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.

This Year's National Title Should Once Again Run Through The SEC

An SEC team has won the BCS National Championship the last five football seasons, and this year should be no different.  While Alabama continues to improve each week as their young Quarterback AJ McCarron matures, LSU is looking like the most dominant team in College Football in all three phases of the game.

LSU dismantled 16th ranked West Virginia, 47-21, in Morgantown, boasting a ferocious NFL-style defense which features many playmakers, including two future NFL first day defensive ends -- sophomores Sam Montgomery and Barkevious Mingo, who are athletic freaks with the ability to crash upfield on every down.  They also run and chase and create havoc from the backside on both running and passing downs.  The Tigers are two-deep at defensive end and defensive tackle, featuring as many as 7-8 future NFL defensive linemen.  

The defense also has an athletic linebacker corp and the best cornerback tandem in CFB, in future NFL corners Morris Claiborne and Tyrann Mathieu.  I featured Mathieu after the Oregon game, and he continues to make big plays -- intercepting a pass, recording 6 tackles, forcing a fumble, breaking up a pass and downing a punt at the one-yard line vs West Virginia.  His play vs the Mountaineers earned Mathieu the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week honors -- the week after Claiborne won the award for his play vs Mississippi State.  The defense also has Senior safety Brandon Taylor, who has good range, ball skills and solid instinct for the position.  He also picked off a pass vs WVU.

What makes this LSU defense so smothering is their speed, toughness and depth, which allows them to utilize a number of looks and schemes.  They also have the athletes in the secondary and on the defensive line to play a lot of press and man coverage.  It's a unit that starts four sophomores and one true freshman, so as scary as it may seem, they should only get better as the season progresses.

However, as dominant as LSU's defense has been so far in 2011, the one thing that may separate this LSU team from other Tigers teams of the recent past, is their offense.  Senior QB Jarrett Lee continues to improve each week, becoming more of a playmaker and not simply the game manager we saw in spot duty over his first three seasons in Baton Rouge.  Though the offense welcomed back dynamic playmaker Russell Shepherd Saturday night, Lee has found a few new weapons while waiting for Shepherd's return, including the dynamic running back duo of Sophomores Spencer Ware and Michael Ford, along with TE Deangelo Peterson and Freshman speedster, WR Odell Beckham.  Junior WR Reuben Randle has improved his consistency and has given Lee a tall, angular presence and a go-to receiver.  The offensive line has also been solid and physical.  The offense, like the defense, is young, starting seven underclassmen.

So far, LSU team is the one dominant team in CFB and should only improve as November 5th and a trip to Tuscaloosa looms.

Some Quick Thoughts Before Football Saturday

Ohio State's embarrassing performance last Saturday vs Miami (FL) had more to do with what happened in the spring and more importantly during their preseason camp than with what happened in South Florida.  Coach Luke Fickell's decision to go with 25-year-old Senior Joe Bauserman as the starter out of preseason camp was the ultimate head scratcher, since Bauserman had the four prior seasons to show the Ohio State Staff that he lacked the physical skills to make a big play and win a game as their quarterback.  

WIth an offense devoid of playmakers after the departure of QB Terrelle Pryor and the suspensions of RB Boom Herron and WR Devier Posey, the Bucks needed the potential of Miller's arm and feet from day one.  The decision at the end of the spring to not elevate Miller over Bauserman led to the Staff splitting reps between the two in preseason camp, when Miller should have have received the vast majority of first team reps.  The real competition should have been between Bauserman, Kenny Guiton and Taylor Graham for the backup position behind Miller.  This egregious error cost Miller numerous invaluable reps in preseason camp -- reps that would have made a difference in Miami.  Moreover, many close to the program felt that, had Jim Tressel remained Head Coach, he had already decided to go with Miller over Bauserman in the opener.

The season ending injury to Stanford Junior LB Shayne Skov is a devastating blow for the Cardinal.  The 6-foot-3, 251-pound Junior led their defense last season with 84 tackles and 7 1/2 sacks.  More importantly, he called their signals and was their emotional and physical leader, often swarming to the ball and delivering big hits like he did in last year's Orange Bowl Game vs Virginia Tech.  He also provided a pass rush boost to a defense that was replacing two of their three defensive linemen.  With an offense led by QB Andrew Luck and several other outstanding playmakers, the real question coming into 2011 was whether their defense could slow down teams like Oregon, USC and Notre Dame.  Now, that question becomes even more compelling.

Boise State Senior RB Doug Martin is one of top three running backs in College Football, if not the best.  The 5-foot-9, 215-pound Martin, has great hands, acceleration and toughness, consistently showing the ability to move the chains, while also being a key cog in QB Kellen Moore's passing attack.  

He is one of CFB's top players and would be a serious Heisman candidate if he did not play at Boise State and in the shadow of Moore.  Martin rushed for 1,260 yards (6.3 avg.) and 12 scores in 2010, while also catching 28 balls for 338 yards and two touchdowns.  Last week vs a tough, blue collar Toledo defense, Martin picked up a physical 70 yards on the ground, while chipping in with 5 catches for 122 yards, including a key 71-yard grab in the first half.  Martin will have a long NFL career as a versatile true 3-down player in the mold of Chiefs RB Thomas Jones, and gives Boise one of CFB's most dynamic, yet underrated, weapons.

