On Short Endof Yardstick

It has become a rite of fall around USC. Each football season, after three or four games, the ghosts of Ron Yary and Anthony Munoz rise to haunt the Trojans. The offensive line finds itself the object of scrutiny.

This season is no different. Check the numbers.

USC has the worst rushing offense in the Pacific 10 Conference, averaging only 83 yards, or less than half what Stanford and UCLA run for each game. The Trojans have 19 first downs on the ground and quarterback Carson Palmer has been sacked 11 times. Both of those are also worst in the conference.

After Saturday’s loss to Stanford--the Trojans rushing 24 times for 28 yards--Coach Pete Carroll summed it up.

“We’re not blocking very well at the point of attack,” he said. “We’re getting crushed up front.”

That isn’t so good at a school known as Tailback U. The question is, what happened to a program that had been churning out linemen since the days of Brice Taylor and Nate Barragar in the 1920s. The list ranges from Yary and Munoz to Brad Budde and Don Mosebar to Bruce Matthews and Tony Boselli.

USC had 10 All-American linemen in the 1980s, one in the 1990s. As for the current crop, theories abound. Start with the issue of pedigree.

From Jacob Rogers to Zach Wilson, the line is peppered with players who made prep All-American teams, players courted by other top programs. But opponents have often moved faster and hit harder.

“The offensive line hasn’t been what everybody thought it would be when they were recruited,” said a former assistant coach who still follows the team closely. “They’re big but the whole key is athleticism. When I look at the USC line, I don’t see a lot of athleticism.”

Aware of this reputation, the new coaching staff instituted a summer conditioning program seeking to make the line lighter and faster. Yet against Oregon, USC rushed 32 times for 40 yards. Palmer was sacked five times.

“You always expect to have a great season,” sophomore tackle Eric Torres said. “Maybe we need extra effort. Maybe it’s more concentration.”

To be fair, even the harshest critics rate the USC line’s talent at least average. They say other factors have contributed to the sub-par performance.

The starting lineup includes only one senior, guard Faaesea Mailo, and one junior, Wilson. At least three projected starters at Washington Saturday are redshirt sophomores or younger.

While a talented recruit might start right away, playing on the offensive line is deceptively complex and teams prefer to bring underclassmen along slowly. At USC, there was a gap in the recruiting process four or five years ago.

“They have a very young line,” Washington Coach Rick Neuheisel said. “I think they are just finding themselves. They are tinkering and just haven’t quite found the combination they are looking for.”

The players face an additional challenge learning a new system instituted by first-year coach Carroll and his offensive coordinator, Norm Chow.

Against Stanford last weekend, for example, Palmer called a draw play. One of his linemen got in a stance across from a defensive lineman who wasn’t expected to be there. Yet the USC lineman had it in his head that he was supposed to block a linebacker. Rather than adjust, he veered in that direction at the snap of the ball, leaving the opponent to waltz in on tailback Sultan McCullough.

These kinds of mistakes can make for frustrating afternoons watching game film.

“We work on it in practice,” sophomore center Lenny Vandermade said. “We’re just not executing.”

At least one rival Pac-10 coach wonders if the criticism leveled at Vandermade and his teammates should be directed elsewhere. He noted that USC’s spread offense features draws and other running plays from one-back sets. “That’s not the way to run the ball in this conference,” he said.

Much of USC’s practice time is devoted to passing from the spread. Said a former USC assistant: “I see a bunch of guys who are being taught to backpedal and pass protect instead of knocking the ... out of somebody.”

So what is the answer?

At his Tuesday news conference, Carroll did not want to single out the offensive line, saying there is plenty of blame to go around for the team’s 1-3 record. He hopes to decrease mental errors by scaling back the game plan for Washington. He wants his players to be sure they know what they are doing.

“We are seeing some very difficult schemes and advanced approaches from [opposing defenses] ... and we are not handling it as well as I thought we would,” he said. “We’re showing our inexperience.”

The coaching staff insists the current players work hard in practice and can improve with time. Teammates also have come to their defense. Palmer praises their efforts in the weight room. McCullough says he should be doing a better job of finding creases.

The linemen, meanwhile, know the standard against which they are measured. They have, for the most part, refused to hide behind the excuse of youth and inexperience.

Vandermade recalled that during summer training camp, Budde talked to him and his linemates.

“He told us that when the going gets tough we should stay together,” Vandermade recalled. “No matter what happens, stay together.”