[d4cohn]

So far I am pleasantly surprised by the defense. Run blocking is my major worry.

Yes, run-blocking is also one of my greatest concerns.  Plus, we have an annoying tendency to increase the yardage to gain by committing foolish delay of game penalties and false starts.  Hopefully, the machine will start humming better as the season progresses.

Watching back the film from last night, I thought the run blocking was worse on film than my perception of it in person. I would give the run blocking, at best D, and possibly worse, based on the number of missed assignments, holding penalties (all three that I counted were in the running game), false starts (both called and uncalled; it seemed AT was consistently leaving at least a half step early, but appeared to be only called once). We had big plays (where we executed the run blocking well), but the consistency in terms of execution across the line was not there last night. JJ also didn't have his best game blocking, as evidence on the long Bryce run that should have gone for 6 had JJ applied a better block.

However, I thought, by the same token, the pass-protection was excellent (A-/B+ level). USC brought some good blitzes, and Costello was under heat at times in the passing game, but I felt that was more often attributable to good defensive playcalling than any breakdowns on our part. Speights was a revelation in the pass protection last night (I think Shaw may have found something on passing downs, even if his one screen reception was not great).

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Also, Adebo was an A+ last night, based on my examination of the film. Absolutely fantastic. Other people were raving about his play against SDSU, and while I thought he played well, I felt the secondary as a whole was basically unchallenged due to Chapman's limitations. Not last night. His tackling was sure every play I saw (which was great to see, given the missed tackles we have had in the recent past, as well as the difficulty of the ask, given SC's team speed), and his pass defense was great too. I recall one long pass on Murphy (not sure who had coverage on the other two USC got). Alijah also deserves a lot of credit for his play. 

Alferi and Toohill were outstanding again last night. I thought the DL was ok, based on the film I saw. SC is a much tougher ask than SDSU, and we certainly played better than either game last year on the DL. DL missed two obvious sacks (one by Swann, went for first down, not sure on second, but it was cleaned up by Barton). In that regard, I think Barton and the LB crew was able to help the DL with a tough assignment. 

All in all, defense was an A in my estimation. Great great performance.

[d4cohn]

So far I am pleasantly surprised by the defense. Run blocking is my major worry.

Yes, run-blocking is also one of my greatest concerns.  Plus, we have an annoying tendency to increase the yardage to gain by committing foolish delay of game penalties and false starts.  Hopefully, the machine will start humming better as the season progresses.

Watching back the film from last night, I thought the run blocking was worse on film than my perception of it in person. I would give the run blocking, at best D, and possibly worse, based on the number of missed assignments, holding penalties (all three that I counted were in the running game), false starts (both called and uncalled; it seemed AT was consistently leaving at least a half step early, but appeared to be only called once). We had big plays (where we executed the run blocking well), but the consistency in terms of execution across the line was not there last night. JJ also didn't have his best game blocking, as evidence on the long Bryce run that should have gone for 6 had JJ applied a better block.

However, I thought, by the same token, the pass-protection was excellent (A-/B+ level). USC brought some good blitzes, and Costello was under heat at times in the passing game, but I felt that was more often attributable to good defensive playcalling than any breakdowns on our part. Speights was a revelation in the pass protection last night (I think Shaw may have found something on passing downs, even if his one screen reception was not great).

---

Also, Adebo was an A+ last night, based on my examination of the film. Absolutely fantastic. Other people were raving about his play against SDSU, and while I thought he played well, I felt the secondary as a whole was basically unchallenged due to Chapman's limitations. Not last night. His tackling was sure every play I saw (which was great to see, given the missed tackles we have had in the recent past, as well as the difficulty of the ask, given SC's team speed), and his pass defense was great too. I recall one long pass on Murphy (not sure who had coverage on the other two USC got). Alijah also deserves a lot of credit for his play. 

Alferi and Toohill were outstanding again last night. I thought the DL was ok, based on the film I saw. SC is a much tougher ask than SDSU, and we certainly played better than either game last year on the DL. DL missed two obvious sacks (one by Swann, went for first down, not sure on second, but it was cleaned up by Barton). In that regard, I think Barton and the LB crew was able to help the DL with a tough assignment. 

All in all, defense was an A in my estimation. Great great performance.