09-12-2021, 03:23 PM
I think it is important to note that USC was playing against Stanford using almost exclusively man to man pass defense. Their defensive philosophy seemed to be, IMHO, that Stanford would attempt to rely on the run. The wanted to stop that. They figured that McKee wouldn't be good enough and that the receivers weren't fast enough to beat their superior athletes in man coverage. They were sort of correct. Our receivers didn't often beat their DBs by running by them, but McKee put the ball on the money and our receivers out-jumped the DBs for the catch. Also, the DBs had obviously been told there was no deep help so don't let anyone get behind them. As a result, they would obstruct the receivers and grab them if they were going to get behind them. Thus, lots of PI calls.
SC didn't change their defense even when it had clearly shown it had problems. UCLA, ND, and Oregon saw this game. They are going to mix up their defenses more and play more zone. It may open up the running game a bit with all the DBs dropping into coverage, but it will present a new set of challenges to the Coaches and to McKee. In short, it isn't going to be as straightforward as it was on Saturday.
SC didn't change their defense even when it had clearly shown it had problems. UCLA, ND, and Oregon saw this game. They are going to mix up their defenses more and play more zone. It may open up the running game a bit with all the DBs dropping into coverage, but it will present a new set of challenges to the Coaches and to McKee. In short, it isn't going to be as straightforward as it was on Saturday.