Following Saturday night's debacle at Boston College, Steve Sarkisian couldn't be any happier to have landed in the bye week.
The team will undergo a major self analysis over the week, starting with the head coach.
"As much as I'm evaluating every player right now in the bye week, I'm evaluating myself," Sarkisian said. "And part of myself is the play-caller and what gives us the best chance to be successful."
Sure, defensively they're going to have to go back to the drawing board after being "exposed" to the tune of 452 yards on the ground.
USC's own running game was just as disappointing, with just 20 rushing yards on 29 attempts -- or 0.7 yards per carry.
Buck Allen was explosive Saturday night but not in his primary role as a ballcarrier. Coming off a career-high 154 rushing yards against Stanford, Allen ran for just 31 against BC. Nearly half of those yards came on one play.
He was explosive, however, in the passing game with nine catches for 118 yards -- both career highs.
So, when Sarkisian examines his team during the bye, he'll be doing so with a pressing issue on his mind.
Highlights: USC (9) stunned by Boston College
"What we have to assess this week, as an offensive staff, is understanding who we are personality-wise as a team and what gives us the best chance to be successful," Sarkisian said. "Is it to run to set up the pass? Or is it to pass to set up the run?"
Wide receiver is the position with the most depth on the team. Following Saturday's 31-of-41 performance, Cody Kessler is now completing 71 percent of his passes on the season, which is second among Pac-12 quarterbacks behind Stanford signal caller Kevin Hogan's 73 percent.
Although a commitment was far from being reached Sunday night, Sarkisian's tone lends itself to leaning towards giving Kessler more opportunities to find playmakers in the passing game.
"I love to run the football," Sarkisian said. "I made no bones about it. I love to run it but at some point when is the time right to throw it to set up the run? And (Saturday) night might have been a classic example of that. Maybe we should've continued to throw the ball and throw it a lot and given our guys chances to loosen things up and maybe the run game could've benefited from that. That's all a part of the process.
"Maybe throwing the ball a little bit more can help us. We'll find out."
