Trojans energetic in first practice since loss

The Trojans responded to their first loss of the season with one of their most lively practices yet. It was visibly louder, as coaches and players shouted words of encouragement to each other.

“I can help the run game by being a vocal guy to get the offensive line together,” said redshirt senior quarterback Cody Kessler, after Tuesday’s practice. “I think getting in on the sideline and getting them pumped up, which I have been trying to do a lot.”

After a 41-31 loss to Stanford, this close-knit USC team is stressing accountability as key to moving on.

“Guys admit that they are wrong and learn from it and then move on,” Kessler said. “And it’s cool, you can call them out in the meeting room, and then they respond to it. Instead of putting their head down or being upset, they stand up and let the guys know that they will fix it. And that is what you need to be successful after a loss.”

Kessler continued his impressive play this season against Stanford, completing 25 of 32 passes for 272 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Unfortunately, his counterpart, Kevin Hogan, did as well. Without adequate pressure from the Trojan defense, he completed 18 of 23 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns.

“The problem, when we missed [Hogan] our rush lane integrity was not good, and we allowed for him to escape the pocket whether it was on the perimeter or through the b-gap on a couple of other instances that he took advantage of and hurt us on,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “So that is what we need to clean up. We are trying to go sack the quarterback, and we are going to continue [making] him uncomfortable.”

Not only did the Trojans allow Stanford to throw the ball, they also allowed their rushing attack, led by freshman Christian McCaffrey, 115 yards. The USC defense allowed Stanford to score on seven of its nine possessions and convert eight of 12 third down conversions.

“I just felt like in the run game, we didn’t knock back the line of scrimmage enough,” Sarkisian said. “I felt like the game was played too much on the line of scrimmage or on our side of the line of scrimmage. We didn’t have enough tackles for losses or penetrations. We had a couple, but not nearly enough against a quality opponent on first and 10.”

Along with Kessler’s performance, another positive takeaway’s from Saturday’s game was evidently USC’s run game, which the coaches emphasized last week was essential in defeating Stanford. Though the game plan worked well early on, as USC scored touchdowns on three of its first four possessions, Hogan’s play on third down often left the USC running backs on the sideline. The Trojan offense scored only 10 points over the final 39 minutes and 29 seconds.

Third downs continued to be an issue for the USC offense too, in a game that Stanford dominated in time of possession and number of plays run.

“I thought we got a little bit better on third down with the 40 percent, on four out of 10. But our mark is always 50 percent or better,” offensive coordinator Clay Helton said. “Our job right now is to score every time we get the ball, and that is what we tell the offense. Our job was to score 42 that night.”

While the Trojans did score 31 points, they will have to prepare for games with similarly high scores in the pass-happy          Pac-12,  which will certainly be a challenge against an Arizona State pass defense that is ranked ninth in the nation.

“In the second half, score more points, double the opponents score and establish the run,” said running back Tre Madden, when asked how USC’s offense can improve heading into the desert. “Being physical and being able to put the game away. And that is what we are going to focus on.”

“We didn’t expect to lose, but it’s football,” said Madden, who left Saturday’s game with a calf injury.

Madden said he will be fully able to play against Arizona State.

“They wanted to win, obviously, and we just have to move on and focus on this next Pac-12 South game, because all of our goals are still in front of us,” he said. “We’re just trying to take it week by week.”