2007 Game 12:  USC Versus UCLA - Defense Notes Date - December 1, 2007 Location - Los Angeles, Coliseum Result - USC 24 - UCLA 7 I did not have as much time as I would have liked to review the defensive side of this game. Below I will give a general update on where on the 2007 edition of the USC defense ranks after the UCLA contest, highlight a few plays from the game, and create a few charts for comparison. Since there is a lot of time between now and the Rose Bowl I may come back and update this file in a week or so schedule allowing. (Note: The following data is all from the NCAA's CFB web site for Division I football statistics and the 2007 defense figures are all year to date numbers as of today. The all time leading performances for the Pete Carroll era are highlighted in black for completed seasons.  To the right is a column with the current team's NCAA rank so you can see where it is relatively strong and were it ranks relatively weak.) Category 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 YTD NCAA Rank Rush Yards Per Game 83.2 60.2 79.4 130.5 91.1 79.2 #4 Rush Yards Per Carry 2.8 1.8 2.6 3.8 3.0 2.5 #4 Pass Yards Per Game 201.8 276.2 199.9 230.4 204.7 179.7 #7 Pass Yards Per Completion 11.6 11.5 10.6 11.1 11.1 9.4 N/A* Pass Completion % Allowed 49.8% 55.0% 53.8% 59.7% 54.6% 53.7% N/A* Total Yardage Defense 284.9 336.4 279.3 360.9 295.8 258.8 #2 Scoring Defense 18.5 18.4 13.0 22.8 15.2 15.9 #4 Sacks 43 55 50 32 35 40 (43) #6 Tackles For Loss 96 126 120 73 87 85 (92) #24 Fumbles Recovered 19 20 16 16 11 14 (15) #13 Interceptions 17 22 22 22 11 10 (11) #86 3rd Down Defense % 27.6% 38.8% 28.0% 36.5% 38.7% 31.2% #9 *Not available in any easy format Note: Figures inside ( ) indicate simple projections over a 13 game season. The Trojan rush defense improved from last week as UCLA generated just 12 net yards rushing on 25 attempts. 31 yards were subtracted due to four sacks in the game by USC. Overall the rush defense ranks #4 in the country but does not look like it will reach the level established by the 2003 team. However it pulled into a virtual tie with the 2004 squad with only one game to go. Pass yardage defense is now at 179.7 yards per game and looks like it will set a new low benchmark for the Pete Carroll era. Currently it ranks 7th in the country overall in terms of yardage allowed. Total yardage defense is now at 258.8 yards per game year to date and still ranks second in the country behind just Ohio State. That total yardage level is just under the lowest mark of the Pete Carroll era by a dozen yards and looks like it will set a new benchmark. USC had 4 sacks and 8 TFL's in the game to move it higher in both of these rankings. After a slow start to the year the sacks in particular are picking up nicely. With only more game to go the unit will not match the levels of the 2003 or 2004 squad however with a good game it could match the 2002 unit. The glaring chink in the Trojan armor has been the ability to produce turnovers and especially interceptions. USC now ranks 64th in the country in turnover margin and just 86th in interceptions. With three fumble recoveries in the UCLA game the Trojans have jumped to 13th in the country in this regard. Despite being unable to generate interceptions the Trojans limited opponent passing yards and produced a top 10 ranking in 3rd down defense percentage. How UCLA Scored Here is a quick breakdown of how UCLA scored. Drive Starting Point Points Comment Long field scoring drives 7 One long TD drive of 65 yards Short field scoring drives 0 N/A Direct scores by the defense or special teams 0 N/A Totals 7 UCLA Scoring Drive There was only one scoring drive in the game by UCLA and it only took the Bruins just 5 plays and 38 seconds to cover 65 yards and score right before half. Since that was the one big break down in the game by the USC defense let's look at that series first. 1st Play: UCLA lines up in its hurry up offense - 3WR formation with twins to the wide side of the field and Cowan in the shotgun. USC has one safety deep and the DB's play man coverage with a slight cushion. UCLA's WR to the outside right (#19 Johnson) runs a comeback route to the right sideline. Cary Harris is beat on the play but recovers to stop it for an 11 yard gain. Good throw and catch. 2nd Play: UCLA lines up in the same formation with twin WR's left to the wide side of the field. USC aligns players upright and implies blitz. USC does blitz on this play and Cowan hurries the throw and it is an incomplete mid-screen to Chris Markey. 3rd Play: UCLA aligns in the same 3WR formation with twins left to the wide side. USC aligns upright and shows blitz. In response Cowan times a perfect quick fade throw to Terrence Austin who beats Terrell Thomas in man coverage for a 36 yard gain. 4th Play: UCLA lines up in its 3WR formation and Cowan under center this time. USC is in its under front and how has to only defend the goal line basically with 22 seconds left (hence the large cushion below to the right). Cowan rifles a quick slant pass left in between two USC defenders #28 Thomas and #58 Maualuga to WR Breazell of UCLA. Maualuga hammers the receiver but he hangs onto the ball for a short gain. UCLA aligns in its 3WR formation with twins right to the wide side and Cowan in Shotgun. I did not clip the picture but USC gets decent initial surge.... ...however a quick corner fade route is thrown and perfectly caught with one hand by WR #19 Johnson in one on one coverage versus CB Terrell Thomas. Good series and execution for UCLA in their hurry up offense. This drive accounted for four of their 13 completions on the day and 65 of their 156 passing yards. USC Rush Defense Overall the USC rush defense played very well in the game. Only 12 yards rushing were allowed on 25 carries for 0.5 yard average. In reality UCLA had 31 additional yards rushing but that amount was subtracted off due to the four sacks on Patrick Cowan.  