The Trojans move to 3-1 after a rough night in the desert.Click here to watch Lane Kiffin and Matt Barkley's press conferences.
Several stats underlined the stories of the game...
- Freshman starters: USC 5, ASU 0. The Trojans played like a young team on the road for the first time. "We had a lot of mistakes and issues there with guys that haven't played very much," Kiffin highlighted the freshmen as a group. LB Dion Bailey said his class will learn from the experience. "In a hostile environment, we've got to keep our poise," said Bailey, who had a team-leading 10 tackles and a sack. "We can't make mistakes and turn the ball over because it just fuels them and the crowd. You don't want to be playing against both the whole game."
- Turnovers: USC 4, ASU 0. Of course, the miscues were not limited to the neophytes. In fact, veterans Matt Barkley (two INTs and a fumble) and Marc Tyler accounted for all four turnovers. Most notably, Barkley was picked off by his opposite number Vontaze Burfict (photo by Arizona State athletics) in the red zone. "I assumed that he was going to be pressuring, but he slipped off and dropped into coverage," Barkley explained. "We didn't see that coming."
Red zone offense: 6 trips (2 TDs, 2 FGs and 2 turnovers). Several times, USC ceded the momentum by coming away with three points or no points deep in ASU territory. "You're not going to go on the road against a really good team and win the game with a bunch of field goals and red zone turnovers," Kiffin said.
- Penalties: 10 for 87 yards. T.J. McDonald was flagged for three 15-yard personal fouls, but the head coach wondered aloud how the junior safety is supposed to tackle without being physical. "I don't know how you coach out of the first two," said a frustrated Kiffin. "When a runner is running at you, isn't it his job to get out of the way?" The Sun Devils picked up four first downs on Trojan penalties.
- Brock Osweiler: 25 for 32 and sacked only once. The mountainous quarterback was roughed up by Illinois for six sacks in a loss last week, but he used a series of short passes to eliminate the Trojans defensive line. "So many balls were thrown either behind the line of scrimmage or within five yards of it," Kiffin complimented the adjustment made by ASU, but he lamented that his defense failed to contain the same horizontal pass over and over again. "It's a tough play to defend. You've got to make the first tackle and so many times we missed the first tackle."
- Marc Tyler: 22 carries for 149 yards. When the Trojans stormed back to take the lead in the third quarter, the power run game was in full effect. "We just regrouped at halftime and we knew we had to come out and be physical," Tyler said. Linebacker turned fullback Ross Cumming was inserted into the contest to crack some helmets. "He's a good blocker," Tyler praised. "I wish he was with us since last year."
- Kicking game: Andre Heidari made all three field goals and booted two touchbacks, while Kyle Negrete punted to a 47.5 yard average, including pinning the Sun Devils inside the five.
- Weather report: Forget the heat, the dominant weather story of the night was a wild dust storm, which created a tornado of stadium garbage in the first half. "I've never seen anything like that," Barkley said. "That was bizarre."
Gosh, Galippo is HORRIBLE. Air tackle after air tackle all night
Outside of the 4 turnovers, our freshman heavy team played as well as the ASU senior heavy team. Finally, Tyler runs with intensity and purpose. If you are going to get tackled make sure the defender feels it afterwards.
Refs called a very ASU friendy game. Larry Scott does not want to be embarrassed if SC wins the Pac-12 South, yet he wont let them play in the champ game, because we cant represent the Pac in a bowl game if we were to win the conf. So the refs, for this season, will not call a fair game. Proof? 3 personal fouls against TJ last night and at least 1 non call for ASU.
Thekatman
Larry Scott does not have an agenda against SC, that's just absurd. But do the refs? I would agree. Carroll always believed the refs were never fair against SC last decade
Ref's are against SC ...Has been an issue for years. Especially the lame pass interference calls.
Barkley was rattled all night by Burfict. I have questions?
1. Why was Barkley still in the game with 6 minutes left and the game over?
2. Why go for 2 points in 3rd quarter?
3. Why a lack of fundamentals still an issue, on offense and defense?
It's plausible.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees that the "officials" have been holding SC to a different set of rules than the other teams. It's been going on for a long time too.
One late play is instructive, ASU tackle lines up about 2 and half yards back and the D end lines up about yard and half off him so he's offsides, which is it, illegal formation or encroachment? You know what they called...
Last year S. Wright would get flagged for good hard hits, now it's TJ. That first flag was completely boggus, all shoulder pad, head up. A few plays later Amir gets speared on his first carry, nothing...
As far as pass plays, Trojans recievers are regularly mugged, but if our guys touch the others it's a flag. The worst is the holding on our D-line. Teams are putting up plenty of pass plays and our guys are getting tackled often with no holding calls.
Anyway, the young guys are playing really well, Marquis Lee is a BEAST!!
Geechi,
Regarding your question #2, that two point conversion attempt made sense, since it would have prevented ASU from tying the game with a field goal, assuming the defense could have prevented a touchdown.