2007 Game 5:  USC vs. Stanford - Offense Notes Date - October 6th, 2007 Location - LA Coliseum Result - USC 23 - Stanford 24 I thought there would be more close games this season as I mentioned last week. However I never would have guessed that this would be one of them. I left for a week of vacation to Hawaii the day after the game and did not get a chance to re-watch it yet. For the time being here are some stats from the game. If and when time allows I'll clip some pictures and make some other charts. How USC Scored Drive Starting Point Points Comment Long field scoring drives 23 3 Long Field TD Drives (64, 82, 86 Yards) 1 Long FG Drive (63 Yards) Short field scoring drives 0   Direct scores by the defense or special teams 0 No direct scores. Totals 23 3TD's & 1 FG in total. True to form the USC offense put up its normal 23 points per game when forced to march the length of the field. There were no short field scoring opportunities for the Trojans in the game. Field position was adverse much of the game for the second week in a row. One more scoring opportunity was missed when the long drive to end the first half resulted in no points. A field goal or a TD of course would have been the difference in the game. Stanford by contrast scored 14 of its points on short field drives. One was the interception returned for TD and the other was the final 45 yard drive to win the game after another pass interception. When forced to start on their own side of the field Stanford generated 10 points. Here are some other key stats worth noting that I compiled after the game. Key Stats Check Category USC Comment Red Zone Efficiency 67% USC was 2 for 3 in the redzone this game. One score also resulted from outside the red zone on the long pass play to Fred Davis. The drive at the end of the first half that resulted in no points was big in hindsight. First Down (+4) Efficiency 43.8% The last two games have been in the mid 40% range which is normal for USC when compared to the 2002-2004 era. Turnovers Lost/Gained -4 USC committed 5 turnovers and only forced one in the contest. As a result the Trojans had no short field opportunities while they handed Stanford several. Big Plays (+10 on runs) 2 There were 2 Runs of 10 yards (or greater) for 31 yards. Big Plays (+15 on pass) 6 The Trojans had 6 big pass plays for 255 yards. YPC in the game was a season high of 15.2 yards per completion overall. Overall Scoring Drive Conversion 28.6% USC scored on 4 of 14 drives for 28.6%. This brings the season average down to about 45% or where the 2004 squad finished the year. Average Drive Length 33.8 yards The overall average drive length was a respectable 33.8 yards which is just higher than average for the past several years. Scoring Drive Length 73.8 yards The overall scoring drive length was an amazing 73.8 yards reflecting again that there were no short field scoring drives in the game. By way of comparison the 2003 and 2004 Trojans only had to move the ball 46 to 52 yards respectively in order to score on average. 3rd Down Conversion 36.8% USC was just 7 of 19 third down conversions in the game. 4th Down Conversion 33.3% USC was 1 of 3 on 4th down conversions. Sacks Generated 4 Sacks USC achieved a season high 4 sacks in the game. Tackles For Loss 4 TFL's  There were  4 TFL's by the defense in total. USC Overall Offensive Stats Plays Number Yards Per Play Average Run Plays 38 95 2.5 Pass Plays 41 364 8.9 Total Plays 79 459 5.8 Passing Game Yardage wise this was the biggest passing game of the year so far for the Trojans. Fans and media had been wanting to see a more down field attack and this game generated some of that. Quarterback John David Booty was 24 of 41 for 58.5% completion and 364 yards passing. Unfortunately he also threw 4 interceptions and there was a fumble by Fred Davis after a big gain on a reception. In addition it was learned after the game that JDB suffered a fractured finger on his throwing hand when he hit a players helmet on a follow through in the second quarter. I don't have the time to clip the pictures of the big pass plays or the interceptions this week due to vacation. I'll try to get them at a later point in time after the Arizona game. This game was a good example of how high passing yardage alone is not sufficient to win games. The Trojans achieved season highs for overall passing yardage as well as higher YPA (8.9 yards) and YPC (15.2 yards). The big passing plays were not enough however to offset the turnovers and other mistakes the Trojans made on offense. Two of the four intercepts reportedly came on plays were the QB and WR's had communication errors. The QB expected the player to go one direction and they went the other. One was a desperation 4th down heave at the end of the game. Regardless this now puts USC at 106th in the nation in turnover margin. There have been 14 turnovers to day and 10 have been on interceptions. If this trend can be stemmed the Trojans can still contend for the Rose Bowl game and perhaps the national title. If the turnovers continue at this pace then more losses will no doubt result. Running Game Alarmingly the running game struggled for the first time this season. I suspected there might be a drop off as the unit worked to jell and improve communication after the injuries to O'Dowd and Rachal. I did not expect the attack to only generate 95 yards rushing on 38 attempts for a 2.5 yard average. This suddenly looked like the rush attack of 2006 that struggled to consistently move the ball on the ground when needed. 35 of the rushing yards were gained to the middle for a 1.6 yard average. 28 yards were gained to the left for a 4.0 yard average and 32 yards for a 3.2 yard average were gained to the right. The offensive line and running backs did not perform as well as previous games and it hurt the overall offense. We'll see how it performs next against Arizona. A week of practice and the return of Stafon Johnson should help. YTD the Trojans still are averaging over 2000 yars per game even after this performance. Overall Offense Total yardage was not the problem for USC in this game. They basically matched their season average of 460 yards which compares favorable to the 2002 to 2004 ear. This game was more about turnovers and faulty execution when it mattered the most. Stanford on the other hand struggled most of the game and only produced 235 total yards of offense. The Cardinals however capitalized on turnovers and opportunities when it mattered. I'll have to re-watch the game to capture and confirm some of the other data. Based upon the USC play stats after the game I can highlight the following however. In terms of run pass percentage this was a very balanced game again. The passes were much more effective for generating yardage. Those were also the plays that generated the five turnovers as well. Downs Runs Passes Total 1st 20 11 31 2nd 9 17 26 3rd 7 11 18 4th 2 1 3 38 41 79 Down and Distance Downs 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4 Run 1 Pass 2 Pass 3 Pass 4 Pass Attempts 21 9 7 2 11 17 11 0 Yards 42 32 18 3 129 195 40 1 Average 2.0 3.6 2.6 1.5 11.7 11.5 3.6 0.0 Most of the yards for the Trojans came on first and second down passing plays. Those plays netted over 300 yards and averaged over 11 yards per play. 3rd down passing and all downs running the ball were disappointing in terms of results. Other Notes & Reflections On Offense: This was a bad loss for the Trojans and really hurts their chances of playing for the national title. Each week now becomes a game of not only taking care of business but also hoping that other teams ahead of USC struggle and lose. Time will tell if this was just an untimely upset or a harbinger of things to come. The team should bounce back against Arizona at home on Saturday. I won't be able to watch the game live due to travel plans. I'll have to re-watch the game on Sunday as time allows after returning home.  I'll eventually get some pictures and other items for this game as well. Let's hope there are no more repeat performances like this one.