| 2007 Game
6: USC vs. Arizona
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Offense Notes Date - October 13, 2007 Location - Los Angeles Coliseum Result: USC 20 - Arizona 13 Note: My recording device did not function properly for some reason this past week while I was away on vacation and I had to scramble to get a copy of the game. Fortunately a USC friend was able to provide a copy (thanks Brian!) and I converted it into a file format I can edit. Unfortunately for some reason the picture quality is a little fuzzy and I could not make the images I clipped as crisp as usual but they still highlight some nice plays by the Trojans in the game. Overall this was another close game and and another victory for the Trojans. The team now stands at 5 Wins and 1 Loss approaching the midway point of the season. After starting off the season with three fairly strong performances the team has now had three tough games in a row. I think that the old saying goes "you are never quite as good as you think you are but you are never quite as bad either". I think that applies to the current state of the Trojans on offense. Injury problems have started to catch up with the Trojans and the staff seems to be content to play things pretty conservatively. There is plenty to work on offensively in the remainder of this season but step one is probably just to survive the next couple of weeks and get some key people healthy again. USC squeaked out a 20-13 victory and had trouble both scoring and moving the ball versus Arizona. How USC Scored
For the first time this season USC did not put up at least 23 long field points in the game. Partly of course this was due to the first time start of Mark Sanchez who was pressed into duty when regular starting QB John David Booty fractured a finger on this throwing hand last week versus Stanford. The other factor though is the increasingly high number of injuries that have plagued the offensive line and running back position.  This effectively drops the year to date average for long field scores to the level of 23.3 points per game which is still normal by historic means. However with a couple more games like this one the average will soon be under that mark. This game did see 10 short field points scored after one fumble recovery and of course the Joe McKnight punt return. Without these the Trojans would have been in deep trouble and probably lost their second game of the season.  Here are some other key stats worth noting that I compiled after the game. Key Stats Check
USC Overall Offensive Stats
This was the lowest offensive output for USC this season by far. Even in the disappointing Stanford Game USC still managed to achieve its season average for yardage in the game. This contest was no doubt affected by some conservative game planning by the coaching staff and trying to keep Mark Sanchez from having to attempt big plays. Here is the extent of the drop off in this game.  Passing Game The passing game did not click for USC this game but Mark Sanchez did just enough to win the game and more importantly did not lose the game with any mistakes late in the contest. Overall he was 19 of 31 passes for 130 yards and 2 interceptions. The majority of the throws were short in nature and fairly conservative. Arizona also sacked Sanchez three times and kept him under a fair deal of pressure. Both YPA and YPC were at season lows for USC but that is somewhat to be expected under the circumstances. On the positive side it looked like Sanchez gained confidence as the game wore on and lead an important drive starting from the one yard line to put the game away in the 4th quarter. The passing yardage took a big hit this week but still I think most people have to be somewhat pleased with the performance of Mark Sanchez. He threw a couple of interceptions (pictures of one below) but still managed the game carefully and kept USC in the game. The drive at the end of the contest to finish up hopefully gave him a real confidence boost. Here is how much the passing yardage dropped off in total yards, yards per attempt, and yards per completion. Again this was no doubt partly due to the conservative game plan by the coaching staff.    YPC had been on a nice improvement trend the past few games. I'll guess that the staff will open things up a little more next week especially if the run games gets off to a good start versus Notre Dame and if Mark Sanchez looks comfortable. If the team gets off to a rough start though the coaches will again look to the defense to carry the game. That maybe the case even if John David Booty is somehow able to return. Mark Sanchez Interception Here is the second of the two Sanchez interceptions. The first one did not alarm me as much since it came on a deep sideline route to Ronald Johnson. All teams throw those a couple of times per game in order to make the secondary respect the deep pass and not cheat forward all the time. They are low completion plays by nature and have some risk of interception associated with them as well. Here is the second pass play right after that on the next drive which gave me more reason for concern.
