Date - October 13, 2007
Location - LA Coliseum
Result - USC 20 Arizona 13
Here is some defense related information from the Arizona game. It is fairly short due to travel and personal time commitments. I'll update the major trends for the defense year to date as well as show a couple of charts and pictures from the Arizona game. Overall the defense played well and limited Arizona to 255 total yards and 13 points. The Wildcats moved the ball through the air especially in the first three quarters of the game but had little success running the ball at all. In the 4th quarter the USC defense clamped down on the passing attack as well and Arizona could not mount a final scoring drive.
Here is how things now look after six games in terms of performance. The data is all from the NCAA's CFB web site for Division I football statistics. The 2007 figures at right 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 |
66.8 |
| Rush Yards Per Carry |
2.8 |
1.8 |
2.6 |
3.8 |
3.0 |
2.3 |
| Pass Yards Per Game |
201.8 |
276.2 |
199.9 |
230.4 |
204.7 |
199.4 |
| Pass Yards Per Completion |
11.6 |
11.5 |
10.6 |
11.1 |
11.1 |
9.4 |
| Pass Completion % Allowed |
49.8% |
55.0% |
53.8% |
59.7% |
54.6% |
54.5% |
| Total Yardage Defense |
284.9 |
336.4 |
279.3 |
360.9 |
295.8 |
266.7 |
| Scoring Defense |
18.5 |
18.4 |
13.0 |
22.8 |
15.2 |
19.3 |
| Sacks |
43 |
55 |
50 |
32 |
35 |
12 (26) |
| Tackles For Loss |
96 |
126 |
120 |
73 |
87 |
33
(71.5) |
| Fumbles Recovered |
19 |
20 |
16 |
16 |
11 |
5
(10.8) |
| Interceptions |
17 |
22 |
22 |
22 |
11 |
5
(10.8) |
| 3rd Down Defense % |
27.6% |
38.8% |
28.0% |
36.5% |
38.7% |
33.3% |
Note: Figures inside ( ) indicate simple projections over a 13 game season.
The Trojan rush defense has quietly moved up to #6 in the country and past several notable programs such as LSU. The average rush yards allowed per game is impressive when you consider that very little sack yardage is coming off of the total. Future games in the Pac-10 will test the unit and we'll see if this level holds up but it looks like the unit is very solid in this respect. One major improvement on rush defense this season in particular has been the reduction in yards allowed on the draw play. The last couple of seasons USC has consistently given up 2-3 big draw plays a game. This year the defense has read and reacted much better on those types of plays so far.
Pass defense has improved overall as well in terms of completion percentage allowed and yardage allowed the past couple of games. Total yards allowed is now just 266.7 yards per game and is at the lowest point in the Pete Carroll era. Of course this number will probably worsen as USC faces better teams in the second half of the season. Teams are completing 54.5% of the passes overall and converting 33.3% of their third down opportunities against USC. I took a look at all 3rd and 4th down plays year to date for 7+ yardage situations and USC is actually only allowing 20.2% conversion on those plays. The ones that have been given up (e.g. the 4th and 20 play to WR Bradford of Stanford) have certainly hurt but overall the defense has been good in terms of yards allowed and conversion prevention.
On the negative side some perplexing and concerning trends continue. Against Arizona for example 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. 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. The three fumbles recovered in this game certainly helped but year to date only 5 fumbles and 5 interceptions have been forced after six games. USC now ranks 97th in the country in overall turnover margin. This hurts the offense since instead of getting short field opportunities to score they are fielding a punt instead and backing up 40 yards (or more like the insane 85 yard punt in this game by the Arizona punter).
Here is a quick look at how Arizona scored.
How Arizona Scored
| Drive
Starting Point |
Points
|
Comment |
| Long field scoring drives |
10 |
2 Drives of 74 and
40 yards for 1 TD and 1 FG |
| Short field scoring drives |
3 |
1 Drive of 8 yards for a
FG after an interception. |
| Scores
directly by the defense or special teams |
0 |
|
| Totals |
13 |
1
TD and 2 FG's in Total |
USC Base Defense Schemes / Arizona Formations
 |
 |
| Arizona used various
spread formations about 75% of the game. This one was 3 WR's (Trips)
right and one WR left with a single set back and the QB operating out
of shotgun. Most of the Arizona quick throws came out of these
type of formations for very short gains. USC played most of the game
with 1 safety deep and man under coverage with an under front. |
The rest of the time
Arizona used some 2TE formation type plays. These were more run
oriented formations but they still threw quite a few passes here as
well releasing both TE's. This still effectively puts 4 receivers in
the pattern. The same base defense and under front was used
against these formations but the alignment of the strong safety and
defensive backs is different. |
USC Rush Defense
The USC rush defense was good this game as noted above. Overall it allowed only 22 yards on 14 rush attempts for a 1.4 yard average. Below you can see that Arizona's biggest run play in the game was for 9 yards and the majority clustered right around 1 yard. If the Trojans can keep this level up for the remainder of the season it will be one of the strongest performances of the Pete Carroll era. Tests will come though against teams like Oregon and Cal.
Everson Griffen Sack
Here is the play in the game when Everson Griffen recorded his first sack and the only sack of the game for USC. Mobile QB's are tough to bring down and QB Tuitama was in the shotgun most of the game getting rid of the ball very quickly. On this play Arizona tried to take a shot further down field on a 3rd down and 9 play. That gave USC just enough time to finally get to the QB.
 |
 |
| This was the main spread
formation for Arizona in the game - 4WR's with Trips to one side.
|
USC did blitz a
linebacker on the play but it looked like the offensive line picked him
up in the middle fairly well. |
 |
 |
| Tuitama didn't throw to
his check down receiver to the right probably since it was 3rd and 9.
This gave Everson Griffen just enough time to get around the corner and
close in on him. |
The actual sack was a blur
but it did appear that Griffen got to the QB first followed quickly by
Sedrick Ellis and another player. EG got up jumping with enthusiasm and
got the credit for the sack in the stats at least. |
USC Pass Defense
The USC pass defense performed fairly well overall especially in the critical latter part of the game. Arizona seemed to run a lot of shorter routes and crossing patterns underneath versus the Trojans. It looked like USC played most of the game in Cover 1 and man underneath coverage schemes. For the early part of the game the Arizona offensive strategy worked well and Tuitama was completing about 80% of his throws. Still however the completions were short in nature and not generating a lot of yardage. For the game he finally wound up with 30 of 43 passes for 233 yards for a 69.8% completion rate and zero interceptions. The YPA on the throws was only 5.4 yards and the YPC was just 7.8 yards. Here is a histogram of the completed throws below. Three passes of greater than 15 yards were completed but for the most part the throws were short in nature.
Other Notes and Reflections
This defense continues to perplex me in several regards. On the positive side it is very athletic and does an excellent job so far of not giving up the big play. Also it is limiting yards gained on average in both the passing and rushing departments. USC will face better teams in the latter half of the season but the players will improve as well also as time goes on with good coaching and practice. Getting Brian Cushing back and getting healthy in some other key locations can only help as well.
On the perplexing side is the unfortunate reality that this defense does not make a lot of big plays so far. Sacks, Tackles for Losses, Fumbles, and Interceptions are all hovering around historic lows for the Pete Carroll era including the marks for the 6W-6L 2001 squad. If these four areas pick up it will have a trickle over effect on the offense by virtue of generating better field position. The average spot after a turnover in recent years has been the opponents 40 yard line. From there the offensive simply can be much more aggressive. Too many times this season the squad is starting drives backed up inside its own 10 or 20 yard line. Let's hope that this trend can start improving versus the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame on Saturday.