Countdown to Kickoff: USC-Stanford

Clay Helton, Graham Harrell and Co. surprised many fans when they announced true freshman Kedon Slovis as the backup quarterback coming out of preseason camp.

The QB depth chart has been a polarizing topic for Trojans followers since redshirt sophomore Jack Sears -- the only other QB on the roster to start a college game -- was dropped to fourth behind JT Daniels, Slovis and Matt Fink and proceeded to enter the NCAA transfer portal a few days later.

That's even more so the case now that Daniels is lost for the season with a knee injury.

The USC coaching staff will get its chance to validate those depth chart decisions after preparing Slovis all week to take over as the starting QB.

Harrell, in particular, has been sky-high on the freshman from Scottsdale, Ariz., and doubled down on his effusive praise earlier this week.

"As far as a passer goes, he's got as good of an arm as I've seen and he can make any throw out there. He can make throws that most people can't make," Harrell said, also allowing that Slovis will likely be prone to freshman mistakes at times too.

This unexpected quarterback transition is quite a wrinkle to an already pivotal season for Helton and his program.

Slovis has no doubt been impressive since his arrival in the spring, quickly showing that his 3-star rating may have belied his potential and abilities. But even still, no one expected him to be the starting QB just two games into his collegiate career.

That's where the Trojans are now, though. Their uptempo offense -- built around a high-volume passing attack that saw Daniels throw 34 times in the first half last week before his injury -- is now largely in Slovis' hands. Helton's future as head coach, coming off a 5-7 finish last fall, will now also hinge largely on the decision and he, Harrell and the offensive staff made with that depth chart a few weeks ago.

"We have the utmost trust in his ability to get the job done," Helton said of Slovis.

USC-Stanford is usually a tone setter -- one way or the other. This showdown Saturday night in the Coliseum, though, is going to be particularly telling for the Trojans.

Game time: 7:30 p.m. PT Saturday

Where: United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

TV: ESPN with Adam Amin, Todd McShay and Molly McGrath on the broadcast.

Radio: KABC Radio AM-790

Watch online: The game can be streamed via WatchESPN

In the rankings: USC is unraked; Stanford is No. 23 in both major polls.

Line: USC -3

Series history: Stanford is USC's oldest rivals with the series dating back to 1905. The Trojans lead the series 62-33-3 all-time (not counting a win vacated from the 2005 season). But USC has just four wins in the last 12 meetings and lost 17-3 at Stanford last season.

This is the storyline, of course. USC and Stanford both saw their starting QBs -- Daniels and K.J. Costello, respectively -- go down with injuries late in the first half last Saturday. Daniels is done for the season while Costello (head) was ruled out for this week.

Both teams relied on their rushing attack and defense to close out leads while asking minimal from their backup QBs down the stretch of those games.

But Saturday is a different story.

As good as USC's rushing attack was last week, this Trojans offense is built around the passing game. And while Stanford has traditionally been a force on the ground, that wasn't the case last season as the Cardinal put more responsibility on Costello's arm.

It will be telling to see just how much each coaching staff trusts its backup QB in this one.

Kedon Slovis completed 6 of 8 passes for 57 yards in the second half of USC's 31-23 win over Fresno State. He had a 41-yard bomb to Tyler Vaughns to set up the team's last touchdown, and then he threw a pick on a miscommunication with Michael Pittman downfield. Otherwise, he was only asked to throw safe, short passes or hand the ball off.

The coaching staff asserts that the gameplan doesn't change this week with the transition from Daniels to Slovis and that he'll have the full playbook open to him. It will be interesting to see if that is truly the case.

USC OC Graham Harrell said: "When you first watch him throw he's a really talented passer, fundamentally he's very sound, the ball jumps out of his hand, so his talent level definitely gives him a chance to be really successful. And from there it's going to come down to decision-making. I'm sure there's going to be times where he makes some mistakes and he's going to do things you wish he wouldn't do, but that's with most quarterbacks. … At times he's probably going to make some freshman mistakes and we're going to have to live with those and overcome those if he does. But I've got a ton of confidence in him. He's a talented guy and a great guy to work with. I'm excited to watch him."

