Stanford Poses a Big Concern for USC

If today’s events hold true to form next Saturday, USC is likely to suffer its third loss of this season.

Stanford laid 51 points on Oregon, the No. 8 team in the nation, in driving to a 51-42 upset victory. Meanwhile, USC’s lethargic offense, which could only manage 20 points in a 47-20 loss at Oregon last week, regressed even further in the Arizona desert tonight.

Pete Carroll’s erratic offense scored only one touchdown in posting a 14-9 win against a mediocre Sun Devil team.

Matt Barkley, the quarterback that Pete Carroll hailed as the most advanced true freshman quarterback he has ever coached at USC, looked like…well…a true freshman or perhaps just a high school senior. A high school senior with happy feet, jitterbugging back and forth, unable to plant.

Could it be the Trojans will be underdogs at home next week against the Cardinal?

It’s very possible. The Trojan defense, which was adequate tonight against a team without a dominant running back or passer, had been decimated in the previous three games by both.

And the Stanford Cardinal have both.

Stanford’s red-shirt freshman quarterback, Andrew Luck, looked like a seasoned veteran as he threw for 251 yards and two TDs without an interception.

But the big story on the farm today was the Cardinal’s powerful running back, Toby Gerhart. He lugged the ball 38 times and gained a Stanford record 223 yards and three TDs against the Pac-10’s No. 2 defense.

Going into today’s games, Stanford had the No. 2 ranked offense in the conference right behind the Arizona Wildcats. With the power running of Gerhart and the accurate passing of Luck, Stanford should pose much concern for that patchwork USC defense.

While today’s win was an impressive one for the Cardinal, the Trojans, who needed to bounce back impressively from their defeat at Oregon last week, instead managed only an unimpressive dribble against a .500 team that committed four turnovers.

The Trojan offense will have to do much better than that next Saturday. The same goes for the Trojan defense, which gave up 266 yards in the air and allowed the Sun Devils to keep the ball for 33:35.

Arizona State almost had twice as many first downs, 23-12.  And once again the Trojans third-down efficiency, a problem all year, went from bad to worse with a pathetic 2-for-13 effort.

Pete Carroll and his staff have also shown a tendency in recent weeks to be outmatched by opposing staffs as far as schemes and adjustments are concerned. Jim Harbaugh will not make it any easier for them as he brings his Cardinal offense into the Coliseum clicking on all cylinders.