First-and-10: Key critiques and strong final thoughts to cap USC's season

All season, our Tajwar Khandaker has delivered his thorough analysis and breakdown after each USC game, delivering the top critiques, criticisms, kudos or takeaways from each win or loss. In the final edition of the First-and-10 this year, he holds nothing back.

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The most generous descriptor of the Trojans defense this season is “wildly inconsistent” -- the most honest one is “woefully underwhelming." Each level of the defense has struggled; the secondary on occasion, the defensive line regularly, and the linebackers just about every time they've been on the field. Despite being loaded with 4-star and 5-star talent, the USC defense finished the year ranked 77th in opponent yards per game (408.5) -- behind renowned defensive powerhouses Charlotte and Coastal Carolina to name a couple. Safe to say, no one expected the unit to come out and put the clamps on Iowa, but this looked like a good matchup for the newly-healthy USC defense.

Iowa came into this game seemingly devoid of true weapons, lacking a single skill player with over 800 scrimmage yards or 6 touchdowns and with perennial “game manager” Nate Stanley behind center. The Hawkeyes were ranked in the latter half of the FBS in nearly every major offensive category, and the team had failed to crack 28 points even once since its early-season-stompings against the likes of Miami (Ohio), Rutgers and Middle Tennessee State. On paper, the Trojans should have been good enough to hold them around that mark at the very least -- and that should have been enough given the explosiveness of the USC offense. However, football is most certainly not played on paper.

On the field of SDCCU Stadium, the Trojans defense got the brakes beaten off of it from start to finish. Instead of the conservative, inside-run oriented offense USC had prepared for, the Hawkeyes came out with pedal-to-the-floor aggression, methodically exploiting every weakness the Trojans had left on film throughout the season. To call the results ugly would be an understatement. Iowa took full advantage of USC’s inability to hold the edge with one successful reverse after another, and found a variety of ways to put playmakers in position to make the most of the defense’s shoddy tackling. The Trojans didn’t manage to force a punt until inside the final two minutes of the third quarter; yes, you read that correctly. Naturally, that stop came off of a dropped pass that would have otherwise resulted in a first down.

The few times the Iowa offense did stall, it seemed a result of penalties or miscues on their part rather than of anything the Trojans did. When it was all said and done, the Hawkeyes had put up 49 points -- their highest output of the year and more than twice their season average. It was an inexcusable performance on behalf of Clancy Pendergast’s defense; a dumpster fire culmination of all the flaws we’d seen for years. I won’t hesitate to say that it was maybe the single worst defensive performance I’ve ever seen from USC. If this was Pendergast's last ride, it was a rather fitting one.

Despite the egg laid by the rest of the unit last night, Jay Tufele deserves a round of applause for being perhaps the only Trojan defender who showed up to play on every snap. Tufele has been a force for USC all year, and was recognized as such with an All-Pac-12 First-Team selection. Iowa’s offensive coordinator described Tufele pregame as the best DT they saw in preparation all year -- high praise coming from a Big Ten coach who faces the likes of Michigan and Wisconsin. He continued to back up that billing against the Hawkeyes, routinely disrupting the interior of their blocking schemes and blowing up runs. Lost among the many storylines of this game is the fact that Iowa actually found little success in its traditional running game -- largely thanks to the work of Tufele. Despite USC’s troubles up front, he and defensive end Drake Jackson give the Trojans two worthy building blocks to work with on the defensive line going forward.

USC’s special teams are more or less a running meme at this point. Not to be outdone by Pendergast, special teams coordinator John Baxter’s unit put on a performance nearly as repugnant as their counterparts on defense. Similarly, the group put together its greatest hits collection, allowing a kick return touchdown, shanking a 27-yard punt, failing to recover a muffed one, and even missing a field goal off the leg of the generally-reliable Chase McGrath. I will give Baxter credit for the third-quarter onside kick (though he said it was Clay Helton's decision to go for it) -- that was a gutsy call and it was beautifully executed. Nonetheless, the coordinator has been the subject of ire for fans for a long time, and for good reason. USC has been subpar in nearly every special teams category this season. Some, like kickoff coverage, have been downright contemptible. The Trojans rank dead last in the FBS -- 130th nationally -- allowing 29.78 yards per kick return, in addition to allowing multiple return touchdowns. Just like with Pendergast, this was presumably likely Baxter’s last outing as a coordinator for the Trojans. It’s only fitting that our (likely) last memory of him in that role encapsulates the disarray that’s been a constant throughout his tenure.

Kedon Slovis will be a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender and a potential first round pick before his USC career is over. The dude is a baller. I’ve sung his praises all season long, and I’ve only grown more confident in that assessment with each passing week. He has the hardest parts of being a quarterback down -- the only other true freshman I can remember looking as ready for the moment as him in recent years is Trevor Lawrence. His touch, arm strength and pocket awareness are all already elite, but most importantly, he’s utterly cold-blooded. Call it 'mamba mentality,' nerves of steel, ice in the veins, whatever you like -- Slovis has it. His ability to play the game without hesitation or fear – even after a mistake -- is rare, even among the very best of quarterbacks.

