Oregon VS USC Quick Hits

-Oregon's offense shreds USC: 613 total yards of total offense. 391 yards of rushing offense. The Ducks produced a jaw-dropping offensive display on Saturday night in Eugene. The Trojans simply could not get the Ducks off the field, and did not come up with one defensive stand of real significance as Oregon scored on 9 of its 11 possessions.

The central cog of the Ducks' spread offense, quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, had the best game of his season and perhaps of his Oregon career. He improvised beautifully on a couple plays in the first half, and after a couple of effective scrambles, began taking off and running more and more, finishing up with 164 yards rushing on 13 carries.

-Saturday's game was a coming out party for LaMichael James: Oregon football fanatics have known about LaMichael James since they saw the true freshman's burst and cutting ability in preseason practices. He's wooed the rest of Duck Nation with his displays in the seven games since he took over from LeGarette Blount.

But Saturday marked James' coming out party as one of the top college running backs in the nation. Against the best defense he has faced, LaMichael showed America the fabulous blend of speed and elusiveness he possesses. He followed his blockers perfectly, used his smaller size to his advantage by frequently ducking under the attempted tackles of bigger linebackers and linemen, and kept runs alive when they seemed over.

-Ducks secondary produce huge second half: The Duck's young secondary looked in trouble in the first half when Oregon's front seven couldn't get to Matt Barkley. It looked as though, with the time he was getting, he would be able to find open receivers all game.

However the Ducks' secondary responded in the second half. Talmadge Jackson III showed great coverage down the field on a couple of plays and John Boyett, the freshman safety, had the defensive play of the night, when on the first snap of the fourth quarter, he just managed at full stretch to get his hand in front of Trojan receiver Brandon Carswell to bat away a pass, preventing a big gain.

-Trojans don't take advantage of dominant offensive line: Why, oh, why did the coaching staff not call more running plays, many Trojan fans must be wondering this morning. Indeed, the giant Trojan O-line seemed to be able to overpower the Ducks on running plays and open holes for their backs throughout the game.

Yet Pete Carroll seemed to turn away from the run, and put the ball into the hands of Matt Barkley as the game wore on, resulting in the SC offense completely stalling in the second half.

-Barkley turns in mediocre performance: The Trojans' freshman quarterback had claimed before the game that he would feed off Autzen's noise. Roundly booed as he entered the field for warm-ups, he produced a uneven display. Given lots of time in the pocket by his protection in the first half, he executed well and led the Trojans on two touchdown drives. He did, however, overthrow a wide-open receiver on what would have been a touchdown pass.

In the second half, the Duck managed to dial up the pressure on him. He took a couple of hard hits, and was sacked twice, and began to make more and more off target throws. With the Oregon offense rolling the way it was, he did not have that room for error.

Oregon Vs USC

Five Reasons Oregon will win

1. Autzen Stadium. The Ducks are 4-0 at home this season. When their season could have fallen apart against Purdue or Utah, the Autzen faithful helped the Ducks keep it together, and in the next two home games, they blew out Cal and Washington State. Eugene has been buzzing all week about USC coming to town, and with College Gameday showing up as well, the atmosphere in Autzen will be simply electric on Saturday. Oh, and everyone remembers what happened last time USC rolled into Autzen in 2007.

2. Masoli is running the spread offense perfectly right now. In the last five games Masoli has started, the offense has averaged over 41 points. It's hard to imagine USC completely shutting down Oregon's offensive game with the number of weapons it possesses.

3. The Ducks offensive line has been dominant. One of the biggest question marks heading into the season, the relatively inexperienced O-line has responded superbly. After one of his touchdown runs last Saturday, LaMichael James was seen on the sideline congratulating each one of his linemen. They are a big part of why he is averaging 6.9 yards per carry. Their pass protection has also been excellent, in the last two games, on a number of drop-backs, Masoli seemed to have an age to throw the ball.

4. The Ducks defense is ranked in the top 20 in the nation. Despite numerous injuries throughout the year, Oregon's defense is the best it's been in years. They've been able to consistently halt the opposition's running game, and get pressure on the opponent's quarterback. Most importantly, they've done it as a unit, rather than with one or two standouts. They made Jake Locker, the consensus best quarterback in the Pac-10, look decidedly ordinary last weekend, and seem as ready as they'll ever be for the even bigger challenge of shutting down USC's offense and Matt Barkley, who has looked very cool under pressure so far.

5. USC is overrated at no. 4 this season. First of all, USC lost to the Huskies, the team Oregon destroyed last weekend. Secondly, they narrowly avoided defeat against both Ohio State and Notre Dame. It took a phenomenal Matt Barkley-led drive deep in the fourth quarter to overcome an average Ohio State team, and Jimmy Clausen was one completion away from handing the Trojans their second defeat. USC hardly set the world alight at home against Oregon State last Saturday. Last time Oregon took on an overrated top 10 team in Eugene, Cal earlier this year, the game was over in the third quarter.

Five Reasons USC will win

1. USC has more pure talent on its team than Oregon. The strength of the program Pete Carroll has built is that it is filled from top to bottom with blue-chip talent. Matt Barkley was rated no.1 prospect of the class of 2009 by ESPN. Taylor Mays is a consensus top-10 draft pick in the 2010 NFL draft. Their stable of running backs, even minus Stafon Johnson, is one of the best in the nation.

2. USC possess the most talented offensive line the Ducks have faced. If the USC O-line is able to stop Oregon's defensive penetration, Matt Barkley will fancy his chances to pick apart the Ducks' inexperienced secondary.

3. USC's defense is stingy. Masoli and co. will not be able to run the ball all over USC as they have their last few opponents. The USC defense has only given up a little over 15 points a game, and allowed 2.4 yards per carry. LaMichael James can expect his toughest game yet, and that means Masoli is going to have to connect on more high-pressure throws.

4. USC doesn't lose games like this. Over the years, USC has made a habit of making things harder for themselves by dropping games to unheralded opponents, Washington this year, Oregon State in 2008, Stanford in 2007. In fact, the last time they lost to top-10 team was against the Ducks in 2007. Oregon has zero surprise factor for the Trojans this year, as they've had this date circled on the calendar certainly since the Ducks trounced Cal, and perhaps even since that loss in 2007.

5. USC knows its chance to play for the national championship depends on this game. After the Washington loss, USC might have thought they had blown their chance once again. But other results have gone their way, meaning that if they win in Eugene, they still have a chance at making a run at the national championship. That should provide the Trojans with all the motivation they need.