A Glance Around The Big Ten

Those who watched the Ohio State vs Toledo game on Saturday saw a very sloppy performance by a Buckeye team who, in fairness, were without seven suspended players, including five starters, and injured DE Nathan WIlliams.  That said, the Buckeyes punted six times, had a punt blocked and missed a field goal.  The Offensive Line had trouble anchoring effectively or getting much of a push, and LB's Storm Klein and Andrew Sweat missed several open field tackles.  The Safeties also played slow, took some bad angles and were often out of place.

Toledo Head Coach Tim Beckman is very familiar with Jim Tressel's offense and Jim Heacock's defense from his two years -- 2006-06 -- on Tressel's staff, and it showed as Toledo only ran 4-5 plays the whole game but was successful in executing them, led by speedy WR Eric Page, who burnt the Buckeyes on numerous bubble screens and short passes

On the other hand, the peculiar handling of the QB rotation, or lack thereof, by Ohio State Head Coach Luke Fickell was a definite head scratcher, especially after Fickell had stated that both 25-year-old Senior Joe Bauserman and Freshman Braxton Miller would play vs Toledo, as each QB had been bracketed with an "or" as the starters on the depth chart the last two weeks.  Both Bauserman and Miller performed well vs Akron, with Miller completing 8 of 12 passes for 130 yards and 1 score; he also had two passes dropped and was active running the ball.  

However, on Saturday, Bauserman struggled mightily after a smooth opening touchdown drive.  In fact, the Buckeyes went four straight possessions in the first half without points, but for some reason the talented Miller never entered the game.  Bauserman was indecisive in the pocket, was holding the ball too long at times and missed several open receivers.  Miller, of course, adds the extra element of tremendous quickness and pocket awareness that seemingly would have taken some pressure off an offensive line that was not having its finest day in pass protection.  

Bauserman's second half struggles continued, as he rarely looked beyond 10 yards downfield in his progressions and was settling for a lot of safe dump offs and underneath routes.  He finished the day 16-30 for 189 yards and a score.  Miller, who last week was called "one of the best athletes in College Football" by ESPN Analyst Urban Meyer, never saw the field, and the Buckeyes dodged a bullet, 27-22, in game where they were outplayed by a scrappier Toledo squad.  

With starting LT Mike Adams still suspended for the next three games along with WR Devier Posey and RB Boom Herron, the Ohio State offense is short of playmakers, and one would think that they could use another weapon like Miller, especially with Miami (FL), Colorado and Michigan State upcoming.  Bauserman is an ideal backup and game manager, but he is not going to be a difference maker at the game's most important position.  If the Buckeyes had an elite defense, a dominant running game and a solid kicking game, then Bauserman could indeed manage the offense.  

That said, the immediate future of Ohio State football, as well as Luke Fickell's, rest with the arm and development of Braxton Miller.  In fact, the best chance of Fickell becoming the Head Man in 2012 and beyond is with the development and success of Miller during Fickell's one-year job interview  -- an interview which has 10-12 weeks remaining.  Whether Fickell's decision was based on the concern of potentially dividing the locker room between upper and lowerclassmen as was rumored to have in happened in 2008 when Terrelle Pryor replaced the 2007 starter and All-Big Ten Senior QB Todd Boeckman, a bizarre oversight, or a belief that somehow a commitment to Bauserman as the starter in Week 2 gives the Buckeyes the best chance for success this season, it was the wrong decision and message to send this young team -- a decision that could retard the offense's development and hurt morale.  

Miller needs to showcase his immense playmaking skills if the Buckeyes are going to defeat an angry Miami (FL) team on Saturday and compete for another BCS birth.

If you like offense and turnovers, then the Michigan/Notre Dame game was a great way to end your Saturday night.  Notre Dame dominated Michigan's porous defense for much of the game, amassing over 500 yards while holding the ball for 37 minutes.  In fact, Notre Dame WR Michael Floyd was a man amongst boys, catching 13 balls for 159 yards -- almost at will.  However, ND had four huge turnovers, with two coming in the red zone and another in Michigan territory. 

Then, after Michigan QB Denard Robinson struggled for much of the first three quarters in Offensive Coordinator Al Borges' new system, Borges took some off the structure out of his attack and turned the offense over to the playmaking Robinson, who made some big plays on the ground and benefitted from Notre Dame DB's, who showed some of the worst ball skills in recent memory down the stretch.  

While it was a nice win for the Michigan program, it was gift wrapped by an ND offense who has now committed ten turnovers in two games.  

Overall, it was a  pretty rough weekend for the Big Ten:  Penn State still doesn't have the playmakers on offense or the team speed to play with a quality SEC team like Alabama.  Purdue lost on the road to Rice, and Minnesota lost at home to New Mexico State.  The real shocker, though, was in Ames where Iowa State upset in-state rival Iowa 44-41 in triple overtime.  While one could figure that Iowa State would have kept it close in a rivalry game, the loss is a disappointing start for a young, but talented, Iowa squad.  Nebraska also needed a late kickoff return at home to hold off an athletic Fresno State team.

On a positive note, Russell Wilson continues to look like a great fit and a playmaker for the Badgers, who blanked Oregon State 35-0 and were more stout in their Front 7 on defense than in Week 1 vs UNLV.  While Ohio State still has the most NFL talent in the Conference, Wisconsin is showing early on that they are once again the team to beat in the Big Ten.