| 2007 Game
7: USC vs. Notre Dame
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Offense Notes Date - October 20, 2007 Location - South Bend, Indiana Result: USC 38 - Notre Dame0 This was a nice win for the USC Trojans on the road in a location that it is traditionally very difficult to win at over the years. If indeed I heard the announcers on TV correctly this was only the 12th win for USC in history at Notre Dame, the first time since 1933 since the Trojans shut out the Fighting Irish at home, and the largest margin of victory in the series ever for USC. The contest felt like the sort of game that Trojans fans were hoping for but perhaps not necessarily expecting after the three previous struggles versus Washington, Stanford, and Arizona. USC did some things very well this game but enthusiasm has to be tempered with the reality that this is just not that good of a Notre Dame football team this season. Still all things considered it was a tremendous road win for the program and a confidence boost for everyone I suspect. Let's hope it is a harbinger of things to come for the rest of the season. Here are some notes from the game and key stats I compiled afterwards on the teams performance. Below I'll review the different touchdown plays and highlights. There was a lot to celebrate this game and I'll cover a little more than usual as a result. How USC Scored
USC was able to get back to its steady state of scoring 24 points per game when starting on its own side of the field. This is the general average for the program from 2002 to present just above every year except 2005. The delta in most high scoring games are the easy short field points when USC starts inside the opponent's side of the field. This game featured two such opportunities after Irish turnovers and USC converted both for touchdowns. I won't update the YTD trend chart for long field points this week. Instead I'll show another one that Pete Carroll likes to mention - turnovers lost by USC and the effect on points scored. Here is the YTD chart for how many points USC has scored by game and right below it is how many turnovers the team has lost each game. The graphs are roughly an inverse this season as lower turnover games normally result in higher point totals and easier victories (yes of course there are exceptions). Add in the opponent's turnovers on top of this (especially ones on their side of the field) and you can see why the staff emphasizes this aspect of the game so much. How well USC takes care of the ball and creates turnovers and short field scoring opportunities going forward will have a big impact on how the squad does the rest of the season.  Here are some other key stats worth noting that I compiled after the game for review. Key Stats Check
USC Overall Offensive Stats
This game total yardage was right back at the season average for the first five games of the year. The Arizona game had dropped off considerably in points and yardage but this game rebounded nicely to get back on track. Here is the overall trend on a total yards basis and yards per play basis for 2007 YTD.  Passing Game The passing game worked better this week against the Irish than it did last week versus Arizona. A big part of that simply has to be the comfort level of Mark Sanchez after getting that first win under his belt. I really think he played well for his first road game and his future sure looks bright. Overall the staff still kept the game plan fairly conservative but there was more success in attacking down the field this week than last week. There were 4 TD passes in the game for Mark Sanchez and I'll highlight them below. First I think it is worth noting the batted down passes that occurred in the game. A lot of fans and announcers seem to think this only occurs when John David Booty is in the game for USC. I have pictures of the same result happening with Matt Leinart, Carson Palmer, and now Mark Sanchez in addition to John David Booty. A couple of weeks ago I saw QB Brian Brohm of Louisville (6' 4" 228 pounds) have 4 batted down at the line of scrimmage in a single game this year. This phenomenon is a nice adjustment that defenses are making versus the shorter throws that come on quick three step drop passing plays. I credit the announcers for correctly pointing out however that batted down balls are good play on the part of the offensive line and not simply a QB issue. Mark had two passes in the game that were batted down near the line of scrimmage and another two that were tipped as he threw them away to avoid a sack. On defense USC batted down several as well.
