USC Football: 3 takeaways from big road win at Arizona State in Week 11
By Zach Bigalke
1. The USC defense shut down the Arizona State run game
The hope for Arizona State was that they could turn out Eno Benjamin against the Trojans and make life easier for their freshman quarterback in his first start. Instead, USC keyed in on Benjamin and the rest of the backfield as they strategized to try to make Yellen beat them through the air. It was a game plan that worked to perfection.
Benjamin finished with only 52 rushing yards on 20 carries, which he bolstered with 48 receiving yards on seven catches. But those 52 yards led the Sun Devils in rushing, showing how well the USC front seven played on Saturday on the road. They ensured that USC would be able to walk away with a win that kept them in pace to play Pac-12 spoiler deeper into November and possibly even into December.
As a team, Arizona State managed to rack up only 47 rushing yards as a team on 21 total carries. Other than Benjamin, the only other rushing stats came from the five-yard sack sustained by Yellen. Without anyone besides Benjamin to run the football, that put even more pressure on the freshman quarterback. While Yellen played well it was never going to be enough on its own.
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Shutting down Benjamin, USC did exactly what they needed to do to give themselves the best chance to emerge victorious. The Trojans battled down to the wire, and even as the Sun Devils threatened to pull ahead for a late steal the front seven continued to shut down the run and force Yellen to try to win it with his arm. That proved a successful formula as the rookie made a late mistake that ended the game.