2007 Game 9:  USC Versus Oregon State - Defense Notes Date - November 3, 2007 Location - Los Angeles Coliseum Result - USC 24 - Oregon State 3 Here are some updates on the 2007 edition of the USC defense after the Oregon State game. Unlike the offense the defensive side of the game was a pleasure to watch this past week. I can't remember that much pressure by the front four since the 2004 season. The last time I remember USC generating this many sacks was the 2004 Rose Bowl win over Michigan to finish off the 2003 season when John Navarre was sacked 9 times. In the table below here is a look at where the USC defense now stands after nine games compared to other squads. (Note: The following data is all from the NCAA's CFB web site for Division I football statistics and the 2007 defense figures are all year to date numbers as of today. The all time leading performances for the Pete Carroll era are highlighted in black for completed seasons.  To the right is a column with the current team's NCAA rank so you can see where it is relatively strong and were it ranks relatively weak.) Category 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 YTD NCAA Rank Rush Yards Per Game 83.2 60.2 79.4 130.5 91.1 80.2 #7 Rush Yards Per Carry 2.8 1.8 2.6 3.8 3.0 2.5 #7 Pass Yards Per Game 201.8 276.2 199.9 230.4 204.7 173.1 #9 Pass Yards Per Completion 11.6 11.5 10.6 11.1 11.1 9.1 N/A* Pass Completion % Allowed 49.8% 55.0% 53.8% 59.7% 54.6% 53.6% N/A* Total Yardage Defense 284.9 336.4 279.3 360.9 295.8 253 #3 Scoring Defense 18.5 18.4 13.0 22.8 15.2 15.9 #7 Sacks 43 55 50 32 35 29 (42) #11 Tackles For Loss 96 126 120 73 87 62 (90) #67 Fumbles Recovered 19 20 16 16 11 9 (13) #37 Interceptions 17 22 22 22 11 7 (10) #92 3rd Down Defense % 27.6% 38.8% 28.0% 36.5% 38.7% 32.9% #22 *Not available in any easy format Note: Figures inside ( ) indicate simple projections over a 13 game season. The Trojan rush defense improved from last week and allowed 91 yards on 37 carries versus Oregon State. YTD to average yards allowed is now at 80.2 yards per game and ranks #7 in the country. Pass yardage defense is now down to173 yards surrendered per game. Oregon State's QB's threw for only 85 yards this past week and completed just 11 of 28 attempts. Total yardage defense is at a mere 253 yards per game year to date and ranks third in the country. That total yardage level is also the lowest mark of the Pete Carroll era should it hold put the rest of the season. With nine sacks in the game USC vaulted upwards in this category to rank #11 in the country. Maintaining the current average after nine games puts the Trojans on pace for a 42 sack season or roughly what the 2002 unit accomplished. Tackles for loss and interceptions are still historically on the low side but overall the unit is performing well especially in rush defense, pass yardage defense, and total yardage defense. With a few games to go it looks to threaten a couple benchmarks of the Pete Carroll era. How Oregon State Scored Here is a quick breakdown of how Oregon State scored. The Beavers only put up 3 points in the game versus USC. A sack of QB John David Booty caused a fumble that lead to Oregon State's only score. The Beavers missed a field goal as well in the game. Drive Starting Point Points Comment Long field scoring drives 0 No long field drives. Short field scoring drives 3 One short FG after a USC fumble on the QB sack Scores by the defense or special teams 0 N/A Totals 3 USC Base Defense Schemes / Oregon Formation Oregon State used several formations in the game. The most common was a 3 WR set used followed by 4 WR and 2 TE sets. USC relied upon its base under front for the defensive line. The camera angle for most of the game was not particularly useful for looking at the secondary however after the snap #4 Kevin Ellison was in the picture on many of the plays in the game indicating that only one safety (Cover 1) was probably played most of the game. Also on a lot of plays WR motion caused corresponding CB motion by Terrell Thomas fairly often. So by deduction I think it is safe to assume that USC was playing a fair degree of man coverage underneath at least much of the game. OSU 3 WR Formation with split end right and slot receiver with normal splits. OSU  WR Formation with split end left and slot receiver with tighter splits. OSU 3 WR Formation with QB in shotgun. OSU also used several 4 WR's formations with two receivers to each side as well as this formation with 2 WR's and 2 TE's in the game as well. USC Rush Defense The USC rush defense had a fairly good game limiting Oregon State to 91 yards on 37carries for a 2.5 yard gain on average. However as you can see from the histogram below the Trojans did allow several long runs in the game. Technically Oregon state ran for 152 yards and lost 62 yards on the sacks and tackles for losses in the game to net the 91 yards total. There were four runs allowed that went for over 10 yards which is not a particularly good in terms of the past few weeks performance. The first play of the game for Oregon State was its biggest of the game as it went for 39 yards. As is usually the case it was the result of missed tackles by the Trojans. First OSU Play - 39 Yard Run Allowed On first down Oregon State lined up in