Countdown to Kickoff: USC-Arizona

The question that USC will answer Saturday night -- one way or the other -- is whether the Trojans' offensive breakout last week was a true, sustainable turning point.

For the first time this fall, everything came together on that side of the ball in USC's 39-36 win over Washington State.

Freshman quarterback JT Daniels passed for 241 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, showing enhanced timing and chemistry with all of his receivers.

And the rushing attack was efficient with Vavae Malepeai rushing for 78 yards and 2 touchdowns on 6.0 yards per carry while Stephen Carr went for 77 yards on just 8 touches (9.6 YPC).

Even the much maligned Trojans offensive line held its own.

But was it a true turning point for the unit?

"I think I'm more confident that we'll just keep getting better and better," Daniels said. "If you look at the general trend of all of our games, I think there's been like one or two things off in each game as an offense that last Friday there wasn't anything that was just off. Now we've just got to improve in every area and start getting better at the things that we're now starting to execute on."

The reality for the Trojans (2-2, 1-1 Pac-12) is that there remains no margin for error. Much of the fan base has already moved to panic mode after the back-to-back road losses in Weeks 2-3.

And even Clay Helton acknowledged that if his team wants to make it back to the conference championship game, it has to win games like this, against a Pac-12 South foe in Arizona (2-2, 1-0) that's spent the first part of the season trying to find itself under new coach Kevin Sumlin.

The Wildcats opened with losses to BYU (28-23) and Houston (45-18) before taking care of business against lesser opponents the last two weeks with big wins over Southern Utah (62-31) and Oregon State (35-14).

"Really important game for us," Helton said. "Not only a road game, but really when you talk about Pac-12 South games and I think about the past, it's so important that you make your Pac-12 South wins. The last two times we've gone to the Pac-12 championship, we had to run the table in the Pac-12 South and here's our first game with a Pac-12 South opponent.

"It's a very, very important game in our mind. I know it's the next one, but anytime that you compete against a Pac-12 South opponent, you know that you control your own destiny by getting those wins."

Game info

When: 7:30 p.m. PT

Where: Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Ariz.

TV: ESPN2 with Adam Amin, Rod Gilmore and Quint Kessenich on the call.

Matchup history/stats

USC leads the all-time series with Arizona, 32-8 not counting the 2005 victory that was later vacated due to NCAA penalty. The Trojans have won the past five matchups, 7 of the last 8 and 14 of the last 16. They won 49-35 last year in the Coliseum.

USC offense: 24.8 point per game (100th nationally), 376 yards per game (96th)

USC defense: 27.8 PPG (T-81st), 394 YPG (84th)

Arizona offense: 34.5 PPG (T-48th), 519.3 YPG (15th)

Arizona defense: 29.5 PPG (T-88th), 411 YPG (94th)

Quarterback spotlight

USC freshman JT Daniels: 84-of-143 passing (58.7 percent) for 1,060 yards, 4 TDs, 3 INTs

Trojans QB coach Bryan Ellis said: "He's not a freshman anymore. We're going on Game 5. He's got some experience now. No, it's not a shock anymore."

USC head coach Clay Helton said: "I wish everybody could see him on the sideline and see his demeanor and his poise. It's been like the other ones I've been around, the good ones, that it doesn't faze him. You can tell he's having fun out there. You can tell he has management of the game and sees everything that's going on, which is great. He's a really good communicator as far as what he saw and why he pulled the trigger. So sky's the limit for the kid. After Game 4, I really like where he's at. He's not a finished product, but I'm going to tell you, for being where he's at at 18 four games in, I'll take another performance like he had last week."

Arizona junior Khalil Tate: 63-of-116 passing (54.3 percent) for 1,039 yards, 8 TDs and 2 INTs; 23 carries for 31 yards and 2 TDs. (**Rushed for 1,411 yards and 12 TDs last season).

USC defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast said: "He's a very dynamic athlete. He can make a lot of plays in a lot of different ways, and he's clearly their bell cow in their offense. He can hurt you running it and he's throwing the ball with a lot more attempts this year. When you look at his overall numbers, he's really a true dual-threat quarterback now."