The announcer made the usual comment that "Sanchez stared down his receiver" which is unfortunately only half the story and puts a false connotation in the viewers mind. Then you read on the chat boards suddenly that the QB has a problem staring down his receiver and the coaches are not doing their job properly, etc. In reality I view it the other way around. It is the TV guys who are not doing their job in this case. All pass plays have "reads" built into them. Some like the deeper pass plays involve the famous cliche of "looking off the defender" so that the safety can't get a jump on the ball and help defend pass plays from over the top. Other reads like this one however are simpler, quicker and don't necessarily involve "looking off" the defender. In other words on quick 3 step drops like this one the QB has to be looking at his receiver and defender on the second step and deciding where to throw the ball on his third step. By design and timing this occurs in about 1.2 seconds on these type of plays from snap to throw. It is an immediate read and react throw within an area and not a looking off type of throw. In this case above by motioning the slot receiver over USC has put 3 receivers in an area where Arizona can really only put 2 defenders at the time of the throw. The read thus involves staring at the defender and the receiver area (in this case a sort of triangle area) and deciding upon that glance where to throw the ball. I don't know the exact play call or USC progression scheme for the QB but I'd wager a hefty sum that when the Arizona LB jumps out (sometimes they call it buzzing the flats) that the right decision for Sanchez would have been to throw the ball to the wide receiver that came in motion and is open behind him to the left. That is the way I have seen it explained on tapes like this one anyway or in talks given at clinics. The problem in other words is not that Sanchez looked at his receiver it is that he failed to see the Arizona LB threaten the passing lane and failed to divert the throw to the more open receiver. With the outer Arizona defender already blocked to the ground this play if thrown to the correct receiver could have gained a fairly easy first down. Instead the Trojans had an interception that was fortunately negated when Patrick Turner punched the ball out and USC recovered it right back. I bet Sanchez will learn from the mistake and improve after watching the film. Watching it in slow motion like this is easy. He has to decide in a split second what to do and where not to throw! Announcers like Dan Fouts should do a better job of explaining these things. Shame on Fouts and ABC. Here is the histogram of the USC pass plays. Only 2 passes of greater that 15 yards were completed. This was the lowest passing yardage (130 yards) in any USC game that I can recall in years.  Fred Davis 25 Yard TD Reception Here was the nice TD throw by Mark Sanchez right after the big Joe McKnight punt return. USC has often gone for the TD strike after big plays or turnovers like this in the past. Arizona had to be expecting it to some extent but still could not defend it adequately.
I thought this was a real nice play call for a couple of reasons even if USC has a high tendency to go for the kill in situations like this over the years. The formation puts USC's receivers to the open side of the field. I could not tell 100% for sure and the announcers never comment but my guess is that Arizona lined up in a Cover 1 secondary scheme with one Free Safety deep. Everyone except the Free Safety thus has to play man coverage. The Strong Safety looks to be down near the line of scrimmage putting eight men in the box for Arizona and watching the outside TE. USC runs to both the boundary and field side of the formation if you watch this alignment closely and does a variety of different things at the detailed level. Of course they also throw the ball as well. It looked to me also like Arizona put its two fine CB's Fontenot and Cason over the WR's to the right. Since it was a first down play and not an obvious passing down Arizona was in its base defense in terms of personnel. By process of elimination this leaves a linebacker to cover Fred Davis on the line of scrimmage and in case he releases on a pass play. That is a match up that distinctly favors USC. Indeed upon the snap the WR's to the right keep the corner backs occupied on that side of the field. Sanchez's look keeps the free safety from cheating over to the left. The flexed TE runs a sort of out route to the sideline to open up the field and Fred David just runs a straight seam route up the middle past his man. The linebacker was beaten by several steps on the play and had no possible help from the Free Safety in time. The offensive line protection was very good and remember that is Butch Lewis protecting Sanchez's blind side and not Sam Baker. The result is an easy run and catch for TD just like the staff drew it up I imagine? The trouble for the opposition is that USC runs so many different plays out