2007 Game 3 USC Versus Washington State - Defense Notes Date - September 22, 2007 Location - LA Coliseum Result - USC 47  Washington State 14 I did not get much of a chance to review the Washington State game until today. Fortunately USC had a good game defensively versus the Cougars and there was not a lot to check up on. For the most part Pete Carroll commented after the game that the Trojans were able to handle Washington State relying upon mostly base defense schemes. The Cougars were in the top 20 in many NCAA statistical categories before the game and had a balanced attack that gave USC some problems last year. This year however the result was quite different and the defense kept Washington State in check for the majority of the game. Other than the two drives that resulted in scores Washington State did not pose much of a threat and was an easier win that I had expected. Given the lofty hype put on this defense in the off season by the media I think it makes sense to keep reviewing USC's performance week to week versus some of the previous years for comparison. The data is all from the NCAA's CFB web site for Division I football statistics. Here is how things now look after three games. The 2007 figures are all year to date. Category 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 YTD Rush Yards Per Game 83.2 60.2 79.4 130.5 91.1 64.3 Rush Yards Per Carry 2.8 1.8 2.6 3.8 3.0 2.2 Pass Yards Per Game 201.8 276.2 199.9 230.4 204.7 242.3 Pass Yards Per Completion 11.6 11.5 10.6 11.1 11.1 10.0 Pass Completion % Allowed 49.8% 55.0% 53.8% 59.7% 54.6% 55.3% Total Yardage Defense 284.9 336.4 279.3 360.9 295.8 306.7 Scoring Defense 18.5 18.4 13.0 22.8 15.2 18.3 Sacks 43 55 50 32 35 6 (26) Tackles For Loss 96 126 120 73 87 17 (87) Fumbles Recovered 19 20 16 16 11 1 (4.3) Interceptions 17 22 22 22 11 3 (13) 3rd Down Defense % 27.6% 38.8% 28.0% 36.5% 38.7% 38.5% Note: Figures inside ( ) indicate simple projections over a 13 game season. The Trojan rush defense is still holding up very nicely after three games and is very close to the benchmark established by the 2003 squad. On the passing defense side of the equation the Trojans only allowed 183 yards passing versus the Cougars. This dropped their average allowed per game by 30 yards compared to last week. Another good couple of weeks and this metric will improve as well. Pass yards per completion allowed also declined slightly to 10.0 yards per completion and is now the lowest of the recent era. On a more negative note only two more sacks by the defense were added this week so the Trojans are still on pace for the lowest total of the Pete Carroll era. The pass pressure has been relatively good however so perhaps this metric can still improve over the next couple of weeks. Additionally USC is still not forcing turnovers like it has in the past which is certainly a concern for Head Coach Pete Carroll who prides himself on this metric. Only one fumble and three interceptions have been forced after three games. So far there is no adverse impact from this decline due to the ability of the offense to move the ball but at some point in time greater production in this area will likely be needed. Here is a quick look at how Washington State scored. How Washington State Scored Drive Starting Point Points Comment Long field scoring drives 14 2 TD Drives (83 and 84 Yards) Short field scoring drives 0 Scores directly by the defense or special teams 0 None Totals 14 2 TD's in Total USC Base Defense Schemes The two base schemes that USC used the most were again the 4-3 Under and Over fronts. Here is the side view of the Under front with a Cover 1 secondary. Only one free safety is deep playing center field on this play versus WSU's Ace Back 2TE alignment with 2WR's split right. USC also played a considerable amount of the game with more of the conventional 4-3 Over front as well. On this one the Trojans played a Cover 2 Shell with 2 safeties deep. Unfortunately due to the narrow camera angle you can't see the other deep safety but if you count the bodies you can ascertain the remaining players position. Here is a formation that is causing some trouble for opponents. Only 3 down linemen line up on this play versus WSU's 5WR Empty back formation. Kyle Moore splits out wide and takes the slot receiver on the left of the formation (from offenses point of view). Here again he also splits out wide against the 5WR spread set of WSU as well on the previous play to the right. That is pretty amazing for a defensive lineman to split out in coverage and defend the flats and drop into coverage. USC Rush Defense The USC rush defense was one of the highlights on the defensive side of the ball again this week. Washington State was held to a total of 64 yards on 27 rushes and 2.4 yards per carry. The NCAA takes sack yards off the run game so in reality the Cougars ran for a few more. Still however it was a nice performance overall. Here is the histogram of the WSU runs. For the most part the USC defense was very solid and maintained good gap discipline in the game. As you can see from the data Washington State did not really get a running game going. There were a cluster of runs that averaged between -1 to 3 yards. Then there were a few more carries that resulted in gains of 5 to 9 yards. The Cougars were limited to just three run plays that created more than ten yards per carry. Two of those I believe came on QB scrambles however by Alex Brink and were due to good pressure by the defensive line in reality. There were also some pretty serious negative yardage plays in the run game for Washington State due to 2 sacks, a big tackle for loss on a fumbled QB snap in the shotgun, and an eleven yard loss when the punter mishandled a snap as well. Lawrence Jackson Sack Here is the first play of the game that generated one of two sacks for Lawrence Jackson. He lined up wide in a "jet" position to speed rush the play from the outside. Right off the snap he beat his man and establish an angle of attack right for the quarterback. Lawrence beats his man (falling in the picture) and wraps up the WSU QB before he can even finish planting his feet and get a good look down field. A great start to the game for the USC defense. USC Pass Defense The USC pass defense was also much improved this week as well. After allowing 389 yards passing to Nebraska USC only allowed  183 yards on 21 of 43 passing attempts by the Cougars. Here is a Histogram of the yards generated passing versus USC. In general USC limited Washington State to 183 yards and mostly short completions for a 4.3 yards average per passing attempt. There were 4 big pass plays completed versus USC of over 15 yards. A 44 yard completion, two 20 yard completions, and a 17 yard play were the only big throws allowed by the defense. Overall it was a much improved showing compared to the Nebraska game in terms of yardage allowed. USC Blitz Plays After blitzing over twenty times last week versus Nebraska the Trojans did not resort much to the blitz against Washington State at all. The pressure generated by the front four was sufficient to keep the Cougars in check throughout much of the game. As a result at most there were perhaps six blitzes in the game by my count on pass plays. This is actually the ideal scenario for USC. If the defensive line can generate sufficient pressure with only 4 linemen that leaves seven men to defend the passing zones against a maximum of five receivers. Unfortunately the defense only generated the one interception by Kyle Moore. That metric should improve in weeks to come if the squad can continue to pressure with four and drop players into passing lanes. There were two easy interceptions dropped by USC late in the game. Kyle Moore Interception Here WSU lines up in a 5WR Empty Backfield alignment. Kyle Moore splits out to cover the flats and USC only rushes 3 down lineman After the snap USC rushes three and drops the remaining eight into pass coverage. Kyle Moore helps cover the flats and double team the defender in his area along with the corner back. USC generates good pressure on the play with only three down lineman and force Brink to make a hasty decision. Brink thinks he spots an open man underneath and throw the ball. However the pass is slightly off line and Kyle Moore also does an excellent job of stepping in front of the receiver for the interception. Other Notes and Reflections The rush defense for USC continues to look like the real deal and is holding teams to low yardage in terms of output. On a positive note the defense also applied pressure and held the Cougars to 183 yards passing. Only two sacks were recorded but there was good pressure in general without have to resort to excessive use of the blitz. The Trojans still need to find a way to generate more fumbles and interceptions. Hopefully that will start to occur this week up in Washington versus the Huskies and their redshirt freshman quarterback.