USC: Suprised? Early Season Breakdown

I."Mark Sanchez is an inexperienced Quarterback..."

Experience..Crutial part of a quarterback's success. But who needs experience when you have Mark Sanchez.

43-63(68.3%) 510 yards 7 TD's and 2 INT's in Mark Sanchez's first two games as the USC Trojans' full-time starter.  Not to mention having thrown completions to 10 different targets.

I was worried about Mark Sanchez with his inexperience, and his bad knee. But after these first two games... Inexperience? He looks like he's been playing as a starter for years. Bad knee? He moved around the pocket great in the first two games and even threw a block(well..let's just say "attempted") for RB Joe Mcknight.A big step up from J.D. Booty. And,call me crazy, but I don't remember seeing this offense look this good since Leinart and Bush. The string of QB's continue..



II. "After losing many players to the draft.. The O-Line and D-Line may be the weakest link on this Trojan team.."

A. 4 Sacks, 9 tackles-for-loss ,and a bruised up OSU QB this past Saturday night.

Kyle Moore,Everson Griffen,Averell Spicer,Fili Moala,and Clay Mattews Jr. led the way to a dominating performance by this USC defense. The battles in the trenches were won time-after-time,and play-after-play as USC made it look like the only thing this OSU O-Line was good for was picking up their QB off the ground.

Not to mention the 2.1 yards per rush average for the Buckeyes.(71 yards, 34 attempts)

B. 1 sack( coming in the 4th quarter)and dominance in the trenches as well for the USC O-Line.

164 yards on the ground..all thanks to great play by "The Stable", and a great performance by the USC O-Line. After what many said was the weakest.. This O-line is quickly turning into USC's Strength.

They kept Sanchez off the ground,and gave him enough time to throw for 4 TD passes vs. OSU. Once again, a dominating performance.

III. "We're gonna let 'The Stable' loose tonight!"-USC off. coordinator Steve Sarkisian

"The Stable"..Referring to the electrofying tandem of RB's at USC. C.J. Gable,Joe Mcknight,Stafon Johnson, Marc Tyler, and Allen Bradford.

164 yards rushing on 32 attempts and 5.1 ypc. The rotation of RB's was too much for this OSU defense. 105 of those yards coming from Sophmore RB Joe McKnight on 12 attempts. Zero TD's coming from "The Stable". But they were defiantly affective in moving the ball. With Bradford and Gable going for 5 receptions and 40 yards. Not to mention a 35 yard hook-up from Sanchez to Fullback Stanley Havili..



IV. "USC's WR core is very young..If they want to be succesful,they need to step it up.."

Step it up. That's exactly what they've done. 

Sophmore Akansas transfer WR Damian Williams had a breakout 2nd half vs. OSU after leading the team with 7 receptions and 91 yards,but went without a TD. He would make up for the TD drought vs. Virginia by going for 2 TDs in the second half. He would go for 3 receptions and 49 yards along with those 2 TDs.

As soon as Senior Patrick Turner realizes his ablilty,and learns to use his big 6'5" frame..He should develop into an awsome target for Mark Sanchez. Although the numbers look a little bit convincing(6 receptions, 105 yards, 1 TD),I don't believe he's playing to his full potential.


USC has been stellar so far..look for this to continue.."We weren't 100% tonight. I don't think we fired on all cylinders. There's a couple of plays I want back. But the score looks great and we'll take it away."- Mark Sanchez USC QB