Not Bad, But…
Published 9:00 pm Friday, October 6, 2006
Score-wise, the first half has been pretty good for Washington, which goes into the locker room down by just a touchdown.
But realistically, the Huskies are being pretty well outplayed if you look at some of the pertinant numbers, in particular time of possession. USC has held the ball for five minutes more than Washington, and it seems like even more. The biggest thing plaguing the Huskies right now is that they just can’t get off the field. It seems like every time USC needs to pick up a first down, it picks one up. The Trojans are running the ball right up the middle, and every screen pass by USC is going for at least 5 yards.
Both teams have been good on third down, with USC going 5-for-9 and Washington going 5-for-7. But the Trojans are also 3-for-3 on fourth downs, which has really hurt.
John David Booty is 15-for-23 for 124 yards, and it seems like most of the success has come on short passes. Patrick Turner has eight catches for 73 yards. Dwayne Jarrett hasn’t done anything yet. The Trojans are averaging 5.5 yards per-carry, most of it coming from Chauncey Washington.
Isaiah Stanback is 7-for-16 for 99 yards. The biggest plus is he hasn’t been intercepted. Kenny James is averaging 8.2 yards a carry but has only six carries.
What’s going to be really interesting to watch is if the long drives by USC in the first half wear down the Husky defense. And will Washington make some adjustments to defend the quick passes by USC or will it continue to give up the short pass to prevent getting beat deep? And will the Huskies go to the run anymore?
Dashon Goldson is playing pretty well for the Huskies, by far the most active he’s been all season.
Also, through the magic of binoculars, I’ve been able to confirm that The Fonz is indeed on the USC sideline. No sign of Snoop Dogg. The band did a tribute to the music of summer movies at halftime, and it was kind of lame. They broke out a really terrible looking snake for Snakes on a Plane. In the land of movie magic, they can’t do better than that? Come on USC!