Meanwhile, Stanford's Davis Mills was a 5-star prospect in the 2017 class and has waited two years for his turn. It's just a spot start, but he'll get to show Saturday night whether he is indeed the future at the position for the Cardinal. Mills completed 7 of 14 passes for 81 yards in helping to close out a 17-7 win over Northwestern last week.

Stanford HC David Shaw: “Whoever starts at quarterback, it’s not going to change our philosophy, it’s not going to change our scheme." (Via San Jose Mercury News).

USC

It only stands to reason that USC will lean a little more heavily on the ground this week than it may have originally planned to -- both for the sake of easing the burden on Slovis and because the rushing attack was so effective last week.

Stephen Carr avarged 9.3 yards on his 6 carries, totaling 56 yards and a touchdown on the ground, while also catching 6 passes for 43 yards and a score. Meanwhile, Vavae Malepeai got the bulk of the work and rumbled for 134 yards and a TD on 23 carries. RBs coach Mike Jinks has said he prefers to lean heavily on a lead back when possible, so expect Malepeai to continue to be a workhorse for this offense while Carr is perhaps even better utilized as a weapon in the short passing game.

As for the wide receivers, Tyler Vaughns will be looking to atone after a key third-down drop and a fumble despite leading the Trojans with 11 catches for 150 yards last week. He was hard on himself after the game and should have plenty of opportunity to shake it off Saturday night. Michael Pittman (6 catches for 28 yards) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (5-38) were quiet in the opener, but they will both have plenty of big games this season. The question is, will we see any rotation at the position -- intriguing sophomore Devon Williams and speedy veteran Velus Jones (who had a kickoff return for TD) did not see any targets in the opener.

Stanford

Stanford has had an impressive string of dominant running backs, and fifth-year senior Cameron Scarlett has waited his turn behind a couple of them -- Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love. Scarlett rushed 22 times for 97 yards and caught 3 passes for 27 yards against Northwestern.

Stanford lost its top two receivers from last season -- JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Trenton Irwin (who combined for 123 catches for 1,744 yards). In the opener, junior Connor Wedington led the way with 7 catches for 69 yards, while sophomore Michael Wilson had 6 catches for 47 yards and a TD and junior tight end Colby Parkinson had 4 catches for 38 yards.

One other note, Stanford left tackle Walker Little -- the anchor of the Cardinal line -- is out with a knee injury.

USC

The USC defensive line -- expected to be the strongest unit for the Trojans on that side of the ball -- rolled both positives and negatives into one during the season opener. The Trojans got great pressure on Fresno State QB Jorge Reyna, but they squandered many of those opportunities by letting Reyna escape the pocket for big gains. USC had 3 sacks, and defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast said he thought his group could have had 5 more.

Freshman defensive end Drake Jackson and redshirt senior defensive end Christian Rector, along with defensive tackle Jay Tufele, are the keys up front and will look to do a better job of finishing Saturday.

Sophomore linebacker Palaie Gaoteote was also a bit off his game, but he remains an X-factor for this defense every week. Pendergast suggested Gaoteote is still adjusting from the move to middle linebacker to the weakside and how that affects the looks he gets.

In the secondary, it became clear last week that sophomore Olaijah Griffin will be counted on heavily at cornerback. He played all 80 defensive snaps while redshirt-sophomore Isaac Taylor-Stuart played the bulk on the other side but did rotate some with freshman Chris Steele. The young secondary remains a key vulnerability for this defense as it learns on the fly.

Stanford

All-Pac-12 cornerback Paulson Adebo is the star of Stanford's defense and considered a potential first-round NFL draft pick next spring. The third-year standout was No. 1 nationally last season with 24 passes defended (20 pass break-ups and 4 interceptions) while also tallying 64 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss. It will be fun to see who he matches up against Saturday night.

Senior free safety Malik Antoine (53 tackles, 2 INTs, 1 sack last season) also brings some experience, while the defense is hoping for a big season from fifth-year senior outside linebacker Casey Toohill, who has had a limited role in past seasons.

Overall, though, Stanford has a lot still to prove defensively, replacing its top two tacklers from last season and with other questions in the secondary. Look for USC to test relatively unproven senior corner Obi Eboh.

