Anaylsis by MARK SAXON
The Orange County Register
QUARTERBACKS
Grade: A-
The coaches might decide to plug senior John David Booty back in when he’s healthy, but it won’t be because Sanchez didn’t show his range of skills in this game. He made smart decisions, throwing the ball away when no one was open and making pinpoint throws through coverage. He also had a key 11-yard scramble, something Booty couldn’t have done. If not for five drops, he would have had a better completion percentage than his 55. The four touchdowns make up for that.
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RUNNING BACKS
Grade: B
The best thing that happened to this group was seeing flashes of Stafon Johnson, who carried eight times for 47 yards. While the Trojans still haven’t had a 100-yard rusher for three consecutive weeks, Joe McKnight showed the flash that continues to tease USC fans. He broke outside and outran Notre Dame (it’s not that hard) for a 51-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
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RECEIVERS
Grade: C+
The ho-hum season for a once-heralded group continues. Vidal Hazelton showed the most electricity a USC receiver has demonstrated all year with his 47-yard catch-and-run touchdown. But Patrick Turner and David Ausberry were invisible again. Fred Davis made a brilliant one-handed catch in the end zone.
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OFFENSIVE LINE
Grade: B+
With All-America left tackle Sam Baker on the sideline with a strained hamstring, Saturday could have been a disaster. But two things were in the Trojans’ favor: They were playing Notre Dame and Butch Lewis continued to show how good he will be once Baker leaves. Notre Dame had no sacks.
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DEFENSIVE LINE
Grade: B-
Ends Lawrence Jackson and Kyle Moore had quiet games, other than a ball Moore batted down. Sedrick Ellis had his usual high-energy, disruptive game, making one sack and assisting on another.
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LINEBACKERS
Grade: B+
Having Brian Cushing and Rey Maualuga on the field at the same time makes things difficult for an opposing offense. Both men are big and physical and disrupt plays. Maualuga had a season-high two sacks. Luthur Brown also played well filling in for Maualuga, making six tackles.
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SECONDARY
Grade: A-
Kevin Ellison and Cary Harris were all over the place, making big hits and limiting Notre Dame to dinks and dunks. The Fighting Irish threw the ball 33 times but netted just 117 yards passing. Ellison had an interception that helped preserve the shutout.
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SPECIAL TEAMS
Grade: C-
Allowing a blocked punt is a little embarrassing and could spell disaster in coming weeks when the opponent can capitalize on blunders. David Buehler made another short field goal. The returns were solid, if unspectacular. Joe McKnight fumbled another one, though he recovered it. Not exactly crisp in this department.
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COACHING
Grade: A-
It was nice to see offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian show some faith in Sanchez in his second career start. He opened up the offense and trusted him to make quality reads on deep patterns. Sanchez attempted 32 of his 38 passes in the first half, then the Trojans turned to the run as you would expect with a big lead.
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OVERALL PERFORMANCE
Grade: A-
The quality and depth of USC’s defense bought the offense another week to continue cleaning up its act, and it finally did. Whether it got sufficiently healthy to match the high-octane Oregon attack remains to be seen, but this was a total domination of a team that offered little resistance. It was by the numbers.
Your turn:
I feel that USC was OVER RATED at the beginning of the season, Booty will never be Matt L, I feel that the offsence is lacking because of the WIDE out. Catch the DAM ball and fall down if you do not want to be hit… I feel that the Oregon, Cal & UCLA will make or break this season…
It was sad to see Notre Dame play so poorly. However, I still remember all those years we couldn’t get a break. Thirteen. We’re more than half way there. Nine out twelve, that sounds good!