SIDELINE VIEW: USC Defeats Stanford in Convincing Fashion 56-10
Last season USC surprised a lot of folks with its 11-1 regular season and PAC-12 Championship Game berth, but this year expectations were extremely high. Making it to the 2023 conference championship game won’t be enough to satisfy Lincoln Riley, the USC players or the Trojan fanbase.
Although the USC offense scored a bunch of points in 2022 and was ranked among the best in college football, the offense has kicked it up a notch this season.
The Trojans, led by last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams, have scored at least 56 points in each of their first three games. It’s truly been a sight to see how prolific Riely’s offense has been so far this season. We expect bigger challenges ahead, but obviously USC can score points.
On Saturday night the USC offense had lit up the Cardinal defense for 49 points by halftime. Yes, the Trojans led 49-3 at the half and all of us on the East Coast were smiling. The defense did give up a late Touchdown, but Saturday night’s defensive performance was the best we’ve seen since the Oregon St. game a year ago.
USC vs Stanfords Highlights
Numbers of Note
The No. 6 USC Trojans posted another big win this past Saturday, beating the Stanford Cardinal 56-10. But those weren’t the only numbers of note to come from this one. Here’s a look at some of the ones that really stand out from the game Saturday night and through three games of the 2023 season for the Trojans.
0 – Combined sacks and quarterback hurries for Stanford
The USC offensive line was tremendous against Stanford. The Cardinal secondary is the clear weak spot on that defense, but the front has a few impact players, led by outside linebacker David Bailey. That group was a non-factor against the USC starters on Saturday. According to PFF data, the Cardinal recorded zero sacks, zero quarterback hurries and just four pressures. This comes a week after PFF graded Stanford with seven sacks, 23 hurries and 38 total pressures against Hawaii. USC will absolutely play better defenses this season, but that was a major step forward for the Trojans’ offensive line starters in completely controlling a defensive front and setting the tone early. Bailey finished with just three tackles and was a non-factor in the game.
3 – Quarterback hurries for Bear Alexander
Speaking of pressuring the quarterback, USC defensive lineman Bear Alexander finished with three quarterback hurries, four total pressures and a batted pass. The statistics aren’t eye-popping, with seven tackles and half a sack through three games. But the impact he’s had on this defense is one of the most obvious differences between last year and this year for that group. Alexander has already matched much of his 2022 production for Georgia and he’s done it in about 50 fewer snaps. The three quarterback hurries give him nine for the season. Comparatively, Tuli Tuiupulotu had three through three games in 2022. Tuipulotu went on a tear to end the season and finished the year with 37. But Alexander’s start has been incredibly impactful.
