Pac-10 Week 4 Notes and Observations: USC Trojans
USC Trojans 3-1 Overall (1-1 Conference)
This Week’s Score: USC 27 – Washington State 6
Next Week’s Opponent: @Cal
First off, I just want to wish Stafon Johnson a healthy recovery. Our thoughts here at AllPac10 go out to him and his family. Here is more on the story; http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4516365. Fortunately, Johnson is in stable condition.
It will be interesting to see how the team responds to this frightening accident when they take on Cal this Saturday. Reports say that Damian Williams was noticeably shaken having witnessed the incident, and it is one of those things that could serve to motivate the team or could cause a distraction. Only time will tell.
The 27-6 win over Washington State did little to ease anyone’s worries about the offense heading into the Cal game. I’m having trouble dissecting the game myself. There was obviously never any question about the outcome, and the Trojans just seemed to show a noticeable lack of interest.
Can you blame them? There really wasn’t anything to gain from this game; even another 56-3 drubbing like the one placed on San Jose State in game one of the season wouldn’t have impressed anyone, it would have just been written off as USC thrashing another team they were clearly superior to.
That excuse aside, it’s hard to grade this tune-up game as anything other than a failure. On top of the lackadaisical offensive effort there were also 13 penalties for 115 yards. If the goal was to re-gain focus heading into the big game ahead, it certainly didn’t show up on the field.
The most important thing for the Trojans is that Matt Barkley looks ready to go. He’s obviously not 100%, but he can still sling the ball, and the entire offense should be a lot more confident with him under center. The defense has looked strong all season, and should continue to be the team’s backbone for the rest of the way; but they can’t keep being asked to do it alone.
With Kevin Riley and Jahvid Best out for revenge this week, the D will have their work cut out for them; and they are going to need Matt Barkley to provide the spark that Aaron Corp was unable to against Washington If they are going to come out on top.
