Will USC Increase Run Game Against UCLA?
USC came out dominant on Sunday against Washington State defeating the Cougars 38-13. Slovis looked alive and the wide receiver core was on fire. Overall, the Trojans finished the night with 282 passing yards and 282 receiving yards, Amon-Ra St. Brown led the Trojans offense scoring four touchdowns (7 receptions for 65 yards).
The running back group saw a lack of production with only 16 carries on the night, 5 rushing yards and 25 total yards. Washington State's defense tried to stop USC's run game giving cover-one and cover-three defense to contain USC's backs.
"If you line up and cover-1 and cover-3 every snap, you're probably going to get a lot of throws from us. That happened a lot especially in the first half, more in the second half than I thought." (Helton)
USC started the season strong averaging around 175 rushing yards per game. But as week three came around, the Trojans started to show a decrease in production.
Granted, USC was without some key members of their offensive line due to COVID-19. Starters, Andrew Vorhees, Liam Jimmons and Justin Dedich, were all absent from the field, which created some holes and areas of vulnerability for USCs offense. But Clay Helton mentioned that he still wants to "do better".
“It's something that we always want to improve on. I think it's a mark of a good offense, to be able to run the ball when needed. Not to say that we're going to force the run. We're going to take what the defense gives us, but we could do better in that game" (Helton)
To add, leading up to the season opener against Arizona State, offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said, "if you can run the football that is when you can win the most games" (Harrell).
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Winning games isn't necessarily the problem, as USC is 4-0 going into their final game of the season. However, if you look at the top teams in college football who are CFB Playoff top four contenders, running the ball at full speed is a priority.
Taking a look at some stats from 2019, Alabama finished the season with 2,191 rushing yards, Ohio State (3,735), Notre Dame (3,278), Clemson (3,606). In contrast, USC finished the 2019 season with 1,537 rushing yards. If USC is able to find consistency, stabilizing a solid run and pass balance, their offense could be even more weaponizing with the talent on their roster.
So will USC try and implement more of a run game against UCLA on Saturday? According to Clay Helton, "[we] will get to work on it this week and hopefully it's better than it was last week." (Helton)
To date USC has 1,252 passing yards, 446 rushing yards, and 1,252 receiving yards on the season.
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