Stanford loss highlights weaknesses in Trojan game
When the No. 19 USC football team (2-1, 0-1) made its somber return to the locker room after the 41-31 stunning loss to No. 21 Stanford (2-1, 1-0) Saturday, the key phrase floating around was third down conversion.
Both offenses entered the Pac-12 opener at the bottom of the FBS barrel in finishing pivotal — drive prolonging plays: The Cardinal converting 30 percent of the time while the Trojans came in at a measly 25.
One of the teams, however, was able to flip the trend.
Stanford scored on seven of its nine possessions, moving the sticks eight of 12 times in a third down situation.
“We had [them] in situations that we wanted to be in. We got them into third down and just couldn’t get off the field,” said junior linebacker Su’a Cravens. “With an offense like that, when they’re physical and they keep converting third downs that turn into long drives, it’s hard to stop them.”
The defense also failed to shut down the Cardinal ground attack, giving up 195 yards to a team that had mustered up just 215 in its first two games of the season, including a career-high 120 to sophomore Christian McCaffrey.
“We lost the edge more than we should have against a team that runs to the edge,” said head coach Steve Sarkisian. “It was important for us to do that, to turn the ball back inside. That didn’t happen for us.”
Thrown out of rhythm by being sidelined for most of the game — Stanford had the ball for nearly 40 minutes of game action — USC’s offense failed to gain any traction and felt that because of the defense’s inability to get the Cardinal off the field, they were limited sufficiently.
“I think if you would have had them stopped a couple downs for us to get the ball back, you know, having our offense off the field slowed us down, threw us off our game,” said sophomore wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster. “But when we were on the field we executed and made big plays.”
Armed primarily with key defensive takeaways from the Pac-12 opener, USC prepares to make its first road trip of the season, traveling to Tempe, Arizona, to battle Arizona State (2-1) Saturday.
A year removed from the infamous “Hail Mary” that gave the Sun Devils the 38-34 win at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the schools’ last meeting, Sarkisian understands the importance of rebounding after a tough loss.
“We have to get back up. We have to go play a really quality opponent next week in Arizona State. We need to fix the things that need to be fixed,” Sarkisian said. “We need to come out and have a really good week of practice and get a quality win in the South division.”
ASU will have quarterback Mike Bercovici slinging passes under center, who played last year against USC as a replacement for injured Taylor Kelly and tallied five aerial touchdowns en route to a 510-yard performance.
The Trojan defense will need to work on its troubles of containing the edge over this week’s practices, as ASU wide receiver D.J. Foster is a weapon in both the air and ground game, just four receiving yards short of becoming the fourth player in NCAA history with 2,000 career rushing and receiving yards.
On the other side of the ball, USC redshirt senior quarterback Cody Kessler, the nation’s third-most efficient passer, will have his toughest test of the young season against a stout ASU pass defense that is ninth in the nation in pass defense.
Early season losses are not foreign to the Trojans, who dropped their third game on the road to Boston College last season, and they are not ready to let the Stanford game affect the rest of their schedule.
“We had pressure before this loss so I don’t think any more pressure could be added to us,” said sophomore cornerback Adoree’ Jackson. “We just have to go out there and win.”