hadn’t faced a defense of USC’s caliber all season. It showed. Browning threw two interceptions and completed just 47 percent of his passes. Noticeably shaken by USC’s aggressive pass rush, Browning wasn’t the best quarterback on the field, let along in the conference on Saturday night.
Myles Gaskin:
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A big part of the reason UW couldn’t get their passing game going was that the Trojans did such a good job of negating the Husky rushing attack. Running back Myles Gaskin was limited to 51 yards on 15 carries, his worst performance of the year.
Dante Pettis:
USC didn’t have many answers for John Ross, but the Trojans managed to hold Pettis to two catches for just 22 yards even though the injured Iman Marshall was assigned to him for much of the night.
JuJu Smith-Schuster:
Smith-Schuster was critical for the Trojans early, converting a pair of first downs over the middle, so it’s a little bit nitpicky to include him among the duds. However, he was not a factor for much of the game and dropped one first down conversion at the marker. Whether or not his back injury continues to limit him, it was a quiet performance for the junior. Thankfully, USC didn’t need him in the end.