USC Football: Was the Arizona Game a Sign of a Modified Spread in 2011?

As television viewers attempted to keep up with Channel 7's shaky coverage of Saturday's USC game against Arizona, the winds of offensive change for the Trojans appeared to blow across the hot Sonora desert.

Time and again quarterback Matt Barkley raced to the line and called plays in such a frenzied fashion that often the befuddled play by play announcers were left explaining plays that had already been run even as the current play was occurring.

Pity those poor announcers who thought they only had to deal with the Wildcats and their hurry up offense.

Of course, for the Trojans, while the speed of the play calling was indeed quicker, the basic offense, USC's typical pro set, was the same as they had been running for the last decade.

At least for now.

Earlier this month, head coach Lane Kiffin had addressed the possibility of USC moving to a spread type of offense as he pondered the abundance of fast wide receivers he had either already in the fold or coming in the next couple of years.

Although the Trojans will lose wide receiver Ronald Johnson to graduation, the Trojans are well stocked with fast and athletic pass catchers already and there are more to come.

In addition to the incredibly gifted Robert Woods, USC has Kyle Prater and Markeith Ambles ready for next year and Victor Blackwell, the fast and talented prep wide receiver, verbally committed for this years recruiting class.

George Farmer, Woods high school teammate last year at Serra, and a five-star recruit himself, has long been thought to be a Trojan in waiting.

And lets not forget that Oaks Christian star wide receiver, Jordan Payton, has been a Trojan verbal commit for over a year now.

He will arrive in 2012.

Finally, Jadon Mickens, a fast and elusive wide out, has just recently also come on board with a verbal commitment last month. Mickens is also a 2012 commit.

Combine all that speed with a bevy of talented tight ends from the 2009 recruiting class and it is easy to see why Kiffin is considering a major shake-up of the offense.

However, a full commitment to what is considered a prototypical spread offense requires a quarterback more mobile than Matt Barkley but that isn't to say a modified version of the spread couldn't be incorporated and you need look no further than the team the Trojans just beat to to find compatibility with a spread offense Barkley could be effective in.

Nick Foles, Arizona's 6'5", 235 lb. signal caller won't be entering sprint races anytime soon.

Yet, when running back Nic Grigsby was healthy, Foles directed an effective version of the spread and even with only four healthy wide outs Saturday, he managed to throw for over 350 yards against the Trojans.

Looking further down the road, it would surprise no one if 2011 is Barkley's last year before turning pro.

With a mobile Jesse Scroggins waiting in the wings and Cody Kessler, who has been described as a poor man's Tim Tebow, there are possibilities of the Trojans having a quarterback that can run a conventional spread offense.

Hell, even Max Wittek, another mobile, albeit more traditional drop back quarterback set to sign with USC this year, can be envisioned to run some sort of a spread if Kiffin should go that route.

So, will Trojan fans be seeing Kiffin scrapping the offense that has been so successful for years?

Maybe, maybe not.

Despite his earlier comments that he would look at anything, including a spread, that would make the Trojans successful, expect Kiffin to play it close to the vest.

What fans of USC can and should expect is that their young head coach will take whatever advantage fate lays at his feet as long as it translates into "W's," tradition be damned.

And isn't that the point of playing the game anyway?

I'm sure most Trojan fans would heartily concur.