USC Football: Grading the Trojans Game Against Washington

Can you feel them?

That trickle of warm, fuzzy feelings the Trojans had following USC's victory against Notre Dame and which has been building over the last few games are now a mild torrent after their convincing win against old friend and now foe, Steve Sarkisian and his Washington Huskies.

Though not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, the Trojans have now served notice that they are a team to be reckoned with, and those notions of 2011 being a rebuilding year have been cast aside in favor of a team that is ready right now to make noise this year.

Overall, this may have been as good a game as USC has offered, and even the areas of deep concern seem to be working themselves out.

Still, there can be improvement, and this slideshow will offer grades, both very good, and in some cases less so, but all given with the idea that this team is on a major upswing.

So lets get started, shall we?

Quarterback

This was not one of Matt Barkley's better games, but fortunately for the Trojans, it didn't have to be.

After going 18-for-28 for 174 yards and a touchdown, Barkley was efficient but little more.

In a strange twist, the Trojans, who figured to ride Barkley's magical right arm against a very suspect Husky secondary, instead chose to utilize the running game.

Which was probably a good thing since Barkley's primary receiving threat, Robert Woods, barely made his presence felt in this game.

Still, he was error free in this game, and though it won't make any list of his all time great efforts, his leadership, as always, was critical.

Grade: B-

Running Backs

All of a sudden, USC is a running machine.

Led by Curtis McNeal's (who else?) thunderous bursts (to go along with a sweet 79 yard touchdown), the Trojans put up 252 yards and a 6.3 average against a pretty good Husky defensive front seven.

Of course, that includes a 35 yard fake punt by that mighty running threat Kyle Negrete, but all in all, this was yet another great effort by a unit that was all but forgotten early in the season.

The other half of the "Big Two," Marc Tyler, also had a nice game with 50 yards on seven carries and a touchdown of his own.

Other than that, though, Amir Carlisle, D.J. Morgan and Allen Noble (Allen Noble?) had 18 yards on 10 carries.

Grade: A-

Receivers

A large part of Matt Barkley's reduced numbers had to do with the limitations of a hobbled Robert Woods.

Obviously not a 100 percent, Woods had his worst game of the season by far with only two catches for five measly yards.

That is not to say that Barkley was without weapons, though.

As has been the case far more often than not, true freshman Marqise Lee picked up the slack with nine catches for 74 yards and one of his two touchdowns (more on the other one later).

Another emerging threat, tight end Randall Telfer, had four catches for 43 yards and Brice Butler had a sweet diving 35 yard catch of his own.

Still, this group was only a bit better than average on this day.

Grade: C+

Offensive Line

For a supposed "weak link," this group is turning out a lot better than originally thought.

After opening those holes for the aforementioned McNeal and Tyler, and keeping Barkley mostly upright (only one sack and a couple of pressures), the young guys in the trenches are improving each time out.

As they gain more experience, look for this group to be a big time strength by seasons end.

Still, they have room for improvement as evidenced by the numerous false start penalties.

However, this was a good effort by a unit that no one thought would be this good, this fast.

Grade: B+

Defensive Line

Earlier this week, I wrote an article opining about how crucial the defensive lines play would be for USC's fortunes.

In that piece, I suggested that bottling up Washington's marvelous tailback Chris Polk and pressuring quarterback Keith Price was paramount if the Trojans hoped to win this game.

Mission accomplished.

In holding Polk to 36 yards on nine carries and sacking quarterback's Price and Nick Montana seven times, this unit turned in its finest performance of 2011.

Leading the way was defensive end Nick Perry who added 2.5 sacks to his team leading five.

For a great game by a beleaguered unit who had been under-performing until this effort, they deserve an equally great grade, but a lack of turnovers keeps this grade from being the very best.

Grade: A

Linebackers

Welcome back, Dion Bailey.

The Trojans missed their young middle linebacker who missed last weeks game against Colorado due to a concussion suffered the week before against Stanford.

With Bailey back in the fold, the Trojans "baby 'backers," were an efficient if not spectacular unit against Washington.

Steady against the run, the linebackers were not perfect, though.

Husky tight end Austin Sefarian-Jenkins had a few catches underneath and receiver Kevin Smith had a big reception on a catch where the linebackers cleared out over the middle.

Still, they are young and we must be patient.

Grade: B-

Defensive Secondary

Another much maligned unit that came to play Saturday was the secondary, which was led by cornerback Nickell Robey.

Robey, who was celebrating his late mothers birthday, and his cohorts, pretty much stifled a good set of Husky receivers by allowing only 198 yards and touchdown. The score and a good chunk of those passing yards came against the reserves on Washington's last, meaningless, drive.

Kasen Williams and Jermaine Kearse, both very good receivers for the Huskies, combined for seven catches for 54 yards.

In addition, at least one of the Trojans sacks came as a direct result of a coverage sack when Price simply had no one to throw to.

This was a very good effort and one that will need to be repeated next week against Oregon.

Grade: A-

Special Teams

Boy, talk about your aptly named units.

The special teams were just that, and in many ways, they provided the catalyst for this victory.

It all started with punter Kyle Negrete's 35 yard fake kick in which he barreled not only for a much needed first down but also delivered a big blow to a Husky defender who had the temerity to interrupt his surprise jaunt.

Negrete, who was told to slide after picking up the first down, instead started the ball rolling for the Trojans who were clearly inspired by the play.

But special team coach John Baxter's boys were just getting started.

On the kickoff to open the second half, Marqise Lee, USC's newest true freshman sensation, went 88 yards on a play which ended in a score after Lee made a hapless Washington defender prove that air just can't be grabbed.

Although the Huskies would respond with their only meaningful touchdown after that, the air was clearly out of their sails and the game, for all intents and purposes, was over after that.

An impressive effort by a unit that has been good pretty much all season.

Grade: A+

Coaching

There is plenty of praise to go around for USC's brain trust.

Head coach Lane Kiffin came up with an effective, albeit surprising, offensive game plan which focused on the ground game when almost everyone thought this would be the passing games show.

Obviously more comfortable with the play of his offensive line, Kiffin turned the rush attack loose and it produced their best game of the year.

One complaint, though, was that Matt Barkley was left in far too long after the game was already decided when backup Jesse Scroggins could have used the work.

Defensively, Monte Kiffin's boys seem to finally be getting it.

After limiting Washington to 244 total yards and only 10 meaningful points, to go along with those seven sacks, the only thing missing from a completely dominant defensive performance was some Husky turnovers of which their were none.

And special teams were amazing in this game, no question about it.

All facets of the game did well and this is reflected in a very nice overall coaching grade.

Grade: B+

Conclusion

It seems that the Trojans are getting better each and every week.

This is good because their sternest test awaits them this Saturday at Autzen stadium when they face the mighty Oregon Ducks.

After Chip Kelly's boys demolished Stanford last night, the challenge that awaits the Trojans will be daunting to say the least.

Still, its not inconceivable that this new and improved edition of the 2011 Trojans can pull it off.

Certainly, just entertaining the notion shows how far USC has come over the last handful of games.

For the Trojans to win against Oregon, they will have to come up with some turnovers which were lacking against Washington.

They will also have to have Matt Barkley and his cadre of talented receivers hitting on all cylinders, which was clearly not the case Saturday.

However, these were probably the only two areas that USC did not excel in against Washington, and like so many of the recent handful of games the Trojans have played, other areas, many of which have been sources of deep concern, seem to have been addressed.

An "A" or "A+" game will be needed to pull off the upset against Oregon, but this one was close, and that game of "perfection" needed against the Ducks no longer seems the unrealistic notion it once was.

Grade: A-