USC Football: Studs and duds from the Trojans’ win over Washington State

Duds

Referees:

OK, picking on referees is lame. Their job is way harder than it seems. That said, Friday night’s game featured a cacophony of errors and at-best, questionable or controversial calls that benefited and hurt both teams. Washington State may have gotten away with a near safety on a muffed kickoff, Iman Marshall had a handsy pass defense that could’ve easily been pass interference, Michael Pittman’s might-be touchdown at the end of the first half was ruled inconclusive, Porter Gustin surely was on the fortunate side of a targeting no-call, James Williams got the benefit of the doubt on a bobbled fourth quarter catch, and that’s only a small sampling of the game-changing calls that could’ve swung the game in different directions.

Tee Martin and Clay Helton:

The biggest critique on USC’s coaching staff, and specifically offensive coordinator Tee Martin, shouldn’t be that they don’t run (or pass) enough. It’s that they don’t do enough of what’s working, whatever that may be. Friday night was another example of how excruciating the offense is, seemingly for no reason, due to the questionable run-pass distribution. USC ran the ball five times for 80 yards on the first five plays of the game. Yet, they somehow decided to hand the ball off just five more times during the remainder of the first half. It’d be one thing if they went away from the run because it was troublesome like last week against Texas, but they averaged 16 yards per carry on their first drive, and 6.81 yards per carry by the running backs throughout the night. Not running the football on a night the run blocking was working is unconscionable. And of course, when they went back to the run in the second half, things opened up nicely for USC and they were able to sustain drives.

USC’s pass rush:

The Trojans only managed one sack, with Porter Gustin getting credit for a coverage sack in the third quarter. But before and after, it was a struggle for USC to generate any sort of pass rush. Even when they did, it made the defense susceptible to the screen and big plays over the top, as Mike Leach’s offense seemingly had an answer for everything.

Greg Johnson and Isaiah Langley:

The first half was a brutal one for the USC secondary, especially cornerback Greg Johnson. He was picked on by WSU quarterback Gardner Minshew, as the Cougars continually freed up receivers in space and marched down the field without any sort of resistance. Isaiah Langley got more reps as the night progressed, but he too struggled. His best coverage of the game resulted in a pass interference downfield.

Third Down Defense:

Once again, it was terrible for the Trojans. The Cougars were 7-of-16 on third downs for a 43.8 percent conversion rate. Unlike in past weeks however, the downfall for USC’s defense was Washington State’s ability to dink and dunk on first and second down, creating short third down opportunities. They averaged a third down distance of 4.88 yards, including nine opportunities of 3rd-and-3 or shorter. Those are difficult distances to defend, as evident with the uptick in conversion rate against.

Fourth Down Defense:

The Cougs went a perfect 3-of-3 on fourth downs, extending USC’s woeful season total to 5-of-6 converted fourths against. Luckily for the Trojans, they opted to kick a field goal at the end instead of go for it.