Grading the Trojans, Oregon State Edition

The Oregon State game was thoroughly worrisome, because of both uncertainty of the final outcome and the looming specter of next week’s date at Autzen. But before we sink our teeth into next week’s game, let’s put the Oregon State game to bed.

We’re grading the Trojans this week on the Richter Scale. The scale is logarithmic, which in this case means that each increase of 0.1 signifies an increase of an entire order of magnitude. Which means it makes no sense for grading football players. On the plus side, that’s exactly what we want - completely arbitrary ratings.

Quarterback - 7.1 (Equal to Tsar Bomba, the largest thermonuclear weapon ever tested)

The two interceptions are very worrisome. Barkley threw some bad, downright awful passes along the way. The nadir of Barkley’s performance was probably the bubble screen throw in the first half that he air mailed into the sideline, missing by a mile.

But the bottom line is rather impressive - 15 for 25 for 202 yards with 2 interceptions and 2 touchdowns. More important is the type of throws he was making - tough passes into coverage with lots of touch. And the offense is quickly becoming far more balanced, almost exactly equal in terms of run and pass. Barkley even did some running, doing a weird designed bootleg run at the 5 yard line and following it up with a sneak for a touchdown.

One quibble, other than those two picks: Only four receivers had catches. It’d be better to have the ball spread around a bit more.

Running Backs - 13.0 - Yucatan Peninsula meteor impact (aka Stafon Johnson)

Allen Bradford was obviously the star of the day - 15 rushes for 147 yards and 2TDs is an outstanding line. Joe McKnight was having a good day, as well, before he had to leave the game with a cut on his hand, taking the ball 11 times and gaining 65 yards.

Most importantly, the running backs didn’t fumble. Perhaps the fumbling problems are behind the Trojan backfield.

After McKnight left the game, CJ Gable even got some time in the backfield, but didn’t get a touch. DJ Shoemate didn’t have the same impact that Stanley Havili usually has - he didn’t touch the ball once. More importantly, he missed a couple of blocking assignments that led to Barkley getting hurried and hit.

And Stafon Johnson was there for the game. He visited the locker room before kickoff and watched the game from the press box. When the video screen at the Coliseum showed him in the box, the crowd went absolutely nuts.

Offensive line - 9.5 - Great Chilean Earthquake

The offensive line played unbelievably, yielding no sacks and creating enormous holes for the running game. In addition, the big penalties that really hurt the offense earlier in the year (false starts and holding calls) were largely avoided. And the line did all this with All-American Kris O’Dowd sitting on the bench because he’s been playing poorly. Jeff Byers moved to center and Butch Lewis took over at guard.

Receivers - 6.7 - Northridge Earthquake

The receivers had a good day, all in all. Ronald Johnson’s first game back at full strength no doubt had an enormous impact on the game. RoJo really stretched the field and put strain on the Beaver secondary. Of course, the highlight catch on the Matt Barkley 38-yard pass was his best moment of the day.

Damian Williams turned in another solid performance, catching 6 balls for 58 yards.

Anthony McCoy got an ankle sprain during the game. Little info is available at this point on the injury, but Pete Carroll says it’s not a severe high ankle sprain, which would sideline McCoy for a couple of weeks.

McCoy’s situation is of grave concern because of the general incompetence of his replacement, Rhett Ellison. After McCoy left, Ellison had no catches and somehow racked up 20 yards in penalties, thanks to a stupid personal foul and a false start. It seems like Blake Ayles would be a better pick than Ellison, but you’d think the Carrolls twain (Pete and Brendan) know their players pretty well.

And Brice Butler had another decent game, catching one ball for 20 yards. Most importantly, he’s a fantastic downfield blocker. And he’s a true freshman - he and Devon Flourney should make quite the duo in a couple of years.

Defensive Line - 5.4 - Chino Hills Earthquake

The D-Line did a good job getting pressure on the quarterback and stopping the inside running game. Though Jacquizz Rodgers was certainly able to gash the Trojans defense for big gains, he wasn’t able to do so with any regularity, which was what killed the Trojans in Corvallis last year. The duo of Jacquizz and James Rodgers averaged 5.7 and 7.0 yards per carry, respectively. And that is troubling, heading up to Eugene, where the rushing game is king.

Linebackers - 4.0 - Small atomic bomb

The linebackers were outstanding at stopping the Rodgers-Rodgers running game that gashed the Trojan defense for so many yards last year. The James Rodgers end-arounds were effectively shut down by the speedy linebackers, but they still plugged the holes in the zone blocking scheme to prevent Jacquizz Rodgers running game.

However, the linebackers were thoroughly incompetent in the passing game - tight end Joe Halahuni caught 9 passes for 127 yards, which is completely unacceptable. The linebacking corps’ inability to stop the short and intermediate passing game was the weakest part of the defense. Watch for Oregon Tight End Ed Dickson to have a huge game against USC in next week’s game.

Secondary - 0.5 - large hand grenade

The secondary was really pathetic. Just absolutely awful. The corners were able to stop the end-arounds and the safeties did a good job in the running game. But coverage was a complete disaster.

I understand that there’s some kind of weird rule that Trojans can’t criticize Taylor Mays because he’s a paragon of excellence, but Mays has clearly regressed over the past year. He has completely given up on pass coverage and has instead focused on delivering highlight-reel hits. He’ll sit back waiting for the ball to be caught so that he can run in like a freight train and try to cause as many concussions as possible. And more importantly, he has been racking up personal fouls because of his headhunter reputation (obviously, some of the personal fouls have been pure bunk).

And his attitude is spreading throughout the secondary - Will Harris is also getting in on the highlight reel hit act. The Trojan secondary is saying to opposing receivers, “we dare you to catch the ball over the middle,” to which the opposing receivers are giddily replying, “with pleasure.”

Special Teams - 6.0 - Double Spring Flat Earthquake

The kickoff game was acceptable - there was one long return, but the coverage was generally good. Our kickoff returns continue to be thoroughly mediocre.

Damian Williams is turning into an elite punt returner. He’s returned two kicks in the last three games for touchdowns and hasn’t muffed a punt yet. By USC’s standards, that’s enough to be an elite returner.

The punting game has slowly improved, averaging 44 yards per punt this game. Mercifully, the punting game has also become less necessary - Harfman only trotted out to kick the ball away three times last game.

Bottom Line: Anybody could figure this out, but the offense is looking better and better, and the defense is looking worse and worse. The penalties were much more under control, and USC finally recovered a fumble. But the Trojans lost the turnover battle (again), and it will continue to be difficult to win games if we can’t force more turnovers.