USC caps chaotic week with Washington State road trip

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In elemental terms, this has been a hard week for the USC shot team.

Managing the embarrassing nonaccomplishment to Stanford past Saturday would person been atrocious enough. But it led to the firing of caput manager Clay Helton, the antheral who recruited each of them to USC and was a beloved fig successful the locker room.

After a week of practice, USC travels northbound to play Washington State connected Saturday. With the archetypal roadworthy crippled of the season, USC hopes that’s the benignant of mounting to assistance the squad enslaved astatine this hard signifier of the year.

“I deliberation successful beingness and successful shot you person to clasp the suckiness. You person to clasp that,” interim caput manager Donte Williams said. “You person to clasp erstwhile everything is against you, erstwhile the chips are stacked against you. … [A]s a team, being capable to spell connected the roadworthy and amusement however agreed we are is large for us.”

Williams says helium could spot the squad commencement to shingle distant immoderate of the daze from the week arsenic signifier went connected Tuesday. Then, helium said, Wednesday felt similar a mean day, with nary lull astatine the commencement of the grooming session.

So USC (1-1, 0-1 successful Pac-12) hopes that trajectory and us-against-the-world vibe connected the roadworthy helps the squad get backmost connected track, with 10 games remaining successful the play aft the coaching change.

“Everybody conscionable has to measurement up and bash more,” skipper Isaiah Pola-Mao said. “Chase [Williams] benignant of said it aft the crippled past week, we gotta travel backmost adjacent hungrier. If this doesn’t motivate you, and you don’t privation to bash more, past you’re not astatine the close place.”

When USC has the ball

The recurring taxable of the USC discourtesy done 2 games has been points near connected the field. After bemoaning their red-zone execution successful the archetypal game, the discourtesy again felt similar it missed 2 cardinal opportunities for touchdowns that would person turned the tide against Stanford.

“You’ve got to marque them, you’ve got to finish, you’ve got to execute,” Trojans violative coordinator Graham Harrell said. “That’s what we’ve preached since we’ve been present and we’re not going to halt that. You’ve got to execute.”

USC has felt bully astir its tally game, averaging 172.5 crushed yards per game. Both superior backs – Vavae Malepeai and Keaontay Ingram – are gaining much than 5 yards per carry.

That’s an country wherever the Trojans tin onslaught Washington State (1-1), which is playing its Pac-12 opener. The Cougars person struggled successful rushing defense, allowing 162 yards per crippled and 4.4 yards per transportation against Utah State and Portland State.

If USC wants to revive its high-scoring attack, it volition request the passing crippled to get backmost successful cogwheel aft 2 sub-300-yard performances to unfastened the season. The Trojans got a wider assortment of receivers progressive successful Week 2, but person yet to found a wide rotation pursuing respective offseason departures astatine the position.

When Washington State has the ball

The mantra for the USC defence this week is nary large plays. Against Stanford, an 87-yard touchdown tally overshadowed a tally defence show that different held the Cardinal to 1.9 yards per carry.

And the Trojans gave up aggregate large plays successful the walk crippled against Stanford, too. That’s thing they can’t spend against Washington State, which is averaging 12.5 yards per completion this year. The Cougars’ contributing receivers are of the speedy, shifty variety, and USC volition person to marque definite nary interruption retired downfield.

“They person guys that are big-time guys erstwhile it comes to making plays connected the ball. Biggest happening is making definite that we person a program successful spot to, one, play the shot decently successful the air, but besides to beryllium capable to tackle successful space,” Williams said. “Right now, you can’t interest astir what happened past game. You person to determination connected and marque those corrections.”