Oregon State Passes vs. USC Defense
Here is a follow up look at the passes completed by the Oregon State offense versus the USC defense. I don’t have time this week to review them as much as I’d like…However if Jimmy Clausen is a Heisman Trophy candidate then what does that say about Sean Canfield of Oregon State who torched the USC defense for 3 TD’s on 30 of 43 passes with 329 yards? Ouch! In reality USC made quite a few errors in reads and tackles on some of the plays. Click here for a list of all the complete passes by Canfield in the recent game organized by gain. The following table highlights the passes that were in the +12 category. If the comments below which I scraped off the internet are correct then Canfield only made is his big throws to the left and to the middle and none to the right (he is left handed). Down below I’ll make some comments on the top twelve. USC has a few areas to improve upon in pass defense…
For starters here is a video of the top 12 passes in order of gain and some notes below. Quite a few missed tackles by USC and yards after catch by the Beavers in the contest.
Video of +12 Passing Plays
Play Comments
1. 2nd & 7 Q3. Motion to 3×2 empty set with QB in shotgun. QB hits TE on a little stick route for 7 yards with good horizontal spacing by Oregon State WR’s to stretch the defense. #6 LB Smith misses tackle and this leads to a 35 yard gain. Fumble at the end of the play recovered by Oregon State.
2. 3rd & 6 Q3. 2×2 (tight) set with QB in shotgun. USC runs a +1 zone blitz by #6 Smith and drops #97 Jackson into coverage. Canfield spots blitz and hits the area vacated by the blitzing player. Missed tackle by #97 leads to a 29 yard gain.
3. 2nd and 23 Q2. Motion from bunch set to 2×2 WR set with QB under center and back in ace alignment. DB PA pass. USC +1 blitz gets pressure and comes close to a safety. Unfortunately QB escapes and throw up a lame duck pass that somehow gets caught for 21 yard gain.
4. 1st and 10 Q1. Twin / Pro alignment with QB in shotgun and back off set strong. TE delay route caught #6 LB Smith out of position favoring receivers side of the action. Gain of 21 yards on the play.
5. 2nd and 15 Q3. Pro Trips / Spread QB in shotgun back off set strong. TE screen play poorly read by USC. #6 LB Smith gets taken out on the play by the linemen. Well executed by Oregon State / poorly read by USC.
6. 2nd and 7 Q1. Motion to Spread / Pro I formation with TE aligned as FB. PA roll out off fake outside zone with sideline pass completed to WR. #36 Pinkard defends well but misses tackle on the play allowing some YAC.
7. 2nd & 3 Q 4. Motion to Wing Trips / Tight with QB under center and back set in ace alignment. PA pass of IZ fake with nice seam pass completed to TE. #6 LB Smith took a bad angle initially and got beat in coverage. Safety Mays late with support.
8. 3rd & 9 Q3. Motion to 3×2 empty set with QB in shotgun. Perfect seam route run by WR #25 and good throw by QB. Pass is threaded through #6 LB Smith and #26 Harris.
9. 2nd and 4 Q3. Somehow did not get this on on video. TD throw to WR Adeniji in the end zone.
10. 2nd & 7 Q4. Twin / Pro with QB in shotgun and back set off set strong. TE fakes pass protection and leaks out late on a delay route over the middle. Releasing TB and fake blocking motion threw off the coverage and #54 Gallipo was moved out of position.
11. 1st & 10 Q2. Motion to Twin / Pro with the QB under center and back set in ace alignment. Bubble screen to uncovered WR on the twins side. Well executed block by WR takes out USC DB on the play and forces LB and Safety to cover flats and make the play. Easy 12 yard gain.
12. 3rd and 24 Q2. 2×2 WR set with QB in shotgun and back off set to his right into the boundary. QB throws a quick out to the wide side of the field. Strong arm and good throw for a gain of 12 yards. Tough to defend when thrown this well.
That is most of the damage by Oregon State in the passing game. Just 12 of Canfield’s 43 passes resulted in 231 yards of gain or 70% of his total throwing yardage. One was a lucky pass and several plays exhibited uncharacteristic poor reads and tackles by USC. Needless to say Malcolm Smith in review did not have his best game and appeared to be targeted by Oregon State on several plays. Here is a histogram of the throws to accentuate the point that a dozen throws of +12 yards off to the right in the chart resulted in most of the damage.
Here is a quick look at what the receivers did in the contest for Oregon State. TE Joe Halahuni coming into the game had a mere 9 catches for 127 yards…Halahuni doubled his entire season stats by catching 9 balls thrown his way for 127 in an interesting coincidence of numbers.
I’ve noticed there has been a lot of backlash against Mays recently on forums and otherwise saying that he has consistently been late and concentrates too much on the big highlight reel hit rather than sound tackling and pass coverage. I noted that you listed Mays as late for support on #7, but you suspected that OSU picked on #6 Malcolm Smith. I was wondering your thoughts on Mays and his pass coverage play these past few games.
I think it is probably like the NFL draft process. Stick around long enough and every one can spot a few warts since no one is perfect? I think Mays has tremendous athletic talent and that has probably retarded his need to refine his technique. Still I don’t know who else fans would want back there on the current roster…I saw Eric Berry of Tennessee whiff on a tackle a couple of weeks ago.