2007 Game 4 USC Versus Washington - Defense Notes Date - September 29, 2007 Location - @ Washington Result - USC 27  Washington 24 I am not going to cover very much of this game due to personal time constraints this week. I'll just update the trends for the defense as well as show a couple of charts and pictures.  Overall the defense played very well again and limited Washington to just 190 total yards. All of Washingtons points came on short field drives or the one touchdown on the interception return after USC mistakes on offense. Here is how things now look after four games now and we can get a faily good handle on the USC defense. The data is all from the NCAA's CFB web site for Division I football statistics.  The 2007 figures are all year to date numbers. Category 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 YTD Rush Yards Per Game 83.2 60.2 79.4 130.5 91.1 73.3 Rush Yards Per Carry 2.8 1.8 2.6 3.8 3.0 2.44 Pass Yards Per Game 201.8 276.2 199.9 230.4 204.7 204.2 Pass Yards Per Completion 11.6 11.5 10.6 11.1 11.1 9.5 Pass Completion % Allowed 49.8% 55.0% 53.8% 59.7% 54.6% 53.8% Total Yardage Defense 284.9 336.4 279.3 360.9 295.8 277.5 Scoring Defense 18.5 18.4 13.0 22.8 15.2 19.8 Sacks 43 55 50 32 35 7 (22.8) Tackles For Loss 96 126 120 73 87 25 (81.3) Fumbles Recovered 19 20 16 16 11 2 (6.5) Interceptions 17 22 22 22 11 4 (13) 3rd Down Defense % 27.6% 38.8% 28.0% 36.5% 38.7% 36.9% Note: Figures inside ( ) indicate simple projections over a 13 game season. The Trojan rush defense is still holding up very nicely after four games and is within a dozen yards of the benchmark established by the 2003 squad. On the passing defense side of the equation the Trojans also only allowed 90 yards passing versus the Huskies. This dropped their YTD per game average allowed further and erased some of the damage done by QB Sam Keller in the Nebraska game. Pass yards per completion allowed also declined slightly to 9.5 yards and is currently the lowest of the Pete Carroll era. Total yards per game allowed as well is just under the 2004 benchmark for USC. On the negative side only one more sack by the defense was 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 when needed 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. Year to date only two fumbles and four interceptions have been forced after four games. Several pass interceptions have been dropped in the secondary. USC now ranks 94th and 74th in the country in these two turnover categories.  Here is a quick look at how Washington scored. Amazingly the Huskies scored zero points on long field drives of 50 yards or more. All their points came after USC miscues that gave them the ball with very short field position. How Washington Scored Drive Starting Point Points Comment Long field scoring drives 0   Short field scoring drives 17 2 TD Drives of 9 and 14 yards. 1 FG drive of 22 yards Scores directly by the defense or special teams 7 One interception returned for TD. Totals 24 3 TD's and 1 FG in Total USC Base Defense Schemes USC played much of the game in its 4-3 Under base defense. The view angle is narrow but there were 2 safeties deep on this play.  UW ran their QB zone read option to the right for a short gain. Here is another look at USC's 4-3 Under versus UW's Shotgun formation with split backs. Kevin Ellison must have noticed something as he trotted down at the top of the screen before the snap leaving Mays as the sole deep defender. UW ran an inside hand off to Rankin for a short gain. It is hard to tell how often USC lines up like this but every game they are shifting into a double eagle alignment with Sedrick Ellis in a 0 technique and using two 3 technique players for seveal plays. This is used in conjunction with a Cover 1 look in the secondary. I think this alignment is why there have been fewer successful draw plays run against USC so far this year (knock on wood). Here is how USC lined up versus UW's 2TE look with the QB operating out of the shotgun. There are 10 USC defenders near the tackle box and no safeties deep. Locker completed a short stick route to the tight end to the middle left. USC Rush Defense The USC rush defense was good for most of the night versus Washington. The QB Jake Locker and the TB Louis Rankin did get free a few times for gains but for the most part they were kept in check fairly well by the Trojans.  Here is the histogram of the Husky runs. As you can see from the data most of the Huskies runs were in the 0 to 4 yard gain category.  There were a few tackles for loss in the game and the one sack of the QB by Lawrence Jackson. Only three runs of 10 yards or greater were allowed. Still UW was able to rush for exactly 100 yards on 33 carries against USC's defense. Lawrence Jackson Sack Here is the only sack of the game for USC. It came out of the 4-3 Under alignment. On a first and 10 UW lined up in a 4WR set with a 3WR bunch formation left. USC did not blitz on the play and it appeared that there was good coverage down field. Lawrence Jackson got a step on his man to the outside and was able to turn the corner on him. QB Locker went down for the only sack of the game for USC. USC Pass Defense The USC pass defense was also much improved this week as well. For two weeks in a row now USC has blitzed very little and played fairly conservatively on defense. Also this was done without Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews, and Cary Harris on defense. Shareece Wright missed a lot of the game as well after a slightly injuring a hamstring. Overall Jake Locker was 13 of 28 passes for a mere 90 yards in total. After the first drive of the game in particular the Huskies has trouble moving the ball through the air.  One of the big plays of the game that deserves mention is the Thomas Williams interception. In hindsight stopping the Huskies from scoring on this drive was one of the keys to the victory. Thomas Williams Interception USC lined up with 3 down lineman and Kyle Moore off to the left of the offense in an upright stance. After the snap USC rushes three and drops the remaining eight into pass coverage. Lawrence Jackson leaps and attempts to bat down the pass but just misses. The TV angle moved too slow to keep up but Thomas Williams had dropped into coverage perfectly. Here is the interception by Williams from the back side. Good example of knowing the passing lanes and stepping into the right place at the right time. Terrell Thomas Fumble Recovery Here is the fumbled punt return late in the game that created the final margin of victory. Terrell Thomas tackles and strips the ball from the defender. I could not get a good picture of the strip due to the speed of the play. Not only did Terrel Thomas strip the ball away he also recovered the fumble that set up the final Trojan Scoring drive. This was the only short field scoring opportunity for USC in the game. 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 both total output and yards per carry. On a positive note the defense also held the redshirst freshman QB for the Huskies to just 90 yards passing. This defensive unit is doing quite well in many respects. The perplexing part is that sacks, tackles for loss, and turnovers are not happening at a greater rate. The figures are all at the very low end of the scale for the Pete Carroll era. All of these categories historically have worked together to help create short field scoring opportunities for the Trojans on offense. Without them field position is usually worse and games tend to be closer. Perhaps the trends will improve the next couple of weeks versus Stanford and Arizona.  Against teams like Oregon, Cal, Arizona State, and UCLA etc. they may be the difference in a close game.