t’s a little early to hang up the Christmas Lights, but the ghosts of losses past may be coming to haunt USC — and a Trojan loss to Stanford this Saturday would have fans worried about the ghost of losses future.
Gone are the days you could look at the schedule and check-off the Stanford game as an automatic win. Two years ago Stanford was supposed to be that team, they were 41-point underdogs to USC, but the Cardinal left Southern California with a win that started to define Jim Harbaugh in Palo Alto.
The other win that defined Harbaugh? Last weekend his team ran it down the throats of the Oregon Ducks and knocked off the nation’s number eight team 51-42. That would be the same Oregon Duck team that manhandled USC one week before.
Of course, in this year’s topsy-turvy Pac 10, past performance is no indication of future success (just like those stocks you bought). But USC didn’t blow anybody away with a close, sloppy win at Arizona State last week.
This game will be about the run — Stanford may be in the trendy Bay Area but they play old-school, smash-mouth football. They are 15th in the nation averaging 211 yards rushing per game, and they average 5.1 yards per rushing attempt. Toby Gerhart ran for 223 yards and three touchdowns alone last week against Oregon. There is no subtlety to what Oregon wants to do.
USC has been solid at stopping the run — they give up just 114 yards per game and 3.3 per carry. Except in that crushing loss to Oregon when they gave up 391 yards and four touchdowns. Which is a pretty big exception.
If USC’s big defensive line and linebackers can make the plays and force Stanford to pass, there will be no hauntings at the Coliseum Saturday afternoon. But if Stanford can run the ball like it wants, the ghosts of bowl games future for USC could look pretty scary.
