USC survives Minnesota, 19-17.

Matt Barkley will do all he can to will USC to win but what about the defense?!

What we learned:

· Matt Barkley is an accomplished Pac-12 passer, right behind Stanford’s Andrew Luck; if not in the top 5 of pocket passers in the nation.

· Barkley and sophomore wide receiver Robert Woods make a good tandem. Woods hauled in 17 catches (becoming the only wide receiver for USC to have 17 catches in a single game, breaking former player Johnnie Morton’s record of 15 catches) for 177 yards with three TD’s, and Barkley threw for 304 yards on the day, carving up Minnesota’s defense.

· The Men of Troy’s defense looks more stout and aggressive than the previous year; they still have to work on miss tackles.

· USC Sophomore Cornerback Torrin Harris needs to play the ball better in the air; he is usually caught not knowing where the ball is. He redeemed himself with a late interception to seal the game.

· Redshirt Freshman DJ Morgan made the best of his opportunity with senior running back Marc Tyler being suspended for the first game, showing speed, power, balance and vision. Morgan will have a bright future if he keeps up his production and true grit.

· Penalties made this game closer than what the score indicated, The Trojans could have put up more points if it wasn’t for costly penalties that put them in many third and long positions.

Going Forward: 

· USC’s offense is still a work in progress and is far from being refined. At times it looked methodical with the bubble screens to Woods. Barkley will have to spread the ball around to junior Brice Butler, true freshman Marquise Lee, true freshman George Farmer and Kyle Prater (if he can stay healthy). And there has to be a more balanced approach as far as run vs. the pass.

· The defense will be tested when they host Utah (Sept. 10), @Arizona State (Sept. 24), at home against Stanford (Oct. 29) and @Oregon (Nov. 19).

· The schedule does not led up for USC as they play back-to-back away games @Cal (Oct. 13) and @Notre Dame (Oct. 22) and then have a home game against the Cardinal. This will probably be the toughest stretch the Men of Troy will face all year and it will give the pundits and fans a barometer of progress from last season, especially on defense. It’s realistic to say that USC probably could match their win total of eight games from last season. It’s all about how the defense holds up.

· I’m eager to see how Defensive Coordinator Monte Kiffin deals with various the offensives run in college and how he deals with the spread-option attack which will a be equivalent to playing Russian roulette when they go to Autzen Stadium. If Kiffin is smart, his team will watch the LSU-Oregon game and break it down from every facet to see how LSU halted the express train AKA The Oregon Ducks. But stopping the Ducks, is it an issue of athleticism and discipline??

My Two Cents-Can USC beat Oregon?

Father and Son will look to execute a perfect gameplan to topple the Oregon Ducks

It can certainly happen because all the pressure will be on Oregon to stay highly ranked and get the opportunity to play for the national title in Glendale, Arizona. With the two-year bowl ban and thirty scholarships taken from the Trojans, this will be their defining game of the season. What better way to show the nation that they are capable of knocking off the No.1 team in the Coaches and AP Poll and No.2 in the BCS rankings.

The Men of Troy hope Monte Kiffin can dial up some inventive and easy to follow schemes that will help them thwart the explosive offense (No. 1 in the nation) of the Ducks. USC needs to look at last year’s Rose Bowl and study how Ohio State was able to shutdown that offense. With two weeks to prepare for this game, it will be downright embarrassing if the Trojans surrendered 50 points; there is still a bad taste in their mouths from last year’s drubbing, where Oregon hung 47 points on them.

If I was Lane Kiffin, I would establish the run with Marc Tyler and Allen Bradford. The less QB Darron Thomas is on the field, the less this team can score. Don’t engage in a shootout with this team, as they will win the battle. Special teams will be a factor too in this game: good kickoff /punt coverage and making field goals are a necessity. Touchdowns are needed to win against Oregon; kicking field goals won’t do it against this offensive juggernaut.

Everyone is eager to see how Monte’s Tampa 2 will fare against a spread offense team like the Ducks so this will be his opportunity; there is no letter grade for the defense come Saturday, it will be either Pass or Fail. Whatever the outcome, The Men of Troy will play inspired football as this is their glorified bowl game.  So expect to see the same USC team that was firing on all cylinders two weeks ago when they spanked Cal.