their I Formation with 3 WR's. I suspect the I Formation caught USC looking more at the backfield. The play however was a hand off to the flanker who came in motion on the play. Lot's of teams running this and calling it "Jet Sweep" or "Rocket Sweep" these days. The play should have been stuffed for a four yard loss as both SS #4 Ellison and LB #58 Maualuga had shots at him in the backfield. Unfortunately they both missed and he is able to turn the corner. Once that happened he broke through the second level and got by Keith Rivers. Finally free safety Taylor Mays is able to bring him down. Impressively that is also Lawrence Jackson running down field as well. The next biggest run play for Oregon State come on a QB scramble off a pass play that did not develop and went for 18 yards. Also just as he did last year OSU's back up tailback Polk ran a draw play that went for 17 yards in the 4th quarter. I was really surprised they did not put Polk in the game more with Bernard injured and run the draw play more often...Last year in Corvallis Polk ran for 100 yards versus USC and the majority came on simple draw plays. USC Pass Defense The USC pass defense limited Oregon State's Canfield to just 85 yards on 11 of 28 passes. The USC pass defense has stepped up nicely in two of the past three games and appears to be covering down field much better. Next week versus Cal will be an excellent test of the secondary to see how far it has really come. OSU did complete two passes of greater than 15 yards but as you can see from the histogram below they really did not get much going down field in the game. Terrell Thomas Interception USC's only interception in the game came right after the Trojans has scored to take a 17-3 lead in the 2nd quarter. Oregon State chose a pass play on first and 10 out of its 2 TE formation. This time Kyle Moore quickly got to the outside of the defender on this play to get the angle and apply pressure. Probably sensing the hit he was going to take Canfield unloaded a second early. Terrell Thomas was able to turn around and make the interception. USC scored in a couple of plays and the game was essentially over at 24-3 in the second quarter.   Strong Safety Blitz & Sack Here was the first USC sack of the game that came on OSU's second drive of the game. It was a 3rd and 10 play so USC had to be expecting pass. Before the snap the slot receiver went in motion and you can see in the second picture that #28 Terrell Thomas went in motion with him. With strong safety #4 Kevin Ellison walking down as well there is only one safety deep so the QB should pick up from this that USC is in Cover 1 with a strong possibility of blitz coming from somewhere. In the third picture you can indeed see in slow motion that #4 Ellison did come on a Strong Safety blitz and then he did knock down the QB for USC's first sack of the game. Most of the game however USC was able to generate pressure just using the front four. I counted under 10 blitzes in the game which is not a high number at all for USC. Everson Griffen Sacks Some of the most impressive sacks in the game came up the middle from Sedrick Ellis as well as off the ends from Everson Griffen. Since Everson is a true freshmen and racked up 3.5 sacks in the game I'll highlight two of his from the second quarter that came within the same Oregon State drive. Here was the first Griffen sack on a first and 10 play. Griffen used his speed rush off the end and simply got the corner on the man trying to defend against him. Down wen the QB in a hurry for his first sack of the game. The second sack came a mere two plays later on the same drive on a 3rd and 14 play. On this one it appears that there is a clear blown assignment as he comes in unchecked. Down goes the QB in a hurry for the second time in the game. In the future I have to imagine that teams will be accounting much better for Everson Griffen in their pass protection schemes. If they do however that lessens the attention they can put on Lawrence Jackson and Sedrick Ellis. Nine sacks is certainly greedy but I'd like to see a couple more 5 or 6 sack games before the year is over. Other Notes and Reflections This was the kind of defensive effort that many had been hoping to see for some time now. After this game it is hard to imagine a coach in the Pac-10 that will mainly recruit a pocket passer in the future to play against USC. Clearly the kind of player that gives a Pete Carroll defense (or virtually any defense) problems is the hybrid type that can run and throw and avoid the sack.  It will be interesting to keep an eye on QB recruiting for the rest of the Pac-10 the next couple of years. If the USC defense can play at this level there is no reason why the team can not win the rest of its games this season. Even when the offense struggles a defensive effort like this is usually enough to win games. Couple this sort of effort with the 2-3 long field drives that USC normally can generate on offense and suddenly you have the 40 point per game beast that everyone wants to see. Cal sure would be a nice time to finally have the offense and the defense produce quality efforts on the same day. Just hope that I figure out a way to see it somehow and not just have to rely upon the internet radio broadcast.