I'll put a couple of the sack pictures below under the passing game defense and statistics. Rush Defense Picture Here is a sample UCLA running play. It was typical of  many of the I Formation runs in the game by UCLA and not very effective. USC handled the line of scrimmage effectively throughout the game. I Formation with twin receivers to the wide side of the field on first and 10 in the 3rd quarter. The slot receiver motions across and USC seems to sniff out that it is a run play as suddenly there are eight men in the box and MLB Maualuga is inching forward. It looks like a straight isolation run play up the middle or off of left guard. USC controls the line of scrimmage and puts a body in every gap. The result is a gain of a yard or so by Chris Markey. Rush Yards Allowed YTD YTD the USC rush defense is holding pretty steady as noted above. The two big exceptions this season as indicated below have been the Oregon game and the Cal game. The last two games of the year have allowed almost no positive rush yardage after sack yards are netted out. USC Pass Defense The USC pass defense did well limiting Patrick Cowan (and Ben Olson later in the game) to 13 of 29 completions for just 156 yards. After allowing Rudy Carpenter to complete over 70% of his passes (when not being sacked) USC held the Bruins to just over 40% in this game. Passing YPA / YPC Allowed Defensive Turnovers and 3rd Down Conversion Defense USC did well in the turnover department this game producing a season high four in the game. After averaging 3 turnovers per game during the 2002-2005 seasons the Trojans were only able to achieve this level four times during the season including this game. 3rd down conversion defense has generally been better and allowed 40% or more only three times during the year to Nebraska, Washington State, and the loss to Oregon. UCLA's 3rd down conversion rate was 0 for 11 in the game and the first time USC has done that all season long. Sacks & TFL's Trend USC has picked up 28 sacks in the past six games. This moves the Trojans to a total of 40 for the season and looks on pace to match the 2002 squad that had 43 for the season. If the squad had maintained the pace of the past six games for the season it would have matched the 2003-2004 squads that produced 50 and 55 sacks respectively. 18 of the sacks have come from Sedrick Ellis with 8.5 and Lawrence Jackson with 9.5 so far this season. That will be tough to replace next season however Everson Griffen with 5.5 in part time duty as a freshman this year will certainly help off the end. Shareece Wright Corner Blitz Sack UCLA lines up in its I Formation with twin receivers to the wide side of the field on 1st and ten on the 35 yard line. USC brings pressure with 2 blitzing players the corner Wright and the SLB Cushing. The back in for protection has to decide which to block and the normal rule is to take the inside man or in this case Cushing. The TE releases on the play and is not staying in for protection... That leaves Cowan to deal with the remaining unblocked player but he does not spot the open TE across the short middle quick enough and is sacked by Wright for an eight yard loss. Terrell Thomas Interception UCLA lines up in its 3WR formation with twins right on this play on 2nd and 8. I don't think that UCLA has many run plays out of the shotgun so basically the defense knows this is going to be a pass play on 2nd and eight. USC rushes on the front four on this play and plays man coverage underneath. Each Bruin WR is locked up by a Trojan defender it appeared on the outside at least. One LB dropped to the middle of the field it looked like from this angle and eyes the FB coming out of the back field. Cowan is looking left the whole way. I could not tell on TV what route was being run but it must have been a bust by someone. Cowan's throw is not rushed but somehow throws to right to Terrell Thomas. Oddly no Bruin is withing five yards of him. I just have to assume that a WR route error was made on the play as Cowan was not hurried and his view did not appear to be obstructed. Sometimes you get just lucky on defense I guess. (Edit Note: The replay angle showed what happened to the WR. I had fast forwarded and missed it. Thanks for the e-mails pointing this out. Link to Cushing hit on WR (click here). Other Notes and Reflections Statistically this unit is winding up as one of the better ones of the Pete Carroll era in several categories. In terms of yards allowed in passing and overall yardage it ranks at the top. Rush defense has been stout most games as well. The second half of the season sacks and tackles for losses picked up nicely. The only blemish on this unit has been its lack of ability to force turnovers that give the offense short field scoring opportunities. This game was nice in that respect as four turnovers were generated. Unfortunately USC turned around and gave the ball back or failed to capitalize on them. Fumbles forced have improved the past couple of weeks but interceptions never did rally for some reason this year despite the good pressue by the front four. That just may be due to the skill of the defensive backs and their ability to read plays or opponents familiarity with the USC defensive secondary schemes. It will certainly be an area for improvement in the off season. This unit should be up to the challenge of facing Illinois in the Rose Bowl but nothing will surprise me that way this season has gone. Juice Williams the talented quarterback for Illinois is a threat to run the ball at any time and if anything has given the USC defense trouble over the years it has been running quarterbacks. Elle Roberson of Kansas State, Bryan Randall of Virginia Tech, Vince Young of Texas, and Dennis Dixon of Oregon all come to mind. The key against mobile QB's is speed on defense and stellar execution in maintaining gap responsibility. If USC can maintain gap control, stop the run game, and force Illinois to become one dimensional and more pass oriented then the game should turn out well for the Trojans.