USC football: A fan’s look back at the Arizona State game

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There are two ways to look at USC’s game against Arizona State on Saturday night at Tempe.

The Trojans won, 14-9, but looked lousy. They were terrible on offense, their defense again gave up a ton of yards and the special teams were weak.

Or...

The Trojans won.

Put me somewhere between those thoughts the day after, although during the game I was ready to revoke some scholarships and send some coaches packing.

Nine games into the season, it’s obvious that this is Pete Carroll’s second-worst team at USC, after the one that went 6-6 in 2001, his first season. Of course, since then, USC has won two national titles, seven Pac-10 titles, four Rose Bowls and two Orange Bowls, finished no lower than fourth in the final Associated Press poll and produced three Heisman Trophy winners.

So if the 2009 Trojans aren’t measuring up, it’s because the bar is out of sight.

I’m willing to bet a majority of teams in the nation would take a 7-2 record at this point. In the Pacific 10 Conference, USC’s overall record is matched only by Oregon. And after the Ducks’ implosion Saturday at Stanford, the Pac-10 race is still a race. Oregon looked like a national championship team in beating USC, 47-20, last week, but the Ducks gave up 51 points to the Cardinal.

Such is the nature of college football and maybe we all need to cut these kids a little slack.

That’s not to say the Trojans can’t play a lot better.

The offense accounted for one touchdown Saturday, after managing only a field goal in the second half at Oregon. Ten points in six quarters isn’t going to get it done.

True freshman quarterback Matt Barkley had his first true freshman-type game, completing only seven of 22 passes for 112 yards. USC’s offensive touchdown came on a short Barkley pass to Damian Williams that the Trojans’ best offensive player turned into a spectacular 75-yard score early in the third quarter.

When Williams later left the game with an ankle injury, the Trojans were severely restricted. His health the rest of the way is crucial. The same goes for tight end Anthony McCoy, who has missed the last two games because of a bad ankle. McCoy’s replacements, Rhett Ellison and Blake Ayles, are not at his level and it shows.

For the second week in a row, Ayles dropped a pass that would have gone for long yardage.

Since Stanley Havili was hurt against Notre Dame, the Trojans have stopped throwing to the fullback. D.J. Shoemate actually caught a pass for a first down against the Sun Devils, but a penalty wiped the play out. In the last three games Shoemate has zero carries and zero receptions.

Tailbacks Joe McKnight (78 yards in 15 carries) and Allen Bradford (67 yards, 14 carries) had solid games, but USC’s running game isn’t consistent enough to control a game.

The Trojans were two for 13 in third-down situations, continuing a disturbing trend that has lasted all season. USC had 55 plays on offense, 28 fewer than Arizona State.

USC is a long way from the team that scored 42 against Oregon State only two weeks ago.

With the offense doing nothing, it was up to the defense to get it done against the Sun Devils and the unit responded. After giving up 110 points in the last three games, the defense limited Arizona State to a field goal and a touchdown. The Sun Devils had 347 yards of offense, but USC shut them down when needed.

The Trojans had three interceptions, equaling their total from the first eight games.

Will Harris had two and returned the first one 55 yards for a score late in the first half to give USC a 7-3 lead.

Harris gets an A for his effort on the play, but an F for sportsmanship for strutting the final 10 yards into the end zone and drawing a penalty.

USC was forced to kick off from its 15 and while it didn’t help the Sun Devils score, it left me with a bad taste. Two plays before his interception, Harris applied a hard hit on receiver Chris McGaha, then let him know about it. Never mind that McGaha made a great reception for 13 yards.

I don’t mean to pick on Harris. I’m sure after last week’s fiasco in Oregon, the defensive players grew tired of hearing how bad they were. Harris was excited about his score (a game-changer for sure), but you can’t afford to take needless penalties.

Marcus Allen is one of my favorite Trojans of all time and not just because he won a Heisman. When Marcus scored, he handed the ball to an official. He did the same throughout a Hall of Fame career in the NFL.

So now the Trojans return home for the final three games of the regular season, after having played six of their last eight games on the road. USC will play anyone anywhere, but the schedule this season has been ridiculous.

USC gets Stanford next week, the only team to beat the Trojans in the Coliseum since 2001. That was the 24-23 shocker in 2007 when Stanford was a 41-point underdog.

The point spread won’t be anywhere near as absurd this time and you can argue Stanford is the better team right now.

Stanford is hot, but USC is nearly unbeatable at home. Another game, and at least two more ways to look at things.

— Hans Tesselaar