USC coach Lincoln Riley said injured left tackle Courtland Ford could have played Saturday at Oregon State, but he indicated the redshirt sophomore still wasn't 100 percent after injuring his ankle or foot in Week 2.
As a result, redshirt senior Bobby Haskins made his second straight start while playing all 73 snaps in the 17-14 win.
"Courtland was available. He was kind of right on the edge. By the time we made the game-time decision, we thought in a perfect world Bobby could go the whole way in this one, we think he's ready to do it. We think Courtland's right on the edge of really getting back to being himself," Riley said. "So it was like, hey, if Bobby can take all these, Courtland gets another week, we feel like Courtland will be closer to 100% this week. And I think that's the case. Bobby came out of there really health, did some really good things. And then Courtland's back to 100% now, so mission accomplished."
What Riley didn't comment on is what the plan will be at the position moving forward.
Ford started the first two games at left tackle but split reps evenly with Haskins, who has since played all but 6 snaps the last two weeks.
Haskins received by far his best game grade of the season from PFF -- an above average 77.3 -- for his work at Oregon State. Per PFF, he allowed just 1 pressure over 44 pass-blocking snaps after yielding 4 the week prior when he had some clear struggles against Fresno State.
"I need to be more consistent, I think that's the biggest thing," Haskins said of his self-assessment through four games. "There's a lot of technique stuff I need to clean up and just being more consistent overall."
Haskins had appeared to injure his right shoulder in Week 3, coming out for those 6 snaps that were filled by redshirt freshman Mason Murphy, but speaking after practice Tuesday he downplayed any lingering issues.
"Ah, everybody is [playing through things]. It's really nothing out of the normal. You know what I mean, it's football. Everybody's banged up, everybody's got bumps and bruises and you just push through it," he said.
With his improved performance Saturday, Haskins' season PFF grade is up to 69.5 while Ford is at a 61.6 for the season. Yet, Ford has allowed only 1 pressure in 35 pass-blocking snaps, per PFF, while Haskins is up to 7 over 119 passing snaps. Neither has been charged with a sack, though it looked to the untrained eye like Haskins had some culpability on a couple of QB Caleb Williams' sacks in Week 3.
Haskins, the grad transfer from Virginia, also has the better isolated run-blocking grade from PFF -- 69.7 to Ford's 63.6.
He was asked if he saw Ford's absence the last two games as his opportunity to seize control of the job full-time.
"Every time you go on the field it's an opportunity to prove yourself. I didn't really look at it any differently than any other game," he said. "Anytime you're on the field, you're trying your absolute hardest to do your absolute best to help the team win."
He also emphasized that the entire offensive line unit works together during games with all 10 or 11 offering observations and input back on the sideline.
"I think we're getting better. I think we're getting a lot better. Communication, like I said earlier, is something that we're looking to continue to improve on. We watch on film and obviously we didn't put up as many points as we want. When we look at it on film we're one guy here, one guy there and it pops," Haskins said. "It's just making sure all five guys are doing their job on every play because [offensive line coach Josh] Henson always says you never know what play is going to be the play that can change the game, so we've got to treat them all like that."
