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.