[gocard14]

Adding to my halftime thoughts from earlier:

1. Amazing game from the defense, who only got stronger as the game went on.  The 4-6 yard runs seemed to turn to 1-3 yard runs as the game went on, usually the opposite is true. As others have noted, last years D relied on the efforts of a few stars, this year it seems like we're ketting key contributions across the board. 

2. The front 7 play, with a few early exceptions, was excellent. Okereke and Barton (and Branch) have really improved from last year and are playing at a high level and the D-line is doing a better job at keeping them clean. The statline is much more how our defense is supposed to look, with ILBs raking in the tackles, rather then last year where Phillips and the safeties were doing much of the work. The pass rush was excellent, with pressure coming from multiple players and doing a great job of rushing as a team and collapsing the pocket without leaving running lanes, with the exception of JT's one houdini escape from Swann. 

3. The DBs did a great job in coverage, Adebo, Holder, Antoine and Edwards all looked great in the spots where I saw them. The officials were letting them play, and they did a good job of playing aggressively without overt interference.

4. We got hosed by the refs in this game. I'm fine (and prefer) them letting DBs play physical, but the no call on tackling JJAW out of bounds was ridiculous. We got stuck with a bunch of questionable holding calls that didn't seem to be called both ways. A few of those go our way and we're looking at more points on the board.

5. The offense looked great at times, but needs to stop shooting itself in the foot. Too many drives featured a few first downs or a big play followed by a bad penalty or a big tackle for loss. The two delay of games after the big run by Bryce was particularly egregious. 

6. KJ is the real deal. He was poised in the pocket, moved well, accurate, and made good and timely reads. We will go far if he keeps playing this way. 

7. The play calling was great in the first half, less so in the second.  Too many runs up the middle when USC was stacking the ILBs over the A-gaps, just begging for plays like the fake-dive pitch that resulted in a big gain for Bryce. The toss back dive play was created to counter the backside end crashing in on every play, which was a big problem last year, but I feel like it puts a lot of pressure on the O-line to hold their blocks for a longer period and gives more time for the safeties to fill gaps. I'd rather we run more traditionally and keep the backside end home through use of mis-direction and counters. To be fair, Shaw may have been calling conservatively given the lead and how well our defense was playing, and given the result that was a reasonable call. You also have to give credit to USC though, they have a seemingly endless supply of athletic DBs/OLB who made tackles in space when 1 on 1 with Bryce on the outside. They're a good tackling team and well coached. 

8. Some bad decisions by our kick returners to run balls out of the end zone and not just take the free 25 yards. I get that we have good returners and special teams, but USC is just too athletic and well coached to make that gamble worth while. 

Overall a great game.  They dominated a talented team defensively, and the offense looked good and clearly has a higher level that it can reach. I'm incredibly excited to see what the rest of the year brings.

[gocard14]

Adding to my halftime thoughts from earlier:

1. Amazing game from the defense, who only got stronger as the game went on.  The 4-6 yard runs seemed to turn to 1-3 yard runs as the game went on, usually the opposite is true. As others have noted, last years D relied on the efforts of a few stars, this year it seems like we're ketting key contributions across the board. 

2. The front 7 play, with a few early exceptions, was excellent. Okereke and Barton (and Branch) have really improved from last year and are playing at a high level and the D-line is doing a better job at keeping them clean. The statline is much more how our defense is supposed to look, with ILBs raking in the tackles, rather then last year where Phillips and the safeties were doing much of the work. The pass rush was excellent, with pressure coming from multiple players and doing a great job of rushing as a team and collapsing the pocket without leaving running lanes, with the exception of JT's one houdini escape from Swann. 

3. The DBs did a great job in coverage, Adebo, Holder, Antoine and Edwards all looked great in the spots where I saw them. The officials were letting them play, and they did a good job of playing aggressively without overt interference.

4. We got hosed by the refs in this game. I'm fine (and prefer) them letting DBs play physical, but the no call on tackling JJAW out of bounds was ridiculous. We got stuck with a bunch of questionable holding calls that didn't seem to be called both ways. A few of those go our way and we're looking at more points on the board.

5. The offense looked great at times, but needs to stop shooting itself in the foot. Too many drives featured a few first downs or a big play followed by a bad penalty or a big tackle for loss. The two delay of games after the big run by Bryce was particularly egregious. 

6. KJ is the real deal. He was poised in the pocket, moved well, accurate, and made good and timely reads. We will go far if he keeps playing this way. 

7. The play calling was great in the first half, less so in the second.  Too many runs up the middle when USC was stacking the ILBs over the A-gaps, just begging for plays like the fake-dive pitch that resulted in a big gain for Bryce. The toss back dive play was created to counter the backside end crashing in on every play, which was a big problem last year, but I feel like it puts a lot of pressure on the O-line to hold their blocks for a longer period and gives more time for the safeties to fill gaps. I'd rather we run more traditionally and keep the backside end home through use of mis-direction and counters. To be fair, Shaw may have been calling conservatively given the lead and how well our defense was playing, and given the result that was a reasonable call. You also have to give credit to USC though, they have a seemingly endless supply of athletic DBs/OLB who made tackles in space when 1 on 1 with Bryce on the outside. They're a good tackling team and well coached. 

8. Some bad decisions by our kick returners to run balls out of the end zone and not just take the free 25 yards. I get that we have good returners and special teams, but USC is just too athletic and well coached to make that gamble worth while. 

Overall a great game.  They dominated a talented team defensively, and the offense looked good and clearly has a higher level that it can reach. I'm incredibly excited to see what the rest of the year brings.