| USC vs.
Washington State
-
Offense Notes Date - September 22, 2007 Location - LA Coliseum Result - USC 48 Washington State 14 This was another very good victory for the USC Trojans. Going into the game I thought that senior QB Alex Brink of Washington State might have a better game and keep things close for at least the first half but that did not happen. Except for two long drives by WSU that resulted in 14 points the Trojan defense kept the Cougars in check most of the night. Coming into the game the WSU offense was ranked in the top 20 in total offense and scoring in the nation. This game dropped them down to 46th in yardage and now 43rd in scoring. Most of those yards were racked up against weaker competition but still holding this Washington State unit down was a good accomplishment on defense. Also some nagging questions about the passing game seemed to be answered as well this week. How USC Scored
Here is a new chart for long field scoring drives for the past several years. As you can see USC is off to a great start in this dimension. Only back in 2005 has USC been able to move the ball this well consistently down the field to generate scoring. This is very positive trend three games into the season. The delta on the point totals come from short field drives (<50 yards) each season after turnovers or special teams play. If turnovers pick up to previous levels this season then this team will continue to have a very successful year on offense.  Here are some other key stats worth noting that I compiled after the game. Key Stats Check
USC Overall Offensive Stats
In addition to the overall above stats it is usually useful to look at the first 15 plays of the game and see what the coaches learned. The first 15 or so plays are scripted each week in anticipation of the opponent. I'll skip the formations for simplicity but it was clear from the first drive that USC was going to establish the passing game this week just like they did with the run game last week. 13 of the first 15 plays were passes although one pass was treated as a run play in the stats since it was thrown backwards behind the line of scrimmage to Patrick Turner. Officially it makes for 10 of 12 passing for 79 yards and 3 runs for 14 yards to open the game. (Note: This has been since changed by USC's SID). USC stuck with the pass offense for the first several drives and then spent the latter half of the game canceling out any tendencies by running out of the the previous passing formations, etc. and working on the run game with different backs (Herschel Dennis, Joe McKnight) late in the game. Passing Game As noted above this was obviously a good game for the USC passing attack. After several weeks of running the ball the coaching staff no doubt wanted to test the down field aspect of the game. The result was a combined 30 for 38 passing and 302 overall yards by both QB's. Both Booty and Sanchez unfortunately threw an interception as well in the game. (Note: after the change USC was 31 of 39 for 312 yards)  The passes were a nice mix of throws to all parts of the field and to various receivers. The biggest recipient was TE Fred Davis who caught 9 balls for 124 yards. After dropping a couple of passes last week it was good to see Patrick Turner catch 6 for 64 yards as well as Vidal Hazelton with 6 for 47 yards. In total 9 different players caught the 31 passes. After such a nice game by Fred Davis the media chatter will no doubt drum up the "USC is finally throwing to the TE position" commentary for a week. Here is a trend chart going back to 2002 depicting which positions have received the majority of passes in the USC passing attack under different offensive coordinators. It varies year to year but usually with good reason.  Here you can see that the WR position has in reality caught the majority of the passes each year for USC. This year is no different in that respect. What is encouraging is that the RB's and TE's are also being effectively utilized. Last season the majority of throws were to the WR's just as they were in 2002 and 2003 when Mike Williams was a big part of the passing offense. Last season of course had Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett on offense. The TE position actually caught more passes percentage wise in the USC offense in 2005 and 2006 for example than in 2002 and 2003. In 2004 the TE receptions spiked upwards (much like this season) after Mike Williams left school early and Steve Smith broke his leg. The delta that year was picked up by the tailbacks, the fullbacks, and the tight ends. This season has a nice mix which makes it harder for opponents to game plan against USC's offense. Also the TB/FB receptions are up due to the healthy return of Stanley Havili. That aspect of the passing attack was sorely missing last season. In terms of concentration however not too much is all that different from previous years. If you ignore the positions and just map out the concentration of receptions the top five pass catchers each season would look like the following chart.  Currently the top five receivers for USC (Fred Davis, Patrick Turner, Stanley Havili, David Ausberry, and Vidal Hazelton) are catching 81.1% of the passes YTD. This is just under last season and right in between the 2002 and 2003 squads. 2004 is the exception as injuries etc. affected the situation and different position personnel were used to drive the passing attack. We'll revisit and update these trends in a couple of weeks again. Here is a snapshot of where the balls were thrown by the USC QB's in the Washington State game. It represents the total throws for both Booty and Sanchez. It also includes the lateral pass that was initially scored as a run play by the USC stats department. On Monday the sports athletic department changed their mind and converted it to a forward pass. I won't alter the statistics listed on this site except for this chart which was created after the fact. USC Passing Grid  Sometimes fans wonder why there seems to be a lot of balls thrown to certain locations like to the right in this game. The answer depends upon multiple factors. Some quarterbacks simply have tendencies and preferences. Right handed QB's tend to throw more often and more effectively to the right. Others favor a certain receiver or might be picking upon a certain player on the opposition. Usually a big drivers is simply what type of defense is the opposition going to play. The USC coaching staff determines this by studying game film and identifying the opponent tendencies in advance. Then during the game they confirm and adjust throughout the contest. In the case of Washington State it appears the Cougars took a very conservative approach and played a lot of Cover3 and Cover 4 schemes at times. In other words the corners played considerably off the wide receivers. Here are a couple of quick pictures that were fairly typical from the game.