I'll have some pictures of the passes that USC batted down in the game when I get to the defense notes. Pass Yards, Completions, YPA & YPC Here are the YTD passing yards per game as well as completion percentage, YPA, and YPC figures. If the 2-3 dropped passes per game would stop these figures would all be slightly better.  YPA & YPC Trend  The YPA and YPC numbers year to date are definitely low compared to historic levels of the past five years although they were improving through the Stanford game. Then the game plan had to be reset to a more conservative level once the more experienced John David Booty went down. Regardless of who starts the next couple of games I expect things will continue the upward trend in the passing department back to the 12+ yard area for YPC of previous years. Mark Sanchez TD Pass Plays There were four TD pass plays in the games that came with nice execution by the Trojans. Below I'll highlight them with pictures. Fred Davis TD Reception
Allen Bradford TD Reception
Stanley Havili TD Reception
Vidal Hazelton TD Reception Here was the highlight pass play of the game. Brad Walker gets credit for his initial movement and confusion that it creates at the line of scrimmage. This delayed the release of the Notre Dame defensive back and left Vidal Hazelton wide open down field. He also then made several nice moves to generate yards after catch and find the end zone.
Here is the histogram for USC's completed pass plays in the game. Overall only 3 pass plays of greater than 15 yards were completed versus Notre Dame for 86 yards. However there were several other passes in the 10-14 yard range that were very nice as well. This area should keep improving as the WR's gain experience, improve their route running, and improve their overall sense of timing with the quarterback.  The offensive line did a nice job overall this week protecting the QB when factoring in all the injuries that have occurred this season. Considering that a new starter like Butch Lewis was protecting the blind side of the QB at left tackle I found it amazing that no sacks were allowed in the game according to the stats. However that is also partly due to the added mobility of Mark Sanchez to escape from trouble on his own at times. Nice job regardless by the entire offensive line. I also like how Mark Sanchez will pull down the ball and run for yardage at times unlike John David Booty. I just hope that Mark learns to tuck the ball away better or it will result in a fumble at some point in time. I suspect the starter next week at Oregon will revert back to Booty if his fractured finger is healed up and he has a good week in practice. If not Mark Sanchez certainly acquitted himself nicely and I think his future regardless is very bright. I think the staff has to be pretty confident with either option at this point. How fast could the media say "QB controversy" after the final gun sounded? Running Game After a two game dip the USC rushing attack returned again to a very healthy level. However Notre Dame is not a strong rush defense team ranking just 95th in the nation. Given all the injuries that have affected the offensive line so far this performance was still impressive and encouraging. A healthy line, the return of Stafon Johnson, and the maturation of Joe McKnight will make a big contribution going forward. USC now is averaging 202 yards per game and 5.3 yards per rush for the season. These figures are higher than any other final rushing stats of the Pete Carroll era except for the 2005 squad of course.  On a yards per carry basis it looks like this trend chart above. As the offensive line regains its health I'm optimistic this level can continue against most teams. The zone blocking execution in particular seems better than last year and the running backs ability to spot holes and cut back seems improved as well. Major challenges running the ball will come soon against Oregon State and UCLA which are both ranked in the top 10 in rush defense in the nation.For comparison Oregon the opponent next week ranks 50th in the nation and allows 143 rush yards per game on average. The University of Houston did run for 314 yards versus Oregon in the first game of the year and Washington ran for 164 yards in the latest game. On the lower side Cal could only muster 115 yards on the ground versus the Ducks but had more success through the air. Here is a histogram of the USC overall rush attack versus Notre Dame showing all the carries. There was consistent ability to generate yards in the three to six yard category which is always beneficial. Six carries of greater than 10 yards resulted in 102 of the total rushing yards. The Joe McKnight run accounted for about half of the big run play yardage. He also generated several of the negative yardage plays this week and last week but that is somewhat the nature of elusive backs versus power backs.  Joe McKnight 51 yard run 4th Quarter
Special Teams Related - Blocked Punt There were fewer mistakes on offense for the Trojans this week but one of them came on a blocked punt. It looked like a nice play up the middle by the Irish. The replay angle was not much help on the TV. Maybe the Monday Morning QB folks will hear if there was a missed assignment up front or if this was just a good special teams play by the Irish. Anyway it is something more to work on in practice this week. Fortunately it did not lead to any points for the Irish as USC came right back and blocked their FG attempt. I'll highlight that in the defense notes later in the week.