He puts that ability on display with regularity, and there’s no better example than on USC’s opening drive last night. On his second throw of the game, Slovis nearly threw a pick-six into the lap of an Iowa defender. Terrible read, terrible throw. The next play? The freshman threw an absolute dime up the seam to Amon-Ra St. Brown for 30 yards to convert on third down while going on to march the Trojans downfield for a touchdown later in the drive. It’ll be lost in the greater narrative surrounding the game, but Slovis absolutely torched an Iowa pass defense that was ranked among the best in the country, finishing with 260 passing yards and 2 touchdowns in barely more than two quarters on play. The Hawkeyes had no answer for No. 9 as he marched USC up and down the field with impunity, picking the defense apart at every level of the field. He almost rallied the Trojans back from a 14-point deficit; had it not been for the injury he sustained early in the second half, it’s quite possible that the Trojans might have left San Diego with a win. With Slovis out however, the Trojans failed to score a single point the rest of the way -- a testament to just how much he does to keep the offense going.

Hopefully, his injury does not prove to be severe -- Helton said the hope pending an MRI was that it was an elbow sprain. It was an unfortunate ending to a brilliant freshman season, but Slovis remains the biggest source of hope anywhere in the USC football program. Out of all the turmoil that surrounds this team, he’s the only constant right now, the only piece of the puzzle that can be relied on to get the job done. My optimism here might be over the top for some, but I can’t stress enough how good Slovis is. I genuinely think he’s a top 10 quarterback in college football today -- and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him become the best soon enough.

Although the list of culprits for USC’s collapse against Iowa runs many names deep before we get to the offense, a spot needs to be reserved for the inexplicable refusal of the Trojans to run the football. In the first half, they only ran the ball with their tailbacks 5 times; even harder to understand when you consider that Vavae Malepeai was clearly having success carrying the ball when given the chance. The Hawkeyes quickly picked up on USC’s aversion to the ground game, allowing them to start committing to a pass rush and to begin teeing off on Slovis, yet no counter-adjustment came on the part of the Trojan offense. USC ended the game with only 13 carries, which went for a healthy 61 yards and a touchdown. Electric freshman back Kenan Christon didn’t get a single carry all night long; his only touches came on a pair of late receptions. USC’s offense is built to be pass heavy, but that’s no excuse for only 13 rushes on a night where they so clearly could have used more. Throughout the season, the lack of commitment to the run has been one of the most prominent criticisms of Graham Harrell’s offense. This game only strengthened that argument; now, it remains to be seen whether or not the coaching staff feels that way as well next September.

Michael Pittman’s remarkable career as a Trojan came to and end in unfortunate fashion, as the senior finished with likely his worst game of the season. Although he ended up with a respectable 53 yards on 6 receptions, Pittman was a non-factor for most of the game, dropping multiple passes and fumbling away a possession during a key third quarter drive. It was a wildly uncharacteristic performance -- something Pittman himself noted postgame.

Despite the way his final game played out, Pittman’s senior season deserves to be remembered as one of the best in program history. Even with a bevy of other talented pass-catchers demanding targets, he finished the year with 101 receptions, 1,275 yards, and 11 touchdowns -- good enough to make him USC’s first Biletnikoff finalist since Marqise Lee won the award in 2012. Pittman’s final performance was forgettable, but his career as a Trojan was anything but. He’ll likely find his name called within the first two rounds of the upcoming NFL draft -- in which case he’ll join four other Trojan receivers from the past decade. Impressive company, and fully deserved.

Even with Pittman departing for the draft, USC will hardly lack star-power at receiver, largely thanks to Amon-Ra St. Brown. Frustrated by his lack of targets earlier in the season, St. Brown finished the year on a monster tear, averaging 137.25 receiving yards per game over the final four contests. Against Iowa, St. Brown was exceptional, torching the Hawkeye secondary for 163 yards on 9 receptions in a spectacular show of versatility. His explosion but him over 1,000 yards on the season (77 catches for 1,042 yards), giving USC its first duo of 1,000 yard receivers since Lee and Robert Woods in 2012. St. Brown can do it all, as he did against Iowa, winning down the field, across the middle, and in the screen game, making it near impossible for defenses to anticipate his role on any given play. His decisive route running and ever-reliable hands make him a lethal weapon, especially with a quarterback like Slovis to deliver him the ball. Had Slovis not gone down, it’s not hard to imagine that St. Brown would have been able to rack up the 37 additional yards he needed to cross the 200 mark for the night. His chemistry with the young quarterback has blossomed over the home stretch of the season, and there’s no reason to think it won’t continue to do so heading into next year.

