- Today, Stanford's offense was in full focus as the Cardinal possess a balanced attack with four players making All-Pac-12 First Team, but second team QB Kevin Hogan has drawn most of Clay Helton's attention. "I've been extremely impressed after watching about four days of film on Kevin Hogan on the progress he's made as a quarterback," said the USC head coach. "He's become one that is definitely going to play on Sunday. His efficiency this year has been incredible."
- Hogan's favorite targets against the Trojans in September were not his receivers, but All-Pac-12 TE Austin Hooper and Heisman candidate RB Christian McCaffrey. "They're big bodies. Hooper is a big man. McCaffrey is a hard man to guard out of the backfield," said Helton about Stanford's pass-catching corps. "We've got a challenge. We've got to be able to mix up some defensive calls to kind of throw them off base too."
- Thankfully, the Trojans' secondary is coming off its best performance of the season, according to DB coach Keith Heyward. "I was proud of what they did this past week. We had a really poor game up there in Eugene and for the guys, particularly Iman [Marshall], to bounce back and play the game that they did, I was proud of them to be able to execute at a high level like that," he said.
- Heyward's unit collectively looked itself in the mirror after getting outplayed by the Ducks. "I was brutally honest with them," Heyward said about last week. "I brought them in and was quite frank, we got our tails beat because we weren't disciplined. And guys owned up to it. I said that if we're going to win, we have to focus and do our job. I told them, 'We're just one piece of the puzzle and if you don't bring your piece to the puzzle, then the job doesn't get done.'"
- USC's defensive backs have been in position most of the season, but the Trojans played the ball much better against UCLA than they did against Stanford in September. "They were in position, we just didn't make a lot of them," defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox recalled the first meeting. "From the first time, there were really three things: the 50/50 balls, we weren't as physical in the run game as we needed to be, and there were some critical busts. Whether an edge guy came underneath, whether we didn't finish on the quarterback under pressure, whether we were supposed to be outside in man coverage instead of inside, and those things hurt us. It was those self-inflicted wounds. Those are the things we have to clean up."
- Offensively, Helton was focused on third downs today, which will be a huge factor if the Trojans want to wrestle away the time of possession battle from Stanford. RB Tre Madden, who returned against UCLA, is a major factor in third down offense. "If you look at some of the runs he made on the goal line...and out of the backfield, what he provides for us in the passing game from a pass protection standpoint, and then he made a big third down catch for us...just his sure handedness really comes into play," Helton said about Madden. "He's a complete football player and starting to get even more healthy which is nice."
- Here is Helton after Wednesday's practice...
University Southern California Trojans
Pac-12 Championship Wednesday: Notes
December 01, 2015 | USC Ripsit Blog
Pac-12 Championship Wednesday: Notes
The newly-painted Victory Bell made an appearance at Wednesday's practice, but the Trojans are fully focused on the challenge that awaits them in Santa Clara this weekend.
Tuesday, June 23
Monday, June 22
Monday, June 22
Monday, June 22