As a result the Trojans simply threw a lot of quick hitting plays (hitches, outs, flare routes, etc.) to the outside right and left to take advantage of this cushion. They also took their shots in the seams that are open against these type of defensive coverages down field with the tight ends and wide receivers. I don't follow WSU very closely but the announcers mentioned during the game that the Cougars were starting 3 new players in the secondary. WSU Head Coach Bill Doba who is also their defensive coordinator this year played it safe and tried to keep the ball in front of his players in hopes of avoiding giving up the big play. The strategy worked in terms of avoiding the home run type plays but USC was able to complete a high percentage of passes and patiently keep the chains moving. The final passing stats were 31 of 39 passes for 312 yards for USC with two interceptions. For more on attacking different coverage schemes here are some notes I took from a book on attacking coverages with the passing game. Some of the more impressive gains in the passing game were made by the tight ends this week so we'll highlight one of the catches by Fred Davis below with a half dozen pictures.
In the "could be improved" department both John David Booty and Mark Sanchez threw interceptions and had balls batted down around the line of scrimmage. I'll put both batted down balls up for closer inspection since it is a recurring theme. For the year JDB now has exactly one per game and is on target to match his level for last year which I frankly think is normal and acceptable.
Running Game Opposite from last week USC started off passing on 13 of the first 15 plays this week so the rush attack was slow to get on track for this reason. Once again however USC finished with a very healthy run game and balanced attack in the end. In total the Trojans ran the ball 29 times for 197 yards (adjusted for the change in the Turner lateral by SID). Currently this ranks USC at 10th in the country in rushing at 245 yards per game and 6.33 yards per carry after three games. Here is the Rush Histogram for the game versus Washington State. Including the sack of John David Booty USC was stopped behind the line of scrimmage five times and had one play for no gain. The remainder of the carries were all for positive yardage and quite effective. 21 runs went for five yards or greater and 7 plays went for 10 yards or more and generated 103 yards.  Here is one of the better runs in the game by Stafon Johnson. Chauncey Washington had several as well but I did not have time to capture both. Last week I put up a picture of a zone run play this week we'll look at what appeared to be from this angle a more traditional isolation fullback lead play by USC.
Offensive by Downs & Run versus Pass
As you can see from this breakdown this was a very balanced attack for USC overall in terms of end result. However it was a highly pass driven attack for the first half of the game and then switched later to the run game. The Trojans had huge success on both first and second downs plays running and passing the ball. On third down USC stuck to passing as part of the game plan I suspect to prepare for upcoming games when that capability will be needed.
As you can see by this further breakdown the Trojan offense again had very good success on first and second down both running and passing the football. Third down was a good passing down as well which is an encouraging sign. USC Offense by Situation
This table breaks down the offense by situation and how USC attacked Washington State in general by down and distance. Once again it was a very balanced attack in terms of run pass by down and distance. However the majority of the passing was done in the first part of the game and then relatively the mix shifted to the running part of the game as the contest wore on. It will be interesting to see what transpires next week. Pictures and Highlights As time allows I'll edit this file and put up anything I find that is interesting. Also it will be a while before I likely get to the defensive side of the ball this week due to travel. In the mean time for those interested here are the ESPN provided highlights of the game in a 16 minute video clip. (Click Here) Other Notes & Reflections On Offense: Any win versus a conference opponent is a good one. USC now has three straight dominant wins to open up the season. The next couple of games against Washington and Stanford, etc. should provide victories as well. The latter part of the season is where this year will be tough and we'll learn the most about the squad. Let's hope that in the mean time key players injured like Brian Cushing, Cary Harris, Vincent Joseph, and others find their way back to good health . |