The marquee matchup of the Holiday Bowl came in the trenches, between two potential first-round picks in the upcoming draft. Early in the game it seemed like USC left tackle Austin Jackson might be able to hold his own; though the Trojans schemed extra blockers to help him on Iowa's stud defensive end A.J. Epenesa at times, Jackson largely managed to hold his own against the wrecking ball across from him. From the second quarter onwards, however, the contest between the two swung clearly in the favor of Epenesa as the Iowa edge rusher began to kick it into gear. Jackson seemed to lose his bearings as the game went on, allowing himself to be overwhelmed by Epenesa’s physicality and array of rush-moves as his generally-sound technique began to fall apart.

By the end of the night, Epenesa had clearly gotten the better of Jackson, finishing with 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble. Epenesa should and probably will be a high pick; there’s little room for debate there. Jackson’s prospects are a little murkier. Although he demonstrated enough to prove that he’s capable of hanging with the best, he also made it abundantly clear that he has plenty of work to do before he can do so on a consistent basis. Another year at USC isn’t out of the question at all for Jackson, who’s stated that he hasn’t yet made a decision on his future. Choosing to stay for another year might be the best possible course for him -- another year of improvement could have him ready to move up in the 2021 draft.

After watching his teams play for nearly four years, I’ve soundly reached the conclusion that Clay Helton’s best is when he allows capable people to run things for him. The successes of Graham Harrell, Keary Colbert and Tim Drevno are all examples of this. However, the other side of that coin is that Helton seems largely incapable of affecting change upon the team on his own, making it more crucial than usual that his staff is made up of especially capable individuals. While it seems as though the Trojans have more or less found their answers for that on offense, it’s abundantly clear that the current personnel on defense and special teams isn’t going to cut it. Both Pendergast and Baxter have proven to be ineffective for the Trojans; Helton’s loyalty to both has been wounding to the program. It’s imperative that he replace both with capable coordinators -- a task that’s admittedly far easier said than done, especially this far into December. Nonetheless, I can’t help but think that a good defensive coordinator might be all it takes to push this team over the edge. Helton may not ever guide a team to success like Urban Meyer or even Chris Petersen, but he might allow one to achieve it if he leaves the responsibilities up to the right people. If the USC defense had played up to even 80 percent of its potential this season, where would the Trojans be right now?

Maybe they’d still be right where they are, but I’m inclined to think not. Just as Drevno has noticeably changed the mentality of the offensive line group, a good defensive coordinator might change the makeup of that entire side of the ball. Culture matters, and the current culture at USC isn’t a winning one. If Helton isn’t going to be the one to fix it, perhaps fresh faces on the staff might push him to.

I’ve now covered USC football for two seasons. During that time, I’ve covered this team from a perspective far more detached than I would have ever believed possible growing up. I was raised in a household where Carson Palmer, Mike Williams, Troy Polamalu and Matt Leinart made for mandatory viewing every Saturday. That era of USC football is what made me fall in love with the sport; the excitement, the grandeur and the majesty of those teams was breathtaking to me as a child. More than anyone, Reggie Bush was a hero to me; seeing him pull the ball behind his back against Fresno State when I was 5 years old is something I’ll never forget. Even through the Kiffin era and the Sarkisian era, I remained hopeful; USC was those 2000s squads, the Trojans were meant to be the flashy superstars of college football forever, and I was always sure they were on the cusp of regaining that status. Yet it never came, and by the time I began to cover the team in my freshman year of college, I’d lost my zealous fandom and enduring optimism. After two years of following and writing about the Helton-led Trojans now, I’ve found myself feeling further from those teams of old than ever before. The words of Trojan alumni and former greats echo the same sentiment-- USC isn’t the same program anymore.

This loss to Iowa may not have been the most meaningful or most devastating loss the Trojans have suffered in recent history, but somehow it inflamed me more than I can remember any game doing in a long time. It was a truly demoralizing outing -- one that drove home the thought that I might never see a USC team like the ones I grew up idolizing ever again. It’s my job to view this team from an objective lens, and I’ve managed to do so with ease for most of the time. Last night, however, I felt hurt in a way that only a fan can; and I can hardly imagine how it’s felt to the thousands upon thousands of others who’ve cheered for USC with all their passion for decades more than I. For the first time, it seems like USC has begun to reach a real tipping point out of the upper echelon of college football. No matter the failures of the Trojans over the past decade, they’ve remained relevant, securing top recruits, fielding exciting teams and churning out NFL talent.

Now, however, it seems that each of those has started to fade -- marked most troublingly by USC’s recent inability to recruit. Even in the darkest days of the last decade, the Trojans could be counted on to pull in a top recruiting class, but no longer. If that’s the way things are going to continue to be, it’s only a matter of time before the last remaining pillars of the USC brand begin to crumble, leaving the program with nothing but dusty Heismans and old titles to hang on to. A whole generation of kids like me grew up enthralled by the USC teams of the 2000s -- barring significant change, it doesn’t look like there’ll be another one anytime soon.