Fight On! (Gophers) The Season Depends On It: USC @ Minnesota Preview

Of all the teams that could be coming into The Bank this Saturday, and after the absolute failure we witnessed last week, the chance to play the University of Southern California might be just the medicine this program needs to get well.

Why?  Well, they're an D-I Single A team for starters (hey-oooo).  They have strong national name recognition, and have recently been one of the preeminent teams in all of college football. They are not particularly well liked by the rest of the nation, nor is Lane Kiffin, their supposed wunderkind new head coach.  The casual Golden Gopher fan (you know, the folks who showed up late, and left at the half last week) expects nothing but a blowout and the total annihilation of the Gophs.  The good news is, #18 USC is nowhere near as tough as they have been over the last decade, and has struggled in both of their two wins this season.  Nowhere to go but up, eh?

Winning this game gets the season back on the rails in a quick way, but still keeps the burner under Brewster to show us it wasn't an anomaly, all while the 'fire Brewster' talk can legitimately (and fairly) continue.  Losing meets the expectations of the masses and the 'fire Brewster' talk can still legitimately continue.  So in a sick sort of way, win or lose - the outcome this Saturday will probably be satisfying in one way or another to all shades of Gopher fans.

USC's most recent national accomplishment is garnering an array of NCAA sanctions for 'lack of institutional control', including a 2-year ban from post-season play, the loss of 30 scholarships over 3 years, and their National Championship victory in the 2005 Orange Bowl versus Texas (one of my all-time favorite college football games apparently never happened now) is now vacated. Oh yeah, and they even lost MN's own Seantrel Henderson (arguably the top HS football recruit in the nation), who dissed the Gophs before committing to USC, and then subsequently dissed the Trojans for the Miami Hurricanes, post-SC sanctions dole out.  Good times.

Will Snoop be in the hizz-ouse Saturday?
AP Photo/K.Djansezian

OK - but we all know USC's off the field woes.  But the real question is, can the Gophers somehow, someway beat this team coming in?  The Trojans are loaded with talent with nothing much to play for but pride. USC has played Hawaii (on the road) and Virginia (at home), and have been less than impressive in both games.  The Hawaii's run n' shoot offense kept in place beyond the departure of June Jones, gave SC all kinds of trouble, and they piled up nearly 600 yards of offense in a shootout with 85 total points.  The home opener for SC vs. Virginia was almost the inversion of their previous game,  a 17-14 defensive slugfest that required the Trojans to recover an onside kick to preserve the win.  In both games USC was outgained by their opponent, and racked up over 100 yards in penalties.  So iffy defense and a lack of discipline seems to be their modus operandi thus far this season.  These problems make it appear to me that USC can be quite vulnerable if they cannot correct these issues.

The Trojan offense, led by sophomore stud, Matt Barkley has been pretty damn impressive this year though, already completing 38 passes at nearly a 66% clip, to go with 7 touchdowns to no interceptions.  Combine that with a strong and athletic line, and Barkley could put up passing numbers that would make Dante Warren's look like chump change.  USC has two primary halfbacks Marc Tyler and Allen Bradford, and both are large (230 lbs+).  This worries me as well, given that we struggled with a similar sized back last year in John Clay, but with a much more experienced defense.  Combine that size of the runners with an athletic and speedy line that can get out in space and block, and it could be big trouble, especially running outside.  The Trojan receivers are good, but not as terrifying as they have been in years past.  Ronald Johnson and Robert Woods will be the primary beneficiaries of Barkley's throws.  The Barkley's offense would appear to be the strength of the team, and must be slowed to give the Gophers any chance of winning.

To counter this offensive unit, its hoped that the return of senior's Kim Royston and Kyle Theret at the safety positions will be a major upgrade for the Gopher's defense.  My concern is that there will be some rust from the lack of live game work for these two, but that said, I'd rather have them on the field than Lewis and Manuel right now.  The front seven should be solid against interior runs, lead by the Smash Brothers (Edwards and Kirksey), but I fear running on the edge will rip off big chunks of yardage, given the issues we had with contain against USD.  To win this game, I think the Gopher D will have to create at least two turnovers and allow none within their own territory.

SoCal's defense has had its difficulties. MV of FBT does his usual superb job of breaking down the USC defense personnel, so I won't elaborate too much.  Lane's daddy (Monte) runs the defense for him, and he's dealing with a lot of inexperience on the DL and backfield.  Frankly, we're seriously out coached here with a coordinator of Monte Kiffin's calibur on the sideline, so we'll need to rely on USC's inexperience leading to mistakes Minnesota can capitalize on.

And the Gopher offense - well, its going to take another appearance of 'Good Web' to give us a chance, as we need him to extend drives on 3rd downs and keep Barkley safely on the sidelines.  I was a little disappointed in Horton last week, as his claim that the Gophers would not abandon running the ball early rang hollow. I felt he went away from really pounding the ball at the Coyotes when the Gophers got down a couple scores.  Part of that was justified though, as our defense couldn't stop them, and we needed to get points somehow.  This week, I'd expect us to run 2 out of 3 times the first couple possessions , but if our defense can't afford us the luxury of a couple USC 3 and outs (or at least short drives) to let the O-line and the RBs get lathered up, we'll be presumably passing early and often.  And hey, the formerly suspended Dom Alford is now back to active status, but guess what?  My favorite Gopher freshman, Ed-O (Ed Olson), will be getting the start at left tackle.  His clamping onto his opportunity to start and not letting go has really impressed me, and I'll be watching him closely to see how he fares against these Pac-10 DEs.

Ultimately, predicting the outcome of this game comes down to is what you believe will happen on this Saturday.  USC might beat Minnesota 99 out of a 100 matchups, but if that one win comes up, then all the analysts and experts are wrong.  I was excited when we got SC on the schedule, and I remain so.  Its a great opportunity for this young Gopher team to prove something (or conversely, get their asses handed to them, and learn something).  Early this season in the 'Calling our Shot' post, I predicted a win for this game, and I've chose to stick with that, despite what we saw last week.  Up until this afternoon, I was all but convinced the Gophs would have a valiant start to the game, but ultimately be crushed in the 2nd half.  Then I watched this yesterday afternoon:

 This clip of a Thursday post-practice interview of Kid Kiffin swayed me back to my pre-season position.  Does this sound like a coach who has his team where he wants it for this game.  By his own admission, he states that "we've got a long ways to go" and that they need to understand this is not a game they can take lightly.  He sounds concerned and its already Thursday.  My usual ridiculous positivity, although diminished, can last at least through pre-game tailgating this Saturday.  After that, all bets are off.  Gophers jump on USC early, and then hang on by a thread.  Pics and post-game to come next week.  GOOOOO GOPHERS!

Prediction: Minnesota 31, USC 30

Gopher Player of the Game: Adam Weber - 24 for 32 for 245 yards and 3 TDs

Trojan Player of the Game: Marc Tyler - 18 carries for 120 yards and 2 TDs