LOS ANGELES --- It went pretty much according to the
script, aside from the fact that Matt Barkley played well into the third
quarter.
The USC offense, decimated by
injuries for most of the spring, was once again shorthanded taking the
field in a non-contact Spring Game at the Coliseum, as the White
(defense) defeated the Cardinal (offense) 34-27 .
Barkley, admitting he was frustrated earlier in the
week had to play through it on Saturday.
Barkley made a beautiful back shoulder throw that
wide receiver Victor Blackwell appeared to have before being separated
from the ball by cornerback Isiah Wiley.
In the third quarter, he looked for De'Von Flournoy
on a fade that was picked off by Brian
Baucham.
"Why," said Barkley jokingly of the
interception. "Why does this always have to happen. (I was)
trying to give him a shot down the field and it's like ‘Oh what can you
do?'"
Aside from the inexperienced wide
receivers, the wind played a role on Saturday. Barkley called
it the windiest it's ever been in the Coliseum in his tenure as a
Trojan.
He had a receiver wide open down field and the ball
was ate up by Mother Nature and nearly intercepted.
Barkley completed 20 of his 39 pass attempts for 212
yards, an interception and a touchdown pass to Marqise Lee in the third
quarter.
Lee was a bright spot for the Cardinal
team, making seven receptions for 57 yards and a touchdown.
On the ground, D.J. Morgan exploded for a 47-yard
touchdown run in the first quarter.
The
defense was its usual self accounting for three sacks.
Defensive end Devon Kennard got to Barkley in the second
quarter. Backup Cody Kessler was sacked twice on the same
drive –once by Greg Townsend Jr. and the other time by Morgan Breslin,
also in the second quarter.
The defense also picked
off two passes. In addition to Baucham's pick of Barkley,
Kessler was picked off by safety Drew McAllister.
"I thought the defense did some good things and some
players showed up," Kiffin said.
The defense
picking up where it left off at the end of last season has been a theme
of the spring. However, they know they can't look into this
spring's success too much. As a unit, they realize they were
going up against a short-handed offense.
"We're not going to be naïve to that," safety T.J.
McDonald said. "It was a mixture of both but at the same time, we're in
our third year of this system and we're getting
better.
"We got a lot of things accomplished (this
spring) and learned a lot of things as a defense. The coaches
threw some adjustments at us and we were able to adjust pretty well."
All was not lost, from an offensive standpoint this
spring for the Trojans.
"We would have
liked to have more people healthy to be able to evaluate, especially
like (wide receiver) George Farmer, so that was disappointing," Kiffin
said. "I think overall, we came out of this thing with one
major injury and so that was at the top of the priority list –not having
a lot of injuries.
"It was tough (dealing with the
injuries). (We) look at it as a positive. It was
good for our coaches to have to go to some guys that normally aren't in
the mix and have to coach those guys as well."
Despite all of the injuries, Barkley feels a lot
different this time around compared to last spring.
"Last spring we all thought we were doomed just
because of the offensive line and the lack of production that we were
able to have, but (I feel) pretty confident coming out (of spring)
knowing that guys will be healthy and we'll be back ready to rock,"
Barkley said.
The Trojans will conduct players only
throwing sessions in the summer before heading into a Fall Camp Kiffin
says he's leaning towards having little or no contact aside from
tackling drills with the worry of injuries.
"Yeah,
we're worried. We couldn't have something like what has
happened to us this offseason to us in the fall," Kiffin said.
"We wouldn't be very good. We need to make sure we're keeping
our guys healthy."
USC opens the season September
1st at the Coliseum against Hawaii under first year head coach and
former USC offensive coordinator, Norm Chow.
SPRING GAME STATS:
RUSHING–Morgan 6-53 (1 TD), Ross
6-21, Allen 3-11, McNeal 7-8
PASSING–Barkley
23-39-212 (1 TD, 1 int), Kessler 3-6-68 (1 TD, 1 int), Wittek
3-7-27
RECEIVING–Flournoy 7-69,
Lee 7-57 (1 TD), Grimble 4-73, Vainuku 4-66 (1
TD)
DEFENSE–Tackles:
Pullard 6, Brown 6, Bailey 5, Wiley 4, McDonald 4. Tackles For
Loss: Kennard 2. Sacks: Kennard 1, Townsend Jr. 1, Breslin
1. Deflections: Wiley 5, Tober 2. Interceptions:
McAllister 1, Baucham
1.
TURNOVERS–2 (2
interceptions)
PENALTIES–2 (2
offense)