Offensive by Downs & Run versus Pass
This week it looked like the coaches were more comfortable with Mark Sanchez under center making his second start. However as you can see from this breakdown the coaching staff still called a fairly conservative game plan on the road with far more run plays than passes on first down. That was also no doubt due to the fact that Notre Dame is currently 95th in the country in rush defense and allowing 191.8 rush yards per game.
Also as you can see from this further breakdown the Trojans has a lot of success on first down running and also passing plays. That is a key point for putting the team in manageable 2nd down or 3rd down and short yardage plays. 283 yards came on first down plays for the Trojans in the game out of 462 yards total. By situation the offense maps out like this. There was a high tendency to run on first down in this game and to pass on third down medium and long plays. This is fairly normal for most teams but usually USC is more balanced on their first down plays. USC Offense by Situation
USC Offense by Formation
I'll post this additional summary from time to time and then look at it more in the off season when time allows. This is a very, very general categorization of the USC formations in a typical game. In reality it is more difficult when considering motion, personnel, and the exact specifics of the alignment. Let's just take the 2 back I Formation for example of which there were 32 plays in the game. On these alignments there are easily over a dozen variations when all is said and done. Here are just half a dozen of the more common I Formation alignments.
These are just six of the more common slight variations of the I Formation for USC. In reality there are more at the detailed level each game since the opponent also has to account for such things as motion of the WR's, personnel groupings, location on the hash mark (right, left, middle) and area of the field (red zone, normal, or backed up, etc.). Each impacts the specifics of the play call out of the formation. When all is said and done USC has of course five or six run plays and a half dozen common pass plays out of a formation such as this one. The most common running plays out of the I Formation are generally the inside zone to the right or left, the stretch or outside zone left or right, the isolation lead play to a specific gap in the line, the old USC favorite toss play outside left or right, the fullback dive up the middle or the power off tackle plays to the left or right where either the left guard or right guard pulls and the tailback follows the fullback and guard off tackle. The same goes for passing plays out of the formation. For each run play there is an opposite counter play that looks like a run but turns into a pass. For each of the I Formation alignments above there are 3 step drop related WR pattern plays, 5 step drop related WR pattern plays, various roll outs / bootleg passing plays, etc. that are called to confuse the defense and disguise play tendencies. The closer I look the more I see each week. Of course the opposition knows all this and much more - but "knowing it" and "stopping it" however are two different things entirely as we saw in the game this week. Other Notes & Reflections: This game seemed to get the team back on track in quite a few dimensions. Sacks, TFL's, and turnovers all picked up nicely for the defense in this game for a change. That always has a nice spillover effect on the offense. If this type of effort can continue as a trend for the Trojans then they should be able to defeat any team in the Pac-10. Conversely turn the ball over as they did five times in the second half versus Stanford and anything can happen. The defense so far has looked up to the challenge of stopping the opposition from running the ball in particular. The squad now ranks #4 in the country allowing just 64 yards per game on the ground. However that metric will be severely tested against the Oregon Ducks next Saturday. Oregon's top three receivers were not in action against Washington. Still versus the Huskies the Ducks ran for an amazing 465 yards on the ground and they now currently rank #3 in the country in rushing yardage at 294 yards per game. The Ducks lowest rushing game of the season so far has been 191 yards versus Cal. Total offense wise Oregon is #2 in the country averaging an impressive 550 yards per game or over 100 yards more than USC. Next week on the road at Autzen is the first game where a multiple threat team will test the Trojans on defense. How that game plays out will determine which team stays in the running for the Pac-10 title and maintains its chance at a major BCS bowl game. I like USC's chances versus Oregon but they'll have to contain Dennis Dixon, Jonathon Stewart, and avoid turnovers to come away with a win. |
