One week ago, in our report card on the USC-Arizona State game, we wrote the following about Alex Grinch’s Trojan defense:
“Tackling was bad. Positioning was bad. Defensive line play was bad before the undermanned ASU offensive line finally wore down in the fourth quarter and USC feasted up front.
“USC’s defensive line was smacking around ASU’s offensive line in the fourth quarter, but that didn’t happen very much in the first three quarters. ASU running back Cam Skattebo made USC look foolish for most of the night. His touchdown which made the score 35-28 in the fourth quarter was a display of great effort, but also atrocious tackling.”
Did USC make big strides from the Arizona State game? No. The first half was decent but the second half undid a lot of the good work the Trojans performed before halftime. Playing well for 30 of 60 minutes just doesn’t fly, and it definitely won’t fly against Washington or Oregon.
Let’s go to the Colorado report card. Offensive superstars and one defensive player get top grades, but everyone else can’t get graded too highly: