The offense exploded behind the ground game, as RB Stafon Johnson scored on two short touchdown runs and RB Allen Bradford exploded for a 43 yard scoring run as well. McKnight redeemed himself with a short score to extend USC's lead to 28-3 at the half as the rout was on. McKnight added a 54-yard touchdown run two plays into the second half, and Barkley tossed his first touchdown pass to TE Rhett Ellison midway though the third at the Trojans led 42-3 after three quarters. RB Marc Tyler scored from one yard out after ripping off a 63 yard run, and backup QB Aaron Corp converted a late fourth-and-goal with a 13 yard scoring pass to D.J. Shoemate to end the scoring at 56-3.
Besides the first quarter, could not really find a fault with the play-calling, which included a heavy emphasis on the run game with McKnight, Johnson, and Bradford getting most of the early reps, and safe passing plays, which meant a lot of boot slide plays where Barkley was moved out of the pocket as the outlet receiver, whether it be a fullback or tight end, would slide into the open area. The defense, with a lot of new faces, was suffocating, though that probably was partially due to the playcalling by the Spartans. The Trojan D held the Spartans to 121 yards of offense, including a paltry 9 yards rushing, for an average of 2.0 yards per play. San Jose State called a lot of QB read plays, where the running back would run in front of the QB, who had the option to hand off or keep the ball for a run. But the QB always would hand off to the RB, and the defense picked up on that right away.
Nice to see a solid win by the Trojans, but there were a lot of intriguing stories in the first week of the 2009 college football season.
- #14 Boise State defended their home turf by defeating a sloppy #16 Oregon team, 19-8, in a game that will be remembered more for LeGarrette Blount's antics after the game, where he sucker-punched a Boise State player and got into an altercation with some Boise fans. Blount's defenders will say he was provoked, but those same people will also say the punch was an overreaction, and I applaud the University of Oregon for acting quickly and swiftly, suspending Blount for the rest of the year. I hope USC would do the same if any of our players behaved in a similar fashion, as it reflects poorly on the university, and Oregon will have to do a lot to reverse the perception that the nation has of the school for a long time.
- In the game of the week, #5 Alabama flexed its SEC muscle over #7 Virginia Tech, 34-24, in a game that the Tide dominated in offensive yards. A valiant effort by the Hokies, but it was just another black eye for the ACC in a poor showing by the conference. One game remains on the week 1 ACC schedule, but the damage has been done. A quick look at what has happened:
- #5 Alabama defeated #7 Virginia Tech 34-24 in Atlanta.
- Baylor, the perennial basement dweller of the Big 12, defeated Wake Forest on the road, 24-21.
- Division 1-AA (FCS) William & Mary defeated Virginia in Charlottsville, 26-14.
- Another FCS school, Richmond, defeated Duke in Durham, 24-16.
- Maryland failed to showup to Berkeley as the Golden Bears rolled, 52-13.
- #15 Georgia Tech, #21 North Carolina, and Boston College defeated their FCS opponents, meaning the ACC went 3-2 against FCS competition, worse than Pac-10's 0-4 banner day against the Mountain West last season.
- South Carolina defeated North Carolina State on the road, 7-3 in the first game of the 2009 college football season.
- Clemson holds the ACC's lone win over FBS competition, a 37-14 victory over something called Middle Tennessee State.
- Speaking of those pesky FCS teams, remember when scheduling an FCS team meant an automatic win? Not so fast my friend:
- @ #22 Iowa 17, Northern Iowa 16 (Iowa blocked two UNI field goals in the last seven seconds)
- @ Central Florida 28, Samford 24
- Richmond 24, @ Duke 16
- @ East Carolina 29, Appalachian State 24
- @ Hawaii 25, Central Arkansas 20
- @ Indiana 19, Eastern Kentucky 13
- @ Kansas State 21, UMass 17
- @ Marshall 31, Southern Illinois 28
- @ Southern Methodist 31, Stephen F. Austin 23
- Villanova 27, @ Temple 24
- William & Mary 26, @ Virginia 14
- @ West Virginia 33, Liberty 20
- @ Wyoming 29, Weber State 22
- @ Air Force 72, Nicholls State 0 (ok, maybe not...)
- #20 Brigham Young pulled off the upset of the week, rallying for a 14-13 win over a shell-shocked #3 Oklahoma in the gorgeous Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX. The Sooners lost the reigning Heisman Trophy winner QB Sam Bradford with a shoulder at the end of the second quarter, and lost all of the swagger they had entering the game. Another early season blunder by coach Bob Stoops, and it will take a lot of repairing by Oklahoma for them to return to the Big XII title game.
- Washington gave #11 LSU all it could handle in Seattle in coach Steve Sarkisian's coaching debut. The Tigers won 31-23 after the Huskies scored a touchdown as time expiried, but LSU looks far from being a national title contender.
- #6 Ohio State almost got caught looking ahead to their date with USC, as Navy almost pulled off the shocker, instead they fell 31-27 after the Midshipmen's attempt to tie the game on a two point conversion was intercepted and returned for a safety. But despite Navy's heroics in closing the game to a two point game, their playcalling on the conversion was terrible, calling for a drop back pass instead of running from their base triple option offense. Ugh, the Buckeyes knew that was pass all the way. But Ohio State, who needed a late punt return to pull away from Ohio last year, 26-14, again struggled with their opponent before the USC game. And USC looked terrific against San Jose State. That said, I still give the slight edge to Terrell Pryor, who made some big legs with his arm and legs today.
- Florida (1-0) - failed to cover that 73 point spread, but Urban Meyer knows there are bigger fish to fry down the road, say Tennessee in two weeks
- Texas (1-0) - giving up 20 points to Louisiana-Monroe probably not a good sign for the defense, and McCoy only converted 72% of his passes. Weaksauce.
- Alabama (1-0) - give them credit for showing up huge in a big game in the first week of the season. The defense, despite the score, shut down the Hokies all day.
- USC (1-0) - looks more like the #4 team than before today's romp. I had them slightly lower.
- Oklahoma State (1-0) - the best team in Oklahoma? Gasp. But shut up those SEC supporters, so they get some extra points.
- California (1-0) - are they the real deal this year? They looked like it in a romp over Maryland today
- Ohio State (1-0) - very shaky against Navy, but could get back on track with a huge win over USC next week
- Penn State (1-0) - jumped out 31-0 and went on cruise control, though may have to start impressing voters with their weak schedule
- Mississippi (0-0) - ditto here, a blowout over Memphis on Sunday will keep them in top 10, if not, other teams will come knocking, like
- Brigham Young (1-0) - Has a much bigger win on their resume than Boise State, and could be in the national championship hunt with their formidable schedule (Florida State, Utah, TCU remaining)
- USC (1-0)
- California (1-0) - though more like 1a. Very impressed with them. October 3rd can't get here fast enough for them.
- Oregon State (1-0)
- Arizona State (1-0)
- Stanford (1-0) - finally get to a bowl?
- UCLA (1-0) - looked promising when they fell behind 14-3, but proved to be too much for the Aztecs by scoring the game's final 30 points
- Oregon (0-1) - ugly offense, uglier post game antics
- Washington (1-0) - great effort should translate into a win against Idaho
- Arizona (1-0) - struggled to score against Central Michigan
- Washington State (0-1) - not expected to leave this spot all year
No comments:
Post a Comment