USC Football Week 2: Yes, Santa, There Is a Virginia

And they’re coming to town this Saturday night for the very first time ever.  So, you’d better watch out, Trojan fans.  This won’t be the blowout that went down two years ago in Charlottesville.

Virginia has a balanced attack and talent at the skill positions.  They should create a lot of problems for their rivals in the ACC when all is said and done this season.  I even expect them to make it to a bowl game.

Their first-year head coach, Mike London, plans to use his balanced attack to control the clock and keep the Trojan offense off the field as much as possible.

"USC is a team that plays fast and tries to capitalize on the things that you don't do,”  London said.  “So, we need to make sure that we keep the clock running with the running game, with short passes that are caught, keep the clock moving, keep the chains moving."

Keith Payne, Virginia’s bruising 255-pound running back, who banged out a career-high 114 yards and four TDs in the Cavaliers opener against Richmond, will be a load to tackle.

If my short-term memory serves me correctly, the Trojans had a pretty difficult time trying to tackle much smaller running backs and receivers last week in Hawaii.

Should Payne get past the Trojans’ front seven, it will be like a runaway reindeer charging downhill.  Even Santa, himself, would not stand a chance let alone the Trojans’ much lighter and inexperienced secondary.

With the likes of Payne and the Cavaliers’ other running backs eating up yardage, that could keep Matt Barkley and the high-powered Trojan offense on the sidelines, exactly where Mike London wants them.

So, first and foremost Saturday night will be the effectiveness of the Trojans’ front four, which all but disappeared in Paradise last week.  They need to live up to all the preseason hype that defensive line coach Ed Orgeron showered on them during Fall Camp.

We were led to believe that they were the strongpoint of the Trojan defense if not the entire team.  But after the first quarter last Thursday, they looked anything but strong.

However, Nick Perry, USC’s Freshman All-American and sack leader last year, is expected to be back Saturday after recovering from a high ankle sprain.

That will give Orgeron and Lane Kiffin the chance to put Perry and Wes Horton at defensive ends and have Armond Armstead join Jurrell Casey inside. 

If these four with the help of linebackers Devon Kenard, Malcolm Smith and Mike Morgan can stop the run early, that will force the Cavaliers to go to the air.

Quarterback Marc Verica threw for 283 yards and 1 TD, completing 24 of his 35 passes against Richmond.  The Trojan secondary, on the other hand, gave up a whopping 459 yards in the air to Hawaii.  A lot of those yards were runs after the catch due to missed tackles.

At first glance, it looks like a mismatch. But if the Trojans front seven can stop Payne and company on the ground, Verica will be forced to go to the air.  If that happens, look for the defensive line to  pin back their ears and get after Verica.

If the Trojans could get Santa to bring them an early gift this season, it would be for that young secondary to come together and mature before Game Five and the heart of USC’s conference schedule.

So, I’m sure Monte Kiffin and secondary coach Willie Mack Garza will be checking their list and going over it twice Sunday morning to see who played ugly and who played nice.

Until the secondary steps up, the Trojans may have to count on Matt Barkley and the offense to pull them through the early part of the schedule.  If so, their second wish for an early Christmas would be depth up front.

“We need to develop our depth (on the offensive line.),” Lane Kiffin remarked after practice on Thursday.  “We’re not very excited about when our backups went in (against Hawaii), how well they did not play.  We ended up leaving in Matt Kalil and Kris O’Dowd for the fourth quarter of that game, which we’d like not to.  But we need to get more confidence in our backups and they need to play for us.”

As for the marquis matchup on Saturday night, look for Virginia cornerback, Ras-I Dowling, one of the top corner prospects in the nation and a preseason Thorpe Award candidate to take on the Trojan’s preseason first round pick Ronald Johnson.

Also look for Nick Perry to start off his season against offensive tackle Oday Aboushi who received the ACC's Offensive Lineman of the Week award for his play against Richmond.

This also marks a matchup of X’s and O’s between two first-year head coaches, Lane Kiffin and Mike London.  Who makes the best adjustments could determine the outcome.

And last but certainly not least, watch for the debut of all-purpose freshman Dillon Baxter. Ho-Ho-Ho! Need I say more?