Tresselbeliever;1201671; said:
Keys to the game:
On offense: running Beanie Wells. If he is to win the Heisman he is going to have to earn it here. And it doesn't matter who's back there at QB, if the passing game is predictable SC will make any tall pocket passer look like John Navarre.
On defense: stuff the middle. Our front seven have to get off blocks so we can shrink the running lanes and be ready from the backside. I don't care how many McKnights they have if we can stuff them up the middle Sanchez is going to have a rough night.
What's up everyone, first time poster here.
I agree that on offense it's all about Wells. It seemed the times where we struggled last season (parts of Wisconsin game, Illinois, LSU) were when we inexplicably went away from Beanie and too much pressure was put on Boeckman to win the game (2 TDs, 6 INTs in the last 3 games). Beanie is, in my opinion, the best player on the team. He needs the ball in his hands. A lot.
On defense, I think it starts with pressure on the QB. If there was one flaw we had on defense last season, it's that besides Gholston, we really didn't pressure the QB that well; at least not enough. That has to change this year and with Wilson coming back, we look to be headed in the right direction.
We also need to take care of the run, which we usually do a great job with. Since Dwayne Jarrett left, USC hasn't had a WR that really strikes fear into a secondary, especially not a secondary that will be as experienced as ours. If we can contain their RBs (similar to how we contained Menenhall last season) and force Sanchez into quick decisions in the passing game, we'll be in good shape.
