Offense Suffers a Drop-Off

Three fumbles were lost. Six passes were dropped. One of two interceptions was returned for a touchdown.

With nearly two weeks left until its season opener, USC has plenty of time to fix the offensive breakdowns it suffered in Saturday’s scrimmage on campus.

But if receivers continue to run the wrong routes and a certain tight end keeps dropping perfectly placed passes--as was the case Saturday--the Trojans may have difficulty putting up points on San Jose State, not to mention their own second-string defense.

“We made some plays, we dropped too many balls,” offensive coordinator Norm Chow said. “If we’re going to be precise and be the kind of offense we want to be, we can’t afford mistakes.”

Tight end Kori Dickerson, a converted linebacker, was responsible for the most blatant miscues, dropping three sure receptions. But plenty of others erred as well. Backup tight end Alex Holmes missed assignments and a host of receivers appeared confused running out of Chow’s three-, four-and five-receiver sets.

“We expect to be in the end zone every time, and we weren’t today,” quarterback Carson Palmer said. “It’s just little things we need to work on, little mental errors every once in a while..”

Palmer and tailback Sultan McCullough led the offense, as expected. Palmer, who had six passes dropped, completed 15 of 29 for 145 yards and McCullough had eight carries for 42 yards, including the only touchdown the offense could muster, on a seven-yard run.

Coaches and players insisted that some of the offense’s struggles were attributable to the defense.

“I keep telling these guys that we have an outstanding defense at USC,” Chow said. “If we can play against these guys, I would think we could play against most people in the league.”

The defensive line was especially impressive. End Lonnie Ford, who registered a sack and two other tackles for loss, intercepted a tipped Matt Leinart pass and ran 65 yards for a touchdown. Tackle Ryan Nielsen had a tackle for loss, a pass deflection and an interception. Special teams were also productive. Darrell Rideaux took a kickoff about eight yards deep in the end zone and raced down the sideline for a touchdown.

“Trust me,” Rideaux said afterward, “they haven’t seen speed like this in a long time.”

Mike MacGillivray averaged 47.7 yards in six punts. And kicker David Davis converted field goals of 20, 27 and 23 yards after pulling his first try, from 25 yards, wide left.

“David’s going to do a good job for us,” Coach Pete Carroll said. “I think the competition [with David Newbury] continues, but he is definitely in the lead right now. I think he’s going to give us a guy we really believe in and can trust.”

Newbury handled kickoff duties but did not attempt a field goal.

As for the offense, Palmer said there is no reason for concern.

“We still have another scrimmage, another week of double-days and then a couple [of] days after that we have some double-days too,” he said. “We have plenty of time to get better and plenty of time to keep working.”

Carroll said the mistakes “are very correctable. We see our guys catch the ball in practice very well, so it’s not a concern, it’s something we have to get right.

“If it continues, it’s a concern.”

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Doctors have determined that reserve Derek Graf’s cracked tibia will not require surgery. The junior guard could return in two months.