Joel Klatt questions if USC is putting too much on Caleb Williams

USC has lost its last two games, turning its season into a tailspin as its College Football Playoff chances dropped like the temperature and Caleb Williams‘ Heisman Trophy odds smashed to smithereens.

The pressure and blame has been placed mainly on Lincoln Riley and defensive coordinator Alex Grinch with Williams also taking some heat as he has played two of the worst games of his career the past two weeks.

But Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt thinks the issue with Williams has been more about the team not putting him and the team in a position to succeed.

“From USC’s standpoint, you look at this game and I just don’t think that USC went down giving their best pitch. I talk about out pitches. This team has lost two games in a row, and everyone’s going to point at Caleb, offense, is the defense good enough. And I understand that because those are the overarching narratives that have been built,” Klatt said on a recent episode of The Joel Klatt Show.

“When I look at Lincoln Riley’s teams — and this has been true going all the way back to Oklahoma — they’re at their best when they’re running the ball effectively and really well and often. You see it’s not a pass-first offense, and really never has been. When they were at their best at Oklahoma, they were very balanced to the tune of running the football for over 250, 275, sometimes even 300 yards per game. They could run the rock. Early in this game against Utah, they were able to do that with MarShawn Lloyd. MarShawn Lloyd is part of their out pitch. It’s not just Caleb.”

MarShawn Lloyd has not been a carry-heavy running back at any point during the season, averaging just 8.2 carries per game. But in the three games prior to USC’s first loss of the year — a loss to Notre Dame — he had carried the ball 42 times for 324 yards.

In the defeats to the Fighting Irish and Utah, he had 15 carries for 132. That’s an average of 8.8 yards per carry.

“You see when they lean too much into just Caleb being Caleb, what it ends up being is school-yard because they don’t have the wide receivers that get open down the field on time so Caleb ends up having to hold the ball, back up, create space and then throw it scramble rules,” Klatt said. “Their wide receivers aren’t creating enough space and in part because they don’t put defenders at the second and third level in conflict with play-action pass. This is what was so good at Oklahoma is the fact that when they ran the ball that often and that effective, they were able to put defenders in conflict. When those defenders were in conflict, they got more open receivers down the field. Caleb doesn’t have open receivers down the field because a lot of this is drop back pass. The threat of the run is not there because they abandon the run too soon.”

Williams was 23 of 37 for 199 yards and three interceptions in the loss to Notre Dame two weekend ago. He bounced back somewhat this past weekend against the Utes with 256 passing yards. But for the first time in his USC career, he failed to throw a touchdown pass.

He was also sacked four times.

Meanwhile, the Trojans ran the ball only 23 times with 10 of those runs coming from Williams.

“MarShawn Lloyd early in the game in the first two series, he got basically like four or five carries, they go down the field,” Klatt said. “One of them is the first carry of the game, rips off a touchdown run. Then he’s getting the ball a couple of more times, they go right down the field. They score on their opening two series and he’s getting the ball. Then it totally dries up. He basically gets one carry in the second half. It’s a fumble, and then it’s like he goes in the doghouse and he’s done. He doesn’t have fumble problems. This is only his second fumble of the season. He had a fumble against Arizona State and then a fumble here and he didn’t get the ball again.”

The Trojans have a good opportunity to right the ship this weekend against Cal but then it will hit arguably the toughest part of its schedule in November with games versus Washington, at Oregon and versus UCLA to end the year.

Lloyd needs to be more of a factor for USC to end the season how it wants.

“MarShawn Lloyd is part of their best pitch,” Klatt said. “He’s part of their out pitch. He’s part of the out pitch based on what the offense is designed to do. And so I just don’t understand why he’s not getting the ball more. Under 10 carriers against Notre Dame. Under 10 carries against Utah. I’m not under any illusion that against Utah, a team that you can feel from the 87th row, that you’re going to give the ball to MarShawn Lloyd 20 times. That’s not what I’m suggesting. But you do have to have the threat of that. When you have the threat of that, then you can put some of those defenders in conflict. If they have to react to what you’re doing, then you’re in the driver’s seat. That’s what I sense when I’m watching this game, when I’m seeing what USC is doing, I think too much is being put onto Caleb Williams’ shoulders.”