USC Football: 3 takeaways from Pac-12 rivalry victory at Cal
By Zach Bigalke
1. The USC running game once again faltered in 2019 play
Even as they have cycled through several quarterbacks, the 2019 USC season has been defined on offense by the passing game. Imbalance has been the name of the game when the Trojans have the football, as they rank 13th nationally in passing and 100th in the FBS in rushing.
That disparity played out yet again on Saturday evening against a solid Cal defense. The Golden Bears held the Trojans to just 43 net rushing yards in their Week 12 encounter as they turned USC into a singleminded offense predicated completely on how well Slovis could carve up his opponent.
It worked out once again, and given the way they want to scheme under offensive coordinator and Air Raid disciple Graham Harrell that is probably going to be the modus operandi for the Trojans in the future as well. But without even the threat of balance, things could get dicey especially against strong opponents.
Earlier in the year, things seemed to work at least a bit on the ground. The Trojans managed to post more than 200 yards on the ground against Washington and 171 against Notre Dame. Then the Ducks held them to only 91 yards, and now the Golden Bears pulled off a shutdown performance where USC managed only 43 yards on 22 carries.
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Getting that resolved to at least the levels we saw earlier in the year will be essential to close out the regular season strong next weekend against UCLA in the battle for the Victory Bell.