Minnesota Game Impressions: 5 Ws and an H

Round Up:

USC defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers 32-21 in their second road game of the season.

The Trojan ground game led the way as senior Allen Bradford pounded the ball for 131 yards and a touchdown. Junior Marc Tyler also punched in a score on the ground.

Minnesota's running game was held to 83 total yards, a team-high 40 coming from freshman Donnell Kirkwood. The Gopher's lone rushing touchdown was scored by junior DeLeon Eskridge.

USC and Minnesota saw similar numbers from their quarterbacks. Both Matt Barkley and Adam Weber threw two touchdowns and two interceptions. Weber completed just 51% of his passes for 224 yards. Barkley was more efficient with a 65% completion rating but had less yards, 192.

Ronald Johnson once again led all Trojan receivers with 63 yards and a touchdown. The Gophers' MarQueis Gray had 98 yards receiving and one touchdown.

Freshman Robert Woods logged his first touchdown as a Trojan when he returned a kick 97 yards.

On defense, USC's Jawanza Starling and Chris Galippo and Minnesota's Kyle Theret and James Manuel each came away with an interception.

WHEN was the game decided:

It is tempting to single out Woods' electrifying kick return as the deciding moment of the game. But it was the following USC drive, when Bradford took over leading an 88 yard drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock.

Bradford rushed for 43 yards on the drive which ended with a 21 yard touchdown pass from Barkley to David Ausberry.

WHO stood out:

The aforementioned Bradford was the star of the game, forcing the coaching staff to turn to him in the second half after making the most of his few first half carries. He may not have won back the starting job from Marc Tyler, but he certainly made the case for a bigger role in the offense.

Woods also had his coming out party as a return man. His kick return gave the Trojans a much needed spark and clearly helped demoralize the increasingly confident Gophers.

The defensive line finally looked like the dominant unit the coaches and media observers said they could be. The Minnesota coaches stubbornly tried to pound the ball (more on that later), but the line consistently stuffed the run all day and prevented the Gopher offense from getting into rhythm.

The secondary continued to show much needed improvement. Week to week players like Nickell Robey and Jawanza Starling have seemed noticeably more comfortable in coverage.

Chris Galippo, the much maligned senior linebacker who lost his starting job to sophomore Devon Kennard, was a force to be reckoned with in the second half. He looked about as good as he has ever looked at USC.

WHERE do we need to improve:

Penalties are still a problem. To be fair, seven for 71 yards is a vast improvement from previous performances. But penalties remain a costly problem, killing too many drives and extending too many of the opponent's drives.

The defense is much improved already. However, they still have a long way to go. The pass coverage is too porous, especially on routes coming across the middle. Also, the pass rush is not as effective as it could and should be.

Matt Barkley overthrows/under throws receivers far too often and seems to lack proper touch on his mid range passes. After protecting the ball in the first two games, he threw two interceptions on two ill-advised and inaccurate throws. Consistency is the name of the game and Barkley lacks that right now.

WHAT did we learn:

A) The defense can tackle properly. Something appeared to click in the USC defenders this week and all of the sudden they started wrapping up. Amazing.

B) The running back competition is not decided yet. The seniors Allen Bradford and CJ Gable are not content to let the younger guys have all the glory just yet.

WHY will this game be remembered:

Allen Bradford put himself back on the map. Robert Woods established himself as a special teams threat.

Things that made you go HUH:

As wonderful as it was to see the defense once again step up their play, I have a bone to pick with the Minnesota coaching staff. In football you often have to balance playing your style and exploiting the opposing team's weakness. In regards to that balance, there is a fine line between patiently maintaining your game plan and stubbornly (and detrimentally) sticking to a plan that isn't working. I believed the Minnesota coaches crossed that line and more. Instead of putting the game in the capable hands of their senior quarterback against a suspect Trojan secondary, they forced the run. For USC it was a godsend. With the Gophers insisting on running up the middle over and over against a defensive line that was not giving any ground, the Trojans were able to shut down the Minnesota offense and give the USC offense time to pull away. But I can only imagine how this game would have looked had Minnesota truly tested the secondary.

Kickers Joe Houston and Jacob Harfman were both assigned the number ten for the game. Kiffin said that it was a strategic change that he doesn't want to give away...I have no idea what that means.

Next Week:

The Trojans travel to Pullman to face the Washington State Cougars. WSU is 1-2, their only win coming against Montana State. This week they lost to Southern Methodist 35-21.