USC craving more consistency from erratic offense
LOS ANGELES — Southern California coach Clay Helton wants a balanced offense.
But the Trojans need to do more than establish equilibrium between the run and pass, as inconsistency in generating scoring drives is also a problem headed into their crucial Pac-12 South showdown at Utah on Saturday night.
In a 31-20 win over Colorado, USC (4-2, 2-1 Pac12) relied on a dominant passing attack in the second quarter, with freshman quarterback JT Daniels completing 10 of 16 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns. USC gained 71 yards passing and 63 yards rushing during the other three quarters, averaging a meager 3.35 yards per play.
"On the touchdown-scoring drives we got out of our own way. Later on in the game, whether it was holding penalties, infractions, a negative play on first down in the run game, those were the plays that ended up making third downs really, really hard," offensive coordinator Tee Martin said. "We just got to get out of our own way and stop the drive-killing plays, whether it is on first or second down that gets us to where we're punting the ball instead of sustaining drives."
Those struggles are reflected in the distribution of when USC scores this season, as nine of 24 quarters have seen the defending Pac-12 champions produce two or more possessions that end in points. USC has also had nine scoreless quarters, with seven coming in road games at Stanford, No. 7 Texas and Arizona.
The latter total seems likely to increase against Utah (4-2, 2-2), which boasts the top defense in the Pac-12 in points allowed per game (16), yards per play allowed (4.4), and yards rushing per carry allowed (2.4).
However, Daniels seemed comfortable with the idea of a one-dimensional offense and cited the second quarter as a template for what USC is capable of.