USC vs. Cal 2017: Wrinkles the Trojans can sneak into their game plan

Clay Helton’s coaching staff faces an interesting challenge in the USC vs. Cal rivalry game. Here’s what they need to do to beat the Bears for a 13th-straight time.

Last week’s Texas game at the Coliseum was a double-overtime instant classic highlighted by an incredible effort by the Trojan defense and a shaky one by the offense. This week, Troy cannot afford a letdown in the annual USC vs. Cal game.

Let’s take a look at the wrinkles Clay Helton’s Trojans can insert into the game plan at Memorial Stadium.

1. Play action early

Against Ole Miss, it was interesting how Cal lined up multiple times in a 5-2 defensive front, which is the traditional defense of USC’s current defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast.

But Cal did against 11 personnel —one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers— which is typically USC’s base offensive formation.

Cal will most likely line up against the Trojans like this to help combat the run. With wide receiver Steven Mitchell sidelined with a groin injury, you can expect the Bears to stack the box and dare USC to throw.

However, with the expected return of Michael Pittman from injury and flashes from Tyler Vaughns, the Trojans have to challenge Cal’s secondary, which was shaky against Ole Miss and gave up 400 plus yards to Weber State.

Throw the bomb early. Make Cal take the extra man out of the box and then get back to the ground game.

Switch up blocking schemes

USC struggled to the run the ball against Texas last week, managing only 71 yards on 37 attempts, for abysmal 1.9 yards per rush. Give the Longhorn defense some credit, they played the best game of their season so far.

However, the Trojans did not do itself any favors with its blocking up front. USC employed a lot of zone blocking techniques, in which the offensive line moves in the same direction. This technique is to create running lanes for the talented Trojan running backs to find and cut up field into.

The problem is it allows for athletic linebackers to identify and shoot gaps, getting into the backfield. It can also be disrupted by a strong nose tackle who can fight into the backfield and prevent the back from cutting up the field. Unfortunately for USC, Texas had the linebacker talent, and the defensive line to give a zone block scheme fits.

The zone scheme will likely find more success against the Bears, but that doesn’t mean USC should not incorporate a little more of the man-on-man and gap schemes they were able to blow holes open against Stanford with.

USC should also pull a guard like Ole Miss. They were able to find some success pulling a guard in the run game, which helped set up play action passes that gash Cal.

Use a robber in man defense

USC plays an aggressive man-to-man defense, which leave cornerbacks Jack Jones and Iman Marshall on islands. So far, the duo has done a great job. Sure they have given up catches, but a lot of those have been jump balls or the result a defender falling down.

Expect more of the same against a Cal receiving corps who would be without their top target, in Demetris Robertson.

Cal faced a lot of man coverage in their 27-16 win over Ole Miss, and attacked it in two ways. First, they ran quick outs with receivers and tight ends. It isn’t much you can do about those defensively, besides relying on the pass rush to make the throw difficult and tackle on the back end.

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Secondly, Cal flared out the running back to move the linebackers and threw back into the vacated space in the middle of the field. To combat this, USC should use Marvell Tell or Cameron Smith as a ‘robber’, or a player in a man defense who appears to be defending someone one-on-one, but is actually playing a zone and reading the quarterback.

This way, when the Bears look to get their slants, posts and other man-beater routes, you have the chance to confuse first-year starting quarterback Ross Bowers.

A robber could cause him to throw interceptions, because he believes a safety or linebacker should be widening or jumping another route, leading to him throwing the ball right to them. Think Cameron Smith against Utah in 2015, when his three-interception performance was partly a result of getting underneath throws.

Turn Darnold loose

USC is no-huddle football team, but against Texas last week, we rarely saw a fast-pace attack. Against Cal, they need to get back to their up-tempo, fast-firing offense.

Quarterback Sam Darnold was magnificent last week in the two-minute drill, so use tempo, and let him work his magic. When you inject pace, you put pressure on the defense to stay vanilla, which should help Darnold with his turnover problem so far this season.

Also, run Darnold in the red zone. Last week, the wrinkle was to run him to help keep the Texas defense honest. USC did not run Darnold at all, and as a result Texas pinned its ears back and attacked relentlessly on short and medium yardage situations.

Quarterback Sam Darnold was magnificent last week in the two-minute drill, so use tempo, and let him work his magic.

The most egregious of these situations was the first quarter goal-line stand that seemed to set the tone for the Texas defense all night.

Had USC set Darnold up with a zone-read keeper on either third of fourth down, he not only scores, but puts that thought into the Texas defensive mindset, setting up short conversions later in the game.

READ ALSO: Five Things to Watch For vs. Cal

USC can’t afford a repeat performance in the red zone on Saturday. Cal head coach Justin Wilcox is known for his bend-but-don’t-break defense.

How close this game is is dependent on how well the Trojans convert in the red zone, not kicking field goals, but scoring touchdowns. Cal is going to be stacking the box and run-blitzing USC in the red zone much like Texas. Therefore, calling zone reads and speed options will be a great wrinkle.

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