Despite Sanctions, USC Continues to Improve as Undefeated Stanford Comes to Town

In a weekend that saw undefeated Wisconsin and Oklahoma lose, the team that caught my eye was the USC Trojans, who went into South Bend and dominated Notre Dame, 31-17.

Junior Quarterback Matt Barkley threw for 224 yards and 3 touchdowns, with star Sophomore WR Robert Woods catching 12 balls for 118 yards and two scores.  RB Curtis McNeal chipped in for 119 yards on the ground, as the much faster and more athletic Trojans racked up 443 yards in total offense.

USC improved to 6-1, with their only loss coming in Week Four at Arizona State, 43-22, when the Trojans had four turnovers and squandered momentum and a 22-21 lead late in the 3rd quarter.

For the season, Barkley has completed 68% of his passes for 2,006 yards, 19 scores and has only four interceptions.  Woods, who has become CFB's most dominant receiver, has caught 72 passes for 902 yards and eight scores.

More impressively, the SC offense that features several future NFL first round picks -- Barkley, Woods and LT Matt Kalil, etc. -- continues to improve each week as their interior offensive line grows and as young weapons such as WR Marquise Lee, TE Xavier Grimble and McNeal continue to gain confidence and game experience.

Throw in the veteran toughness of RB Marc Tyler and Five-Star freshman phenom George Farmer, and USC has as many or more future NFL offensive weapons as any team in CFB.  In fact, the recent decision to burn Farmer's redshirt has given SC another dynamic weapon with Olympic speed who can be used at RB, in the slot, at WR or in motion out of the backfield.

While the SC Defense does lack depth, they still start three future NFL defensive linemen and have a solid corp of young LB's and CB's, along with one of the top safeties in CFB in T.J. McDonald.

That said, it's the SC offense that will keep them in every game this season, and will make this week's home game vs Stanford one of the top offensive matchups of the 2011 season.

Stanford is of course led by the likely first pick of the 2012 NFL Draft, QB Andrew Luck, who has completed 72% of his passes for 1,888 yards and 20 scores.  Moreover, Luck carries the highest NFL grade of any college QB since John Elway came out of Stanford in 1983 -- higher than Troy Aikman in 1989 out of UCLA and Peyton Manning in 1998 out of Tennessee.

Stanford is averaging nearly 49 points a game, as Luck benefits from an outstanding running game, three future NFL tight ends, a solid offensive line and a standout WR in Chris Owusu.

While Stanford's defense is physical and can be opportunistic, Saturday's showdown in the Coliseum will be a classic matchup between two pro-style offenses that will feature more future NFL offensive draft choices than any other game this fall.

A Surprising First Place Showdown in Detroit

During the Preseason, few would've thought that a Week Six matchup between the Lions and the 49ers would have been the NFL marquee game of the week, but that's what happened Sunday in Detroit, as the 49ers handed the Lions their first loss of the season, 25-19, giving both squads an impressive and surprising 5-1 start.

The Lions early season success has been highlighted by the return to health and growth of young QB Matthew Stafford, who coming into Sunday had connected for nine scores with emerging superstar WR Calvin Johnson. Versatile RB Jahvid Best has also shown great burst on the ground and in the passing game to further buoy their offense.

The Lions opportunistic defense has been an even bigger surprise, led by NFL Defensive Player of the Year candidate, DT Ndamukong Suh, a deep defensive line and improved linebacker and secondary play.

However, on Sunday, the upstart 49ers stole the day, as RB Frank Gore rushed for 141 yards, giving first-year Head Coach Jim Harbaugh his 5th win.  Harbaugh, who quickly built unlikely Stanford into a national powerhouse and left a 2011 National Title contender behind, is authoring another incredible turnaround in San Francisco -- a turnaround built on the same formula he used with the Cardinal:  toughness, a power running game and an aggressive, attacking defense.

Harbaugh, who faced some criticism when he brought his two Stanford Coordinators -- Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio and Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman -- to San Francisco in the same roles, has so far proven doubters wrong.

