O/NSO: Beat the Wildcats – Arizona at No. 9 USC edition
The Obvious: With the USC Trojans’ fan base bordering on grave concern or just plain panic on what to do with the defense and that same base wondering how many points the No. 9 Trojans (5-0, 3-0 Pac-12) will have to score on offense to secure a victory, the Men of Troy return to the friendly confines of the Coliseum for a Pac-12 Saturday night clash with the Arizona Wildcats (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12).
The Not So Obvious: Despite still being undefeated and ranked in the AP Top 10, there is a real sense of uneasiness with the beloved Trojans as they conclude their final “tune-up” against another outmanned opponent before beginning that highly anticipated final six games of the regular season, which will feature four teams in the Top 25 and three who are currently in the Top 10.
The Obvious: The Trojans opened a 22-point favorite to defeat Arizona on Saturday night in the Coliseum.
The Not So Obvious: The Trojans lead the all-time Arizona series 37-8. The Trojans have won the last six meetings in Los Angeles and have lost just twice to the Wildcats since 2001.
It will be another late 7:30 p.m. PT kickoff at the Coliseum on Saturday night.
(Photo above courtesy of the Los Angeles Coliseum)
The Obvious: Saturday night’s USC/Arizona game from Los Angeles will be televised on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. PT.
The Not So Obvious: The ESPN broadcasters will be Dave Flemming (play-by-play), Brock Osweller (analysis), and Kayla Burton (sidelines).
Dave Flemming will call the play-by-play of Saturday night’s USC/Arizona game on ESPN.
The Obvious: Saturday night’s Trojans’ radio broadcast from the Coliseum will air live on KABC 790AM (7:30 p.m. PT) with Pete Arbogast (play-by-play), Shaun Cody (analyst), and Jordan Moore (sidelines).
Pete Arbogast will do the Arizona/USC game broadcast play-by-play on the Trojans broadcast network.
(Photo above courtesy of JuJu Foundation)
The Not So Obvious: Trojans fans can stream live “The Trojans’ Tailgate Show” pregame radio show (KABC 790AM) from the Coliseum at 5:30 p.m. (PT) with hosts Jordan Moore and former USC players Shaun Cody, Max Browne, and Su’a Cravens, and Jason Schwartz. The Trojans’ Tailgate Show is live on USC Athletics, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, and the USC Trojans App. There is also a two-hour post-game show following the game broadcast.
The Trojans’ pregame tailgate show is streamed and broadcast two hours before kickoff.
(Photo above of L-to-R Jordan Moore, Shaun Cody, and Su’a Cravens/ © Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
The Obvious: Not everybody gets the Trojans’ flagship radio station, KABC 790AM, if you’re outside of the general Los Angeles signal range.
The Not So Obvious: However, fans can still get Saturday night’s game on the Trojans Radio Network from satellite stations that include: KSHP 1400AM and 107.1FM in Las Vegas, KSZL 1230AM in Barstow, KJJZ-HD3 102.7FM in Thousand Palms and HSRN 95.1FM, and 760AM in Honolulu – as well as USCTrojans.com and KABC.com and on SiriusXM satellite radio (channels 197, 198, 397 or 959 and 960 on the app).
The Obvious: After every USC home or away football game from the press box, WeAreSC presents a post-game analysis called “5 Things” that breaks down five topical questions regarding the just completed game.
The Not So Obvious: You can watch the USC/Arizona “5 Things,” moderated and hosted by Erik McKinney along with WeAreSC.com columnists Greg Katz and Marc Kulkin, on YouTube or on the official WeAreSC.com website.
Following each USC home or away football game, WeAreSC presents “5 Things” with (L-R) Erik McKinney, Greg Katz, and Marc Kulkin.
The Obvious: The Arizona broadcast from the Coliseum can be heard on Tucson radio station KCUB 1290AM.
The Not So Obvious: The Arizona broadcast team (7:30 p.m. MT) features Brian Jeffries (play-by-play), Lamont Lovett (analyst), and Dana Cooper (sidelines).
The Obvious: Saturday’s Los Angeles weather forecast calls for sunny with a daytime high of 90 and a nighttime low of 64 degrees, 66% night humidity, and 2% night precipitation. The kickoff temperature for Saturday night’s game is expected to be partly cloudy and 75 degrees.
The Saturday day weather in Los Angeles is forecast to be in the low 90s.
The Not So Obvious: The real weather report is whether the Trojans will score a ton of points on offense against Arizona and give up a lot of points on defense to the Wildcats, as well. This is certainly a pattern of behavior, and one hopes to see better execution on defense on Saturday night.
