What Stanford Learned On Halloween Night

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While most of you were out Trick-or-Treating last Saturday one man was hard at work preparing for next Saturday. And the Saturday after that. With Stanford's next two opponents playing each other during the bye week coach Jim Harbaugh took this opportunity to get some scouting done.

The battle between the two Pac-10 powers was a very telling game as weaknesses and strengths always reveal themselves against the best competition.

Here's what to look for when Stanford goes against each unit.

USC air attack
Matt Barkley is solid in the exact sense of the word, meaning he does keep the USC offense moving but he does not carry it by any means. Although he is extremely mature in his understanding of the offense and his ability to get through his progression he is still a freshman.

A couple of times on Saturday night he just completely missed throws most notably to his backup tight end Blake Ayles. It begs the question if he misses the timing and chemistry he had with Anthony McCoy. Barkley still did hit some receivers when they were open but for the most part but he did miss on possible of game changing throws. In a hypothetical vacuum Luck doesn't miss those same throws.

A big difference between this Saturday and last Saturday is that the game will be taking place in Palo Alto. USC's O-line is rightly credited as one of the best in the country had some serious troubles with the noise. Their continuous false starts put USC behind in down and distance. Hopefully Stanford's O-line won't have the same problems Saturday.

Playing with second and third string corners Oregon was able to lock up USC's wide receivers for the most part. They were burned a few times on slants but Damien Williams and Ronald Johnson really only had a minimal impact on the game. Watching the tape Jim Harbaugh will hopefully see this and I'd be surprised if he didn't load the box against them, force Barkley to pass and have his DB's sit on the inside shoulder of the WR's

Oregon pass defense
Of all the premier defensive units on display in last Saturday's game Oregon's secondary was the unit that was the scariest. Nick Aliotti has finally has added a little variety to his defensive schemes, adding in more zone blitz and zone coverage has seemed to do the trick.

Along with a no-name secondary Oregon's rejuvenated pass rush did a solid an effective job on Saturday. Despite losing All-American DE Nick Reed, Oregon is getting more pressure on the quarterback this year. Kenny Rowe was largely held in check on Saturday but Brandon Bair filled in with a big game. Stanford will need to keep the wolves at bay better than USC did if they want to give Luck room to breathe.

Assuming they're able to give Luck time to drop back there is one big weapon that Stanford has is also one that USC refused to use. One of Luck's best qualities is undoubtedly his ability to sell the play-action fake. Assuming Gerhart is his usual self, if Harbaugh uses this correctly it could be a big factor against Oregon and could freeze their secondary and linebackers giving Luck that split-second window he needs.

USC ground game
Joe McKnight looked dangerous at times but was held in check for the most part. The reasons he was held in check though was not so much the Oregon defense as it was USC abandoning the run. A closer look reveals though that Allen Bradford averaged almost four yards a carry and McKnight averaged over six. If USC didn't fall behind early they wouldn't have been forced to abandon their run.

The USC offensive line opened holes at the point of attack but were not nearly effective as they normally are at getting up to the second level. Enjoying this freedom Oregon's linebackers and secondary were quick to the point of attack. It didn't hurt either that USC had to throw the ball to play catch-up.

Oregon run defense
Its highly publicized that Oregon's defense is small and speedy. Hopefully Harbaugh will stay disciplined in his play calling this Saturday. Despite USC abandoning the run early Oregon did make plays when needed too.

It was a combination of loading the box and Oregon's inexperienced yet quick safety's also coming up in run support. John Boyett was all over the field on Saturday, just a redshirt freshman he was a man among boys. The always-reliable Bo McNally who is not known for his game breaking speed will have to make the same types of plays as Boyett in order for Stanford to contain McKnight.

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