Williams sits out as USC prepares for Buffs
The Trojan football team once again sits atop the Pac-12 South following a too-close-for-comfort 28-26 win over the Arizona Wildcats this past Saturday. USC (4-2, 3-1 Pac-12) looks to build on this momentum moving toward Saturday’s matchup at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum against the ailing Colorado Buffaloes (2-4, 0-3).
Shoulder the load · Junior defensive end Leonard Williams, who had two sacks at Arizona, rested his shoulder in practice on Tuesday. – Ralf Cheung | Daily Trojan
Explosive Playing
USC head coach Steve Sarkisian has stressed for a few weeks the importance of executing more big plays. Saturday’s game at Arizona was an improvement in that category, yet the Trojans still only had 424 yards of total offense, almost 50 yards fewer than Arizona had.
Redshirt junior quarterback Cody Kessler threw for just 185 yards (down from his average of 276.0 heading into the game) and tossed his first pick of the season.
Redshirt junior wide receiver George Farmer discussed the team’s high-caliber plays.
“We did pretty good — there are some areas we need to clean up, and we can take some more shots,” said Farmer, who was one of five scholarship receivers the Trojans played on Saturday.
The Trojans are playing a Colorado squad that has a reputation for giving up big plays down the field — the Colorado defense is averaging 12.9 yards given up per completion.
Meanwhile, the Buffaloes’ run defense has allowed a conference-worst 5.0 yards per carry, which USC’s running backs will look the exploit on Saturday.
Sophomore tailback Justin Davis saw some game action backing up redshirt junior Javorius “Buck” Allen on Saturday and hopes to see more this weekend. Allen had 205 yards on 26 carries, and Davis ran for 28 yards on seven carries. Davis spoke of Allen as a great leader and role model for him.
Allen, who leads the Pac-12 with 781 rush yards in seven games so far this season, has been receiving high praise from the coaching staff, even garnering a comparison to rookie Tennessee Titans running back Bishop Sankey, whom Sarkisian coached at Washington. Allen and Davis will play critical roles in the rest of the season especially as the Trojans attempt to jump-start their pass offense with a solid run game.
South is Stacked
The Pac-12 currently has six teams ranked in the AP Top 25 poll. With half of the teams in the Top 25, it is no surprise that there have been so many upsets.
Home teams in conference play are 4-14, which is a surprising statistic that the Trojans have fallen victim to, in losing to Arizona State at the Coliseum two weeks ago.
Sarkisian stressed the importance of focusing on both the mental and physical aspects of the upcoming divisional matchup against the Buffaloes.
“In our conference, if you don’t come ready to play, whether home or away, you will get beat,” Sarkisian said.
Sarkisian revealed a snippet of his game plan moving forward for having success in the talented Pac-12 conference.
“We have to learn from the last few weeks,” Sarkisian said. “We need to remain more aggressive.”
The Buffaloes are winless in conference play, but the Trojans are not underestimating any conference opponents.
“Every week is a championship game.” Davis said. “It’s cool to control your own destiny, have it in your hands, and we can’t let that go. We have to play every game like it’s our last.”
Injury Report
Junior defensive end Leonard Williams sat out of practice on Tuesday to rest a shoulder that was bothering him from Saturday’s game.
True freshman wide receiver-cornerback Adoree’ Jackson also missed Tuesday’s practice due to a hip flexor injury. Sarkisian was unable to say on Tuesday what their status would be later in the week but expressed optimism that both players would continue healing.