Barkley, McKnight drive USC to comeback win against Ohio State

USC freshman QB Matt Barkley went 15-31 for 195 yards, including going 6-8 for 97 yards in drives that ended the first and second half, RB Joe McKnight had 105 all-purpose yards, including 54 in the game-winning drive and catching a 2-point conversion swing pass, and RB Stafon Johnson scored the game's first and last touchdowns as the Trojans overcame an sputtering offense for a come from behind win, 18-15. The offense was so bad, in fact, that when USC fell behind 12-10 on a high snap that sailed through the end zone, a lot of Trojan faithful felt like that could be the deciding margin.

I guess look at the bad first. Barkley didn't show much of an arm against San Jose State, rarely throwing down field. In this game, he didn't show off his arm either, and even then he only went 15-31. Not sure if it was the play calling, as a lot of the "safe" rollout plays that QB Coach Jeremy Bates called for against the Spartans were not seen against Ohio State. And there were no sustained drives either, other than the ones to end each half. USC's first touchdown was gift wrapped by MLB Chris Gallippo, who returned a Terrell Pryor pass 51 yards to the OSU 2, but even then it took the offense 4 plays to punch it home. In the second half, the Trojans had a miserable time trying to turn the field around, as it seemed the Buckeyes were always starting their drives in USC territory. But part of that could be on the dismal punting unit. P Billy O'Malley averaged 37.6 yards per punt with a long of 41, which was actually a touchback. So we have a punter who can't get distance and who can't coffin corner a team from 40 yards away? If he only has a 35 yard punt in his leg, why can't we have the punt unit get down there in time? And that's the second problem. The punt coverage and return units were terrible as well. They only allowed 14 punt returns, but that's back to O'Malley's weak leg. But the more telling stat was USC getting 0 punt return yards on 6 chances. There were several times where OSU P Jon Thoma "pooched" his kicks inside the 20, landing four of his punts there and still ending up with a higher average than O'Malley, who found himself trying to kick the stuffing out of the ball from his own endzone. But on every OSU punt, there were several Buckeyes surrounding Damian Williams before he could catch the ball, leaving him no choice but to signal for a fair catch. And staying with special teams... how can the #3 team in the nation not get a kicker that can kick a field goal from 44 yards straight away? And even if we did know that Jordan Congdon doesn't have a leg outside of 40, we do have a long distance kicker in Jake Harfman... where was he? We need to hire a special teams coach... oh wait...

But now for the positives... the defense, save to two long pass plays in the first quarter, we solid all game long. In fact, outside of a 54 yard pass to Dane Sanzenbacher and a 36 yarder to DeVier Posey, Pryor threw for only 87 yards. Both teams struggled to run the ball, due to the dominant defensive lines of both teams, as the longest run by an Ohio State running back was an 8 yard run by Dan Herron. But the defense had to play with a short field throughout the second half and gave up only 3 second half points. Another positive was that despite the struggles of the offense, the unit wasn't sloppy. Aside from Barkley being picked off in the second half, the offense stayed (relatively) penalty free, with 4 penalties for 30 yards, and no fumbles. That's a big plus, as in past games the Trojans have struggled in, it was due to numerous turnovers and penalties, so seeing USC not shoot themselves in the foot was nice to see, especially with a freshman quarterback in a hostile environment. Hmm, another positive... oh yeah, how 'bout those two drives to end each half? Nothing flashy, yet both were still things of beauty. It was part Barkley managing the game, part the running backs taking over, and part the offensive line parting the Buckeye defensive line. Barkley made a couple of throws to start the drive, but USC rode the back of McKnight, and Barkley snuck his way to two first downs behind Kris O'Dowd, and Johnson finished the drive from two yards out.

There has been a lot of criticism of Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, who many said he was too conservative and called bad plays on offense. First, I agreed with him punting before USC's final drive, as the Trojan offense showed nothing all game, and pinning them on the 14 yard line was better than going for a 53 yard field goal. But I can't agree with his choice to kick a field goal on 4th-and-goal from the 1 to start the second quarter. That's the game right there. The Buckeyes convert, they win. If they don't, well, they lose anyway. Tressel had to answer Big Balls Pete, instead he let his shrivel up as he sent out his kicker for an 18 yard field goal. And on offense, having Pryor pass the ball at all in the fourth quarter when they should have been trying to run out the clock instead of trying for the knockout punch. I cringed every time Ohio State ran the ball because of the precious time we lost on each run.

So even with the negatives about a sputtering offense and a horrific special teams (who wouldn't trade USC's special teams unit for UCLA's in a heartbeat?) I love this win. USC did not give away the game as much as yanked it away from Ohio State's grip. Barkley managed the final drive so beautifully. As much as the 14 play, 86 yard drive over 6:10 of the fourth quarter played with my heart, watching it again and again makes me smile:


But now on to Washington, or USC Northwest. Another tricky game with another mobile quarterback, this time with a better arm in another hostile environment. Another Pac-10 road opener... ugh I don't even want to relive that, but I guess I should:

• 09/25/08 - Oregon State 27, USC 21 (Oregon State led 21-0 at the half)
  
• 09/29/07 - USC 27, Washington 24 (3 turnovers, 16 penalties)
• 09/23/06 - USC 20, Arizona 3 (game was 10-3 to start fourth quarter)
• 09/24/05 - USC 45, Oregon 13 (Oregon jumped out to 13-0 lead)
• 09/25/04 - USC 31, Stanford 28 (Stanford led 28-17 at the half)
• 09/27/03 - California 34, USC 31, 3 O/T (Cal led 21-7 at the half, USC had 4 turnovers)
• 10/05/02 - Washington State 30, USC 27, O/T (10 penalties)
• 09/22/01 - Oregon 24, USC 22 (10 penalties, 4 fumbles, 3 interceptions)
• 09/30/00 - Oregon State 31, USC 21 (snapped USC's 26 game win streak over OrSt)
• 09/25/99 - Oregon 33, USC 30, 3 O/T (21! penalties)

 Ugh. Oh well, here's my top 10:

1. Florida (2-0) - won't have a test until Alabama/Ole Miss in the SEC CCG
2. Texas (2-0) - had the USC memorial slow start against Wyoming
3. Alabama (2-0) - cruising until Ole Miss game for chance to play Florida
4. USC (2-0) - still too many questions on offense and special teams
5. California (2-0) - I'm terrified of Jahvid Best
6. Penn State (2-0) - now the solid (if unspectacular) face of the Big Ten
7. Mississippi (1-0) - weak OOC schedule
8. Brigham Young (2-0) - another big test in first home game against Florida State
9. Boise State (2-0) - can we get BYU and Boise to schedule a home-and-home already?
10. Louisiana State (2-0) - by default, ugh

And the Pac-10 rankings

1. USC (2-0) - has Washington and Washington State to get ready for Cal
2. California (2-0) - can they finally win on the road? Minnesota will be a good test
3. Oregon State (2-0) - big test against Big East favorite Cincinnati
   
4. UCLA (2-0) - huge win over Tennessee, could be 3-0 entering Pac-10 play
5. Oregon (1-1) - rebounded against Purdue, Utah will be a test
6. Arizona State (1-0) - bye week hurt, but can't snooze on La-Monroe before Georgia
7. Arizona (2-0) - Iowa will show if Arizona will return to a bowl this year
8. Stanford (1-1) - blew 14 point lead at Wake, must recover against San Jose State
9. Washington (1-1) - finally broke that 15 game losing streak, but USC comes into town
10. Washington State (0-2) - 0-12 may loom for Pullman...