Offensively, by now, you know the USC superstars and the stars. Quarterback Caleb Williams is unworldly, and his receivers like Brenden Rice, Tahj Washington, Mario Williams, Kyron Hudson, Dorian Singer, and Zachariah Branch are star status, and we haven’t even mentioned running backs MarShawn Lloyd and Austin Jones.
One of the Trojans’ explosive wide receivers in 2023 has been Tahj Washington (#16).
(Photo above by Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
It figures tight end position with Lake McRee will continue to get more opportunities to catch balls, and last weekend at Colorado was the exciting return of Jude Wolfe, whose SC tight end career has been marred by injury after injury. We’ll see whether both tight ends are part of this week’s game plan.
Questionable is whether this rebuilt offense line is ready for combat against a respectable Arizona defensive front. The current Trojans’ O-line, consisting of tackles Jonah Monheim and Michael Tarquin, guards Jarrett Kingston and Emmanuel Pregnon, and center Justin Dedich, has been workmanlike for the most part, but they didn’t run the ball well at all last Saturday at Colorado and didn’t finish blocks. They were physically challenged by the Buffaloes and didn’t respond well. Their greatest challenges, however, are ahead in ranked teams Notre Dame, Utah, Oregon, and Washington. And BTW, the defenses at Cal and UCLA aren’t chopped liver either.
USC offensive lineman Michael Tarquin looks to make a block during a game against the San Jose State Spartans.
(Photo above by acscottphotography/WeAreSC)
Defensively, we’ll see whether the Trojans can improve at this point in the season. Lincoln Riley hates the comparison of the 2023 defense to the 2022 defense. The negatives such are tackling, however, are still a major issue as is the perception or reality – depending on your point of view – that current DC Alex Grinch is a liability. To their credit, many players say it’s not Grinch but themselves that are the issue.
To be sure, the Trojans do have stars on defense. Whether they have enough of them is certainly up for debate. We know that defensive tackle Bear Alexander is the real deal. Inside linebacker Mason Cobb seems to have returned to form against Colorado after being out with an injury. Rush end Jamil Muhammad has been a fine edition, and defensive end Solomon Byrd is having an outstanding season thus far.
USC defensive end Solomon Byrd (#51) wraps up San Jose State quarterback Chevan Cordeiro for a sack.
(Photo above by acscottphotography/WeAreSC)
The questions on defense don’t appear to be the front seven. It’s not a question of whether they can do their jobs with effectiveness. No, it’s whether the secondary will improve. You can argue that the Trojans’ safeties should be good enough with Calen Bullock and Bryson Shaw; they need to up their game, as well. However, it’s the Trojans’ corners that are a glaring issue, either tackling in space or pass coverage.
Perhaps the biggest questions about the defense are tackling and its confidence. The Trojans can look good in the first half and then like a light switch, seem to lose both the ability to tackle which leads a confidence issue. We’ll see whether this pattern shows up against the Wildcats.
The Arizona offense, led by either starting junior quarterback Jayden de Laura (questionable due to an ankle issue) or backup redshirt freshman Noah Fafita, running back Noah Coleman, and sophomore wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, figure to move the ball and attack the Trojans’ secondary. On defense, the Wildcats are paced by linebackers Jacob Manu, who leads the team tackles, and Oregon transfer linebacker Justin Flowe, who just seems to be rounding into form after injury issues.
Arizona starting quarterback Jayden de Laura (#7) looks to play against the Trojans after being held out last week due to an ankle injury.
(Photo above by Zac BonDurant | USA TODAY Sports)
On special teams, placekicker Denis Lynch will look to get on track after last week’s critical 39-yard miss in the fourth quarter against Colorado. Punter Eddie Czaplicki is under pressure to boom punts as far as he can boot so that the opposition offense has more field to have to work through.
The Obvious: The Trojans are averaging 53.60 points per game on offense, while the Arizona defense is allowing 19.0 points per game.
The Not So Obvious: The Arizona offense is averaging 27.60 points per game, while the Trojans defense is allowing 24.20 points per contest.
The Obvious: Lincoln Riley is the Trojans’ second-year head coach.
The Not So Obvious: Regarding Arizona’s current two-quarterback situation, Riley says, “We’ll definitely prepare for both. I say, fortunately, but it is what it is. Looking at it, both guys are pretty similar. Obviously, we saw a lot of (Jayden) de Laura last year. We know the competitor and dynamic athlete and all that he is, and the young kid Noah Fafita that came in for him did a nice job last week and looks to have a lot of similar skill sets; pretty mobile, threw the ball well, and played pretty poised. He was pretty impressive for a young guy in his first real true action. It didn’t look like their system changed a lot. You can tell they have some confidence in the young kid. He did a nice job, and they have some good weapons for him to get it to.”
USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley speaks to the media after the game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Field.
