USC Defense Emphasizing Basics to Shut Down Zone Read

Temperatures at Loker Track Stadium Wednesday morning crept into the 90s, but the sweltering Southern California sunshine paled in comparison to the heat Boston College's zone-read offense put on the USC defense Saturday.

The Eagles put up a blistering 452 rushing yards, and the resulting 37-31 loss had USC defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox going back to the basics.

"I obviously didn’t do a good job preparing us, so I’ll take that [responsibility] 100 percent,” he said following Wednesday's practice.

USC is emphasizing the elementary components of defending the zone read because that's what Boston College quarterback Tyler Murphy was able to most effectively exploit. The Trojans were off-balance even before the snap because of misalignment and missed assignments.

Safety Su'a Cravens put it thusly: "When teams run the zone read, and you don’t really know what you’re doing or what your assignment is, that’s the result you’re going to get."

That's a result the Trojans certainly don't want repeated, but the problems leading up to it must be remedied before they return to Pac-12 Conference play. USC's South Division rivals Arizona, Arizona State and UCLA all run schemes similar to that of Boston College, ones which feature mobile quarterbacks akin to Murphy.

A fourth Pac-12 South team, Utah, has integrated more zone-read principles into its offense since the arrival of coordinator Dave Christensen last offseason.  

Put simply, USC's conference championship aspirations hinge on its ability to shut down the zone read.

Season	Opponent	Rushing Yards	Total Yards	Points Allowed	Result
2014	Boston College	452	506	37	L
2013	UCLA	188	396	35	L
2013	Arizona	145	508	31	W
2013	Arizona State	261	612	62	L
2012	UCLA	172	406	38	L
2012	Oregon	426	730	62	L
2012	Arizona	219	588	39	L

The good news for the USC defense, according to cornerback Chris Hawkins, is that the system's nuances should not take the Trojans quite as much by surprise.

"I'm feeling good about it because now we’ve seen it," he said. "It’s not going to be new to us."

One of the more unexpected facets of Boston College's zone read was that it actually allowed USC preseason All-American defensive tackle Leonard Williams to dictate the play.

"They were zone-reading off of Leonard—not blocking him, and just seeing where he goes, then taking it the opposite [direction]," Hawkins said. "He’s our best player on defense and they just took him out of the game. It was something we’re not used to."

Williams made 11 tackles the week prior in USC's 13-10 win at Stanford. He was limited to five at Boston College.

With USC's most disruptive playmaker taken out of his element, the rest of the Trojans defense was thrown out of balance. Murphy and Co. took advantage of USC's confusion to the tune of 8.4 yards per carry.

The quarterback in particular used the Trojans' misalignment to average nearly 15 yards on his 13 rushes.

According to Hawkins, Boston College's plan may become a blueprint for future zone-read opponents facing the Trojans. The difference going forward?

USC will be anticipating it.

"If Arizona State or Arizona watches the [Boston College game] film, I expect they’ll try to do the same thing to Leonard," he said. "So it’s something we have to practice and be ready for, and I think we will be.” 

The Trojans will have to be ready for it or risk giving up the home run plays that doomed them Saturday. Wilcox attributed those to more basic miscues whose prevention the coaching staff is emphasizing in the practices to come.

"The explosive plays showed up, whether it was due to technique error [or]…we had eyes in the wrong spot. We had a lot of missed tackles," he said.

Seven runs accounted for 268 yards of Boston College's total rushing output, via USCTrojans.com. Sixty-six came on Murphy's fourth-quarter touchdown, which effectively slammed the door on USC.

Murphy's career-high night is hardly the first time the USC defense has struggled against a mobile quarterback operating out of the zone read. The issue predates the current coaching staff and actually spans three defensive leaders.

In 2013, Wilcox's predecessor, Clancy Pendergast, saw Arizona State's Taylor Kelly and UCLA's Brett Hundley gash the Trojans out of the zone read.

In 2012, Monte Kiffin's 4-3 base formation looked outdated against opponents like Arizona and Oregon, a defense that B/R lead national writer Michael Felder examined.

Shutting down the zone read is a recurring problem for the USC defense, but 2014 is a new season and new opportunity to remedy its woes.  And it just might be a lot more simple than a major overhaul, as Cravens described.

"Discipline," he said. "Knowing your assignment, and do your own job. That’s what we need to do."

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise cited. Statistics compiled courtesy of CFBstats.com unless otherwise noted.