Top playmakers

Heading into the fifth game, the Trojans' running back rotation remains unpredictable. Stephen Carr remains the most dynamic back in the mix, averaging 5.9 yards per carry and leading the team with 196 rushing yards on just 33 carries. Vavae Malepeai (26 carries for 149 yards and 5 TDs for the season) is coming off his best game, turning a career-high 13 carries into 78 yards and 2 TDs. But that was with Aca'Cedric Ware (33-175-1) limited by a knee injury. With Ware expected to be fully available, it's anyone's guess how the Trojans will divvy up carries this week between those three.

Even during a quiet performance last week, freshman receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown managed a pretty 30-yard touchdown last week against Washington State. He leads the Trojans with 342 receiving yards and 2 TDs on 20 catches despite playing significantly less snaps than veterans Tyler Vaughns (21-221-1) and Michael Pittman (10-189-1). The encouraging sign last week, though, was the improved chemistry between Daniels and Vaughns/Pittman. Velus Jones Jr., who was limited by an elbow injury this week, has also emerged as a big-play threat the last couple weeks, including a 44-yard reception vs. WSU.

For Arizona, with Tate not running as much this year presumably due to an ankle injury, running back J.J. Taylor has become a more prominent factor in the offense with 477 rushing yards on 6.7 per carry and 3 TDs. Taylor rumbled for 284 yards and 2 TDs on 27 carries last week.

The Wildcats have three primary receivers in Shawn Poindexter (16 catches for 369 yards and 2 TDs), Tony Ellison (12-241-2) and Shun Brown (18-223-3).

Defensive players to watch

Linebacker Cameron Smith has been the steadiest defensive player for USC, leading the team with 40 tackles (twice as many as any other Trojan), 5 tackles for loss, a sack and 2 pass break-ups. Outside linebacker Porter Gustin has been the only steady pass-rushing threat with 4.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss.

Freshman strong safety Talanoa Hufanga had a breakout game last week after seizing the starting job from C.J. Pollard. The rookie tallied 9 total tackles and had a key pass breakup late in the game.

While Arizona isn't necessarily a dynamic passing offense, the spotlight will be on the left cornerback position after a disastrous performance last week. Senior Isaiah Langley will now be splitting reps with freshman Olaijah Griffin, who could be auditioning for that job.

For the Wildcats, a pair of sophomore linebackers set the tone. Colin Schooler has been a wrecking ball this year with 44 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, a sack, 4 quarterback hurries and a safety. Tony Fields II has 34 tackles.

While USC has no interceptions this fall, Arizona has just one -- by safety Jarrius Wallace.

Key stat

USC is 18-0 at home under coach Clay Helton, but just 10-12 away from the Coliseum and 8-8 in true road games.

The Trojans lost by double-digits in both of their road games so far this season, 17-3 at Stanford and 37-14 at Texas.

Scouting reports

USC head coach Clay Helton:

"Coach Sumlin I think has done a great job progressing his team from Game 1 to Game 4, coming off back-to-back wins and you can see what he's doing offensively. We all know about Khalil Tate, we know how dangerous he is, but what I've been really impressed with is how they've been able to manage, one, he's got an ankle right now that is limiting him in the run game, but they've done a really nice job with Khalil in the RPO game and taking deep ball shots. They're leaning on the running back in JJ Taylor, who did a heck of a job last week with like 286 yards vs. Oregon State. And then mix in the RPO game and the play-action shots off of it, and you look up and Khalil's thrown for 260 yards a game, they're rushing for 240 and they're an explosive, explosive offense averaging 7 yards a play."

USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin:

"Similar structure [to last year], the personnel's different and how they use the personnel is real different, but in terms of being three-down, four-down [linemen], mixture of pressures and things of that nature, very similar to what we've been seeing."

USC defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast:

"I think their biggest strength is their running game. They do a nice job blocking up front, their back had a lot of yards last week, they got a really good crew of running backs and Khalil's ability to push the field in the passing game [leads to] a lot of explosive plays."