FOOTBALL

How Balanced Is USC’s Offense?

Does USC rely too much on the pass?

USC gets 67 percent of its offense from passing. The only Pac-12 school that relies on the pass more is Washington State, which is at 84 percent.

This is probably what the Air Raid produces but Clay Helton and Graham Harrell have said they want a balanced offense. It probably doesn’t matter in the Pac-12.

But if you want to beat Ohio State or LSU or Alabama, it probably would matter. So for USC’s purposes, it might be irrelevant.

  • I’ve yet to see a word from KABC or USC why there was no two-hour pre-game show on Friday. KABC probably doesn’t know what happened and USC doesn’t care. This is what happens when USC simply goes for the lowest-common denominator radio station.
  • ESPN GameDay will be at the SMU-Memphis game instead of USC-Oregon on Saturday.

19 thoughts on “How Balanced Is USC’s Offense?”

  1. ESPN will regret their decision —-“maybe not today —but soon and for the rest of their lives.”
    btw, the only spread that counts (MGM Mirage) has USC as only four and half point underdogs, down from 7 one day ago……
    #VegasFearsHelton

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  2. Last week, there were 19 rushes and 45 pass attempts. I can imagine that the injuries to Stepp, VM, and Carr contributed to this, but the imbalance has been there all season.

    Spread offense doesn’t have to be so imbalanced. Urban Meyer used a version of the spread with Tebow at Florida and used the run much more that SC is now.

    Lincoln Riley uses a version of the spread at OU, and is averaging about 350 passing yards, 250 rushing yards per game.

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      1. Not KU – they lost to K-State.

        The same team that crushed the bruins – and I mean crushed – in the last bowl game the bruins ever played.

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      2. Kansas State after Bill Snyder retired, hired Chris Klieman who while at No. Dakota State won 4 BCS national championships. The man is defensive minded and knows the game, they lost 2 games so far to Okie State and Baylor. K-State this year is a formidable challenge to the rest of the BIG12
        as shown by their win over Texas last weekend, this week they face off against Les Miles @Kansas.

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  3. Clay Helton is Steve Sarkisian. So trying to get either one of those two BoZo to run the ball, is like forcing a 5 year old to eat broccoli. Sarkisians knows Nick Saban will embarrass him on the sidelines if he doesn’t .

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      1. Yeah, ha! It’s like that YouTube commercial where the girl in the black lipstick says “all my best ideas come when I’m sleeping…”
        #…..AnotherRelativeStatement….

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  4. “But if you want to beat Ohio State or LSU or Alabama?”

    I would say that under the current circumstances, beating these teams is a pipe dream of biblical proportions. I would add that as long as GH is the OC, USC will never beat such teams. Like CH, he’s a nice guy whose in way over his head against top tier competition. Let’s stick to our knitting and try to beat UO this week and ASU ON THE ROAD the next. We’re getting way ahead of ourselves here . . .

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    1. Yeah, Oregon will do for now. Actually, Oregon will more than do. We’d need to trade up coach-wise to even think about beating Alabama.
      #TellMeFoltIsn’tToyingWithIdeaOfHeltonVsSabanAgain?
      #DidSheEverSee”TheDayOfTheLocust”?

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      1. Did any of the voters who put Oregon and Utah in the top 10 actually watch any of their games? Or maybe it is just a crappy year in college football, with just a handful of decent teams?

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  5. The offense shouldn’t be about balance in the sense Helton is talking about.

    Mike Leach talks about his Air Raid as “taking what the offense gives you.” If you can pass in a scenario, you pass. If there is a run play that can take advantage of a vulnerability on defense then you run the ball.

    You don’t aim for balance for balance’s sake. By saying this, this tells me that Helton is simply running plays without giving any thought to what is best for the moment/situation.

    #BalanceIsBeingAbleToExecuteARunOrPassPlayWhenNeedBe-NotJustToEvenOutTheStatistics

    #AnotherMarkWhyHeltonIsAFool

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  6. Balanced meh, our offense is balanced. We have a true freshman quarterback handing the ball to a true freshman running back. Each was a backup at the beginning of the season how much more balanced can we get?

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  7. Very true FB expert ’67, but nothing like the bozos, who were pulverized 52 – 6 and zero TD’s, on national television @ Jerry’s Tixas Stadium.

    #theclownstershockedtheworldwithshittyFB

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    1. Just puke,
      Just like Thug U aka ruinville getting steamrolled 50-0 when the ruins wore their white surrender uniform, moron.

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