Unranked USC Tries to Tackle No. 16 Stanford

For the first time since 2001, Pete Carroll’s first year at the helm, the USC Trojans are unranked.  They dropped out of the Top 20 with an upset loss to Washington last Saturday, 32-31.

Even more upsetting than the loss are the embarrassing statistics that the Trojans defense has compiled so far this season.

The 2010 version of the USC Trojans and their Tampa 2 defense is the worst in a decade.

The Trojans rank 99th in total yardage defense in the nation, giving up a whopping 419 yards per game.  They are also surrendering nearly six yards per play.

The pass defense is an abysmal 117th in the nation.

As far as points per game, this Trojan team has given up 23.8 points, one point worse than the 2005 defense that gave up 22.8 points and allowed Vince Young to nearly single-handedly beat them in the BCS Title Game, 41-38.

In fact, Jake Locker’s performance at the Coliseum last Saturday evoked a more than a few memories of Vince Young running through grasping Trojan defenders for the winning score.

There was more than a little of that last week as the Trojans were unable to stop the Husky offense on key third-and-long and fourth-and long situations.

That brings up the most important statistic that should concern the Trojans and their fans.  USC ranks 87th nationally in third-down defense.  Meanwhile the Stanford Cardinal rank second in third-down offense.

Of course, it is difficult to stop anyone on a third or fourth down when you can’t or won’t tackle.  It seems like the only time the Trojans wrap up and put a shoulder into a ball carrier is when he is going out of bounds. 

But in the open field, the Trojans seem to be flatfooted and unable or unwilling to initiate contact.

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck has completed 62.8 percent of his passes for 1,253 yards and an efficiency rating of 157.53.  He has 13 TD passes against four interceptions, much like USC’s Matt Barkley.

Barkley has thrown 12 TD passes and has been picked off four times.

However, Luck is a rollout passer, is very accurate on the run, and has only been sacked twice this year.  He is the type of quarterback that this Trojan defense has had problems with this year, namely Bryant Moniz in Hawaii and Locker last week.

Luck’s best two receivers, Chris Owusu and Ryan Whalen, are banged up but expected to play Saturday.  If you think the Trojan secondary can relax a bit, think again.  Last week, Luck spread the ball around, throwing to nine different receivers.

Stanford also has a bruising ground game with the ability to grind it out.  Running back Stepfan Taylor has had back-to-back 100+ yard games with iron man, Owen Marecic leading the way.

Marecic not only starts at fullback for the Cardinal but also at middle linebacker.

The other area where Stanford has been far superior to the Trojans is in the kicking game.  Placekicker Nate Whitaker is 2-for-9 on field goal attempts.  His longest has been 46 yards.

USC’s kicker, Joe Houston, is just 2-for-6. His longest has been 34 yards.  However, the Trojans may have a new kicker this week as punter and kickoff specialist, Jake Harfman has been competing with Houston.

So far, Kiffin has not made a decision on which one will do the placekicking on Saturday.  However, Kiffin did settle on a starting running back, Allen Bradford, who amassed 223 yards against Washington.

Just like I wrote last week for the Washington game, the Trojans’ only chance to win this week is for the offense to outgun the Stanford offense. 

The offensive line needs to open holes like they did last week for Bradford and Tyler, while Barkley must come through in the clutch.  Forget going for three points, field goals, even if they are chip shots, won’t help much against the Cardinal.

With the Trojan defense in shambles, the young guys unable to adapt to the Tampa 2, and Monte Kiffin unable or unwilling to adapt a defense to his players, the offense needs to score touchdowns whenever they are in the red zone.

Let’s hope that is early and often.