5 Thoughts on USC's Win at ASU

1. You're Kidding Me, Right?: In the 24 hours following the game, hundreds of thousands of Trojans fans were yelling at the screen, "YOU'RE KIDDING ME, RIGHT? WHERE WAS ALL THIS GOOD STUFF EARLIER THIS YEAR???" I slightly exaggerate, but that's the essence of the Trojan fan mindset right now. Had they brought that excitement and push, they may not have lost two games this season at this point.
2. That Overturned Call: The PAC-12 replay crew got it wrong. They're only allowed to overturn a ruling based on clear video evidence, but the video showed the opposite. The ASU receiver pulling back the ball to try to bring it over the goal line, but when the ball hits the ground the ball lands a foot outside the goal line. The video evidence was contrary to what the replay officials apparently assumed. That's a huge stain on the PAC-12 for getting the reversal wrong. It was somewhat inconsequential, but it was a ridiculous circus of errors.
3. But Was it a Turnaround?: Let's be frank here, this may not be the turnaround flip we've been led to believe. Yes, they blew out ASU, but upon closer inspection, things were a little different than the score shows. The first USC TD came on a poor positioning by ASU safety Dasmond Tautalatasi. The second TD came during Tautalatasi's run blitz with the cornerback in man defense missing a tackle on Tyler Vaughns. On USC's third TD, Tautalatasi read the run but missed the tackle that would have held Jones to a 4-yard gain. On their fourth TD, Tautalatasi wasn't responsible for the reception but his illegal targeting hit was critical going forward. With his ejection, the safeties were playing slightly deeper (instead of 8-10 yards off the line they were 11-13 yards back), which then resulted in a change of plays to go with more runs and shorter passes. The good news is, they didn't slow down and the defense didn't let up, however, which was something of a problem in previous games.
4. No, it Wasn't Balanced: The final stats show 35 pass / 46 rush attempts, but that's not how the game started. Through the first four series, USC attempted 14 passes and 5 runs. They were deliberately using the pass to set up the running game. Because ASU gambled a lot on single-high safety to bring another defender in closer for run defense, when the Sun Devils missed a tackle or got blocked out, they gave Ronald Jones a wide-open field to make a series of long runs. Other times, they'd play shallow cover-2 but it ended up burning them when they got stuck behind the receiver. Helton's been calling it a balanced game since Saturday, but it really wasn't. It was a brilliant game plan to set up the run by getting the ball to their playmaking wide receivers in 1-on-1 coverage. Give credit where it's due, Tee Martin came up with a great plan and the players executed it exceptionally well.
5. Next Up, Arizona: This could be a difficult game, not necessarily because of Khalil Tate, but because Porter Gustin will not be playing in this game. Over the years Gustin's endured through his mistakes of getting caught out of position on the edge, losing containment. Each year, he's gotten better at maintaining the edge while getting in on the tackle. This season, he was golden, that is, until he got his toe injury and his pectoral tear. He missed five games and finally returned to play quite a bit against ASU, but his toe apparently will prevent him from playing against the Wildcats. Edge contain is critical against Tate (and generally against the Wildcats) and without Gustin, I'm a bit concerned that Arizona will be able to run at will against USC, which then sets up their passing game. If they mostly contain the edge, they should do fine on defense and blow out UA. As well as the Wildcats defense did against WSU, it came against the backup quarterback, not Luke Falk, which bodes well for Sam Darnold and USC's passing game.