A terrible 2012 football season. What was supposed to be a promising season, turned into an absolutely mediocre one. The vitriol is flying, everywhere.
As I said in an ESPN forum, I prefer an attacking defense than a prevent defense, and Monte Kiffin's Tampa-2 is like a prevent defense. (If you see two safeties 20 yards deep, simply throw under them, then you put the onus on the safeties to take the correct angle 100% of the time.) It's sort of silly to watch the middle linebacker vacating the middle, only to see a mobile quarterback in a spread offense run to that vacated area and gain a dozen yards. It's sad to watch the corners and linebackers running backwards before the ball is snapped, only to give up a pass or a run in front of them; you're not fooling anyone if you're running backwards, as the receivers and quarterback will adjust accordingly. Offense wasn't all that much better.
We saw what happens when the game flow is too fast for Lane Kiffin to second-guess decisions: USC scores 51 points on the Oregon Ducks. Give him too much time to think, and you get him calling a late time out to change the play on fourth-and-goal from 18" away, choosing to use his star running back (Redd) to pass block, while sending the blocking fullback (Vainuku) into the flat to pass catch; after the failed play, it wasn't difficult to lip read what a squatting Lane Kiffin said: "Dammit". His second-guessing is quite good as far as tactics go, if this were an NFL team with professional athletes. But we're talking student-athletes whose days are filled with classes, not practicing drills to hone their skill; you can't really expect two redshirt freshmen (Wittek and Vainuku) to play like they were college seniors, let alone NFL veterans. Hence, we saw Wittek deliver a low pass, and Vainuku unable to reach down and come up with the reception.
So changes are needed.
Head Coach: Since USC athletic director Pat Haden has already said that he will not replace Lane Kiffin, there is no reason to speculate over this. I think this is the right decision, because it's obvious that Lane can recruit. Some don't think he can coach, but the facts say otherwise: no losing season. Look at other veteran coaches with a long string of top-20 recruiting classes, and they've had losing seasons: Gene Chizik (5-19 in two years at Iowa State, 3-9 in 2012 at Auburn), Mack Brown (never had a winning season in three years at Tulane, was 2-20 in his first two years at North Carolina, 5-7 in 2010 at Texas), Mark Richt (6-7 in 2010 at Georgia).
Offensive Coordinator: Jeff Tedford. Kennedy Polamalu may have the title, but obviously Lane Kiffin is doing 100% of the offensive play calling. Since Polamalu has only been a positions coach, either Lane was prepping Polamalu to move into OC play-calling duties, or this was just a title that was used to pull him away from the NFL; the latter seems to be the case most people are making. Either Lane hands off the primary play-calling to Polamalu, or he finds a real OC to share the duties.
I like Jeff Tedford. Yes, he was fired by California after a string of disappointing seasons, but he can definitely coach offenses. And he was previously Lane's mentor while at Fresno State. It makes sense that, with their rapport, Tedford would be a perfect fit to help Lane grow as a head coach and shoulder the play-calling responsibilities.
While not out of the question, Gus Malzahn is a long-shot, but a talented offensive mind. Even if USC stuck to the pro-set west coast offense, at least Malzahn would push to implement a no-huddle, hurry-up offense, and that would keep defenses on their toes (and prevent Lane from second-guessing the play-calling). But Malzahn obviously has his eyes on staying at home and eventually getting the coveted Arkansas Razorbacks head-coaching job; prove himself at Arkansas State and he'll get his dream job which includes keeping his home in Springdale, AR, just 10 miles away from the Razorbacks' campus.
Defensive Coordinator: Scottie Hazelton or _____? Monte's got a lot of knowledge in his head, but his Tampa-2 implementation has not worked in his three years at USC. With the stars aligned, the 2008 team with Nick Holt as DC, was tops in the nation in scoring and passing efficiency defense, and number two in total defense. Even with Rocky Seto as DC in 2009, the Trojans fared better than in any season under Monte.
Promoting Scottie Hazelton means that you're going to stick with the basic 4-3 defense using Tampa-2. But it also means that you're trusting him to understand how to properly call the defenses against the spread (which he faced heavily at NDSU, and as witnessed by the Bisons' top-ranked defense across the board in 2011). Keep in mind, the biggest problem for the USC defense was up front with three new starters (Breslin, Uko and Williams), and a middle linebacker who, at times, seemed to pick the wrong side of the A-gap to cover. Maybe a defensive adjustment is all that is needed; I can't help but notice that Sarao got into a heavy rotation at middle linebacker.
If you want wholesale changes away from Tampa-2, you have to look outside of the box (pun intended). Find someone who runs a 2-gap 4-3 defense (Jack Del Rio, USC alumnus) or an attacking defense with a 3-4 alignment, like a protege of the Dick LeBeau or a Rex Ryan hybrid scheme protege.
The thing I like about these attacking defenses, is that regardless of who the runner is or if you're facing an option game, the front seven are right up near the line of scrimmage, forcing the offense to hurry up their decisions and your A-gaps are much better defended. When the quarterback and receivers don't know who's blitzing, then it's easier to catch the offense off-guard and make the wrong adjustment. We saw in the Fall camp just how good Scott Starr was; next year, after coming back from a medical redshirt in his freshman year, he should be spectacular. If they push Tre Madden back to linebacker, they'd have a full six-man rotation at linebacker, for a 3-4 scheme, all of them flying around against the spread. Against the power running game of Stanford, just replace the outside linebackers with defensive ends.
I'm in favor of unpredictable, attacking defenses, considering the speed and talent at USC.
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