Halloween To Be Trick Or Treat For USC?
Oregon is a scary team, but a win would be a huge treat for the Trojans.
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LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 24: Head coach Pete Carroll of the USC Trojans talks on his headset against the Oregon State Beavers on October 24, 2009 at the Los Angeles Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. USC won 42-36. (Photo by Jeff Golden/Getty Images)
Halloween is going to be scary for USC fans.
They face a frighteningly good offense in the Oregon Ducks, and maybe the hottest team in the land. All that while USC comes off two performances where the team looked like the walking dead for stretches of the game.
There is a lot more than a couple Starbursts on the line with this Trick or Treat game for the Trojans. Win and they are in the drivers seat for another Pac-10 title and another BCS berth. It also keeps their hopes of getting invited to the title game — almost a home game at the Rose Bowl — alive.
Lose and all things BCS will have been egged.
Maybe the scariest thing for USC fans has been their team’s play in the second half the last two weeks. Making the key adjustments and wearing the other team down and pulling away has been the hallmark of Pete Carroll’s USC squads. But the last two weeks, Notre Dame and Oregon State were like Freddy and Jason — just when you thought they were dead they were back and closing in on a kill.
USC escaped with its life both times, but Oregon is a far more deadly squad than either of those two.
Just to add to the scary mood is the possibility of rain and thunder during the game (it is expected to rain Saturday but the storm may have passed through by game time at 5 p.m.) For the record, Carroll has a less than .500 record in the rain. Also, while the fans in bigger, louder stadiums have yet to rattle freshman Matt Barkley, how the Southern California-raised boy will deal with a wet and slippery football remains to be seen.
Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli is used to a wet football, because if you live in Oregon and play for a school nicknamed the Ducks you had better get used to the rain and water. He is also unlike any quarterback USC has seen since the second week of the season — he is very mobile and can run as well as throw. The Ducks run a spread offense that attacks everywhere. The last two weeks to pocket passers — Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen and Oregon State's Sean Canfield — made plays against the Trojan defense, and now they face a more versatile weapon.
It’s enough to scare anyone. But if USC can win, the treat will taste especially sweet.
