While USC's season-opening offensive performance left a lot to be desired overall, one positive was the output from the rushing attack as the Trojans totaled 160 yards on the ground and the running backs averaged 5.2 yards per carry.
Boosting the running game has been a point of emphasis since the end of last season, and while one game doesn't lead to any firm conclusions -- same as with the less positive aspects from Saturday -- it was encouraging.
USC stuck with its 1A/1B running back plan as Keaontay Ingram rolled for 86 yards on 15 carries (5.7 per carry) and Vavae Malepeai totaled 65 yards on 14 carries (4.6) while no other RB was involved.
"We really wanted to try to establish the run game. We knew it was something that they were going to try to make us do," offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said. "... That's going to be important us -- we've got to run the football and I thought at times we did a really nice job of that [Saturday]. There were other times where I thought there were big runs to be had and we were just one or two blocks away, and if we had those we probably go for over 200 today and that would have been huge for us. But we've got a good running back room. ... They're going to continue to be a big part of what we do."
To keep in perspective, even USC's lackluster 2020 rushing attack produced two outputs higher than this, rushing for 175 yards vs. Arizona State and 173 vs. Arizona. So it's not as if Saturday was a dramatic awakening for the ground game, but the Trojans left the Coliseum feeling like they had the foundation for what could be a more balanced offense moving forward.
Center Brett Neilon echoed the suggestion that Harrell made that the offense was close to springing some more long runs. (Malepeai did have a 27-yard scamper and Ingram broke a run for 19 yards.)
"I thought it was nice to get those run calls in. I don't know what our average run was, but we split a few and we were so close to hitting those home run run plays," Neilon said. "Coach is saying 'Trust it, trust it' and I think maybe Game 2 or Game 3 we can trust it and hit one for long yardage. But you know, towards the end of the [game] you saw it eat up a lot of clock and that was one thing that was missing from our game last year and even two years ago. That was something that we worked on, just ID'ing the right guys and playing fast.
"Today was s step in the right direction. It wasn't perfect, but just improvement and week by week ... next week we've got to find the end zone."
As for the backfield tandem, Ingram and Malepeai both commented after the game how they feed off each other and like the two-back arrangement.
"That 1-2 punch, I feel like that's what we need. Especially in today's game, people going to a 1-2 punch with their run game. Having him in the room as well, we're just going to keep progressing every week and we're just going to up the numbers in the run game. We're going to do well," Ingram said. "... Of course you want more, you want better, whatever the case may be, but it's just Week 1, we're still trying to get in the groove, still trying to get that chemistry between our O-line, the double teams and stuff like that, the different fronts and now we're able to go against somebody else so we get to see who we really are."
Of course, the run game hinges largely on the offensive line, and the advanced metrics were very favorable for that unit Saturday.
Let's dive deep into the PFF grades, snap counts and other data from USC's 30-7 win over San Jose State.
(Reminder, PFF grades are on a 1-100 scale, but grades in the 90s are rare, grades in the 80s are very good and so on. PFF evaluates every player on every snap. Without knowing the exact play call and nuanced responsibilities, there is certainly a margin for error in those grades.)
