USC football scouting report: Oregon Ducks offense and key matchups vs Trojans' defense

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USC football‘s game this Saturday against Oregon represents an unofficial elimination game. Win, and the Trojans will be in position to secure a College Football Playoff berth with a win against UCLA. Lose, and the USC will find itself in another bowl game that few fans care about.

It’s more important than ever that the Trojans have their scouting report airtight. Especially on an Oregon offense that is rather confounding.

Context behind the numbers

The Ducks have put up some impressive point totals this season. 59 points (vs Montana State), 69 points (vs Oklahoma State), 41 points (vs Oregon State), 56 points (vs Rutgers) and 42 points (vs Minnesota).

But the Ducks have also scored equal to or lower than the Trojans’ lowest point total of the season (21 points) 3 times: against Wisconsin (21 points), Indiana (20 points) and Iowa (18 points). The Ducks also put up lower point totals than the Trojans against USC and Oregon’s two mutual opponents, Iowa and Northwestern.

What is this Oregon offense really? One of the best in the country? An inconsistent group that only beats up on very weak defenses?

Let’s break it down, and explore what could be a good game plan for USC.

Dante Moore: good, but no Jayden Maiava

On paper, Dante Moore has had a really impressive season. His stat line is no joke. With 2,190 passing yards, 21 total touchdowns and 5 interceptions, he’s clearly a star of the Big Ten Conference.

But he’s not the best quarterback in the country, or even close to it. When you compare him to Jayden Maiava, you see Moore has weaknesses.

Moore has had 2 games with 300+ yards and 2 games with 4 touchdowns, but he also plays conservative games like Dylan Raiola sometimes where it’s clear that the Ducks coaching staff doesn’t quite fully trust him to be the focal point of the offense and let it rip.

Maiava has better stats than Moore

Maiava has better stats with 2,868 passing yards, 24 total touchdowns and 6 interceptions this season. The Ducks and Trojans have 2 mutual opponents: Northwestern and Iowa, and Jayden Maiava played better than Dante Moore against each of them.

So the stat line shows USC has a quarterback advantage. But, Jayden Maiava tends to struggle a lot more on the road than he does at home. So how can USC’s defense help limit Moore and expand USC’s QB advantage?

For one thing, they need to be aggressive getting pressure into the backfield. Moore’s two worst games statistically (Indiana, Wisconsin) are also the only two games he was sacked more than once. The Indiana game, when he was sacked 6 times, is the only game he has thrown multiple interceptions in as well.

They cannot repeat the same mistakes they made against Notre Dame when CJ Carr played awful and it didn’t matter because USC never stopped the run.

Secondly, they need to put him in obvious passing situations. USC can do this by selling out to stop the run, putting points on the board offensively, and forcing third-and-long situations. Moore is at his best when he can play freely. Maiava has struggled at times under pressure, but I’d still pick him in a pressure situation over Moore.

A deep, dangerous running back room

Oregon has 3 running backs with 400+ yards this season: Noah Whittington, Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill Jr. They average 6.3 yards per carry. Stopping the run is going to be a tough task for USC. But they must do it if they want to win.

Whittington gets the most carries, but Oregon divides the carries between the three backs very evenly. The Ducks also get Dante Moore’s legs involved and will go to fourth stringer Jayden Limar as well.

Whittington is undersized and not a great pass blocker but he has NFL-level, home run speed. If the Trojans give him even a little bit of a hole or the linebackers don’t fill in the gaps, Whittington will make them pay.

Davison is more of a power back. The Ducks will go to him in short yardage situations in the red zone; he leads the team in rushing touchdowns with 12.

Hill Jr. is the most balanced back of the group, possessing a combination of power and speed.

As for Moore, he has more rushing attempts and yards than Jayden Maiava this season, but he hasn’t been a threat in the red zone. While Maiava has 6 touchdown runs, Moore has 0.

One of the best tight ends in the country

Kenyon Sadiq is Oregon’s second leading receiver with 407 yards on the year and he also leads the team with 6 receiving touchdowns.

He’s speedy and explosive, which allows him to be such an elite pass catcher. But make no mistake, he is a dual threat at the position. He’s one of the strongest and most physical blockers in the entirety of college football. I mean, you only need to take one look at the guy to know he’s a monster.

Last season against No. 4 Penn State, the Trojans lost to the Nittany Lions mainly because they had no answer for tight end Tyler Warren. Warren had 17 catches for 224 yards and a touchdown.

I’m not expecting Warren numbers from Sadiq this Saturday, but figuring out how to lock him down should be a massive priority for the USC coaching staff this week, especially since the Trojans have such a young linebacker room.

Star wide receiver returning from injury?

Oregon senior wide receiver Evan Stewart has missed the entire season for the Ducks up to this point. But head coach Dan Lanning and the staff never ruled him out for the season; it seems like they’ve been trying to get him back.

Well, if Stewart is going to return, this is the game for him to do it, with Oregon’s College Football Playoff hopes on the line. He was Oregon’s third leading receiver last season with 613 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Even if Stewart is not back, the Trojans will have their hands full with Dakorien Moore. They will also be tasked with defending former Trojan Gary Bryant Jr.

Keys to victory

So with all of that in mind, here is the defensive game plan I would like to see the Trojans employ:

• Defer to the second half if you win the coin toss
  • trust the defense to set the tone + get an extra possession in your back pocket in case USC starts slow and ramps it up in the second half again
• Stack the box to stop the run + rush the quarterback
  • trust the improving secondary to make plays
• Make Dante Moore throw the ball under pressure
• Force Oregon to need to use Kenyon Sadiq in blocking more than passing situations
• Give Christian Pierce the green dot if Kamari Ramsey is out
  • Pierce earned it with a great performance against Iowa while wearing the green dot. Let Desman Stephens play freely without needing to think too much.
• Play Kennedy Urlacher over other reserve defensive backs
  • focus on stopping the run + trust Urlacher’s aggressiveness and physicality

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: How USC football defense should attack Oregon offense in Week 13

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