[Goose]

It's pretty tough for me to see how SC choosing to run more often would have turned the tables from getting run to actually winning.

We can't know what would have happened, but it would have kept our offense off the field and our defense on it, two things we don't want. Our defense is not deep and could easily have been worn out. USC could have avoided all those three and outs that gave us a big lift in the second half. We would also have had worse field position, assuming U$C didn't score every time by making 4.2 YPC. We, like U$C, might have been placed in a position where we needed to change our defensive approach. So, yes, I can see how that could have defeated us.

[Goose]

It's pretty tough for me to see how SC choosing to run more often would have turned the tables from getting run to actually winning.

We can't know what would have happened, but it would have kept our offense off the field and our defense on it, two things we don't want. Our defense is not deep and could easily have been worn out. USC could have avoided all those three and outs that gave us a big lift in the second half. We would also have had worse field position, assuming U$C didn't score every time by making 4.2 YPC. We, like U$C, might have been placed in a position where we needed to change our defensive approach. So, yes, I can see how that could have defeated us.