Lane Kiffin Has the Same Problems as Pete Carroll at USC

Now Lane Kiffin knows what Pete Carroll was up against last season.  Shoddy tackling and penalties had more to do with Carroll moving onto the NFL then the pending sanctions.

There was simply no way that Carroll could fix it. 

Starting with the second half of the Notre Dame game, key Trojan penalties put the defense on the spot and bogged down the offense.

By the end of the season, USC led the Pac-10 in penalties.  They probably led the conference in missed tackles as well, if the NCAA kept statistics for that.

So far, Kiffin’s tight brand of discipline has fared no better than Carroll’s football with fun ‘n games.  That was especially evident tonight as the Trojans escaped with a 17-14 win over a 19-point underdog Virginia Cavalier team.

Like last week, if it weren’t for opponent miscues (two missed field goals and an interception in the end zone), the Trojans could have easily found themselves on the losing end of the score.

Even though Kiffin vowed that he would get the penalties under control, they continue to mount as the Trojans have muddled through their first two games.

How bad is it?  

As an example, Oregon went down to Tennessee and broke the game wide open in the second half for a 48-13 win.  The Ducks had only six penalties totaling 38 yards for the entire game. 

Meanwhile USC playing in the familiar confines of the Coliseum against Virginia, an ACC team that had never played in California before, had seven penalties for 65 yards and a touchdown called back in the first half alone.

They ended the game with 13 penalties for 140 yards.  This topped the 11 penalties for 100 yards that the Trojans had in Hawaii last week. 

Kiffin can complain all he wants about the penalties being unacceptable, but his harangues and tighter discipline isn’t getting it done.  The problem has just gone from bad to worse, and he had better loosen up

Although the tackling improved somewhat, the Trojans didn’t get a sack until the nine-minute mark of the third quarter.  They had only one other sack, and that came with less than a minute to go in the game.

That is not very encouraging for a defense that was expected to be dominant in the Pac-10 against a team picked to finish last in the ACC.

The secondary play also showed some improvement since last week, especially Nickell Robey.  However, it still has a long, long way to go if the Trojans expect to be competitive against the likes of Oregon, Arizona and Stanford.

But the most troubling aspect of tonight’s game was the USC offense and especially the running game.  The precision machine we saw last week just chugged along tonight.

This is a real problem for Kiffin.  The offense played without much emotion throughout most of the game.  The offensive line struggled.  The running backs had to do it on their own as the holes just weren’t there.  Even Matt Barkley found that he had to do much more running than he would have liked.

Barkley’s passing wasn’t as crisp as last week either.  The receivers blew a few catches, but mainly Barkley was slightly overthrowing them. 

Perhaps it was poor play calling, too.  When the running game finally seemed to be grinding it out, Barkley tried to hit Ronald Johnson.  But the timing and the rhythm just wasn’t there.  So, why beat a dead horse time and time again?

But it wasn’t just Barkley and Johnson.  That was true of the Trojans’ entire effort tonight.  They seemed tight and just couldn’t get any rhythm going.

Perhaps it is a case of too much discipline and too little fun.  One thing is definite.  The coaches really have their work cut out for them.  And like Pete Carroll discovered last season, it will not be easy.