All season long, even after last night’s victory, Pete Carroll said, “We played one-and-a-half bad quarters” this season, in reference to the Oregon State loss.
But doesn’t he really mean the defense played one-and-a-half bad quarters? Because the offense played at least 20-25 this season.
When USC looks from the outside tonight at the BCS title game, it can blame the offense. It was lackluster yesterday and did not improve. In fact, I can remember more plays against Virginia or Ohio State off the top of my head than against any in November. The No. 1 culprit is the playcalling, but perhaps a bigger crime is a lack of confidence in certain positions (quarterback, wide receiver) that prevented the Trojans from being dynamic.
Watch Florida, Oklahoma or Texas. USC had a tailor-made schedule for a national title and blew it, because it didn’t allow its offense to complement its stellar defense.