Roman and Quarterbacks Coach Geep Chryst have helped transform former first round bust, QB Alex Smith, into more than a serviceable starter this season, as Smith is completing 66% of his passes and has a 104.1 QB rating.  The aforementioned Gore has been pivotal in the 49ers start, as well, rushing for 400 yards and three scores in 2011.  As mentioned, he was also huge yesterday vs the Lions.

The defense has also been incredibly stout, led by the solid play of veteran DL Justin Smith and the emergence of LB's NaVorro Bowman, Rookie Aldon Smith and Ahmad Brooks, along with improved secondary play and the consistent all-around game of Pro Bowl LB Patrick Willis.

In fact, Smith notched two more key sacks Sunday vs the Lions, bringing his season total to 5.5 and is looking more and more like a young DeMarcus Ware, while Brooks has always been an ultra-talented enigma who is finally putting it all together under Fangio.

Throw in the game breaking returns of WR Ted Ginn Jr, and Harbaugh has quickly molded this team into an NFC contender, which is quite remarkable when you consider that he's a first-year NFL head coach who did not have the usual benefit of a full training camp, minicamps or OTA's.     

Once again, Harbaugh, a coach's son, is leaving his own unique mark.

Breaking Down Ohio State's Shocking Collapse in Lincoln

For two and a half quarters on Saturday night in Lincoln, Ohio State appeared headed to a blowout win vs #14 Nebraska, as they had finally found an offensive identity behind the dazzling dual threat skills of Freshman Quarterback Braxton Miller and the downhill pounding of 240-pound Running Back Carlos Hyde.  The offense was further buoyed by the return from suspension of future first rounder, Left Tackle Mike Adams.

Then, Miller fumbled picking up a first down on the Ohio State 23 yard line with 7:54 to go in the 3rd quarter and the Buckeyes leading 27-6.  Nebraska quickly scored in two plays to draw within two scores at 27-13.  Miller injured his ankle in the ensuing drive and was replaced by Senior Joe Bauserman, and the collapse was on, as Nebraska ended up scoring 28 unanswered points in a stunning 34-27 comeback victory that featured several questionable moves by the Ohio State coaching staff, including:

* The offensive coaches seemed to panic without Miller at quarterback, over relying on the passing skills of Bauserman and going away from Hyde, who was not consistently stopped all night - 13 carries for 104 yards and two scores.  The offense needed a steady dose of Hyde behind the left side of TE Reid Fragel, LT Mike Adams and LG Andrew Norwell.

Instead, undersized RB Jordan Hall continued to run the ball without success between the tackles, and Bauserman went 1-10 for 13 yards and an interception.

* Senior RT J.B. Shugarts has been consistently beaten for three years by the inside move and by quick pass rushers off the edge -- evidenced by Arkansas in the 2011 Sugar Bowl and MSU last week, to name just two opponents -- and the Ohio State coaches still have not figured out that he doesn't have the feet to play tackle and is better suited at RG.  Throw in a one-per-game false start, and it should have been more than obvious to move Shugarts to RG and the aforementioned Norwell back to his natural RT position after this week's return of LT Mike Adams. 

* The Ohio State defensive backs continue to get caught peeking into the backfield, with Travis Howard the victim several times last week as well as last night when he and Christian Bryant were beat for a long 3rd quarter touchdown.  Unfortunately, no improvement in technique has been shown so far this season.

* Ohio State is the only team in CFB or the NFL that plays a 340-pound run stuffing future NFL 4-3 defensive tackle at defensive end, in Jonathan Hankins.  This same staff struggled for four seasons to realize that Cameron Heyward was a future NFL 3 or 5-technique and played him on the edge in the 4-3 in over 70% of his snaps at OSU.

With Nebraska essentially manufacturing their second half comeback through the two-man game of QB Taylor Martinez and overachieving RB Rex Burkhead, the Buckeyes made very few defensive adjustments.  One would have thought a natural move would have been to move the powerful Hankins inside for the remainder of the contest and shift talented Junior John Simon outside to Hankins LDE spot, or even add size by putting Hankins inside and replacing him with 290-pound Adam Bellamy or Freshman Michael Bennett.  While Hankins did finally rotate inside in the 2nd half, he still split snaps at DE, especially in the 3rd quarter.

However, much like last year's Wisconsin game, the defensive staff failed to adjust to the running attack of Nebraska.

* It was also curious why the Ohio State defense stayed in their standard 4-2-5 star package instead of adding size with an extra LB -- Ryan Shazier -- in their 4-3.  Martinez is a QB in name only, as he possesses pedestrian passing skills and is essentially an extra tailback for the Huskers.  Ohio State should have put eight or nine in the box in the second half against Martinez and forced him to beat them through the air.  Many of Nebraska's big 2nd half running plays came with only 7 Buckeyes in the box.

Ohio State's Offensive Meltdown Was Years in the Making

Ohio State's embarrassing 10-7 home loss to Michigan State on Saturday featured 178 yards of total offense and a near shutout, as Ohio State scored with 10 seconds remaining in the game.  In fact, Ohio State's scoreless first half was their first at home since 1982.  

Moreover, Ohio State's offensive line, which consists of four former 4-star recruits and a 5-star in Center Mike Brewster, was shredded for nine sacks.  Head Coach Luke Fickell even pulled promising Freshman starting QB Braxton Miller in the 4th quarter, just five days after proclaiming Miller to be "our Quarterback" and after affording Miller very few opportunities on Saturday to work out of the spread, shotgun or even throw the football on first or second down vs the Spartans.  Incredibly, very few designed quarterback runs were called, despite Miller's great quickness and open field skills, which were highlighted the previous week in his first start vs Colorado.

This complete offensive meltdown, unfortunately, doesn't fall totally at the feet of the overwhelmed first-year Head Coach or their embattled Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach Jim Bollman.  This debacle was actually years in the making due to the offensive control and the staff composition of former Head Coach Jim Tressel.  

During Tressel's ten year run at Ohio State, not one Assistant made over $309,000 annually, even though Tressel made $3,522,000 in 2010.  In fact, the three highest paid Big Ten Assistants in 2010 were Wisconsin's brilliant Offensive Coordinator Paul Chryst and Illinois Assistants Paul Petrino and Vic Koenig.  While many high profile schools like Florida, LSU, Texas, USC and Tennessee have made it common practice to pay their coordinators $500,000 or higher a season, Tressel never sought high profile coordinators.   

Rival Michigan even went out this offseason and lured Offensive Coordinator Al Borges into Ann Arbor along with former former Ravens Assistant Greg Mattison.  Mattison, Michigan's Defensive Coordinator, is being paid $750,000 in 2011 and will receive an additional $150,000 if Michigan wins this year's Big Ten Championship; Borges will make $350,000 in 2011.

However, Jim Tressel primarily chose or retained two types of assistants while he was at Ohio State:  friends or cronies who he had known and/or coached with for years who were not in demand, such as his brother Doc Tressel, Defensive Coordinator Jim Heacock and the aforementioned Bollman; and young coaches who had limited or no BCS Conference Coaching experience, such as Mel Tucker, Paul Haynes, Darrell Hazell, Luke Fickell, John Peterson, Tim Beckman and Nick Siciliano.  

Mark D'Antonio, Taver Johnson and Mark Snyder were exceptions to these categories, but for the most part, Tressel chose assistants who were not going to be in immediate demand from other schools.  What the program gained in continuity and stability, it lost in vision and creativity, as the staff seldom, if ever, challenged the controlling Tressel.  That was especially true on offense where Tressel was the real Offensive Coordinator, play caller and Quarterbacks Coach.  

When Tressel announced his resignation on May 30th, Athletic Director Gene Smith, a former football player himself at Notre Dame, should have known that Tressel's ten years of failing to attract the nation's top Assistants, especially on offense, would finally catch up to the program this season.  Through five games, we are all clearly seeing what Smith should have known and should have attempted to rectify long before Tressel's resignation in May.