Hogue Report: Post-California

From last week after Washington:  “…they will beat Cal because of USC’s defense (though the Bears have a good defense and I am waiting to see the Trojan offense perform at a high level against someone other than Washington and Washington State).”

From two weeks ago after Arizona:  “But to me, the most glaring oddity is the tendency for USC to kill drives with play calling that doesn’t play the percentages, or maybe worse, continues to go away from what is working.”

Déjà vu?  Was this Arizona all over again?  Unbelievably dominant defense.  Offense that puts up yards and not points.  Lots of penalties.  Dominant runs followed by drive-killing incomplete passes?  Clearly, on one side of the ball, USC is as good as it gets anywhere in the country - - bring on all-comers.  Number 1 ranked defense in the country and 2nd place is a far distance back.  On the other side of the ball, however, it’s talent that’s as strong as the defensive side, but ranks 15th in the nation in scoring (and if you took Washington and Washington State out of USC’s average, we’d be ranked 38th).

I know some readers will say – hey, they are 8-1 and continue to pass the toughest tests in the conference… Oregon, Arizona, Cal.  Wins are precious, and USC is on its way to another 11-win season!  My answer is – you are absolutely right, and this era of Trojan football is unprecedented.  Thank God for Pete Carroll and his staff.  And it would be a crime if I went through a column without mentioning the defense.  Rey and Cush, Fili and Kyle Moore, Matthews and Tupou (yes, Christian had a great game).  And the guy deserving his own line is Taylor Mays, who – after waiting a long time to see it – we are now seeing bring the hat every game.
 
BUT, this offense makes this team flirt with losses, and certainly isn’t living up to its potential.  This team can run the ball, and sure could have run it down Cal’s throat the way we did a year ago in the rain with Chauncey Washington.  Why didn’t they?  The play action pass was working, largely because Cal had to commit to stopping the run.  But the rest of the passing game was hit and miss… and too much “miss” to keep making drives dependent on it.  No drive told the story more than the first drive of the second half:  2 runs by Stafon Johnson to start the half, gaining a combined 17 yards and getting the Trojans almost to mid-field.  Then 3 straight pass attempts (2 incompletions and a sack) and on comes the punt team.

I was quoted by someone recently saying that I was critical of Mark Sanchez and the passing game.  WRONG.  I love Mark Sanchez.  I think he has all the tools, can make every throw, and has a great enthusiasm about him.  I think his mistakes come from this offense putting too much on him – especially when it doesn’t need to put it on him!  Let him throw off of play action.  Let him roll-out and run boot-legs – he throws on the run as well as anyone in college football.  And we should absolutely be taking shots downfield, but let’s pick opportune times, and not continue to waste first downs and put drives in the hole (I know I’ve said that before as well).  Instead, we empty the backfield and have Mark just do a straight drop-back when the defense obviously knows it’s a pass??  On 1st down?  Why?  What’s the point?  Are we trying to prove we can do things?  Or are we trying to dominate football games?

I don’t want to be redundant in the column (since I am already redundant with previous columns), and have little else to say, other than this:  I am making the trip to Stanford.  Stanford is a better team this year than last year when they stunned the football world at the Coliseum.  They run the ball extremely well on offense, but that should come to a stop against USC’s defense.  The Cardinal defense is average for the conference, and it should give USC a platform for establishing ourselves offensively the way we want.  BUT THAT IS THE PROBLEM – Do we know what we want?  Do we know who we are offensively?  Are we going to go in and try to dominate the game and crush the Cardinal??  Or are we going to “prove we can do things”?
 
We will win because of our defense.  But in another opportunity to define this offense, I will be watching to see what identity, if any, emerges.

Onto Stanford.