What went wrong for Stanford in their loss to USC

To say that Stanford's Week 2 loss was disappointing would be an understatement.

The Cardinal quickly played themselves out of the game with turnovers on offense, and miscommunications on defense. In a game that was separated by two scores or more for a majority of the night, Stanford had ample opportunities to get themselves back in the game or even take the lead.

However, they just were unable to make the necessary plays at the right time on both sides of the ball. Let's take a look at what went wrong for the Cardinal in their 41-28 loss to No. 10 USC.

Untimely turnovers

It appears that even despite this Cardinal offense being flanked with veterans, they still struggle with the little things. Through their first two games, Stanford has accumulated eight turnovers, and that was the difference between them winning and losing against USC. While the scoreboard doesn't indicate it, Stanford had multiple chances in the first half that would have tied or even given them the lead.

The Cardinal gave an USC offense that will likely finish as one of the best in the country too many chances with the ball, as the Trojans scored 17 points off turnovers. The worst part about the turnovers, besides the fact they gave the ball away, is when they gave the ball away. After choosing to be aggressive and start the game off with a bang, the Cardinal gave the ball back right away and would find themselves down. The following possession, after getting within a couple yards of scoring McKee tossed an interception in the red zone following a questionable reversal of a previous touchdown. That wasn't the only turnover in the red zone as E.J. Smith fumbled at the one yard line on a play that would have cut the lead to one score. When you look at the stats, USC only outgunned Stanford by 60 yards, but they were able to capitalize more than the Cardinal were.

No answer for USC's offense in the first half

This is no revelation by any means, but USC's offense is unlike any other that Stanford will face again this season. With that said, the Cardinal defense did not seem ready for just how creative Lincoln Riley and company would get. The Trojans sprayed the ball all over the field, and there was clearly an emphasis on getting the ball to Jordan Addison who was consistently finding himself out in open space even against Stanford's best corner Kyu Blue Kelly.

While David Shaw didn't admit it while talking to the media post-game, it honestly seemed like it took Stanford too long to make adjustments. The defense looked completely different in the second half, holding USC to just six points compared to the 35 in the first half. If those adjustments are made sooner, Stanford may not be trailing by three touchdowns at half.

Vanilla play calling

This will come as no surprise to one who follows the program and is familiar with David Shaw, but Stanford essentially schemed themselves out of the game on offense. While they did mix up tempo and formations, they plays were roughly the same, they just started differently.

There were two plays that stood out in a good way, both of which were handoffs, one to a motioning Benjamin Yurosek and the other to Elijah Higgins. Those plays both stunned the Trojan defense, but they were the only plays that seemed to catch USC off guard all game. The rest of the plays depended on Stanford's execution, which simply was too inconsistent to count on. Both of McKee's interception came off plays that were not putting that offense in the bets situation. The first one forced McKee to sail the ball over a giant linebacker in between the corner and safety, while the second one that came in the red zone took away the rest of the end zone from the offense just to toss up a poorly thrown jump ball. The offense seemed to resort back to trying to run the ball a couple times then make McKee force into tight windows. With a defense that athletic, it just won't work.