of this same alignment (run and pass) that you can't just sit and play this one. Cheat the FS towards the left side and the TE's? Great now USC will have one one one with the WR's to the right and can work that side of the field. Put in a nickleback? Great USC can check down to a run play and have an advantage that way in terms of personnel. All plays work great on paper and when they are executed properly. Running Game The running game struggled for the second week in a row for USC but at least it produced one really big run play. By and large most run plays were stopped by Arizona after only a couple yards were gained. After the nice start in the first four games the combined effects of all the injuries up front on the offensive line is starting to show I'm afraid. Losing Stafon Johnson the past couple of games has set the attack back as well. Here is the new season trend for rush yards per game.  On a yards per carry basis it looks like this. Hopefully some of the bodies up front will get healthy in the next couple of games. Notre Dame's rush defense is ranked only 93rd in the country and giving up about 186 yards per game. They have looked much better the past two weeks on defense. Getting the rushing game going will be important on the road with Mark Sanchez possibly making his second career start. Even if John David Booty returns getting the rush attack going again will be a key point in the game.  Here is a histogram of the rush attack in the game showing all the carries. A mere five carries resulted in 109 of the total 143 rushing yards. In other words 38 carries resulted in about 34 yards or less than one yard per carry. That figure will need to improve in order to help take some of the burden off of Mark Sanchez until John David Booty is healthy enough to go again. The only real highlights of the game in the run department were the 18 yard scamper by Chauncey Washington for a touchdown early in the game and the 59 yard run by Joe McKnight late in the 4th quarter.  Here are the two big runs in the game by tailbacks Chauncey Washington and Joe McKnight Chauncey Washington 18 yard run
Joe McKnight 59 Yard Run
Special Teams Big Play - Joe McKnight Punt Return
Offensive by Downs & Run versus Pass
As you can see from this breakdown the coaching staff called a fairly conservative game plan with Mark Sanchez making his first start. There was a fairly even split between runs and passes on first down but a distinct tendency to run on second and even third down. After Sanchez threw his second consecutive interception the staff dialed the game in a step even further it appeared. Then in the 4th quarter there was some loosening up based upon needs and opportunity.
Also as you can see by this further breakdown the Trojan offense did not have much success on any particular down either running or passing. The 2nd down run play yards are boosted mainly by the 59 yard scamper by Joe McKnight USC Offense by Situation
Other Notes & Reflections On Offense: After starting the season with a strong rush attack the USC offense has now sputtered for two games in that dimension. The down field passing attack that was on display versus Stanford obviously did not appear in this game due to the conservative game plan and need to play back up QB Mark Sanchez. Injuries have taken a toll on the team and just winning even a home game is suddenly a handful. Fortunately the Trojans catch a down (knock on wood) Notre Dame team before heading into the final 6 games of the season where the toughest contests remain. USC caught a huge break when both LSU and Cal lost this weekend. There are now three main undefeated teams Ohio State, University of South Florida, Boston College, as well as two lesser ones (Arizona State and Hawaii) in the polls. Hawaii probably will not ascend to the #1 or #2 spot in the polls even if they win out and still they have to face some teams like Fresno State, Boise State, and Washington that should give them problems. USC can help its own case by beating ASU later in the year. Ohio State, Boston College, and USF all face stiff enough contests to speculate that perhaps no team will finish undefeated or maybe one will at most. A one loss team with solid wins is still a distinct possibility to reach the title game and of course the other BCS bowl games. USC's only shot to get back in the hunt is to get healthy the next couple of weeks and just win games one at a time. It seems awfully far fetched at the moment but quality wins versus ranked teams like ASU, Oregon, and Cal would aid USC in both the human and computer polls. At this point in time however it seems pointless to even speculate about such future events. The team would do well to just get healthy, continue to reduce the turnovers on offense, generate more turnovers on defense, and regain the offensive groove of the first three games. Each week is now single elimination and there is no room for error. Let's hope the team is up to the task against Notre Dame on the road and that no more injuries occur as well. |