(Photo above:Mandatory Credit: Chet Strange-USA TODAY Sports)
The Obvious: The head coach of the Arizona Wildcats in his third season is Jedd Fisch.
The Not So Obvious: Regarding the Trojans, Fisch has a definite game plan for explosive offenses like Washington and USC. Fisch this week said, “We made a conscious decision this past week against Washington that we said we wanted to hold the ball for over 30 minutes. We held it for like 30 minutes and (nine) seconds. We said we needed to have long drives and make them go the long way. We substituted more than we normally do. We strung out the play clock more than we normally would., and then when we could balance out some tempo we would, but our goal was to try to be on the field as long as we could as an offense, and defensively make them go the long way.
“The plan worked the way we wanted it to work, and we felt if we held them to 30 points or less, that’s what we needed to get done win the game. 31 was what we held them to … and we said we couldn’t turn it over. We turned it over once, they turned it over once, and we wanted to have less penalties with it. We had eight for 60 and then 12 or 125. So all of it really came down to how we want to play the game. And we executed on that.”
Arizona’s third-year head coach Jedd Fisch hopes to get his first victory over USC on Saturday night.
(Photo above by Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports)
The Obvious: USC has eight players from Arizona, while Arizona has 42 Californians on its roster.
The Not So Obvious: Those Trojans from Arizona include DB Jacob Covington (Saguaro HS), DB Daniel Jimenez-Fulton (Chandler HS), OL Andrew Milek (Brophy Prep), WR Brenden Rice (Hamilton HS), DL Anthony Lucas (Chapparal HS), WR Duce Robinson (Pinnacle HS), OL Elijah Paige (Pinnacle HS) and WR Ja’Kobi Lane (Red Mountain HS).
USC freshman wide receiver Duce Robinson (#19), one of a number of players from Arizona, breaks free for his first touchdown.
(Photo above by acscottphotography/WeAreSC)
The Obvious: The NCAA Transfer Portal has created all sorts of roster changes across the landscape of D-1 football.
The Not So Obvious: The Trojans have three former Arizona Wildcat players on the 2023 roster, which includes receiver Dorian Singer, corner Christian Roland-Wallace, and defensive tackle Kyon Barrs.
The Obvious: There are a number of USC-Arizona connections.
USC cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace (#17) played last season for the Arizona Wildcats.
(Photo above by Erik McKinney/WeAreSC)
The Not So Obvious: Trojans CB Ceyair Wright’s father, Claudius Wright, was a cornerback at Arizona. Troy’s WR Brenden Rice was a college teammate with Arizona WR Montana Lemonious-Craig at Colorado. Trojans WR Josiah Zamora, CB Domani Jackson, WR Corey Nerhus, ILB Raesjon Davis, WR Kyron Hudson, DL Solomon Tuliaupupu and WR Raleek Brown were high school teammates with Arizona DL Ta’ita’I Uiagelelei, LB Leviticus Su’a and DL Jacob Kongaika at Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei High.
The Obvious: There are some coaching connections between USC and Arizona.
The Not So Obvious: Arizona offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Brennan Carroll was a USC graduate assistant and then assistant coach (2002-09) and is the son of former USC head coach Pete Carroll.
Arizona defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen spent six seasons on the coaching staff at USC. In 2017, Nansen was named the Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year by 247Sports.com and helped guide the USC defense that ranked fourth nationally in red zone defense (.712) and fifth in sacks (3.3).
Johnny Nansen (above) is a former USC defensive coach who is now the Arizona defensive coordinator.
The Obvious: At every USC Coliseum home game, the Trojans make special recognitions and presentations.
The Not So Obvious: On Saturday night, the Trojans will present the USC men’s and women’s basketball preview presentations and also recognize Trojans Family Weekend.
The Obvious: This is Week 6 of the 2023 Pac-12 football schedule.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The Not So Obvious: Below are the scheduled games for this week.
Saturday – Oct. 7
NO. 13 WASHINGTON ST. AT UCLA (12 PM/ PAC-12 NETWORKS)
COLORADO AT ASU (3:30 P.M. PT/P12 NETWORKS)
NO. 15 OREGON ST AT CAL (7 PM/P12 NETWORKS)
ARIZONA AT NO. 9 USC (7:30 PM PT/ESPN)
* All times are Pacific Time Zone
The Obvious: And finally, “Inside the Trojans’ Huddle” is WeAreSC’s video/podcast panel show that airs each Tuesday during the football season.
The Not So Obvious: In Tuesday’s edition of “Inside the Trojans’ Huddle,” panelists Erik McKinney, Marc Kulkin, Chris Arledge, and Greg Katz reviewed the Colorado game, previewed the Arizona game, participated in a new Big Ten Lightning Round, presented predictions for Week 6 of Pac-12 and national games of interest, and answered viewers’ questions.
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