Pete Carroll Should've Played NCAA Football 09

First off, Congratulations Beavers (I hate saying that). The dismantling of USC's Defensive Line on Thursday night with a midget tailback was something to applaud. With that being said, how in the hell didn't USC adjust to stop the Beaver running attack? It's not like Pete Carroll can't say he doesn't have the personnel available to stop the run. That whole team is chalk full of 4 and 5 star recruits! I pondered this quandary for many hours and then I had a "Dr. Lou" moment where the answer came to me through a perfect medium: Video Games. After playing EA's latest version of the popular collegiate football game "NCAA Football 2009" I feel like I have found a simple solution that would have solved all of USC's problems: Bunch the defensive line. What do I mean by "bunch" you ask? Well, in the video game running the football is an integral part of opening up the passing game and teams like Florida, USC and Ohio St. are masters at this. Stopping these teams is easier said than done, but shifting all of your Defensive Tackles closely together to make the opposing teams running backs bounce it outside is one of the main ways to slow them considerably. By "bunching" the DT's together you have big bodies closing holes that may have been there previously for the tailback to run through.

Let me be honest, Jacquizz Rodgers was squirting through sizable holes all night, but when he did try to bounce the ball outside the team speed of USC and their cornerbacks hemmed him in pretty well. Nearly ALL of his yards were accumulated by running right up the gut where USC's team speed was at a disadvantage. To demonstrate my point I found a screenshot of NCAA 09 that has USC lined up against the California Golden Bears. There defense is in a standard set that doesn't have the defense shifted together to stuff the run. In the game, however, you can call an audible and shift your D-line anyway you want...left, right, center etc.


(Click on image to enlarge)

The white lines I drew in photoshop indicate the shift of the defensive line and the safeties position if the RB does indeed find himself able to bounce the ball outside. This whole strategy forces the quarterback to throw the ball to beat you...WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT USC SHOULD HAVE DONE. Lyle Moevao is average at best, and when he did throw the ball it was to USC defenders 1/4 of the time. And how good is USC? There first win was against a Virginia team that was owned on by Duke today. Enough said there. There other notable win was against an Ohio St. team that nearly lost to Ohio and beat a Minnesota team today 34 to 21. That's the same Minnesota team that won ONE game last year. ONE GAME! Oregon St. played a great game and in some instances luck was on their side. But as the old cliche goes: "Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good."