Arizona Wildcats Defense Smothers While USC Trojans Defense Stutters

On the first two nights of College Football, Arizona’s Nick Foles and USC’s Matt Barkley have set the target high for Pac-10 quarterbacks.

Foles finished his night against Toledo with 360 yards on a sensational 32 completions out of 37 attempts and two TDs.

Barkley was just behind Foles with 257 yards hitting 18 of 23 passing attempts for five touchdowns in the Trojans slipshod 49-36 victory over Hawaii on Thursday.

However, despite Barkley’s performance along with three touchdown receptions by Ronald Johnson and 154 rushing yards from Marc Tyler, if the game were played today, Arizona would trump USC.

That is how crisp and disciplined the Wildcats defense looked compared to the sloppy and clumsy Trojans.

As I mentioned after the Trojans’ game last night, USC’s defense is a work in progress.  The Wildcats, on the other hand, seemed to have progressed to their best defensive level in the Mike Stoops era.

Both teams have young defenses.  Both had question marks.  Arizona’s young guys answered many of those questions.  USC’s did not.

Of course one game is not indicative of an entire season.  But one game can expose a team’s many weaknesses.  And Thursday’s game against Hawaii did just that for USC.

Those weaknesses began in the last quarter of the game at Washington last season and continued to the end of the regular season.

One could blame the loss of eight defensive starters to the NFL the year before as the reason.  But the defense was strong against Ohio State in the Horseshoe and for three quarters against the Huskies in Washington.

They were strong for the first half against Notre Dame and Oregon State then fell apart in the second half.  Why?

Well, along with those eight starters, the USC defense also lost the driving force behind them, defensive coordinator Nick Holt.

There was a certain synergy between Holt, who joined former USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian at Washington, and his defense.

We saw the same kind of sloppy, undisciplined play in the 2005 season, when the offense had to put up huge numbers to stay undefeated. 

Remember that 50-42 game against Fresno State?  Or 34-31 against Notre Dame?  And the heartbreaking 41-38 loss to Texas in the BCS Title game.

But Nick Holt came back to USC in 2006 and things quickly changed for the defense. During his three years at USC, the defense was dominant.  Then, when he left last year, things fell apart like they did in 2005.

Now I’m not saying that Ed Orgeron and Monte Kiffin are not as good as Nick Holt.  What I am saying is that Holt had a synergy that demanded discipline and teamwork, not awe.

Instead, his players both respected him for his toughness and feared his wrath.  They wanted to play lights out for him.  Not individually but as a team. 

Monte Kiffin and Ed Orgeron, on the other hand, are defensive legends.  It’s not unusual for players to be in awe of them.  Sometimes when that happens, players tend to perform as individuals rather than as a team.

That was evident Thursday night.  The Trojan defenders were playing as individuals and trying to do too much on their own rather than settling in and playing together as a team.

This is what Holt brought to the table, and that is the kind of synergy and teamwork that Monte Kiffin and Ed Orgeron and the rest of the defensive staff need to establish, especially with the younger players.

The offense obviously had that synergy and worked awfully well together.  Just like Lane Kiffin had preached, this was a business trip for them. 

The defense on the other hand saw their business go belly-up as the Hawaii Warriors’ 588 passing yards certainly gave USC the business.

Meanwhile, Arizona has never represented the Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl.  Could this be the year the Wildcats go all the way?

We know with Foles, Nic Grigsby, Juron Criner, and Keola Antolin, the Wildcats are going to score a lot of points.  But if their defense plays like it did tonight, Arizona could wind up in the Rose Bowl on New Years Day.

USC will be watching the game at home, no matter how well or poorly the defense plays this season.  But it will be much easier to watch, knowing that, except for the Hawaii game, they have won respect of each and every opponent they have played.