Defensively Speaking: Oregon State 2022
You just knew that a tough game was headed our way. Saturday’s slugfest was certainly all of that and then some. One dimension that surprised some Oregon State fans is how good our defense can be…not just our offense. The conventional wisdom (CW) is that our potent offense will offset our wobbly defense. Well, you can flip that script around…
This defense is +14 combined with no turnovers by our offense. Impressive, but I have to ask, with four interceptions, short field and sudden change yet we could only produce 17 points against Oregon State. Yikes, we’ll need more offense than that with some of our upcoming games and continue to recover our own fumbles. Imagine USC turning it over four times on Saturday. Can you envision us pulling out a win?
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But as it turned out the defense saved the offense and team despite usually incorrect conventional wisdom.
Since I played defense, I’m a rare one that loves good defense. On Saturday we saw two excellent defenses go at it for four quarters with a great outcome for us that will go down in the history books as a part of our storied USC tradition of winning in the fourth quarter.
What Worked:
- The entire defense refused to get pushed around like last year’s game in the Coliseum. Well done, guys, well done
- Our stunts (crossing our defenders to confuse the offensive line of Oregon State.
- Slanting the DLs gave us some effective penetration and improved pass rush. Including four interceptions and two tipped passes
- Secondary coverage was surprisingly good with mostly a zone look with two high safeties and tight zone press. Ok, so Oregon State stifled Caleb Williams. Our defense forced four interceptions. I’ll take that trade any time and win.
What Didn’t Work:
- Our tackling improved a lot, but we still have a ways to go. Eric Gentry got dragged into the endzone allowing an Oregon State rushing TD. Well, it happens and I for one am thrilled He’s on our team. Goal-line defense is rough duty with no margin for error. Gentry is a winner and a football player…stuff happens, get the next guy then.
- Pac-12 Network is an abomination to watch a USC game. To listen to them talk about our small D-line and snicker during pregame fired me up. Go ask Oregon State about our little guys who hammered State’s offense now. I’m so glad we’re going to the Big 10 and Orygun can get TV revenue scheduling Portland State and the like. I hope we get a chance to play Orygun this season and stomp on them…gutty little Trojans just might hurt them…badly.
