USC Trojans’ Lane Kiffin would have done things differently against Oregon Ducks
University of Southern California Trojans head coach Lane Kiffin said that if he could go back he would have done things differently in his club’s game against the Oregon Ducks on 30 October.
The Trojans were the latest victims of a powerful Duck offence, which exploded for a 52-32 win over their Pac-10 rivals. The USC head coach said the Oregon quick-strike offence took his club out of their defensive alignments.
“I was prepared for that during the week, but once you get into the game and you feel how fast they can score, it’s why I was very critical of myself,” said the head coach. “I don’t think I managed the game with the quarterback as well as I could have. I
got a little too aggressive there. We were feeling like we needed to go score because of the pressure that they had just scored as opposed to just giving [Matt Barkley] some four and five-yard completions and just staying within a rhythm.”
The Trojans were not the first team to attempt to get into an offensive battle with the Ducks instead of relying on defence and trying to take Oregon out of their rhythm. The Stanford Cardinals tried to go shot-for-shot with the Ducks on 2 October and suffered
a very similar loss, going down 52-31.
The Trojans have had an up-and-down season, winning their first four games only to drop two in a row, and after playing to a 1-1 record over the last two weeks, now sit at 5-3 with a 2-3 record against conference opponents.
The Trojans would only have to earn one win to be bowl eligible. However, after the club was deemed to have broken NCAA rules, they are not permitted to play in a bowl game this season.
The Trojans next take the field against the Arizona State Sun Devils on Saturday 6 November.
Tags: