Steve Sarkisian is pretty sure a couple of things will happen when No. 16 USC hosts Arizona State on Saturday it will be hot and both teams will play fast.
Arizona State ran 105 plays in their 62-27 loss to UCLA last Thursday night. On the season the Sun Devils average 79.5 plays per game.
USC averages 78.8 plays per game.
Temperatures are expected to be in the low 90s for the 4:30pm kickoff as both offenses will look to race up and down the field.
Tempo, of course, has been a huge discussion of the USC offense. The Trojans ran a conference record 105 plays in the season opener against Fresno State but haven't always carried the appearance of a team running a hurry-up offense.
Last week's win over Oregon State marked the first time the USC offense was over 80 plays since. Stanford actually ran more plays than USC in the Trojans upset win earlier this season --68 for the Cardinal, 59 for the Trojans. A lot of times the offense has looked like a unit purely interested in only not huddling.
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There's a method to the madness, head coach Steve Sarkisian explains.
"I try to do what's best for the team," Sarkisian said. "When there's a game or games when our defense has been on the field and I feel like I need to protect them some I'm going to slow it down a little bit. I'm going to protect those guys to make sure that when they get to go back on the field they're fresh and ready to go so that we can get the ball back."
Sarkisian says there a "variety of reasons" why his team either speeds up or slows down the tempo. He admits if his offense isn't in rhythm it makes it tough to play fast. While other times it just depends on the flow of the game. Also, if the Trojans are nursing a lead it presents an opportunity for the game to be slowed down.
"The beauty of it is that we have our versatility in our offense to do that," Sarkisian said. "We can speed up. We can slow down. We can use multiple personnel groupings and formations to take advantage of what suits us best to go try to win the game."
If it in fact ends up being a game where both teams are playing fast and USC is able to be effective with their tempo and put together successful drives, a huge onus will be on the offensive line.
The Arizona State defense is an "aggressive group" that likes to bring a lot of pressures. The chance of a Chestnut Hill relapse could make for a long day for the Trojans.
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"In my opinion, the line of scrimmage is going to be huge Saturday on both sides of the ball," Sarkisian said. "From a defensive perspective of (Arizona State) it's because they give you so much and they're so aggressive that they challenge your offensive front."