USC's OL vs. Stanford's DL: Whether Stanford is as stout up front as it has been in the past, it will still present a different test than Fresno State did a week ago. USC's offensive line was the pleasant surprise of the season opener. With few exceptions, the entire unit delivered an impressive performance in the opener. Right tackle Drew Richmond, who was maligned at Tennessee, was plenty solid in his Trojans debut and both Jalen McKenzie and Andrew Vorhees fared well at right guard, answering some questions for the unit -- at least for one week. The Trojans created ample running lanes for the backs, and it's even more important this week that USC protect Slovis and allow the ground game to carry a good share of the load.

DBs coach Greg Burns on USC's young secondary: "It was the first game. It's going to be good and bad, get the jitters out. From a standpoint of giving up big plays and stuff like that, we're going to continue to work on that, but overall they did pretty decent. I gave them a C+."

Defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast: "We felt like when we looked at the tape and diagnosed the quarterback once he got in his launch point before he moved and where we were at with our rush, maybe we could have gotten at least 5 more sacks. We didn't."

QB Kedon Slovis on becoming the starter: "It was definitely weird waking up Sunday morning, but nothing changes for me -- it's just going out to practice, this time it's just with the 1s instead of the 2s."

Injured QB JT Daniels on Slovis: "He listens to coaching well and he likes to get better, I'd say are the biggest things that are going to help make Kedon successful. He's got to go out and perform and he's got a pretty big job to do, but I don't think the moment will be too big for him. I think he'll trust his coaching. I think he'll work really hard to prepare himself for this Saturday and I think he'll go out and do his job."

Offensive coordinator Graham Harrell: "Yeah, we gameplan the same. You've just got to do whatever puts you in the best position to win against any opponent. So the gameplan doesn't change, like I said. I mean, it will change based on the opponent, but not based on our personnel."

WR Michael Pittman on his first impression of Slovis: "I'd say he's kind of goofy looking, kind of skinny, and then he just came out and had one of the biggest arms that I've ever seen. He's just kind of like a shocker, I guess."

Here were our staff picks for Saturday night:

Ryan Young: "USC 24, Stanford 21. I don't say that with great confidence. I think in a game of backup QBs, home field advantage counts for something. And I'm not certain yet that this Stanford team is up to the program's usual standard. The Cardinal will also be without their top offensive lineman, Walker Little, and that's significant given the pressure we expect hte Trojans to bring off the edge. Even last season, Stanford's usually vaunted rushing attack dipped as the Cardinal finished 122nd out of 130 FBS teams in rushing (107.9 yards per game). The team asked Costello to do a lot, and we don't know yet if it can count on the Mills in the same way."

Tajwar Khandaker: "Stanford 24, USC 17. Despite the turnover at QB for both teams, this Stanford team is much more settled in their identity than the Trojans in every phase of the game. Even with the loss of Costello, the rest of the Cardinal team is very sound in their assignments -- they know what they are. The Trojans still have too many questions to overcome this early in the season. It’ll still be a close game, I expect. The talent of USC on both sides of the ball can keep it in the game to the final whistle, and possibly to even win it. Nonetheless, I expect Stanford to take this one."

Miss any of our coverage leading up to this game? Get caught up:

-Two top 2021 QB targets to be in the Coliseum watching USC vs. Stanford

-Trojan Talk Podcast: Max Browne on the battle of the backup QBs

-Reporter Roundtable: Staff picks predictions and perspective on USC-Stanford

-Thursday practice report: USC coaches say focus not on Stanford QB change

-Film Room: Dissecting each of QB Kedon Slovis' 9 pass attempts in his debut

-Wednesday practice report: Coaches explain USC's aggressive DL rotation

-WATCH: USC QB Kedon Slovis discusses preparing for his first start

-Tuesday practice report: 'The gameplan doesn't change'

-VIDEO: USC QB JT Daniels discusses season-ending knee injury

-Trojan Talk Podcast: Max Browne discusses USC's offense, QB transition

-USC DE Drake Jackson: 'I just came out and did what I had to do'

-Stephen Carr, Vavae Malepeai thrive as USC RBs surprise in opener

-Safety Isaiah Pola-Mao reflects on playing starring role in USC opener

-Slovis' HS coach: 'None of us are surprised that Kedon's in this position'

-Overlooked recruit to freshman starter, QB Kedon Slovis now the key for USC

-USC QB JT Daniels out for the season